240 pages in length and published by Cleis Press, The Wilde Passions of Dorian Gray is an erotic novel written by Mitzi Szereto. Focused on an erotic turn of events that could have happened to Dorian Gray, this book looks at the idea of what Dorian Gray would have done if he faked his death and led a secret life. Inspired by Oscar Wilde’s classic novel, this book is a stand-alone, erotic novel written to please.
Mitzi Szereto is one of my favorite erotic editors and writers. She has a fantastic voice in the book’s she’s edited, and her editing ends up resulting in a lot of good erotic pieces that flow well together. I’ll admit: I was really looking forward to reading this one.
The Wilde Passions of Dorian Gray is about what you’d expect from a book that follows the original classic. To make the novel believable, the story begins with Dorian having faked his own death in order to explore the lavish sexual fantasies he’s been having. After that, it follows the character’s growing fall into depravity – starting with lighter things like threesomes and moving very quickly into rape and murder.
Don’t worry if you haven’t read the original classic. While most people probably have, even if you haven’t, the story doesn’t require having read the original. The author did a great job of pushing in various details in a smooth manner that helps you identify what’s going on without spending a long introduction explaining the details. Those who already know the story can jump right in, and those who don’t will pick up the necessary pieces as you continue reading. In fact, it might even spur you to want to read the classic!
If you’re hoping for an erotica that will tempt you to slip your hand into your underwear, this may not be quite the book you’re looking for. While the book almost entirely focuses on sex, it really seems to be more of a backstory towards the character’s personality and lifestyl. This isn’t a particularly bad thing. It’s really, really refreshing to read a novel that doesn’t shove sex – including kinky sex – to the basement. Instead, Mitzi has met the sex scenes head-on. Without going into page-long details, the sex is clearly explained.
The sex isn’t exactly “vanilla”, though – and not in a good way either. The character, designed after the popular villian-type character in the classic novel, seems to have a genuine sexual addiction – and many of his encounters border on rape. Towards the end of the book, it has spiralled down into murder as well. While the sexuality and actions suite the character well, they don’t usually feel particularly arousing. I don’t want to ruin the surprise of some of the “depraved” acts, but you definitely should expect a lot of group sex and a lot of non-consensual acts.
I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I do have to say that the ending was pretty surprising. The book was surprisingly foreshadowing the ending for most of the novel, but it wasn’t until it came to fruition at the end that I really noticed. I’m still not entirely sure I agree that the ending was within Dorian’s personality, but it did end the book with closure.
If you fell in love with The Picture of Dorian Gray classic book, this might be a fantastic treat to read about. Despite the book not being a huge turn-on, Mitzi did a wonderful job capturing the written style and character’s personality from the original novel. Her imagination took her to places the character genuinely could have gone, and it makes for a lovely book focused on sex and the character’s own adventures. The Wilde Passions of Dorian Gray is available anywhere Cleis Press books are sold – including bookstores and Amazon. Thanks to CleisPress for sending out a copy of this erotic novel for review.
