Title: Agony/Ecstasy
Edited by: Jane Litte
Published: December 6, 2011
Pages: 320
Genre: Erotic Romance
Source: Publisher (Berkley Trade)
Rating: B+
Reviewed by: Erica Lynn
Favorite quote: "A little pain can be good for you," he said. "There is beautiful sincerity in it. Something pure and honest. You can't mistake it for anything else. It doesn't lie."
summary from Goodreads
All new stories of punishing extremes and unbearable pleasure...
With historical, contemporary, and futuristic backdrops, this outrageously diverse collection of original stories explores every conceivable variation of BDSM erotica--from knitting circles to the Titanic to a retelling of The Little Mermaid. Featuring all-new stories by Meljean Brook, Jean Johnson, Bettie Sharpe, Jill Myles, Margaret Rowe, Sara Thorn, and more, this book has everything a reader could hope for in an erotic romance.
Erica's thoughts:
Twenty-one
stories, edited by Jane Litte, of intimacy, pleasure, excitement and discovery
rolled into two volumes simply titled, "Agony/Ecstasy." I loved some
of these stories; they caught me off guard with their simplicity or with the
original spin they took on a well known theme. And other stories just didn't do
it for me at all, or disappointed me outright, because I expected more from the
author. I truly enjoyed ten stories from this double feature. Five weren't bad,
and six I could have skipped completely and would have been perfectly fine with
that. While I won't say which story is which, I will say a few words about
those that stood out, for one reason or another.
Author Anne
Calhoun kicks off this twofer of pleasure, pain and sexual exploration. On the Agony
side "Transfixed" details the encounter of Mistress (Marin)
Banks and her subordinate, Cole. Though a large man, Cole, relinquishes his
power to a much smaller woman and loves every minute of it. The story heads in
a new direction toward the end and is picked up again in "Transformed,"
the first story on the Ecstasy side. Calhoun's short pieces are like two
sides to one coin offering a look into both characters desires and motivations
while getting both volumes off to a steaming hot start.
The third story
in Agony could've also been called Nora and the big bad Wolf. Ex-sex
takes on a whole new meaning, in J.K Coi's, "Caged", where
Nora battles the monster who took her husband, Marcus, from her; and the
monster, the wolf Marcus has become, fights dirty, giving back as good, or
better, than he gets.
If Ariel was a
Siren and Prince Eric was a sadist then, "Each Step Sublime"
could be called the little mermaid for adult. True to the original fairytale,
Bettie Sharpe spins a yarn in which the sea witch still takes the mermaid's
voice as payment, however when she gives her legs to walk, she makes each step
with them like being stabbed by a hot iron spike. Also, unlike the fairytale,
instead of loves true kiss being what sets her voice free, it's finding a way
to have her Prince truly fall in love with her, or risk turning into a pool of
salt water. Yikes!
Edie Harris pens
a piece about a ruined woman left in an opera box by her philandering lover.
She feasts her eyes on a beefy stranger in the wings on stage and together they
find an outlet to release her anger on the choreographer with a penchant for
pain. Their actions, much like the title are completely, "Shameless."
Sunny
Moraine's futuristic look at how pleasure goes from physical to virtual and
back to physical again, is interestingly titled,"Wetwire", and
concludes the Agony section of this set of anthologies. Tia floats in a
matrix like environment getting her kicks in a technological haze when Kimber
brings the "meat" part back to meet and greet. Tia wires are crossed,
literally, when Kim shows her the joys of having your nervous system flipped so
that pain is registered as pleasure and pleasure as pain.
In
"The Wooden Pony," Natalie and Eric go on a blind date, the
outcome of which can best be described with the chorus from a John Cougar
Mellencamp; "Hurts so good!" Natalie, a former cutter, is looking for
a new kind of relief and Eric has a dungeon of fun in store for her, including
his newest toy, the wooden pony. Shoshanna Evers Ecstasy based dating
anencdote makes you wish every blind date could end with someone riding wood!
Theodora
is not the virgin her new husband believed her to be. Hugh is not as oblivious
as Theodora would've hoped. Deaths on the RMS Titanic, a brothel, an Edwardian
era leather dildo and revenge all play parts in Lily Daniels, "Kiss of
Life." What seems like just a simple story turns out to be 16 pages of
grief, vengeance, acceptance and forgiveness.
Sarabeth
Scott's, "Silverhouse" is a study in subtlety and familiarity.
Clara and Christoph are intendeds playing a cheeky game of cat and mouse. She
is intentionally rude and dismissive to him in public, but not in a way that
breaks with social standards. In turn Christoph punishes her for her actions
behind closed doors, but rather than be chastened, each person is getting
exactly what they want out of his brand of "discipline."
Lee,
a boxer, is ashamed of his pension for and enjoyment of pain, in Christine
D'Abo's, "Bruised Ego." Now that Lee's picking fights in bars,
his business partner, Rick, gives him a recommendation for someone who might be
able to help him control his problem. Diana isn't quite the psychologist Lee
expected but she understands his problem and sets out to "treat" him
to what he sorely needs.
Another
fighter, John, doesn't want to let loose and lose control in the moment. Liz,
his former lover, wants him to do just that. However, Liz is discouraged,
thinking she's lost the opportunity to save the relationship between them. She
makes a last ditch attempt. Fans of frantic, impromptu, janitorial closet sex
will love this narrative. Interested in being fucked up against a shelf with
just a bare light bulb, a mop and a bucket as ambiance, and a possible audience
on the otherside of the door? Then your in luck. Sara Thorn's, "Overtaken"
is a delicious and dirty end to this sometimes sizzling, sometimes
scintillating and overall entertaining two- in-one read.
