Anonymous [erotic writing]

Well. This is one they used to hide away behind locked cabinet doors, I'm sure. It's an interesting, perhaps astonishing and blush-inducing, foray into a lifestyle filled with frenzied lust. Of course I read it purely as "research". If you're shocked by genitalia, blushingly virginal, or easily dismayed by unusual copulatory combinations, I don't recommend this.

Holy....... cow........ I am no puritan, but this book..... hahahahahaha, I mean, man!
As one reviewer already said this book acts as P*rnHub reader's digest. Everything you might think of (between humans) you will find here.

Regarding the kinks, whoever read psychoanalysis already knows that sexual fixations, fetishes, incest and weird points people use to sexual pleasure themselves, have been with humanity since the beginning. But it is weird to read about character going through almost show more every kink in the book.

Entire book is hedonistic festival - young man gets introduced with the purpose of his ... device :) down below while spying on his nanny. That knowledge opens the entire experimentation with any woman that enters his household. And I mean ...... holy cow. After nailing everything with the skirt he starts to expand the sexual acquaintances, becomes bi-sexual (as I said this character is open for anything and everything) and soon ...... lets say things escalate to unexpected degree.

To expect literary value from this novel is somewhat silly. Text is repetitive? What do you expect after couple of hundred pages - trust me there is not much to invent here. Guy's invention stopped sometime around chapter 2, everything else is application of learned skills in (as they say :)) scaled fashion :)

Style wise this is solid three stars. But for collecting almost everything physically possible between two humans - this is like five star. This is pornography after all (hardcore erotica with all the details) and it is clear after first few pages where things are going.

Some of the elements are disturbing (they are taboos even today - incest in particular) so this is something to bear in mind. But even with skipping these sections of the book, there are lots of interesting adventures to read about.
My only issue I had is that if you are used to read and imagine events in your head, and in general have active imagination, it is overly stimulative and after a while reading this book becomes a labor (as I said imagine days long P*rnHub video marathons - holy cow).

Not my first hardcore erotica/pornographic novel, but ....... holy cow ...... that things just kept escalating is understatement.

Definitely read a few sections before deciding to actually read it through. It is definitely not something for everyone. show less

How do you rate Victorian erotica? I asked this question when reviewing [b:Sins of the Cities of the Plain|119666|Sins of the Cities of the Plain|Jack Saul|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347797205s/119666.jpg|115215] and I still don't have an answer. But I'll say that this book is fascinating if you are curious about conventions of Victorian pornography and historical questions of gender identity and expression. Trans fantasy is such an important part of Laura & Eveline's sexuality, as well show more as that of their partners. I'll proceed with caution here, as pornography is generally always far removed from reality, but the book gives insight to some of the ways in which trans people might have parsed their sexuality through/despite the reigning gender/sex hierarchies. Books like these are important to preserve because we must dispel the myth that the Victorians didn't understand sexual variances and that they didn't have an entirely bawdy underground across classes. This book in particular is highly relevant in light of contemporary transphobia that declaims transgender as a modern fad, which couldn't be further from the truth. show less

Aphrodite in Bloom by Anonymous
A Collection of Erotic Stories

Luscious lusty lovingly told stories that were absolutely lovely. I can easily see this book being kept at the side of one’s bed to read and reread alone…or…with a lover or two or three ;)

What I liked:
* The writing – superbly written, hot, steamy, drew me in and made me care
* The wide variety in the various stories
* That I could actually visualize the scenes and at times felt I could have stepped into some of them
* The show more historical setting
* That there were characters from more than one social class.
* That the lovers were given happy endings even if sometimes unconventional
* Wondering who the anonymous author might be and wanting to read more of their work
* That the stories accomplished their purpose…am sure my glasses steamed up more than a few times
* That each story was complete
* That relationships were consensual
* Everything about these stories was superb

What I didn’t like:
* I usually put this section in but…there isn’t anything for me to say that I didn’t like. The only story that I didn’t relate to quite as well was one with letters and that surprised me since I have always been a pen pal throughout my life.

Did I enjoy this book? YES!
Would I read more by this author? Definitely…if I knew who it was ;)

Thank you to NetGalley, Entangled-Amara, and Insklinger PR for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars show less