“Hide and Seek” Erotic Book Review
“Hide and Seek” is a Cleis Press erotic anthology edited by Alison Tyler and Rachel Kramer Bussel. The book’s tagline is “Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists”, and the book shares a similar format to all other Cleis Press books. The book includes 187 pages, and it includes 21 different stories to be read. The cover isn’t too sexual, so it could probably be read in public, but make sure to keep the text on the cover hidden to avoid awkward questions about what you’re reading.
The book’s theme, as you could have guessed, is watching and being watched. I was really impressed by this theme as Rachel and Alison did a great job choosing stories that followed the theme without being carbon copies of one another. All of the stories focus on the idea of watching others or being watched, and while some of the stories focus on both ideas at the same time, for the most part, the stories either include one aspect or the other.
The stories themselves are extremely well-written, and I was impressed by the variety of plots. Almost all of the plots are modern in nature, and it’s obvious that the plot takes a sideline to the sex in this one. The plot exists enough just to explain what’s going on with the sex, but there aren’t any elaborate stories in this erotic anthology. Instead, all of the stories focus on the sex with minimal background information. Almost all of the stories are heterosexual in nature, but there are a couple stories in here that include homosexual relationships.
The book includes a large variance of types of stories, so it’s no surprise that, while I thought the majority of them were just average, there were a couple I disliked and a couple I really liked. There weren’t any that were turn-offs at all, though, so no matter your tastes, you can still find quite a few stories in this anthology that will really turn you on and others that will just be more lukewarm. Personally, my favorite part of the exhibitionism and voyeurism fetishes is the idea that you “shouldn’t” be doing this, and while a couple of the stories really focused on this, not all of them did. The ones that focused on that idea were the ones that I was much more likely to enjoy though:
“Undoing the Laces” by Andrea Dale is a story about a two partners, a man and woman, who are attending a camping trip for a war reenactment. When the woman gets up to go pee in the middle of the night, she sees their neighboring tent, with a flashlight on, with the silletotes of their bodies moving in what is obviously sex. She finds herself turned on, and when she goes back to her tent to watch through her tent window, she accidentally awakens her husband as well. This story is very unique and very sexy to read through.
“Not a Voyeur” by Alison Tyler is a really hot story about a man and woman who are having breakfast when they notice their neighbors having sex through their window. The two of them spend a bit of time talking and flirting about how they aren’t voyeurs while they slowly get undressed and enjoy the view – and each other.
In “The Corners of My Eyes” by Stan Kent, a woman and man regularly go out to nightclubs. While the man watches her flirt and kiss other men, she tries to invite them back to their house for sex – on the condition that her husband gets to watch. While their routine is normal, the wife has a surprise in mind that, surprisingly, the voyeur husband really enjoys. I love the unique way that the sex goes down with this one.
Overall, while Hide and Seek isn’t perfect, it still is a collection of amazingly hot sex stories that are worth looking into. I loved “Do Not Disturb” more for the voyeuristic and exhibitionistic aspects, but Hide and Seek still provides a ton of sexy stories that each give the idea of voyeurism and exhibitionism a fresh look. Thanks to Cleis Press for sending me Hide and Seek.
The Erotic Reading Review is a regular column written by Kayla. This column brings you reviews over erotica, instructional, and other types of sex-related books.
