“Sweet Confessions” Erotic Book Review

“Sweet Confessions”, a Cleis Press erotic anthology edited by Violet Blue, is 192 pages long and includes 18 different erotic stories. The formatting for the book resembles the formatting for most Cleis Press books. The cover is relatively discreet with the only “sexual” thing being the “erotic fantasies for couples” tagline on the front of the book.

The theme for this book is the idea of erotic fantasies for couples. Each one of the stories focuses on a different erotic fantasy that a couple may have. I’m glad to say that the book does not just focus on the “obvious” fantasies such as a threesome, bondage, or public sex. The book focuses on a lot more fantasies including a discreetly-written watersports one (which is actually hot!), a woman who wants to watch her boyfriend with another man, a couple who shares their erotic shaving, a Little Red Riding Hood roleplay (wolf costume and all!), and tons of other great fantasies and locations.

All of the stories do seem to be heterosexual in nature. This is probably because of the “couples” aspect of the book. Some of the stories really have the gender-bending aspect of the stories in them, so it’s not like it’s stereotypical man/woman relationships, but most of the stories do focus on the man/woman relationships. Along with that, almost all of the stories feature the main two characters as already in a relationship.

I really loved the mixture between plot and sex in this book. I really did. All of the stories feature really hot sex (sometimes multiple sessions!), but at the same time, the stories do include enough plot and background to really let you grow an attachment to the character’s fetishes and personality. One of the things I really liked is how the characters were sometimes embarrassed over their fetishes. In some books, a lot of people just instantly love one another’s fetishes. In this book, the characters are nervous about exposing their fetishes at times, and while it takes the other characters a bit longer to understand it (realistically), the two characters always come together in the end to enjoy it. It just feels more realistic than both characters just “instantly” loving it.

Do the stories translate well to “real experience”? Yes and no. You can certainly take inspiration for real-life play from these books, but I wouldn’t say that the books will give step-by-step instructions to fun, sexual encounters. For the most part, the fetishes portrayed in the book seem to be unique to the characters. I mean, I’m sure that someone out there has a fetish to act out Little Red Riding Hood, but I don’t know if the average couple would have considered that as a fetish before. However, the “average” couple could certainly take inspiration about how hot the roleplaying was and act out their own fantasies.

I really did enjoy the sex scenes in the books as well. Not only will you find a realistic portrayal of sex, but you’ll also find that each story is well-written, and in a couple, the characters describe their flaws in addition to their sexual positives. The stories are really realistic, and the sex is completely believable (and hot!) Plus, each author brings a different “flavor” to the anthology which, when put together, makes a great book. Some of my favorites were:

In “Smell as Sweet” by Heidi Champa, an office worker at the company works late one night to find herself peeking at her boss – who is masturbating with panties over his face. When she starts to leave her own panties on his desk, the fun evolves.

In “Red” by Piper Morgan, the main character finds out that her boyfriend has a fetish for acting out Little Red Riding Hood. Of course, she finds a cute outfit to work well for it, and he finds a “wolf” costume, and the two of them enjoy acting out this fantasy.

In “Underwear” by Kay Jaybee, a lingerie salesmen drops off her recent purchase to a man to only find him asking her to try them on to make sure his wife will fit. Finding him extremely attractive, she agrees, and of course, his wife walks in on the two of them.

Overall, Sweet Confessions, while not my favorite erotic anthology book, still stands out above other erotic anthologies. The fantasies are downright hot, very believable, and they can serve as inspiration for some fun in the bedroom. Thanks to Cleis Press for sending me Sweet Confessions.

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.