Review: Entertaining
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 16, 2014
Reviewer: NicoleDisclosure: This ebook was provided by the author in exchange for an HONEST and not necessarily positive review.I’ve been see-sawing between a three and four star for this collection of books for the last two days and here is why.  The first story in this erotic series is a beautiful and sensual tale.  It’s where we are introduced to the struggling student Syria.  She is insecure, shy and unsure about almost every aspect of her life and at twenty-years-old with not much experience of anything; until she stumbles upon a rather erotic photo session in the very public outdoors and the cute photographer Anthony directing what is called ‘boudoir’ photography and this is the turning point in Syria’s innocent young life.  Through Anthony she is tested to her limits, throws caution to the wind and engages in a rather sensual and salacious love affair.  Her first.Although very short, Syria’s Seduction manages to accommodate everything into such a short space.  We get a good understanding of Syria’s character and background and why she has lived in her innocent bubble so long, as well as a healthy dose of insta-lust and a connection to Anthony her teacher in all things carnal and romantic.  The only thing that spoiled this story for me was the epilogue but I understood why it had to finish the way it did.  It was realistic if a bit of a letdown for me.  The rest of the boxed set consisted more of sexy filler rather than substance although In Naughty Santa we’re propelled sometime into Syria’s future, where she has now set up as a photographer in New Mexico and is flourishing in her independence and liberation.  And I guess this is where Syria’s freedom to express herself really kick-starts.  She finds herself and her freedom through sexual expression.  The santa in question here is Tyson, a buff and sexy six-packed male stripper.  What starts out as an innocent enough photo shoot becomes something a whole hell of a lot more.  Although the sex scenes are hot as Hades with a bit of bondage courtesy of Santa’s reindeer reins, there’s still an underlying tenderness with Tyson and Syria as well as humour (an elfish looking penis and a green condom spring to mind). “Naughty or nice.  I’m an equal opportunity Santa.”The third, Pirate Hooker (every time I hear that, I think of Ron Burgundy in Anchorman?!) has it all.  Syria’s confidence is growing with each sexcapade and in Pirate Hookers her adventurous and untapped potential shines through. Mia and Sam are performance artists- as in they actually have sex together on a stage in front of a crowd, taking the whole exhibitionist thing to a whole new level. The term ‘skin is skin’ is used in abundance in this tale, meaning that woman or man, if you get off with them it’s all good, there’s no stereotyping of gay, lesbian or bi-sexual, it’s just skin on skin.  This is where Syria likes to do her own experimenting with ‘skin is skin’ and Mia is her willing candidate and yet again what started out as an innocent enough promotional photo shoot turns into Syria’s first girl-on-girl experience and a lascivious ménage a trois and it is hot, hot stuff. Let’s just say I’ll never look at a bottle of booze the same again…The last two stories where the weaker of the five for me.  In The Goddess of Bondage Syria decides she really likes Tyson on a deeper level and plans to learn Japanese Bondage for him through Madam Takahashi, a master in training dominatrix and other women who enjoy BDSM.  “Shibari is a fine line between pain and pleasure, submission and idolisation.” It was interesting learning about Shibari, the use of the ropes, where to place them and how to avoid tender nerves and Starla writes a great detailed description of this method of bondage, to me it just seems like a great deal of time and effort to be strung up like a set of Xmas lights, but I guess I’m an instant gratification type of girl…or lazy.  There’s a lot of writhing and wax melting in the fourth book but again it just seemed to be sex threw in to situations that probably wouldn’t occur in the everyday life of a shy photographer.  But what do I know? I’m just a shy shop assistant.The final book The Exhibitionist has Erik Andrada a man with slaves and submissives standing stoically by his side. He decides to use Syria’s photography skills to capture the things he likes most about one of his women who has come to the end of her contract with him.  Things he likes most about his soon to be ex slave includes her and another of his subs in metal collars and chains going at each other on Syria’s studio floor , “This is a good memory,” he states likes he’s just enjoyed a day out at the freaking zoo.  In this tale Syria is approached by Erik to attain the newly available position of slave to him, a position he holds in higher regard than his business associates.  He at one point explains he needs a woman he can rely on, who has elegance, competency and does as he asks with pleasure to which Syria retorts “So, like a wife but without her own opinion.”  There isn’t as much sex in this last one which kind of surprised me given we have a dom, subs, slaves, Syria’s den of iniquity a.k.a her studio, strippers and more BDSM.  It was an okay read but probably the weakest of the lot with the only silver-lining being that Syria gets her Happy Ever After and because there was that little smidgen of emotion mixed with all of that amazing sex (gave me a few ideas anyway winkwink) I’m happy.Overall, it’s a good box set for the price of it and although you could probably read each story as a stand- alone it makes more sense to read each one after the other because it helps with the progression and expansion of Syria’s character, to see how far her introverted shy self travels down the path to passion and lust.  The writing is good, there’s good descriptive language and each sex scene never feels stale or repetitive which helps propel the book up to the four star mark because let’s face it when you’re reading erotica the more details and variety the better.  You might not care very much for the secondary characters but you can certainly live vicariously through Syria and enjoy what each of them bring to the table.