Best Women's Erotica of the Year Series
Volume 9 On Sale Now!
Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 9 is out now
in ebook and print with SEXY ADULT STORIES by Ruby Barrett, Jane Boon, Nicole Falls, Karmen Lee, and more!!
Volumes 1-8 also available in print, ebook and audiobook.
Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 6
Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 6 is edited by
Rachel Kramer Bussel and published by Cleis Press
on December 8, 2020. Watch our launch virtual event with romance
bookstore Love's Sweet Arrow on YouTube, featuring editor
Rachel Kramer Bussel and contributors Evie Bennet, Mia Hopkins,
Katrina Jackson, Naima Simone and Olivia Waite.
Follow @bestwomenserotica on Instagram for giveaways, news and photos.
About the book:
If you’re looking for your next sexy read, Best Women’s Erotica
of the Year, Volume 6 is sure to heat things up. These 20 adventure-themed
stories will take you around the globe as you meet characters eager to
indulge their sensual sides.
From competing on a reality show and getting “Inked on My Skin” by
an extremely sexy tattoo artist to exploring a “Cabinet of Curiosities,”
these characters say yes to their most daring desires. Whether a single
mom having a hot vacation fling, a vegetarian lusting after a hunky butcher,
a couple visiting a kinky escape room, or a divorcee hitting up a motorcycle
club and going on an “Easy Ride,” these erotic tales bare all. Women who’ve
been told they’re “too much,” by an ex or the world, discover the joy of asking
for more and more and more—and getting it.
Enjoy women’s sexual fantasies come to life, from fetishes to kinks to a
very arousing way to use an instruction manual. With stories by popular
erotic romance authors Shelly Bell, Zoey Castile, Jeanette Grey, Mia Hopkins, Katrina Jackson, Elizabeth SaFleur, Naima Simone, Olivia Waite and Elia
Winters, and newcomers to the genre, the latest volume of pansexual sex
tales in this bestselling series will make your heart race with excitement.
"Twenty fan-favorite authors serve up tantalizing treats in this anthology of bite-sized erotica focused on female pleasure...Fans of erotic romance will eagerly devour this scorching, well-selected anthology." Publishers Weekly
"Whether these women are having sex with a stranger, a friend, a lover, or a spouse, they are taking a risk and exploring beyond their usual boundaries.
The Best Women’s Erotica series is a great source for finding new authors." Cannonball Read
"As always, the submissions involved vary, from a woman’s encounter with the town bad boy to a couple of empty nesters trying lifestyle-variety D/s. There’s a woman who hires a male prostitute to help her figure out her need to dominate, and a story about tattooing as a form of submission...One of the best stories in the volume is Olivia Waite’s Cabinet of Curiosities, featuring two older bisexual heroines who finally explore their long-simmering fascination with one another."
Order from romance bookstore Love's Sweet Arrow
Order on Amazon (all countries)
Order on IndieBound from your local independent bookstore.
Ebook
Order for Kindle (all countries)
Audiobook
Table of contents
Introduction: Sexual Adventurers at Home and Away
New Year’s Chance Shelly Bell
Inked on My Skin Naima Simone
Change of Season Leah W. Snow
Cooling Off Brit Ingram
Spring Fling Kyra Valentine
The Eighth Wonder of the World Mia Hopkins
Calyx Margot Pierce
Cabinet of Curiosities Olivia Waite
Blues Amy Glances
The Conference Anuja Varghese
The Instruction Manual Alexis Wilder
Easy Ride Katrina Jackson
Sweater Weather Elia Winters
Meat Cute Jane Bauer
Far Side of the World Zoey Castile
Inflated Egos Evie Bennet
Magia D. L. King
Adult Time Jeanette Grey
Cream Saskia Vogel
The Escape Room Elizabeth SaFleur
Introduction: Sexual Adventurers at Home and Away
Asking authors to get “adventurous” in an erotica anthology can be a tall order. After all, what’s “adventurous” to one person may be totally mundane to the next. However, I feel safe in saying that the twenty stories you’re about to read in Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 6, are totally bold and refreshing. Whether single or partnered, straight or queer, vanilla or kinky, close to home or traveling the world, the characters in these stories are the opposite of meek.
What drew me to the theme of adventure is that in my midforties, my day-to-day life often looks pretty familiar: wake up, make coffee, take vitamins, eat breakfast, get to work. Whereas my younger single days were freewheeling, where I felt like I could wind up in the bed of anyone at any time, I’ve now been with the same partner for almost nine years. My concept of adventure and what it means, both in and out of the bedroom, has changed, and I wanted to see characters who were also grappling with how sex and adventure mingle, mix, and dance together.
Contemporary erotic romance author Shelly Bell kicks things off with “New Year’s Chance,” where Dara encounters her old bad boy crush, Haydon. Next, the story “Inked on My Skin,” by Naima Simone, who also writes the must-read Sin and Ink series, sizzles on the page and is so hot, while also being tender, I’m pretty sure you’ll want a tattoo of your own by the time you’re done.
Historical romance author Olivia Waite travels into the past to deliver the stunning f/f story “Cabinet of Curiosities,” a prequel to her sexy novel The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics, in which widows Phoebe and Harriet explore Harriet’s collections from her travels before quite thoroughly exploring each other. If you think women who slept with and lusted after women in previous eras were at all dainty and demure in bed, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the ardor fueling their can’t-get-enough-of-each-other sex.
Adventure sometimes takes place outside the constraints of the real world, such as in “Blues,” by Amy Glances, in which a mermaid seduces a human. Even though she can’t have everything she desires (“I wanted his whole body close to mine, but I knew that wasn’t possible”), she’s willing to go after the object of her affection, despite the constraints. In the magic realism of “Magia,” by D. L. King, Anita gets lost in the New Mexico desert, and the being who helps her find her way offers her an encounter that will leave you breathless.
Sometimes we find adventure, and sometimes it finds us. There’s a little bit of both in the totally sensual motorcycle clubhouse adventure Katrina Jackson takes readers on in “Easy Ride.” If you’ve ever had a partner who tried to make you smaller, quieter, and less yourself, you’ll be thrilled for Tysha, divorced from a man who did just that, when she enters this hidden setting on the “wrong” side of town and goes after what she truly wants in the form of a very sexy biker. “I’ve never felt anything like his body against mine. Everywhere he touches me is like sensory overload,” Jackson writes.
An adventure doesn’t have to be totally spontaneous to be sexy. In “Spring Fling,” by Kyra Valentine, Jennie, Ewan, and Meghan meet at a restaurant to discuss a possible tryst. Their threesome is all the hotter for the negotiation that led up to it.
Parenting is its own kind of life adventure, and several moms in these stories seek out ways to access their sexy sides amidst the chaos. In “The Eighth Wonder of the World,” by Mia Hopkins, the divorced single mom narrator puts her needs first with a steamy romp with her vacation tour boat operator. Jeanette Grey also explores the need for sex and passion to reawaken a mother’s sense of self in “Adult Time.”
Just as travel provides the perfect opportunity to cast off their everyday concerns in the two stories mentioned above, in “Far Side of the World,” by Zoey Castile, a hike along the Scottish coastline becomes the perfect backdrop for Graciella to accept a sexy stranger’s help—and affections. If you’ve ever attended a business conference and were bored out of your mind, you’ll appreciate the chance to live vicariously through Shalini in “The Conference,” by Anuja Varghese.
Sometimes an adventure can even happen alone, in our minds, where we are totally free to act on our desires and be our most wild and wanton. In “Meat Cute,” by Jane Bauer, a passionate vegetarian discovers a whole new kind of passion when she lusts after her local butcher. Instead of seducing him, she has an intimate experience cooking herself a dinner that unleashes something new and unexpected. Brit Ingram shows how exciting exhibitionism can be in “Cooling Off,” as the narrator gives firefighter Caleb a sexy shower show he won’t soon forget.
BDSM plays a prominent role in many of the stories here, with kinky adventures helping push characters to try things they’ve never tried before, whether that’s saying yes to a new lover in “Sweater Weather,” by Elia Winters, or stepping into the unknown in closing story “The Escape Room,” by Elizabeth SaFleur. In “Calyx,” by Margot Pierce, Claire reclaims the former fierce and fiery part of herself when she enters a hotel room to join Matteo. As she gets comfortable with her dominant side, defying the ex who kink shamed her, she in turn makes space for Matteo to revel in his submissive side, a perfect melding of needs and wants. In “Change of Season,” by Leah W. Snow, an empty nester finds more time and room to explore D/s with her husband, her Sir, during a football game that takes a decidedly kinky turn.
From exploring a powerful fetish in “Inflated Egos,” by Evie Bennet, to indulging a partner’s fetish and finding out just how arousing it can be in “The Instruction Manual,” by Alexis Wilder, to discovering the power of porn in “Cream,” by Saskia Vogel, the characters you’ll read about here aren’t afraid to explore in every sense of the word. They aren’t constrained by what our culture thinks women “should” do, and instead reach boldly into their personal arousal arsenals to follow the directions their inner erotic compass is pointing them.
We all deserve adventure in our lives. Maybe not every day (though I applaud you if you manage it), but at some point. We all deserve a lover with the enthusiasm of Bell’s Haydon, who tells Dara, “I want to get to know this pussy a little better. What it likes. What it doesn’t. All its different flavors.” We all deserve an attitude like that of Tysha in Jackson’s “Easy Ride,” when she reclaims herself from her dismissive ex: “I look at myself and know that I want more, because Neil always wanted less.” We all deserve pleasure, passion, and moments that make us think to ourselves, Is this really happening?
I hope this erotica collection sparks an adventure for you!
Rachel Kramer Bussel
Atlantic City, New Jersey
