Turned Out by Angel M. Hunter

Publisher/Date:  Urban Books, June 2007
Genre(s):  Romance, Bisexual
Pages:  262
Website:  http://www.angelmhunter.com

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

The saying goes, “Once you go black, you never go back.”

But in TURNED OUT, the tantalizing novel from Angel M. Hunter, the saying should go, “Once you go clit, you can’t get enough of it.”

That’s the situation with Champagne Rose, a publicist in a long-term relationship with Zyair, a man who would do anything to marry her. They’ve been shacking up for five years, and while they love each other dearly, their love life has become more than mundane. Their routine is the same, the sex is the same – both are clamoring for something exciting to spice up their bedroom boom.

They figure a vacation at an exotic locale is just the ticket. Champagne and Zyair get more than they booked for when a late-night rendezvous for two on the beach ends in a threesome. The addition of an anonymous woman adds just the spark they need, and they return home with a refreshed attitude toward their relationship.

Except Champagne is still thinking about that night. A lot. She wants to know if the pseudo-lesbian fling was just that, or if she really has an attraction to women. It’s something she’s toyed with before, but only in her wildest desires.

Soon Champagne is consumed with thoughts of making love to a woman again — to taste her, please her, to experience the softness and amazing orgasm she had on the beach. When she gets Zyair, who’s more than willing of course, to let her try it again, she’s knows it will be better than before.

But whom will she select to make her fantasy come true?

Hunter’s Turned Out is a pleasurable novel, where the reader can follow a woman’s bi-curious journey. It’s an easy read. Though I was left hanging by the book’s end, I know it’s just a set-up for the sequel to Champagne’s continuing adventures.

And I’ll go along for the ride.

Reviewed December 2008

Love Lust and a Whole Lotta Distrust by DeiIra Smith-Collard

Publisher/Date:  AriSiri Publishing, May 2008
Genre(s): Bisexual, Romance, Straight Books with Lesbian Characters
Pages:  276
Website:  http://writerwithinonline.com/

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

The ladies of Synergy Wireless are off the chain. Never has a group of scandalous employees been introduced than in LOVE LUST AND A WHOLE LOTTA DISTRUST by author DeiIra Smith-Collard. They love, they fight, and basically wreak havoc on own their own lives – just another day at the office.

Co-workers Nicole, Kendra Carmell and Natina play a lot harder than they work, bed-hopping and game-playing with the best of them. Nicole is the woman who refuses to take no for answer when it comes to fellow employee, Jason. Disregarding the fact that Jason is a player, she is determined to make the playboy settle down, even if it means tricking him and making a fool of herself – or destroying her relationship with her best friend, Kendra. Seeing Kendra and Jason together, she vows to do anything to push her friend out of the way to have Jason.

Meanwhile, Kendra’s not even studying Jason. She has her hands full with her own affair with Gia, a woman she met online. She chats with the Atlanta native every single day, exchanging poetry and photos. Soon the mental affair becomes a physical when Kendra is sent to Atlanta for work. They hit it off in, and Kendra is torn between the most passionate affair of her life and her dutiful husband.

While that drama unfolds, Carmell and Natina are new employees who extend their work endeavors to after-hours fun, hitting the town hard. It’s all fun at first, but there’s a misunderstanding when Carmell crosses the line with Natina. Believing Natina is sending her mixed signals, Carmell vows to make the woman her own, while humiliating her in the process and possibly destroying Natina’s new relationship with Louis.

And it just gets more outrageous from there. Smith-Collard keeps your attention with the antics of these amorous employees, where work takes a backseat to drama. The characters are fleshed out, and Smith-Collard is definitely a story-teller; it’s a rush just to see what will happen next.

But with all the going-ons going on at Synergy Wireless, I don’t see how the ladies get any work done.

Reviewed October 2008

My Little Secret by Anna J.

Publisher/Date:  Urban Books, Sept. 2008
Genre(s):  Romance, Erotica
Pages:  288
Website:  http://www.askannaj.com

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Anna J., known for her girl-on-girl, off-the-chain romps, is back yet again with another tale of lust, lies and lesbian action with MY LITTLE SECRET. The newest story from the author of My Woman His Wife and The Aftermath brings us Midori Hunter and Jayday B., two women whose secret affair goes from hot to dangerous very quickly.

The passion between the two is undeniable, despite the fact Midori is married to a top physician and has everything a wealthy wife could want. Jaydah, in her own right, is a highly successful author who has enough drama for several books. Their story begins when Jaydah encounters Midori at one her bookstore signings, and they realize their attraction is more than a storybook romance.

But after two years of being Midori’s little side dish, Jaydah is sick of the game. It doesn’t matter how many promises or “I love you’s” Midori comforts her with, Jaydah simply wants her all to herself. How can Midori deny how they feel, lie about her whereabouts, and share the things they share and not want to have something more?

Jaydah can’t get down with Midori’s fickle affection, and tries with great effort, to break it off – more than once. The back and forth of these two women is the meat of the story, who can’t seem to let go of one another, and at some points, even using desperate measures to get what they want. When Jaydah lets go, Midori worms her way back in. When Midori goes back to her neglectful, unfulfilling husband, Jaydah uses a calculated move to get her woman back. They can’t quite let go, but can never have each other as they wish.

What are two horny women to do?

In My Little Secret, Anna J . knows how to bring the lesbian action better than any “straight” woman can. The plot is a little sparse, other than the vacillating relationship between Midori and Jaydah, but the hot sex scenes somewhat make up for that. What’s really intriguing is the character Jaydah, who seems to be deliberately similar to Anna J.

Could there possibly be some truth to fiction?

Reviewed October 2008

Bare Necessities: Sensuous Tales of Passion by Hazel Mills

Publisher/Date:  Xpress Yourself Publishing, LLC , Feb. 2008
Genre(s):  Erotica, Short Story, Bisexual
Pages:  112
Website:  http://www.hazelmillsstories.com

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

When passions are laid bare, it can be sensual, exciting and worth every minute.

The same can be said about BARE NECESSITIES: SENSUOUS TALES OF PASSION, the collection of naughty gems and poems written by Hazel Mills. Containing 11 stories of sexual candor, Bare Necessities combines a little bit of romance and a little bit of sin to create a short-but-sweet romp worth reading.

Bare Necessities begins with “A Lover is Born,” where Laila is introduced to Gabe at her book club meeting and is instantly entranced. She wants to get to know Gabe better, and what better way than to host the next gathering at her place. The bash is a success in more ways than one, as the two ladies manage to get their own party started.

In “Surrender,” a workaholic husband and wife put the spice back into their marriage by attending a couple’s retreat. Yet, this isn’t just a boring therapy session; it’s an experience that allows them to seek unknown pleasures, and from it the married lovers learn that it’s okay to let go and explore their freaky sides.

Then in the most poignant tale of Bare Necessities, “Sweet Home Alabama,” a Philadelphia transplant returns for her family reunion in Sweet Home, a small town with even smaller dreams. Despite escaping, Tracy has only one regret after leaving her hometown: abandoning her childhood sweetheart, Monica. She vows to find her – and finally be with the woman she never stopped loving.

There more treasures in Bare Necessities, and Mills doesn’t hesitate to give them to you. Her stories are funny, warm, and hot in just the right places. Even though the book has a mere hundred or so pages, it doesn’t fail to get you fired up. I look forward to reading more from Mills – hopefully in a book with a much higher page count.

Reviewed August 2008

Down Low Sistahs by Wakiem Freeman

Publisher/Date:  Apricot Books International, Feb. 2008
Genre(s):  Contemporary Fiction, Bisexual
Pages:  224

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

If you pick up DOWN LOW SISTAHS, here’s a warning: Read at your own risk.

Urban author Wakiem Freeman’s tale of sistahs gone wild is blunt in its approach, to the point that it might offend the delicate black lesbian reader. The eye-opening plot centers around a dude named Nicor, who can’t seem to find a straight sistah to save his life. He tells the story in the most graphic fashion, his exploits downright dirty.

How it all begins is with the surprise his girlfriend Tamar drops on his 25th birthday: she has a girlfriend. This comes after dating him for six months and seeing future with the tall beauty. While he imagined they’d be married and having babies, she was slipping out her female lover. Nicor is incensed, hating the fact he was played like a fiddle.

Nicor is determined to find an honest woman with no lesbian tendencies. Instead he runs into female after female with a scandalous past of licking the cat. Either they’re straight forward with it (no pun intended) or play it off by claiming “that’s just my cousin.” Nicor gets fed up with lies and decides to expose these down low sistahs for what they are. He’s tired of men getting browbeaten about having DL inclinations, when women are out here wilin’ out.

His revenge occurs when Nicor writes a song about these women and catches superstar media attention. It all comes together for the befuddled brotha – until Tamar attempts to re-enter his life.

Freeman, to his credit, does give a candid male perspective to women living double lives, unbeknownst to their male partners. This behavior does happen, but is it possible that every woman he dates has a female lover? What I also didn’t care for was the explicit sex scenes Nicor had with different (read: a lot) women that didn’t add much value to the story. It offended me that he can denounce down low sistahs for their callousness, but he could sleep with woman after woman with little regard. The disrespect surely goes both ways.

The author does grab your attention – even if it’s the wrong kind.

Reviewed May 2008

Between Lovers by Eric Jerome Dickey

Publisher/Date:  Signet, May 2002
Genre:  Bisexual
Pages:  400
Website:  http://www.ericjeromedickey.com

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

BETWEEN LOVERS, the sixth book from best-selling author Eric Jerome Dickey, takes a more different turn than any of his previous novels: this one involves a bisexual triangle between an unnamed narrator, his ex-girlfriend and her lesbian lover.

The story revolves around Mr. Anonymous, a jilted fiancé left at the altar by girlfriend Nicole, and who’s now back in his life. A year later, however, things have truly changed: Nicole is now in a committed relationship with Ayanna. That doesn’t stop her from having her cake and eating, too. She wants the three of them to be together.

Mr. Anonymous at first is down for it at first, but then his heart is torn between loving and hating Nicole, becaythe fact that she puts him in this position. And soft-stud Ayanna feels the same way; it’s only their love for Nicole that makes them want to share her and hold on to her tightly.

And that one night opens a Pandora’s Box. In opening himself to anything, he’s learns everything – and what happens next is anyone’s guess.

Dickey is the master of spellbinding, sinful novels, and Between Lovers definitely keeps it hot. I enjoyed the basic premise of Between Lovers, and the story keeps you on the edge of your seat. However, the whole three-way between Anonymous, Nicole and Ayanna dragged on far too long for me. I wondered what would make a person want to stay with a selfish woman like Nicole, who basically wanted to have both lovers for herself without regard to either person’s feelings. The novel also doesn’t do anything for the negative perception of bisexuals, portraying them as people who simply flip from men to women at the drop of a hat.

Reviewed March-April 2006