Sunday, May 16, 2010

"The Cowboy: Wild Ride/Cowboy in Paradise/Saddle Sore/Rodeo Man" by P. J. Mellor, Nelissa Donovan, Vonna Harper, and Nikki Alton

Every once in a while you get a donation that just throws you for a loop; this was exactly that sort of book. Someone had dropped off two bags of various mass market paperbacks and trade paperbacks, most of them romances, along with a few Christian fiction and I think one non-fiction book - and this. I thought at first that it was just another romance until I turned to read the description on the back. About 3/4 of the way down the blurb, there's a box that says something along the lines of "CAUTION - EXTREMELY HOT! Sexually explicit material inside".

Oh my. Then I realized if I'd just looked at the publisher (Aphrodisia), I would have known right from the get-go that this was erotica. Yeah, something we do not carry in my library system, and something we also don't sell at our annual book sale (just like any X-rated DVDs, although I'm not entirely sure any one's ever turned in one of those!) I set the book aside trying to decide what to do with it, then after talking to my good friend Wendy of Half Price Books, I realized I knew exactly what to do - send it to her! They've always had a good section of erotica for purchase, and the book is in good shape for an older title. And I have to admit, the cover art is certainly eye-catching!

Well, after the book sat there for a few days on my shelf at home, I have to admit that curiosity got the better of me. Plus I was looking for something to read before I went to sleep, so I didn't want to pick up anything too cerebral. I haven't been overly impressed with the erotica I've tried in the past, and I figured this wouldn't be any different. I was right, to an extent, but I was also wrong.

There's not much sense trying to describe each story because they're all basically the same: a cowboy meets a girl (or fellow cowgirl, as the case may be) and the instant sparks between them lead to sexual encounters. There's no build-up to any sort of romance here - it's pretty much "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" territory. Except that the first three stories all have more of a plot than I had anticipated, and they all could have easily been mere romance stories if the sex had been toned down a bit. Perhaps this is because the authors are all women, but I really haven't encountered that before, the "romance" angle. The last story was what I'm more familiar with, pretty much nothing but explicit sex (to the point that I found myself skipping over a lot of text) and an ending that could go either way.

The writing is competent but I never found myself very involved with any of the characters. As for the "hotness" of the book, I guess it's hot. Maybe I'm just one of those people that doesn't "get" erotica, but I find a tastefully, well-written sex scene that still leaves a little something to the imagination a whole lot "hotter". Maybe it's the fact that the authors have to use the more graphic language rather than the usual literary euphemisms, but I just don't really care for my sex to be that.... hmmm.... clinical? If you do enjoy erotica, this might not be a bad book to track down. I do like the cover, though, so I'll give them brownie points for that!

2 comments:

Wendy said...

Thanks for the HPB plug! We can always use good erotica titles esp. with cowboys on the cover. The only thing better would be nascar driving, horseback riding vampire (all-in-one) to please the ladies (and ahem, men.) BTW, are you sure all the authors are female? Lots of guys use pen names to sell the smutty stuff. :)

Traci (aka the Bookbabe) said...

Hmmm.... I hadn't thought of that. Could be - didn't do any research on the actual authors themselves. Anyway, 3 of the 4 stories definitely have a romantic/happily-ever-after slant to them, which is why I thought they were truly female authors. Curious, though, huh?