Review: Slave Girl by Lisa Cach

Title: Slave Girl (1,001 Erotic Nights #1)
Author: Lisa Cach
Format: egalley
Pub. Date: July 28th 2014
Source: Netgalley & Pocket Star



★★

Two stars.

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I got this book because I love two things featured in it: sex and Rome. I'm a Classics minor, and I have an obsession with things that are in any way Greek or Roman in nature. Plus an erotica on top of it? Sign me up. Unfortunately, I didn't like this nearly as much as I wanted to.

That beings said, it did have some high points going for it in some aspects. I really, really like the concept of this book. A man has been training his slave for years, getting her ready so that he can take her virginity. Only, she gives it to someone else against his orders, someone not even of the same side in politics. I really liked the world Cach created as well. The outfits were well described, as were the people and the places around them. It was really easy to place yourself in the story.

But then things got a bit worse.

This is partially to do with me. If the anatomical words in an erotica don't make it a steamier story, than it is hard for me to get into it. Such was the case with Slave Girl. The fact that the girl's nether-regions (I am purposely being clean here, folks) were referred to as a "cunny" just really rubbed me wrong. It made it hard for me not to laugh, which effectively killed the sexual vibe the author wanted. Sexual, but not romantic. Granted, this is a novella serial, so feelings may develop later, but if you're looking for immediate romance with your sex, this isn't the read for you.

I was also kind of off put by the melding of Greek and Roman. While I know that their myths are interchangable (simply speaking of course) and that the two cultures influenced each other, hearing both Greek and Roman myths/names just kind of took me a back a bit and made me go "Wait..."

I was bored for the first half of this book, but I pushed on. My love of Rome made me do it. But then, about halfway in, too much started to happen at once. It got really sexual and political and conniving out of nowhere, and it became rushed and a bit hard to follow.

I mentioned that the word "cunny" killed my sexy feelings towards this book. Well, that was furthered later on in the book. I don't want to give too many spoilers on details, but she has a trick to restore her "bits" so that she feels like a virgin again, and it involves animal organs and blood. I like my sex without that in it, please. I get that it's probably historically accurate, but that does not make it not kill the mood.

While this novella did have some good parts, I couldn't get past some of my issues. Some of them may be solved in the next installment, but I won't be reading on to find out. This is an erotica, so it does of course contain sex. If word choice isn't an issue for you, maybe you'll like it better than I did. Thanks to Netgalley and Pocket Star for my copy in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Office Toy

Title: Office Toy (Office Toy #1)
Author: Cleo Peitsche
Format: egalley edition
Pub. Date: October 21st 2012
Source: Netgalley and Pouch Productions

★

One star.

Elle has a very important interview with Cunningham, and it doesn't start well, with the secretary serving her gross coffee and grumbling at her. But when the interview begins, Cunningham gets her out of her clothes to be fitted for new ones, and soon he and three other guys have taken claim to Elle in the office.

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This book is not even erotica, it's porn. So, know that before continuing with my review.

Now, let me just say, what?

The girl has no personality other than sex deprived submissive, and the men have none other than over sexed successful business men (Ana & Christian, anyone?).

This office screens its applicants for not only STDs, but gives psych evaluations to see who best fits into their little "game" of an office. Did I mention that this office has a convenient sex room, fitted with toys, chains, and furniture? Well it does!

Elle starts off with reservations, but somehow in the course of one short scene with three men, she becomes the queen of deep throating. That's important too, since all three guys are equipped with XXL sized members. They have to break her in and teach her to sacrifice her comfort for them, and the company.

And then it gets a little un-consensual. The boys start preparing her behind and her first, instinctive reaction (for the first time in this random unprofessional orgy) is "No." Instead of stopping or taking that as a red flag, Cunningham shooshes her and continues.

All three of these men are also, for some reason, devastatingly good looking and all want this same random girl.

I hate to say this, but maybe if it had been part of a full length novel a la 50 Shades, I could have overlooked the scene. But these men are bad examples of Doms, and will give girls the wrong idea about how Doms are supposed to be, instead of fueling them with some sort of fantasy, which I assume was the initial purpose in writing this story.

This book is less than 30 pages long, with 95% containing graphic M/M/M/F sex scenes. If you are looking for a short porn, then this is maybe for you. But if you like substance, a bit of plot, and any amount of realism in your naughty reads, this is a big ole pass.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pouch Productions for my copy.