Samhain Publishing, $3.50, ISBN 978-1-60928-163-2
Fantasy Erotica, 2010
Anya Richards – who previously wrote hot stuff under the name Anya Delvay – presents Awaken, one of the four stories published under the Enchanted series. This series is all about erotic romantic fairy tales with heavy paranormal elements, so this one is all about magical orgasms.
Prince Ryllio lived a charmed life, pursuing his pleasures without nary a worry about the world, until one day when he happened to catch the sight of the Faery King enjoying the wonders of nature with his Queen, if you know what I mean. The silly man couldn’t resist doing what men usually do when they enjoy too much the sight before them, and as a result couldn’t stop himself from making enough noise to alert those two of his presence. The Queen decided that Ryllio should be punished by being turned into a stone statue of his princely self sporting a massive erection.
So there he is today, a rude stone statue in the very same glade. As it happens, our heroine Myrina Traihune happens to take a short detour through the woods to pass some stuff to the old woodcutter on her way home. She is too busy daydreaming about how her last boyfriend didn’t give her exactly the best time in bed, so she doesn’t know how she manages to find herself in a lovely clearing before a crystal clear stream. Naturally, she has to go skinny dipping and, in the process, give herself a thorough examination of her body.
Guess who is watching her all this while. Somehow, arousing her body until she screamed like banshee caused some kind of bond to form between her and him, and plenty of weird dream sex woo-woo stuff ensues.
Awaken has a very appealing air of bawdiness permeating every page just like any wholesome work of erotica should, and in this case, the story explores and celebrates feminine sexuality with unabashed abandon. I can’t help but to be charmed, really, but how Myrina slowly discovers how to obtain pleasure from her own body. The later parts of this short story pack an unexpected emotional punch, allowing this story to elicit some emotional response from me in a degree that surprises me.
The downside to this story is that by the last page, I can buy Ryllio’s love for Myrina since he shows some emotional maturity as the story progresses. However, Myrina’s feelings for him seem to arise from youthful infatuation rather than genuine love. Still, this is a short story, and I believe that the author has done as much as the word count would allow to make her story as emotional as it is carnal.
Raunchy, bawdy, shameless, and surprisingly romantic and emotional at places, Awaken is a pretty good example of an entertaining quick dirty romp of a read.
