Chrissy’s favorite (and least favorite!) reads of 2012
Merry Christmas y’all! See, for this Doll (Noa) it’s business as usual today so I’m happy to post and share Chrissy’s literary hits and misses for 2012.
On her naughty but very very nice list:
Saving Sunni by Kasi Alexander
Jessie Chambers—“Sunni” to the local BDSM community—needs to grow up. Sunni goes to the local goth/kink store, The Fringe Element, and is immediately embraced by its quirky owner as the newest member of her “little family.” But almost immediately things start to get complicated. Sunni’s ex shows up, claiming he’s found God and that God wants them to get back together. A video of Sunni and Sir Rune doing a scene at the club winds up on television and all kinds of trouble ensues. Sunni must figure out a way to restore her relationships, keep her master from getting deported, take over running the store, and stop everybody else from trying to “save Sunni.” READ REVIEW
Grimalkin Witch Assassin by Joseph Delaney
One witch is the most feared, the most ruthless, and the most deadly of all the witches in the county. If she hunts for you, she will find you. If you have crossed her, you don’t stand a chance. She is the witch assassin, and her name is Grimalkin.
Grimalkin’s one alliance is with Tom Ward, the Spook’s apprentice. With Tom, she plans to rid the world of the most terrifying evil, the Fiend, who once did her great wrong.
For the first time, fans of the Last Apprentice series will hear the story from Grimalkin’s side, as she is hunted herself by creatures of darkness set on revenge.
Grimalkin has never been defeated. But can she survive an enemy created for the sole purpose of destroying her? READ REVIEW
Skeleton Women by Mingmei Yip
Once upon a time in China, the most beautiful and gifted women were known as “skeleton women”—the ultimate femme fatales who could bring a man to his knees, or to his doom…When Camilla, a young orphan girl in Shanghai, is adopted and brought to live in luxury, it seems like a stroke of luck. But as Camilla grows to womanhood, she realizes that her “rescue” was part of gang leader Big Brother Wang’s scheme. Camilla is trained in singing, dancing, knife-throwing and contortion—all to attract the attention of Wang’s enemy, the ruthless Master Lung.
Forced to become Master Lung’s mistress, Camilla meets two other intriguing women. Shadow is a magician and rival for Master Lung’s affections, while Rainbow Chang dresses like a man and wields power through her incendiary gossip column. Both pose risks to Camilla’s safety and status. But an even greater danger comes in the form of Master Lung’s eldest son, Jinying, who despises his father’s violent lifestyle—but loves Camilla. Only by plotting to eliminate Lung can she make her escape, but at what cost?
Mingmei Yip, author of Peach Blossom Pavilion and Song of the Silk Road, has created a captivating story filled with intrigue and opulence, peopled with extraordinary characters impossible to forget. READ REVIEW
Lure of the Dead by Joseph Delaney
Time is running out for Thomas Ward. His final battle against the Fiend is drawing near, and the Spook’s apprentice has never felt more alone in his task. Isolated and afraid, the Fiend is set to send the greatest of his servants against him – Siscoi, a Vampire God more ferocious than anything he has yet faced. Tom must risk his life to prevent the evil beast from entering this world, even as he learns that the final destruction of the Fiend may involve a sacrifice more terrible than he can imagine. READ REVIEW
Meanwhile, on her Santa won’t be sticking these underneath my tree list are:
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James
When literature student Anastasia Steele is drafted to interview the successful young entrepreneur Christian Grey for her campus magazine, she finds him attractive, enigmatic and intimidating. Convinced their meeting went badly, she tries to put Grey out of her mind – until he happens to turn up at the out-of-town hardware store where she works part-time.The unworldly, innocent Ana is shocked to realize she wants this man, and when he warns her to keep her distance it only makes her more desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her – but on his own terms.
Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success – his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving adoptive family – Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a passionate, physical and daring affair, Ana learns more about her own dark desires, as well as the Christian Grey hidden away from public scrutiny.
Can their relationship transcend physical passion? Will Ana find it in herself to submit to the self-indulgent Master? And if she does, will she still love what she finds?
Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever. READ REVIEW
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents’ attention, bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the cake. She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother—her cheerful, good-with-crafts, can-do mother—tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes a peril and a threat to Rose.The curse her gift has bestowed is the secret knowledge all families keep hidden—her mother’s life outside the home, her father’s detachment, her brother’s clash with the world. Yet as Rose grows up she learns to harness her gift and becomes aware that there are secrets even her taste buds cannot discern. READ REVIEW
Aqua Erotica by Mary Anne Mohanraj
Imagine a hot tub party where a married couple tests the boundaries of fidelity. A model who finds herself unaccountably aroused as she poses for a watercolor artist. A pool of water on a desert road and two lovers who know how to make the most of it. This is Aqua Erotica, a sensuous tasting of desire’s liquid, ecstatic other worlds.Aqua Erotica is a siren’s song, a book so unforgettably sexy that you will want to take it with you to the bath, the sauna, the night-lit pool.
What’s amazing is that you can.
The first-ever waterproof book for adults. The most seductive collection of original literary erotica ever gathered under one cover.
Aqua Erotica is a book that quite literally goes places you never imagined books could go. Featuring today’s boldest erotic voices:
Francesca Lia Block
Poppy Z. Brite
Louise Erdrich
Carol Queen
Marcy Sheiner
Cecilia Tan
Barry Yourgrau
and many othersHappy Holidays!
