Maryam reviews Sugar & Spice edited by Mira Paul

Winter break is over and it is back to school for me! And what better to distract me from the winter cold and an endlessly busy schedule than some BDSM fiction? Well, it beats dong homework(no pun intended).

Sugar & Spice is an S&M anthology edited by Mira Paul. I took Danika’s advice and saved the first story, Elizabeth Thorne’s ‘Nothing Like the Sun’, for last. I’m glad I did; it is clearly the most well-written vignette in the whole book. The other stories are entertaining, but don’t hold up to the caliber of ‘Nothing Like the Sun’; my other favorite was ‘Für Elise’ by Maggie Morton, about a first-time sub – there was the great dichotomy of being the top throughout other aspects of the relationship but subbing to a femme girlfriend, and the characters were very tender and real. There were some stories where I could just not suspend my disbelief – San Francisco Sex University?!?! – and while I loved the D.E.B.S-esque ‘Enforcement’ by Dorla Moorehouse, I caught a continuity error(You can’t spank a satin-covered ass when you JUST explained she got her THONG pushed out of the way, come on!) Not the greatest set of stories, but an entertaining read for sure, especially if you have a weird sense of humor like I do and can’t help laughing at dialogue like “Would you kindly prep the anal beads?”