It has been a hell of a year. I’m halfway through a PhD and loving it. But that means that the majority of my reading this year went into journal articles and my own writing. So, here I am, at the end of December, short on my reading goal of 150 books. That feels paltry compared to past years when I read 300 books. But it is what it is. So, I’m going to do a bit of a short story clear out to pad the numbers. I 100% consider it cheating on my own self-imposed rules. But, again, it is what it is. PhD = extenuating circumstances…that’s what I’m telling myself anyway.

Lovers at the Museum, by Isabel Allende
Entertaining. There is gorgeous use of language and interesting characters.

Smoke and Bone, by Kody Boye
Really, only a single scene to tempt people into reading the series. But, other than some clunky dialogue, it was pretty good.

His Strawberry Cupcake, by Niki Brazen
I didn’t much care for this, but mostly it was because it isn’t my kind of humor. Where I’m sure I was meant to find it sassy and fun, I found it vapid and stupid. I didn’t even particularly care for the smexy scenes, and the villain was amazingly obvious. He’s literally the only extraneous character. So, of course, it was him.

Fire Maidens: Paris Rose, by Anna Lowe
It is a story that is, no doubt, meant to be titillating but is so pedestrian and predictable as to be flat-out boring. Woman loves a man, 2nd man tries to abduct and rape her, 1st man rescues her, they declare undying love and live HEA. That’s it, the whole plot. How many times have you read that exact same story?

The Mabon Feast, by C.M. Nascosta
This was a surprise winner for me. I really quite enjoyed it. It was a little slow to get to the point, left a few questions unanswered, and had the occasional editing blip. But, all in all, I enjoyed the smutty coziness of it (and I didn’t even realize those were two genres that could much overlap).

Beg Me Please, by M. Kay Noir
Meh, this was OK, I suppose. There is a novel-length version by the same title that I suspect is better. My main complaint here was that it was too much crammed into too short a story. This story involves two drastically different people, both of whom have to step outside their normal bounds of behaviors, overcome distrust, and learn to navigate a new kink safely. As such, it’s too much for 70 pages to shoulder. But I liked the premise.

The Minotaur’s Motivation, by Safia Nyx
Meh. Predictable and with too much extraneous history for such a short piece. It’s also not particularly smutty. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. But it’s worth knowing if that’s what you are looking for.

Fated to the Beast, by Kenzie Skye
Meh, I’ll give this a bored 3-stars. I know it’s a novella. I wasn’t expecting much, but the synopsis gives you the entire plot. So, there wasn’t anything to anticipate. The writing is fine, but there is nothing new or exciting here. It also needs a bit more editing, especially in the sex scenes and especially with the use of the word hip/hips. It alone is misspelled twice (unless he really is thrusting his hits).