Sinfully Good.
4:Play: A Contemporary Cocktail of Erotic Short Stories definitely lives up to its namesake. This book is a collection of erotic short stories that range from urban erotica to more fanciful based erotica steeped in the macabre.
The first thing that struck me about Ms. Scott's book is how wonderfully impressive she is as a writer. Although a contemporary novel, 4Play is written by a very intelligent, witty, and literary-minded author. In this book, there are references to such historical figures as Murasaki Shikibu, William Churchill, Buddah, and others. I commend Ms. Scott for not writing the typical erotic yarn relying only on sexual deviantness for its effect, but rather creating a tapestry of sensual, but stirring episodes all delivered in her wonderfully vivid prose style. I was equally impressed with her eclectic use of verse as well.
Although erotica is not my typical reading subject, I would have given this book 5 stars if the last few stories had not lost the flare of the opening episodes. The stories which comprise the beginning of this book, such as my personal favorite, "Devlin Fey", are really engaging tales which gives you an intimate look into the lives of very intriguing characters. Unfortunately, the second half of the book began to fizzle out with mediocre stories which seemed more like leftovers than part of the main course. This is probably due to the fact that the characters who appear in the latter stories just aren't as interesting as the ones who people the opening tales. No amount of steamy sex scenes or excellent writing can make up for uninteresting characters or situations. To be sure, the erotic component is just as pronounced in the end as it was in the beginning. But it was a more mundane affair which failed to possess the dramatic flourish of the earlier stories.
With that said, I would quickly recommend this book to any and all readers searching for erotic fiction. This is some truly impressive work here and is worth reading. I am happy to have had the chance to discover the work of this young author. I look forward to reading more of her work.
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