The Lustful Wife
by Selena Kitt
Release Date: August 13, 2019
Publisher: Excessica Publishing
Standalone
Number of Pages: unsure, guessing 150
Kindle Edition
Source: ARC from Book Sprout
Erotica M/F, F/F, F/M/F
Rating: XXX
Read 8/21/19
I could be a little obsessive, but when I found myself searching his Internet history, even I knew I was crossing a line.
What would you do, if you found out your husband was secretly calling into phone sex lines? Confront him? Throw him out? Divorce him?
Nope! Instead of getting angry, curious Tara decides to start listening in on John’s steamy conversations. She can’t help herself, because her laconic husband has never shared a fantasy with his wife during their entire marriage. But it turns out he’s been leading a double life, telling other women what he really wants in the bedroom!
When a frustrated Tara turns to her best friend, Kelly, for advice, her much more adventurous partner-in-crime hatches a plan to bring John and Tara together. Once the trap is set, using Kelly as bait, the two women spring it on one unsuspecting man whose fantasies are about to become a very sexy reality.
It seems to me that Selena Kitt has been re-releasing a lot of her books as of late. Sometimes those books were originally published under another name, sometimes she’s giving them a new title. (This one was originally Bluebeard’s Wife.) Regardless, I’ve had the opportunity to review quite a few this year. I don’t always have the time to take advantage of those opportunities, but I try to when I can. I feel erotica often gets a bad reputation and is fodder for jokes. I haven’t loved everything I’ve read by this author (oddly, it’s her non-erotica stories I seem to struggle with) but find that she’s a solid writer overall. Of both erotica and erotic romance.
What’s that? You thing erotica is the same thing as erotic romance? I beg to differ. In my opinion, erotica is a story written to titillate. A lot of authors seem to think it’s okay to just slap something together that has sex in it and they’re done. They are the authors that give erotica the stigma of bad writing. This author still gives an underlying story to her erotica and writes all of her scenes well, whether those scenes are an innocent interaction or one of the erotic scenes. But the main point of the story is sex and not a love story. Selena Kitt writes good erotica.
On the other hand, erotic romance has a central love story. Yes, sex will also drive these stories. But there is a well thought out and plotted romance at the core of these books. Selena Kitt also writes good erotic romance.
Although this story is about a married couple, I am classifying it as erotica. This isn’t a love story as much as a “let’s find the fire again” story. And there is a lot of sex and sexual situations, especially for Tara. And that is the driving force of this story…sex. I enjoyed the fact that she was open (or at least trying to be open) about her sexuality. So much so that she practically begged her husband to share his fantasies, but he’s too straight-laced to really open up to her. That doesn’t mean John doesn’t have fantasies and kinks, he’s just uncomfortable sharing them.
As Tara finds ways to bring her husbands inner kinky man out, she embarks on her own journey of what feels good to her. I’m not a fan of cheating scenarios so there were scenes that were a bit uncomfortable for me. What’s funny though is I don’t believe the characters themselves looked at those situations as cheating. (Side Note: I’m not talking about swinging or sharing, it’s not cheating when both partners are aware and okay with the situation.)
Bottom line, if you’re looking for a well-written erotica story then look no further.
3.5 stars
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of Book Sprout and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**
All In Good Time 