I love anthologies and I cannot lie.
One of the main reasons for that is they cater to so many tastes in one place, and once in a while you discover a hidden gem of a kink or idea. Something you may have never and would never do, but the idea turns you on and sparks a desire from within.
If you follow Clitical you will know I’ve read and reviewed a lot of anthologies of late, and for the reasons stated above, so when the good people over at Cleis asked me to read another, I wasn’t about to say no. It wasn’t long before the book arrived and I could be found partaking of one of my favorite activities: reading.
There are 27 stories neatly nestled between the 204 pages that make up, ‘Can’t Get Enough.’ This collection of shorts is edited by Tenille Brown, and is her first anthology. To be honest there are so many good stories in those twenty seven, and the majority of them make me more than ready to grab something, anything, from my sex toy collection, and put them to work.
That said, there were, as always, when I read an anthology however, several stories that have stayed with me long after I’d read them. For this review I would like to concentrate on them for a few minutes.
My favorite story of the entire collection is entitled, Blue Balls, and I admit when I first spied the title, I was like, what? Who names a story blue balls? In this case, that would be the author, Kissa Starling. I soon discovered I loved this story though, and although there are blue balls involved, I’m willing to bet that they are not the ones you are thinking of. This story reminded me of a modern day version of Aesop’s Fables, as there is also a moral in the story and all I’m going to tell you is that is related to blue balls but also to greed.
Another of my favorites was Kyoko Church’s tale, ‘Spinning.’ This is a really clever tale as well, but just as importantly a hot one. I will tell you that I did sort of see the ending coming or at least I thought I had, but it is a twisted little tale that wraps an affair, a husband, and inanimate object into quite the love triangle. Make no mistake though the writing is as hot as this story is clever.
Won’t Last A Week, which is penned by Preston Avery details a week without his girlfriend and you can feel the longing within him, as he lays out each day. Take this piece from Monday for example:
Monday
I wake up before the alarm, still sandy and sticky from her. After finally getting home, I hadn’t showered, refusing to rinse away that last tactile reminder. I hope that she still smells like me, covered in my sweat saliva and semen. I spend a long time staring at the ceiling.”
And so the week goes on, the angst grows and so does the desire. It’s all palpable within the words on the page, and it makes no difference that the character is male. If anything this just made the story hotter for me. I love to read stories from the male perspective, but there were so many elements in the story, that I could relate to on a very personal level. To discover if he gets his wish you’ll just have to read the story.
‘ It’s simple really: I can’t get enough of cock.’ Is the line that opens Jacqueline Applebee’s story Rocket Fuel. If your interest isn’t already peeked, I would say I would be just a little surprised. The good news is this story, only gets better. Like all of the stories in this book, it