Carnal Connections by Berengaria Brown

THE PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title: Carnal Connections
Author: Berengaria Brown 

Author Site

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Publisher: Breathless Press

Genre: Erotic/M/M/M

Length: 18 pgs.
Reviewed by: Russ Allen

RATINGS FOR:

Cover: 4

Presentation: 3

Editing: 4

Story: 2

Writing Ability: 3

Overall Card Rating: 

                                                 

About The Book:  Three gay guys meet at a gay wedding and spend the night in a hotel having acrobatic sex that leads them to consider a future relationship built on their orgies.

The Review: The above summary reveals the problem with this story: That is all there is.  The significance of its context: a same-sex wedding; is overlooked; the connection between the three men and the happy couple is barely mentioned; there is no real character development of the three main participants.  All we now is that they are gay, come on to each other, and retire to a hotel room for their orgy. 

As with many efforts to describe acrobatic sex, this writer is not able to do so in more than a mechanical way, similar to the way many adult movies get bogged down in 15-minute blowjobs or prolonged and unrealistic non-orgasmic intercourse.  In each case, after a while the reader/viewer is bored and turned off.  A story that wishes to be erotic needs to engage the reader’s imagination in what the participants are doing, otherwise the result is pornography that in times becomes tedious and pointless.  Whatever the intention of this author, gay porn is the result.

The author writes well [not great], and has an ability to imagine what a gay three-some orgy might be like.  Unfortunately, the absence of fuller development of the story before, during, and after the events in the hotel room leaves the reader only with that scene, and its mechanical description of sexual acrobatics fails in the end to engage the reader as the author might have wished.

Pagan Elements: N/A  

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.

Loving Lydia by Berengaria Brown

THE PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title: Loving Lydia
Author: Berengaria Brown

Author Site

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Publisher: Breathless Press

Genre: Erotic 

Other: F/F

Length: 18 pgs.
Reviewed by: Russ Allen

RATINGS FOR:

Cover: 2

Presentation: 3

Editing: 3

Story: 4

Writing Ability: 3

Overall Card Rating: 

                                     

About The Book:  Lydia, a 40-year-old executive, and Tammy, a younger nurse, meet at a gym and develop a lesbian sexual relationship.  Both have secondary issues: Lydia wants to help women break through the glass ceiling; Tammy wants Lydia to become more spontaneous and less organized. Neither in the end is addressed.

The Review: This is a well-written story that avoids some of the pitfalls of erotic literature. The presentation of Lydia and Tammy’s sexual encounter in the former’s apartment avoids the acrobatic nature in some stories, and thus does not evolve into boring pornography. The same-sex activity comes across as sensitive and caring, possibly supporting the suggestion that the two will now become lovers.

The secondary plot of the story, Lydia’s feeling that she has achieved what she can in advancing up the corporate ladder, and her desire now to mentor young women to move even higher, while well presented, is in the end undeveloped. There is a hint that Tammy might become one of those women but that never happens. Instead, straightforward Tammy’s goal is to move rigid Lydia away from the attitude and approach to life that has in fact brought her such success. Failing to recognize this potential conflict, neither will be ready when it emerges as a real issue.

One of the issues with this type of story is whether it comes across as being real – whether the reader has to suspend his or her skepticism in order to enter into it.  Granted, stories serve many purposes: to entertain or challenge, to inform or expand one’s experience, to arouse or excite.  But for the most part, stories need to convey a sense of the real. 

This story does so up to a point. The sexual activity is believable, the separate professional motivations and personal attitudes are understandable, and even the motivation of each in eventually seeking a relationship with the other rings true. What is lacking in this story is a sense of what happens next. 

Lydia has already had a bad lesbian experience; Tammy, despite her directness, comes across with a level of immaturity and responsibility. Their relationship might well devolve into an impediment to Lydia’s goals, and a challenge to Tammy’s relaxed approach to things.  Do these lie outside the story, or are they important to it?  The author chooses not to go there, and that leaves the telling incomplete.

Pagan Elements: N/A  

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.

Dinner Delights by Berengaria Brown

THE PAGAN & THE PEN BOOK REVIEWS

Title: Dinner Delights
Author: Berengaria Brown

Author Site

Buy Link
Publisher: Breathless Press

Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance

Length:10 pgs.

RATINGS FOR:

Cover: 3-The cover features a couple dressed for a night on the town, which is close to how the story starts, but it cuts off their faces. It would have been more effective with faces.

Presentation: 4-The only issue I had was the number of blank pages. The document is 18 pages long. The story takes only ten of those pages.

Editing: 5

Story: 4

Writing Ability: 5

Reviewed by: Violet Harper

About The Book: Krystal and Troy attend a retirement dinner as friends and leave as lovers.

 The Review: The story begins with two friends at a retirement dinner party.  He’s hot and she’s accepted that people will judge her for the little bit of extra weight she carries. Krystal values her friendship with Troy and she is excited when he makes an unexpected pass at her. The erotic scene was hot and sweet. 


The only thing that gave me pause was that Krystal hopped into bed with Troy after the narration discloses that she would never consider sleeping with him because it would compromise their friendship. It seems like a one-nighter until the next morning when Troy says they belong together. Krystal, true to character, won’t make the first move at suggesting a permanent relationship.  The reader expects Troy to be the aggressor there, too. I was worried that she ruined the friendship, even though she didn’t seem to be concerned about that anymore.


Overall, it was an enjoyable quick read with likeable characters, a quick burst of eroticism, and a plot that will fulfill the fantasies many people have about their attractive co-workers. The writing was interesting and it flowed naturally. Ms. Brown clearly has talent. 

Pagan Elements: None

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Disclaimer: Due to FTC regulations, any book reviewed on this site was sent for free by the author to The Pagan & The Pen. We are not paid to give reviews by Author or Publisher. Once review has been made, said books are deleted.