You know the age of the digital book has come when you get a call from your mother asking for advice on which e-reader she should buy. My mom’s not exactly a luddite, but she is a penny-pinching late-adopter who doesn’t know, or want to know, anything about gadgets.

She knows what she wants from an e-reader–or at least, she thinks she does. She wants a device on which she can read library books. She also wants a device on which she can listen to audio books (preferably those she can obtain from the library). And she doesn’t want a computer to read it to her…she wants the expensively produced audio-books with real actors.

Here’s the (possibly incompetent) advice I wrote up for her:

However, if you get a smart-phone  in addition to an e-reader, then this shouldn’t be a concern. I listen to audio-books all the time, but not on my e-reader. I use my phone for that. It would be great if I could listen to everything and read everything on one device, but I haven’t been willing to shell out the cash for an iPad. At least not until I’ve sold enough books to pay for my wooden floors

I read this book because someone told me not to. That’s how a lot of things happen in my life. I can’t resist a challenge and when someone professes moral outrage about a book, I have to see what all the fuss is about because I usually reserve my moral outrage for things like murder and–you know–stuff that actually hurts people.

Anyway, so what’s the skinny on Jasmine Haynes’ YOURS FOR THE NIGHT? Well, the heroines are all high priced call girls. Gasp. Get out your handkerchiefs, ladies, and fan yourselves before you faint away at the outrageous idea that sex workers might be people too, in search of a little love and happiness in their lives. I myself may need therapy to recover from the trauma of this earth-shattering premise, but in the meantime, I’ll give a quick overview of the three novellas contained in this book.

Those of you who are faint of heart will be happy to know that although this book is hot, it generally adheres to the most standard romance genre rules and expectations. In fact, the GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE was really only a feint at the fantasy. By and large, it’s a story about a financially-challenged real estate agent turned escort who falls in love with one of her first clients, a widower and single-dad.

The second story is a little racier, and more psychologically complex. In PAYBACK, we have a middle-aged divorcee who has taken up the guise of a high-priced escort to make herself feel sexy in the wake of her husband’s abandonment. As a heroine, she’s sophisticated and interesting. Her internal conflicts are perhaps more complicated than the story’s plotline would suggest. (She wants him to pay for it and he doesn’t want to pay for it, so that she’ll see him as someone to love, rather than just another client.)

At this point in the book, I despaired of it ever living up to a legacy of controversy. While well-written, it didn’t seem to be literary erotica. I would have categorized it more as steamy romance. And while I was very entertained, I wasn’t yet challenged or scandalized.

Having decided that the author was a tease, without even one perverse thought in her head, I went ahead and flipped to the last story in the book. TRIPLE PLAY.

Now, one of the fastest growing sub-genres is what we politely refer to as “the menage” so I’m not sure we can call this author a pioneer for writing about multiple sex-partners. But what Jasmine Haynes does in this story is break almost all the rules. The last story in her book isn’t about a woman who falls in love with more than one man. It’s about a woman who falls in love with one man, but still wants to have sex with others. It’s an alternate sexuality and it’s a fetish. It’s about voyeurism and exhibitionism, about submission and dominance (even though the characters specifically deny it) and it’s a direct challenge to traditional notions about monogamy.

Naturally, this is where the author absolutely shines. People whose sexual desires differ from the norm have always had struggles. Everyone knows this. But Jasmine Haynes actually explores those struggles, and she does so with sensitivity and grace. Jealousy and all the contradictions one might expect from her heroine’s situation are deeply explored. Luckily for her, the hero’s fetishes match up precisely, so she’s spared from having to make any heartbreaking choices. Even so, I found myself getting a little misty in parts. And I was unexpectedly touched.

Brava, Ms. Haynes. I’m so glad someone hated your book enough to make me read it. You’re a star!

This book is an unusual find–one that attempts to blend literary erotica with Regency romance and emerges as something else entirely. Fans of erotica may find it too soft. Readers of traditional Regency romance might find it too sensual. I found it to be beautifully written and thought-provoking.

The four novellas that comprise ON THESE SILKEN SHEETS all touch one another and find their premise in a naughty gentleman’s club called Harridan House. By choosing this unapologetically lurid setting in a famously prim and proper time period, the author immediately sweeps away any illusions the reader might have. Instead, she shines a light on the seedy underside of the era, and challenges readers to deny that no matter what social mores rule, our basic sexual instincts remain under the covers.

In spite of this erotic indulgence, most of the stories conform to traditional romance genre rules. At least, outwardly. What I found most edifying about Ms. Darby’s work is its fundamentally transgressive nature. In every story, she finds some element of the forbidden, and subversively weaves it along with what romance readers supposedly want and expect from a love story. We have the conventional lonely widow, the diligent parliamentarian with a broken heart, and even a single father, looking for traditional love. But alongside these expected romance tropes, we also have some unrepentantly depraved characters, and I loved them best for their utter rebellion against the society in which they lived. (And to some extent, against the society in which their desires would still raise eyebrows.)

Ms. Darby gives us self-actualized women, some of whom have rather standard fantasies and sexual urges, and some of whom would be thought as perverts, even today. Our very first heroine is a voyeur–and there was something courageous about Ms. Darby for exploring the sexuality of a young woman who wants a man she’s just seen making love to someone else. We are also given a former brothel madam as a heroine, and although her love story may have been the least erotic of the bunch, it was also presented without hysterics or histrionics about her past.

Of the four novellas in the book, the last one was my favorite. Perhaps it was because it was the bravest and I appreciate the challenges the author faced in writing it. Her hero, in this last story, was the butt of every joke in the stories preceding it. We’d already seen him through six other pairs of eyes, and the impression was not flattering. What’s more, our heroine isn’t a lady or an heiress, but a lowly maid. And when Lucy the Lady’s Maid is offered a position as a mistress to a powerful man, she does not throw up her hands, wailing dramatically about her virtue and honor–but rather, accepts willingly and happily.

Meanwhile, I eagerly await Ms. Darby’s next work and can’t wait to see what rules she decides to break next.

Everybody talks about summer reading, but for me, winter is the best season for books. Is there anything better than curling up with a cup of cocoa by the fire and immersing yourself in a novel? Post here in the comments and let me know what book you’re reading right now. I’ll enter you in a drawing to win a $10 gift certificate and a free copy of one of my books.

(Note: By entering the contest, you agree to let Stephanie Draven use your name on this website and her blog if you win. Your email address will never be sold or transferred to any third party. Stephanie might, however, contact you with the very occasional update on her writing and career. At your request, however, you’ll be promptly deleted from her mailing list.)