Title: Telling Tales by Charlotte Stein
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Imprint: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic, Romance, Ménage, M/F, M/M/F, M/F/M, Foursome
Length: 240 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
One Steamy Reunion
Back in college, Allie and her friends used to come up with the wildest stories. When a professor bequeaths his mansion to Allie and three other former students, it’s the chance they’ve all been looking for to get back together. But there’s more than friendship bubbling beneath the surface…
As secrets are revealed and relationships rekindled, the stories get dirtier and the stakes get higher. And now Allie’s realizes that she isn’t quite sure who she wants…fun-loving Wade or quiet, restrained Cameron. Neither has been honest about their feelings, and now they have the chance to act on all of the tales that ignite their most primal desires.
The Review:
Telling Tales is another scrumptiously steamy erotic novel by Charlotte Stein that I highly recommend to readers who like their romances on the naughty side. Voyeurism, threesomes, foursomes and a little D/s play-nothing is off limits as college friends Allie, Kitty, Cameron and Wade reunite and explore all of their sensual desires.
Throughout college, Allie, Kitty, Cam and Wade were close friends who entertained one another with their lusty tales. Allie kept her crush on Wade a closely guarded secret but she poured out her fantasies in her erotic stories. When the four meet again, Allie still desires Wade, but she finds herself captivated by quiet and unassuming Cameron. A startling encounter in the dead of night piques her curiosity and suddenly Allie is not sure which man she craves more…
Allie is the novel’s narrator so we experience firsthand her ambivalence about reuniting with her college pals. She is not very confident sexually and she is a little embarrassed about the stories she wrote years ago. Her conflicted feelings about Wade begin as soon as they meet again and although she is still drawn to him, it is Cam who catches her undivided attention. When the four renew their old hobby of reading sexually explicit stories aloud, the sexual tension between them quickly rises to a fever pitch.
Wade and Cam are at completely opposite ends of the spectrum and I loved watching them evolve throughout the story. Wade is not quite what Allie remembers or maybe it just a case of her crush clouding her perception of him. He is player-smooth and self-confident but arrogant when it comes to women. Cam is reserved and that saying about still waters running deep? Yeah, that aptly describes this gentle man. He is repressed and ashamed of his sexual fantasies but Allie pushes him way out of his comfort zone. Once she figures out what makes him tick, Cam is an enthusiastic participant in some pretty kinky but smoking hot sex scenes.
Their deepest, darkest fantasies are fully explored in sex scenes that are highly detailed and incredibly erotic. Dominant and submissive roles are fully explored and there is also a little bondage as well. While Kitty is an active participants in many of the scenes, there is only a brief amount of sexual interaction between her and Allie. However there is male/male penetration between Wade and Cam during the foursome scenes and while the women are also involved, one of them is usually a voyeur until they switch places.
Telling Tales is the second novel I have read by Charlotte Stein and while similar themes are explored in both, the storylines are quite distinct from one another. While the beginning of the novel is a bit uneven, I was quickly drawn into this fascinating story. It is a deeply sensual romance with depth and unexpected humor and although the romantic aspect is understated, there is never any doubt it is a love story in the making. Another outstanding novel by a true master in the erotic romance genre.
