October 12, 2011

Short Story Review: Cosmo’s Sexiest Stories Ever

Cosmo’s Sexiest Stories Ever: Three Naughty Tales
by Jane Green, Jennifer Weiner, Meg Cabot

Publication date: 23 Auguest 2011 by Hearst
ISBN 10/13: 1453227806 | 9781453227800

Category: Adult Contemporary Romance
Keywords: Romance, short story, realistic
Format: eBook (e-ARC received from Netgalley for review)

From goodreads:

The world’s best-selling magazine for young women asked three best-selling authors to each write a story steamy enough for the pages of Cosmo—a tall order, but these ladies so delivered. The trio of tantalizing tales was such a hit that they’ve been compiled into this must-have ebook. Now, readers can devour these naughty little nuggets whenever, wherever. Here’s a taste of the deliciousness inside: “Sex Under the Stars” by Jane Green. Maggie’s marriage fell apart three years ago—and now she has her eyes set on her ex-hubby’s smoke-show of a best friend. “Birthday Sex She’ll Never Forget” by Jennifer Weiner. Daphne’s turning twenty-six, and the best damn gift she could have ever asked for comes in the form of a hot guy from her past—and his spine-tingling mattress moves. “Falling in Lust at the Jersey Shore” by Meg Cabot. When Gemma agrees to go in on a house at the Jersey Shore, she assumes every dude there will be a gorilla juicehead. So she is pleasantly surprised by the yummy piece of eye candy waiting for her when she arrives.

Thuy’s review:

Unfortunately these are not the sexiest stories I’ve ever read. I’ve read much sexier, steamier stories. However, I don’t think this is the fault of the writers more than it’s a fault of the format of the stories. They’re just too short. In fact, I don’t know if I’d call them stories as more than sexy scenes. I don’t know the actual page count since it was only available in eBook format but it three short stories. While they each had interesting premises and the writing was well done on all of them, they lacked character and story development.

In “Sex Under The Stars,” Maggie is still hurting from the failure of her marriage three years prior when his best friend comes back to town. He’s always been attracted to Maggie but has stayed away because of his relationship with her husband. Now that she’s a free agent, he takes her out on his boat for a night neither of them will forget. While I liked this idea in this one, I found Maggie to be somewhat unlikeable. She feels very sorry for herself over the failure of her marriage but keeps saying that she knew she wasn’t in love with her husband when she married him. Then she gets mad when he leaves her and says that he never deserved her. I found myself thinking that she didn’t deserve a night under the stars with her sexy friend.

Of the three stories, “Birthday Sex She’ll Never Forget” was my favorite. The story of the high school nerd coming back as a grown up hottie was fun and sexy. It also felt that Daphne and Caleb at least had a little bit of history and an emotional connection. Their hot love scene still manages to be sweet and touching.

“Falling In Lust At The Jersey Shore” feels like the beginning of a really good beach read. Gemma heads to the Jersey Shore imagining it to be littered with tan buffoons and instead, finds an attractive male specimen working in the backyard of her rental house. I found myself wondering what happened after their hot encounter by the pool.

I am familiar with all of these authors though I’ve never read anything by Jane Green. Reading these stories wouldn’t make me go out and get a book by any of these authors but neither would I avoid these authors based on these stories. Since this is for Cosmo, I am assuming that these stories appeared in the magazine at some point, which explains why they’re so short. The scenes themselves were quite steamy and I enjoyed them but they left me unfulfilled and a bit frustrated. A quick roll in the hay is fun but I need more than hot sex to keep my interest. The buildup of sexual tension is sometimes the best part of a romance and this has almost none. If you’re looking for a sexy read, I’d skip this brief collection and pick up a full length book by any of these authors or any number of great romance books out there.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.