When the temperature goes up, so does my sex drive and sense of hot steamy adventure. So when I had a chance to pick a book from August’s Sexis Naked Reader Book Club, I jumped at the chance to read “Red Hot Erotica”. I figured this would be right up my sweltering summer alley.

The book itself is an oversized paperback. The laminated cover has a couple making love on it, with a black background and the title in red, so this is definitely not a discreet book cover. Inside the book contains 178 pages, is nicely bound, and the font is easy to read.

Red Hot Erotica, published in 2006, is a collection of 19 steamy summer stories by different authors. It is published by Cleis Press, and edited by Alison Tyler, who is also the author of one of the stories. Ms. Tyler has also written 20 novels, and numerous other short stories that have appeared in countless other books as well as publications such as: Penthouse, Playgirl, Variations and His&Hers magazines.

In the introduction to Red Hot Erotica, Ms. Tyler writes “Heat makes us do crazy things.” And then she continues by introducing a little of what this book is about. Which as you can probably guess is that all of these stories are about hot sweaty summertime sex or, in some cases tropical locations, where hot sex abounds year round.

Most of the stories are heterosexual; some of them are married couples, some strangers, some exhibitionism, and there’s even one is a sex club. There are also a few homosexual stories in the mix.

All of these stories are very well written, but not all of them are especially steamy. Many of them were more of what I would read in a steamy novel that was more on the R rated side. And I have to admit some were just not my personal cup of tea. But some of them were very steamy and quite arousing.

Some of the ones I especially liked were:

It’s Just Not Cricket by Saskia Walker. This story is about a woman who fantasizes about dominating an upper class Englishman. He is quite taken with her and when they do finally end up alone, the tables are turned. He restrains her. To which, at first, she’s not happy about. But as he overpowers her she submits and is swept into the scenario, and surprisingly thoroughly enjoys it.

Star-Spangled Spanking by Naomi Sussman: A married couple decide to celebrate their anniversary by making love in the bleachers at the Hollywood Bowl during the 4th of July fireworks show, as they had so many years ago when they were young. It also includes some spanking and sex in the backseat of the limo, on the way to the bowl, with the driver watching through the rear view mirror. I have to admit the exhibitionist in me really loved this story. Not to mention, the limo scene is a favorite fantasy of mine.

No Panties by Tsaurah Litzky. While this story is not exactly strong on the erotica, I really liked it. It’s about a woman walking through New York City in a summer dress, sans panties. She’s hot, in more ways than one, and looking for someone to satisfy her needs. As she passes a few different men that might be what she’s looking for, she catches a familiar scent, It’s the men's cologne, Canoe. All of a sudden she’s reminded of the man she loved and lost through her own stupidity. But she decides to try to find the man that scent belongs to. And it only gets better from there. But you’ll have to buy the book to find out the rest.

At the end of the book there are “About the Authors” and “About the Editor” sections where you can learn more about your favorite authors, and some even have their websites included with their profiles.

Overall this is a pretty good book. I did enjoy many of the stories and would recommend this to others to check it out.

Most of the time I do not reread books unless they are absolute favorites. Though I have to admit there was a story or two worth reading again in this one.