Rachel Kramer Bussel and the guys at Cleis do a grand job packaging together beautifully written stories that orbit a particular theme, or kink - which makes Passion something of an exception.

This collection of 20 stories don't have a 'selling point' - they're romantic sexual adventures focused on loving couples getting intimate in what might seem like - on the surface - the most pedestrian like ways. But don't let the lack of a kink turn you off the anthology; because it's fortunately full of surprises.

These twenty stories might not have a kink or fetish to 'sell' them to sexual consumers, but they make up for that by being some of the best written and most emotionally (and sensually) visceral stories I've ever read from Cleis. The lack of an erotic angle gives leeway for an emotional one; and that brings an eroticism and intensity all of it's own.

My particular favorite stories included No Risk, No Reward, by Saskia Walker, which evoked memories of my own sexual awakenings. I also enjoyed the Arch of Triumph by Monica Day, because it brought back vivid thoughts of my own romances in Paris. A lot of the stories were set abroad - so many that Rachel might have been able to angle the book as 'erotica overseas' if she hadn't focused on the emotional and relationship angle instead.

Like with all anthologies, some stories are better than others. The improbably-named Wickham Boyle contributed a story that was a bit too ripe with literary cheese for my liking; with more metaphors and literary references than an English Lit. dissertation - yet it remained taut and well written, despite coming across as being written by somebody who so desperately wanted to communicate to you how intelligent and cultured they were.

Ultimately, Passion falls into somewhat of a gray area when it comes to erotica. It doesn't quite deliver the kinkster angle that makes it a 'dip into' when you want a little sexual frisson; but, likewise, the stories are a little too explicit and saucy to be considered mainstream (even if the writing is top notch.)