"The Spicy Bedtime Companion," Joan Lloyd

Pros: Great way to spice up a relationship!
Cons: Some flat limericks; won’t be everyone’s style
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Review book courtesy of Penguin Group.

Joan Elizabeth Lloyd’s The Spicy Bedtime Companion: Erotic Stories and More is an unusual collection of short erotic stories, bawdy limericks, and odd bits of sexual trivia. The stories range from the fantastical (an erotic experience inside a virtual game realm, or the writer whose erotic story comes to life) to the so-real-you-could-live-it (a handful of stories about couples rekindling the flames of passion through experimentation).

 

I think this format of story is particularly wonderful for couples to use as inspiration. The stories are quite short, perfect for reading just before bedtime. And many of them are practically blueprints for how to experiment erotically with your partner. Whether or not you actually want to try anything detailed in Lloyd’s stories, you might well find your encounters get a bit hotter after reading them!

There’s an element of style to many of the stories that I think make them particularly perfect for this purpose, but that will also limit the book’s audience in other ways. Some folks like their erotica unrealistic and fantasized—no mess, no fuss, no worry over the little details of reality. Most of Lloyd’s stories include and address all these little details that make them seem so utterly down-to-earth and realistic. For a couple looking for inspiration that’s probably perfect; for someone looking for sanitized erotica it’s definitely not going to appeal.

I was less fond of the limericks than of the stories; when they were good they were spot-on, but many of them just felt forced & flat to me. The trivia, on the other hand, was often fascinating. (Why no, I didn’t know that a rattlesnake mating can last up to 22 hours!)

These stories are quite short, surprisingly non-fanciful, and oddly “realistic” (as strange as that sounds when talking about stories involving imaginary characters coming to life). I think they’re perfect as evening inspiration for loving couples!