Greetings from the Smut Vault! It’s-a me, Mario Nelson! I’m also known as your on-again, but mostly off-again contributor here on TehBen. In what is starting to develop into a troubling pattern, I was once again unexpectedly presented with another physical copy of erotica. The amount of tangible evidence in my home of the dark, seedy, and lewd world of adult fiction has literally doubled. Once again, I expect Matt and my friends to deny any involvement if anyone comes asking about it following my unexpected demise.
Continuing the trend from last time I was gifted one of these books, this edition is from the same author. The first copy I received and reviewed was Match, Cinder and Spark Volume II. This time I got M,C & S Volume IV: Sexy Shorts. It would seem that TehBen did not receive a paperback copy of Volume III. This is undoubtedly due to the author and his inspiration simply getting distracted, using it for various unthinkable acts, and tossing it aside in a sticky heap. Y’all can keep that one… Thanks…
Just like in Vol. II, we are guests within the psyche of our leading male and author: H.H. We follow him through his numerous and varied sexual adventures with his lover: the voluptuous and hypersexual Lola. Although in this edition they mostly refer to each other affectionately as “Daddy/Daddio” and “Lo”, respectively. Similar to before, Vol. IV is full of short 2-4 page tales of Lola desperately trying to satisfy the cravings of her endless libido, sometimes with H.H.’s assistance, and many times through self-stimulation.
However, a slight twist on my last experience with this pair is that while Vol. IV does come with a sprinkling of images, they aren’t real photographs but seem to be an artist’s rendition of Lola in all of her slutty goodness. This is a welcome addition in my eyes. That isn’t to say the real pictures were bad, if you recall correctly, I said I liked them for their boldness and what they could add to the erotica genre. But there is something to be valued in a drawing of a human figure that photography just doesn’t have. Think about it, while on the Titanic, Jack could have easily procured a camera and snapped a picture of Rose. But instead of taking the easy way out, he sketched her instead, and she loved it. She then repaid him by letting him freeze and drown, but that isn’t my point. What I’m getting at is, there is an evolution in how H.H. is using imagery to enhance his written word, and I’m about it. I’m interested to see if there’s a mixture of photos and sketches in Volume V.
As for the writing itself, there definitely seems to be a change in style between Volumes II and IV. The earlier edition seemed to read more like the erotic imaginings of two horny lovers. While the sexual appetites of Lola felt real, the locales and cirCUMstances (ha, nice!) felt more embellished or fictionalized. This rendition though feels more like excerpts from a Hello Kitty journal filled with details of the couple’s sexual exploits… their “sexploits” if you will. I’ve never spent a month at a monastery, in celibacy, only to break it with a bukkake session with my girlfriend and several other dudes before. However, I have come home from work and wanted to hold down my lover and give her a good deep-dicking. This change in style does seem even more evident if you have the context of reading the preface, which expands on how H.H. and Lola got this all rollin’.
In the end, I only have two real critiques; one is more substantive, the other is more of a character issue. The first issue is length and brevity. I get it that these are meant to be quick hitting, hot ’n’ heavy sorts of tales, but man would the sex be even hotter if the scenes were expanded on and embellished with some more details. I need a little more than “she sucked me off in the shower” or whatever. How did she do it? What was it like when you finished? That’s the stuff that’ll make the pages sizzle even more. The other minor problem is Lola’s coercion or guilt-tripping to achieve her sexual gratification. There are times in different stories where H.H. isn’t in the mood for sex, but Lola insists, and persists until she gets what she wants. “Now Nelson,” you say, “he still gotta fuck her so clearly he ain’t that bad off.” My thing is, I actually like that H.H.’s character occasionally doesn’t want sex. Men aren’t the caveman/meat heads society thinks we are where we think about sex more often than breathing. And when we are too tired/stressed/sick to want sex, I don’t appreciate us being pressured into it. I get it you’re a nympho, Lola, but damn girl, can I just get a little bit of empathy here, please?
All in all, I read about half of this volume and honestly, I’ll probably continue reading it in my spare time. It’s interesting, exciting, relatable, and it’d be nothing to read 3 or 4 chapters just to satisfy your lustful imagination in lieu of browsing porn on 4chan.
Special Thanks to H.H. and Lola Down for providing a review copy to TehBen.com. All thoughts and opinions are our own.
Author’s Twitter: @down_lola
Author’s Blog: My Sex Life with Lola
Purchase Link: Lulu.com
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