Lambda Book Report: Skilled Hand Work
-- Bett Norris, Volume 13.09-10

Kallmaker gently pokes fun at and pays homage to the paperback romance novels of the past; in [Erotica] she does the same. We have a physical fitness trainer at a Florida resort, where sexual conquests of a very transient nature are abundant. We have a lesbian tour group booked for the week. The stage is set for some very hot, no-strings-attached sex. Kallmaker does not disappoint anyone expecting sex on every page. It’s there; it’s hot; it’s imaginative; and the bonus is that it’s well-written and well, entertaining. But in standard Kallmaker style, we get personalities, conflict, plot, tension, resolution, all the requisites for a regular read…

Then, in typical Kallmaker fashion, other stuff happens: the plot deepens, expanding to include a death in the family, some soul searching, a life change or two. There’s humor and pathos, and of course the sensational sex scenes.

And there you have it. An erotic novel that is more than it’s expected to be, more than it’s required to be. Should we feel cheated? Why can’t the author just give us what we want without distracting us with baggage like plot, for heaven’s sake? Why can’t she simply provide what’s required, an evening of steamy sensuality that will send the reader, very bothered and hungry, into the arms of the nearest loved one?

The answer lies in Kallmaker’s skill and years of experience. She knows how to tease the reader with her expertise. She has a sure hand and a steady eye after fifteen romance novels, six fantasy novels writing as Laura Adams, and numerous contributions to erotic anthologies. She knows how to play with genre; she knows how to respect the reader. She is so good that we don’t know we are being manipulated, made to want more than is called for, more than is necessary to satisfy the requirements of both genre and the fan of erotic literature. We are in very skilled hands indeed.

Sex and love and the whole damn thing
Karin Kallmaker heats up the lesbian romance genre

By Loren King
Review Published: Thursday, November 25, 2004
BAY WINDOWS: New England's Largest Gay & Lesbian Newspaper

Popular lesbian novelist Karin Kallmaker's first full-length erotic novel delivers the goods for fans of the author's trademark romantic couplings. But In All the Wrong Places, published under Bella Books's erotic division, Bella After Dark, Kallmaker adds plenty of heart-stopping, toe curling, multi-orgasmic sex to her erotic repertoire which has until now mostly appeared in the author's anthologized short fiction. In this novel, not only does the heroine enjoy lust filled nights with her lover, she rises to make breakfast in the morning for her, too.

Kallmaker is a writer deft and experienced enough to invigorate her formulaic story with sexually explicit scenes that generate real heat, because she also knows how to create characters with some depth, even within the confines of the romance genre. And fans of her dyke romances won't be disappointed as the author allows her heroine to lose her heart, while fans of hot sex on the page won't be bored - Kallmaker's efforts here are plentiful, wholly sex-positive, credible and varied.

The setting is a Florida resort where 26 year-old Brandy Monsoon is a fitness instructor. She can't resist the bi-curious girls that vacation at the resort; just a few pages in, we're treated to one such dalliance in a ladies locker room. But these trysts don't prove all that satisfying, so Brandy and best friend and fellow instructor, the sexy, straight Tess, become "f*ck buddies," and that they do with zest. But soon Brandy begins to feel more than the heat of their couplings. Kallmaker wisely withholds the inevitable payoff. She plays with the ups and downs of the women's emotional stages: the confusion about their feelings, the jealousy and the mixed messages of two sexually compatible women for whom even great sex may not be enough. It's no surprise where the plot will turn, but Kallmaker is skilled enough to pleasantly distract us until we get there.

In the meantime, we're entertained by a horde of vacationing lesbians who descend on the resort. Celine Griffin, a "famous comedian" who oddly doesn't utter one witty line, does teach Brady a thing or two about adventurous sex. There's no shortage of sex toys, graphic talk, and occasional domination - all done in consensual, mutually satisfying, passionate fun

A family crisis drives Brandy off the resort in a rented car. Her soul-searching journey back to the family home in Baltimore is more than a little clichéd and melodramatic, complete with an abusive father, a distant mother and a boorish brother who spews Leviticus in his sister's face. For good measure, Kallmaker even throws in Brandy's now straight teenage sweetheart who blatantly disses her. It's enough to make a girl hightail it back to the Sunshine State and back into her best friend's arms. Brandy's eventual reunion with Tess manages to deliver both suds and sex; kudos to Kallmaker for a novel that transcends the limitations of both the lesbian romance and erotica genres.

Petits jeux entre amies

Brandy et Tess sont professeurs de sport dans un hôtel-club, sur une île tropicale du golfe du Mexique. Le temps y est parfois long et les rencontres, féminines ou masculines, rarement satisfaisantes. Leurs petits jeux entre amies sont donc idéals, en attendant de trouver l’âme sœurr.

Brandy est ravie lorsqu’arrive un groupe de trois cents lesbiennes. Ces petits jeux lui apparaissent soudain bien fades, face à la perspective d’une soirée en compagnie de l’attirante Céline.Pourtant le lendemain, malgré une nuit mémorable, elle est perplexe : et si, finalement, ce qui n’était qu’un pis-aller dissimulait autre chose?

Osera-t-elle avouer ses sentiments à Tess.