Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Vol. 3

This year’s collection of erotic shorts lives up to its title, covering a variety of kinks and characters. Particular standouts are Thien-Kim Lam’s playful and sultry “Body Shots,” in which fiercely competitive Kit’s anniversary present to her husband threatens to defeat her; Brandy Fox’s gentle and sweet “Overexposed,” in which a lonely woman returns to her home turf and accidentally reconnects with the one who got away; and R.J. Richardson’s lingering, lovely “A Love Affair All My Own,” in which a lead ballerina finds an alluring new angle on “Swan Lake.” In Sommer Marsden’s “Demon Purse,” the cosmetics-loving heroine takes charge of her husband’s fetish. Tamsin Flowers’s “Red Satin Ribbons” turns a workplace acquaintanceship into a birthday threesome. Kinksters may want to check Dee Blake’s delightfully satisfying “Bibliophile,” in which a woman with a book fetish meets her perfect match, and Dr. J.’s “Infused Leather,” about a pair of leather fetishists helping each other face their pasts. With a refreshing variety of characters, configurations, and situations, all 21 stories in the collection deliver without becoming stale or repetitive. (Dec.)