Secret Sex, a compilation of stories centered around copulation, is an intriguing idea for a compilation. To further add to this collection’s mystique, the authors of these stories remain anonymous so that they may tap into their deepest, darkest desires without judgement or shame.

Secret Sex runs the gamut with the stories included in this anthology. There’s truly something for everyone. Straight sex, gay sex, self sex, married sex, single sex, online sex, vampire sex …. the world has been busy! Most of the stories included this collection are surprisingly written in a literary style, so I didn’t feel quite as “dirty” reading these stories as I might have otherwise. On the other hand, a few selections from this book are quite graphic and luridly sordid, and - call me a prude - but I found them distasteful.

Most of the stories included in the collection are pretty good, however, which is unusual for me to say because I usually find anthologies to be a mixed bag. Nonetheless, there is such a thing as too much sex, and that’s unfortunately what this book suffers from. I did not know it going into it, but by the end of this collection, I was sex weary. I did not want to read about one more intimate act, and am looking forward to cleansing my palette with lighter fare. Sex in small doses is revelatory, intriguing, and intimate. Sex by the masses is just gross.

The short story collection didn't scandalize me like i thought it would. The texts were pushing the artsy-creative aspect of writing more than the spice and intimancy part, I felt. Things got a bit weird but not with the type of risks I was anticipating.
It read as an odd collection.

This book was just “meh” for me. I felt like I was reading it because I had to finish it instead of reading it because I wanted to finish it. I can’t quite put my finger on what it was.

Sexy sexy sexy! Love the concept of this book, not knowing which author wrote which passage, feeling their liberation as they put thought to paper anonymously. Each story was so unique, and I found myself gasping, drooling, and screaming.

A collection of stories by redacted authors. The hype unfortunately did not live up the expectation of an erotic collection of short stories. The stories were really tame in comparison to some of our current romance authors.

I can see what Russell Smith was trying to do with the collection and with a little more finesse and authors who really want to let loose from dipping their toes in PG-13 style of writing, and letting their inhibition let go, it would be great. There is a market for this style of book with people who don't read dark romance and morally grey books on a daily basis.

Secret Sex (limited) explores different sexual appetites from bondage to sadism without causing the novice reader to blush to much.

Favourite story of the collection is Portrait of a Lady and the most erotic story was Mirror Mirror.

Will keep an eye for other collaborations from Russell Smith.

Thank you NetGalley, the editor, authors and publishing house for an advanced copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

First things first: I loved the premise of this book. Real stories but without knowing who wrote which… sounds like a lot of fun!

However, it fell a bit flat. While some of the stories are incredibly beautiful, or raw, or intense; most were just okay. And maybe there were too many stories in total, and it gets hard to push through the last ones.

Still, I loved how every author was so distinctly unique in their writing, the styles and narrative voices are so clearly personal, I think it could be a really interesting game to try to match them to the writers.

I thought this collection from Russell Smith was a really interesting read. Because of the way the essays/stories are gathered, Secret Sex was easy to read, pause and come back to. The anonymous submissions read almost like a Whisper thread and were an intriguing view into each author’s subconscious. Overall I liked it and think it would be a great addition to your coffee table stack or home library.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dundurn Press and Russell Smith for an early review copy. These are my honest thoughts.

thank you to netgalley, the publisher, and to russell for the advanced reader copy of "secret sex", an anthology of completely anonymous taboo stories centering around sex and human desire. first off, can we talk about how interesting the concept of this collection is??? i love that the stories are anonymous, because i feel as though it allowed the writers to let completely loose and just be totally feral in their pieces. ultimately, that is what i think is the strong point of "secret sex"-- how unflinchingly transparent it is. while many authors shy away from this topic, it was fascinating to read a group of unnamed writers write about desire and sexuality.

as is the case with many short story collections, the stories are certainly a mixed bag, some more captivating than others. however, i will say this is a book that is easy to pick up and set down at any point, because you can fly through the stories relatively quickly.

I couldn't finish this book. I'm not sure what I didn't like but I felt that it was boring and didn't keep my attention.

I had a hard time with this book and knowing what to say in a review. Compilations are difficult. I felt like there was some interesting ones and ones that weren't for me but overall, I felt there wasn't enough depth in any of the stories. I wanted a little more - it felt too much like a dip into something. This would also be a challenging one to recommend.

In Secret Sex, an anthology of erotic short stories edited by Russell Smith, twenty-four Canadian authors take on the challenge of writing about sex with the freedom of anonymity. The premise is tantalizing: liberated from the constraints of public perception and the fear of judgment, these writers can explore the full spectrum of sexual experiences and desires. Yet, while the concept is brilliant, the execution leaves something to be desired.

Concept Over Content:
The idea of anonymous authorship in erotic fiction is intriguing. It promises bold, uninhibited storytelling free from the usual reticence. However, despite the promise of unfiltered creativity, many of the stories in Secret Sex remain surprisingly tame. The anthology's potential for pushing boundaries and exploring taboo subjects often falls short, resulting in a collection that lacks the anticipated intensity and passion.

Anonymous Authors:
The anthology features contributions from well-known Canadian authors, including Heather O’Neill, Lisa Moore, Michael Winter, Zoe Whittall, Pasha Malla, francesca ekwuyasi, Drew Hayden Taylor, Tamara Faith Berger, and Susan Swan. However, the anonymity means readers are left guessing who wrote what, which can be a fun game but also a frustrating one when trying to connect with the writing styles of specific authors.

The Good, The Bad, and The Forgettable:
As with any anthology, the quality of the stories varies. Some pieces are well-crafted and engaging, offering unique perspectives on sex and relationships. Highlights include:

- "Watching You Watching Me": A recently divorced woman navigates the world of rebound relationships, exploring the complexities of desire and connection.
- "Sext": A man’s obsession with a woman’s sexual demands takes a dark turn.
- "Niche Parade: Hotel Maid Compilation": A creative piece compiled entirely from titles on a popular adult website, showcasing the bizarre and humorous aspects of online sexual fantasies.

On the flip side, several stories are disappointingly dull and lack the emotional or erotic charge expected from such a collection. The inconsistent quality makes for a somewhat uneven reading experience.

Writing Style and Execution:
Smith acknowledges the difficulty of writing sex scenes, particularly in English, where the choice of words can make the difference between the erotic and the laughable. This struggle is evident in the anthology, with some stories striking a perfect balance while others veer into the clinical or crass. The frequent misuse of "cum" and "come" is a notable pet peeve that detracts from the reading experience.

Overall Impression:
While Secret Sex scores high on concept, the stories themselves often fall short of their potential. The anthology provides a mix of straight and gay sex, frustrated sex, and even sex via text messages, but the expected creative risks and explicitness are often missing. The most compelling stories are those that delve into the human aspects of desire, rather than merely focusing on the act itself.

Perfect for Quick Reads:
Despite its shortcomings, Secret Sex is an interesting anthology for those looking for short, varied glimpses into people's love lives. It's a good pick for quick, casual reading, especially while traveling. The diverse range of stories ensures there's something for everyone, even if the collection as a whole doesn't quite live up to its daring promise.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this ARC!

I was 50/50 on this anthology. The concept was creative and I felt like it could give the authors a great freedom to talk openly. I guess everyone's ideas of sexual things are different and that is why I was mixed on this title. Some stories were great and enthralling and others just had me speed reading to get to the next one.

Very unique love the variety of stories. Very spicy gave it 4 chill peppers 🌶️ check it out if you want to change things up

I was expecting more, this book didn’t really do it for me unfortunately. I think I was expecting more smut considering they were all anonymous.

Secret Sex is an erotic anthology written anonymously by Canada’s leading authors, both emerging and established, edited by Russell Smith.

What drew me to this book was the title. There is something juicy about sex in regard to... sex, in secret. We immediately think about scandals when what intrigues us is the secrecy, the privacy of it all, and the mystery. More than the sex itself, it’s the thrill of being caught because secrets have a funny way of coming out. Stories in this book that draw on this experience are Mirror Mirror, At the Wreckers, and Portrait of a Lady.

Picking up the book, I didn’t know what to expect, certainly not the 'secret' aspect being about sex imagined by authors without revealing their names. It’s a habit of all readers to want to attach characters certain attributes, be they emotional, behavioural or intimate parts of a story, to the author's own lived and unlived experiences. This is sometimes the reason why many authors hold back on writing sex scenes in their stories, fearing judgement or kink-shaming.

For that reason, the book reads like a blind submission. We can’t tell who wrote what. They are just stories laid out across the pages of a book for us to find. Stories we give faces and voices to and detach from authors.
Sex, for the most part, is part of our identity and our everyday lives, but more or less treated as if it isn’t. Taboo, not to be spoken of, it’s hidden in whispers, giggles, flirty smiles, closets, phones, and bedrooms. We walk around with it on our minds, between our legs, yet are afraid to utter it. We are afraid of what others might think of our kinks and the things and thoughts that make us cum.
In this anthology, we are given 24 short stories on the theme of sex. The first story, conveniently titled ‘‘Sexts,’’ reads like it was taken straight off a phone. The sexting take place between two individuals who haven’t seen each other in a while. The sex takes place entirely in their minds with the use of imagination. The blueprint for today’s augmented reality. They role-play, whisking each other and us from a dirty pirate ship to a cosy yet mesmerizing top-notch hotel.

The story is a clear demonstration of how sex is a part of us and how we live and breathe it. So much so that we put effort into role-play and build anticipation of the expectation. Sexts are, in their purest form, literary foreplay where a word or an emoji is instrumental in causing arousal if and when it is used at the right time, in the right setting, and by the right person.

It’s not so much about the final destination. Now it’s about how we get there. The journey is what makes what we imagine or what characters imagine while sexting that gets us there, feeding off each other’s arousal, and enthusiasm. An exchange of words, we leave our own bodies and leap into their sexual fantasy.

[So what d’ya say?Is my fantasy hotel enough to get you off your fantasy pirate ship?]

In Restoration, we have a young graduate who is 22 years old. Fresh out of university and works at an art gallery, in which Edna, a 56-year-old woman, is a board member. Their paths cross when he is asked to grab a box from her station wagon. It’s not clear when the romance starts, but ‘’Edna X’’ is married with most of her children out of the nest, with one in college. Her grand house becomes a nest for the two.

Edna enjoys her toy boy, who is unusually aroused by the surgical scar from her amputated leg. He is aroused by the scar on her knee. A scar she got as a little girl when her leg was amputated. He fetishizes it. Unlike men, when it comes to scars on women, we barely associate them with words like hot, cool, swag, sexy, seductive, or attractive. Things like stretch marks or any scarring on a woman’s body are rarely viewed as sexy. However, this young stud found her surgical scar arousing. A fresh approach: Few can say that a scar that marks a traumatic time in their life arouses their lover. One can’t help but note how this reveals how toxic and low-key creepy it makes the young man out to be—almost sexually sadistic. It makes us think about our own toxic fetishes and makes us wonder if there is a psychological underlying meaning to them.

Being spanked is every child’s worst nightmare, but to an adult, spanking is a kinky repertoire in adult sex games, the contrast between pain and pleasure, and how our bodies and minds perceive it. In the same way, Edna’s stud took the mark of a painful childhood memory and drew pleasure out of it. No doubt, sexually healing old wounds that were deep-seated in Edna. Though she always berated him for using her ‘’stump’’ to get off, there is no doubt Edna chuckled to herself alone, realizing that an ugly reminder of her past to her is a source of deep arousal for the toy boy.
[When we were in bed, I tried not to fetishize the stump, but the truth is, the stump made me hard. Or perhaps it was her admonition, my cock and her leg communicated directly.]
[The savage scar made up for the fact that she was old and beautiful... if she wants me to fuck her, then she’s gonna have to let me use her knee]

In this story, we are given an old woman in an old house, all of which we think needs a revamp of some sort. Old art is not left to die in basements. Once found, it’s taken, polished and restored. The young man took what was once considered old and polished it. He polished Edna’s confidence in herself; even though it was there, it needed ‘’restoration’’. No doubt, he made her feel young. Edna, an old, beautiful painting, was hung up somewhere on the walls of this young man’s mind, and it was beautiful, fine and sexy. While she sought restoration in other parts of her life, like her waning family prestige and influence that declined, there’s no doubt Edna's affair restored something in her, if not confidence; it restored herself image which had been distorted for so many years.

At The Wreckers is another story rooted in an on-and-off affair involving a young man and a woman who were once a couple. Eric is married to his ''big-time biologist wife’’ who just had twins. The story opens up with the protagonist at the wreckers waiting for compensation for selling her 1981 Chevvette Scooter. A hand me down, it was her first car since getting her driver’s licence in her mid-thirties. The Chevvette, more than a means to ‘’get around'', is also a love nest for her and Eric, who like a smoking habit she desperately tries to quit.
[I’d been on and off with him, trying to quit him like smoking]
The Scooter, just like her and Eric’s relationship, had seen better days; this thought is expressed when she says,
[The Scooter years, were my Eric years too.]

While they dragged things out in their relationship and delayed the inevitable, their relationship was over. Like tyres burned out, there was no use stretching out the rubber or stretching out the matter. The old Scooter symbolizes their relationship and whatever good she could squeeze out of it. Like a lemon, she squeezed it when the relationship was in good shape. Now it was just a burden, much like her scooter, which kept costing money to repair and keep in shape. The fact that she still uses it parallels how she still uses her and Eric’s old connection to not move on in her life.
Much like Eric, she held onto the Scooter not because of efficiency or convenience but because of sentimentality and history, they shared. So in the same way she kept the Scooter is the same way she kept Eric around for too long. At the heart of it all, At The Wreckers is about letting toxic things go and perhaps starting new things for one’s self. Toxic things and people drain us, much like how the Scooter and Eric was draining the protagonist mentally, emotionally and financially. While she got the Scooter as a hand me down—old, rusted, still good for the road—it was sometimes unreliable, like an on-and-off relationship with a married man. Joking around about a future that wasn’t there, the broken-down Scooter symbolised her relationship to that man, always in the dark, which was not good. Much like the Scooter, her relationship with Eric was never going anywhere.
While the anthology holds light-hearted stories like An archive, Party Party (Sex Party), Labefactions of a thwarted Patootie, and Cloud Burst, a story about raining cocks, it takes a turn toward the unhinged when it gives us stories like Mirror Mirror, Portrait of a Lady, Calliope and Praying Mantis. Dipping into the waters of psychological horror, a fast rising trending genre in erotica and porn classified as horror porn.
Praying Mantis sees the story take a page out of Sharon Stone’s script as we see a frustrated protagonist take the life of her man in the sheets by strangulation. She plans to one day send an eerie message to his offspring, whom we assume is a child of infidelity. It gives me Kill Bill vibes.
[‘’I once knew your father’’]

Calliope, much like Praying Mantis, is a crime of passion with sci-fi elements where we see a mad scientist attempt to bring to life his dead lover at the expense of a ‘’friend’’. She wakes up dreaming of being able to finally touch the man she had only seen from a jar. Only to realize she’s become a hideous octopus with a human head and decapitates him.

Secret Sex is more than just stories with sex scenes. It’s about the imagination and interpretations of sex. It is about sex that shapes our lives, builds and destroys us, joins and divides us. To quote Russell Smith ‘’... I can't imagine understanding characters without understanding what they do in bed. In fact, I might say this about people too.''

The concept is so good. I don’t totally agree that authors hold back when writing sex scenes but that’s my opinion.

I struggle with anthologies like this because I need and want more and it leaves too much open sometimes. A good amount of the stories were enjoyable and some were pointless. Not totally for me but I think there is a good group that would enjoy this a lot.

DNF at 50%. I couldn’t connect with any of these stories which is unusual for me. I find collections usually hit or miss but some definitely hit but not this one. Something about the general styles just didn’t work for my tastes.

This anthology didn't quite live up to its concept. I thought the idea of authors writing anonymously about anything, particularly sex was a clever concept. I was underwhelmed in general with the stories. I thought there would be more boundary pushing, more inventiveness. As with any anthology, some of the stories where more compelling than others. Overall an ok read, but not as exciting as the idea behind it.

I'm grateful to the publisher and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this captivating book. From the first page to the last, I was thoroughly engrossed in the story, unable to put it down. The characters were well-developed, the plot was gripping, and the writing was superb. Overall, I immensely enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to fellow readers. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this wonderful reading experience.

as is common for mw with anthologies and short stories collection; I like some more than others. Despite all the stories being written anonymously it felt like the authors were holding back. Overall I think I was expecting a little more smut.