The Lover's Dictionary


David Levithan - 2011
    And if the moment does pass, it never goes that far. It stands in the distance, ready for whenever you want it back. Sometimes it's even there when you thought you were searching for something else, like an escape route, or your lover's face.How does one talk about love? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan's The Lover's Dictionary has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being within a couple, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.

A Billion Wicked Thoughts: What the World's Largest Experiment Reveals about Human Desire


Ogi Ogas - 2011
     For his groundbreaking sexual research, Alfred Kinsey and his team interviewed 18,000 people, relying on them to honestly report their most intimate experiences. Using the Internet, the neuroscientists Ogas and Gaddam quietly observed the raw sexual behaviors of half a billion people. By combining their observations with neuroscience and animal research, these two young neuroscientists finally answer the long-disputed question: what do people really like? Ogas and Gaddam's findings are transforming the way scientists and therapists think about sexual desire. In their startling book, Ogas and Gaddam analyze a "billion wicked thoughts" on the Internet: a billion Web searches, a million individual search histories, a million erotic stories, a half-million erotic videos, a million Web sites, millions of online personal ads, and many other enormous sources of sexual data in order to understand the true differences between male and female desires, including: ?Men and women have hardwired sexual cues analogous to our hardwired tastes-there are sexual versions of sweet, sour, salty, savory, and bitter. But men and women are wired with different sets of cues. ?The male sexual brain resembles a reckless hunter, while the female sexual brain resembles a cautious detective agency. ?Men form their sexual interests during adolescence and rarely change. Women's sexual interests are plastic and change frequently. ?The male sexual brain is an "or gate": A single stimulus can arouse it. The female sexual brain is an "and gate": It requires many simultaneous stimuli to arouse it. ?When it comes to sexual arousal, men prefer overweight women to underweight women, and a significant number of men seek out erotic images of women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. ?Women enjoy writing and sharing erotic stories with other women. The fastest growing genre of erotic stories for women are stories about two heterosexual men having sex. ?Though the male sexual brain is much more different from the female sexual brain than is commonly believed, the sexual brain of gay men is virtually identical to that of straight men. Featuring cutting-edge, jaw-dropping science, this wildly entertaining and controversial book helps readers understand their partner's sexual desires with a depth of knowledge unavailable from any other source. Its fascinating and occasionally disturbing findings will rock our modern understanding of sexuality, just as Kinsey's reports did sixty years ago.

Why Is Sex Fun? The Evolution of Human Sexuality (Science Masters)


Jared Diamond - 1997
    Here is a delightfully entertaining and enlightening look at the unique sex lives of humans.

Make Me Shiver


Aline Hunter - 2011
    Unfortunately, Michael may cause more turmoil than relief. She's lusted for the gorgeous Dom ever since she first laid eyes on him. Trouble is, he doesn't do vanilla and she's not a submissive…or is she?Michael's hungered for Lacey for months,so when he notices her fleeting glimpses and blush-stained cheeks as he rescues her from an altercation with a guardrail, he decides it's time to push the sultry beauty's boundaries…only to discover Lacey's not as reserved as she thinks.Physical attraction blossoms into something neither anticipates, taking Michael and Lacey beyond kink, dominance, and submission. Their newfound connection is strong until a flame from Michael's past returns, shatters the fragile trust he and Lacey have only just developed, and threatens to destroy something neither wants to surrender.

Dark Secret Love


Alison Tyler - 2013
    Inspired by her BDSM lifestyle and based on her private diaries, Tyler draws on her twenty-five years' experience penning sultry stories to create a scorchingly hot work of autobiographical fiction, a meta-novel with reality at the core.Take a deep breath and get your safe word handy. Alison Tyler will push your boundaries to their limits—and have you begging for more.

The Gentlemen's Club


Emmanuelle de Maupassant - 2014
    In a world that belongs to men, Lady Maud Finchingfield is a bluestocking seeking a level of forbidden independence. Within the secret chambers of London’s most decadent club, where the ruling elite indulge every vice, can Maud discover freedom and pleasure by bringing those who would dominate into submission?A man who never expected to lose his control…Lord Henry McCaulay views women with disdain. That is, until he meets the enigmatic Mademoiselle Noire, the alluring hostess at his club, who both fascinates and infuriates him. As games of power draw Henry and Mademoiselle Noire together, their liaison leads to reckless passion and the risk of scandal. Each enthralling encounter confirms his hunger to possess her, as thoroughly as she has claimed him - in body and soul. Can sexual desire transform into the ultimate surrender, and the unmasking of love?A darkly sensual romance, set in 1899, recommended by Stylist magazine as ‘a mind-blowing’ read.Heat level: deliciously kinkyThe first, seductive volume of Emmanuelle de Maupassant's Noire series.

Faking It: The Lies Women Tell about Sex--And the Truths They Reveal


Lux Alptraum - 2018
    Women lie about orgasms. Women lie about being virgins. Women lie about who got them pregnant, about whether they were raped, about how many people they've had sex with and what sort of experiences they've had - the list goes on and on. Over and over we're reminded that, on dates, in relationships, and especially in the bedroom, women just aren't telling the truth. But where does this assumption come from? Are women actually lying about sex, or does society just think we are? In Faking It, Lux Alptraum tackles the topic of seemingly dishonest women; investigating whether women actually lie, and what social situations might encourage deceptions both great and small. Using her experience as a sex educator and former CEO of Fleshbot (the foremost blog on sexuality), first-hand interviews with sexuality experts and everyday women, Alptraum raises important questions: are lying women all that common - or is the idea of the dishonest woman a symptom of male paranoia? Are women trying to please men, or just avoid their anger? And what affect does all this dishonesty - whether real or imagined - have on women's self-images, social status, and safety? Through it all, Alptraum posits that even if women are lying, we're doing it for very good reason -- to protect ourselves ("My boyfriend will be here any minute," to a creep who won't go away, for one), and in situations where society has given us no other choice.

Boys & Sex: Young Men on Hookups, Love, Porn, Consent, and Navigating the New Masculinity


Peggy Orenstein - 2020
    It also had an unexpected effect on its author: Orenstein realized that talking about girls is only half the conversation. Boys are subject to the same cultural forces as girls—steeped in the same distorted media images and binary stereotypes of female sexiness and toxic masculinity—which equally affect how they navigate sexual and emotional relationships. In Boys & Sex, Peggy Orenstein dives back into the lives of young people to once again give voice to the unspoken, revealing how young men understand and negotiate the new rules of physical and emotional intimacy.Drawing on comprehensive interviews with young men, psychologists, academics, and experts in the field, Boys & Sex dissects so-called locker room talk; how the word “hilarious” robs boys of empathy; pornography as the new sex education; boys’ understanding of hookup culture and consent; and their experience as both victims and perpetrators of sexual violence. By surfacing young men’s experience in all its complexity, Orenstein is able to unravel the hidden truths, hard lessons, and important realities of young male sexuality in today’s world. The result is a provocative and paradigm-shifting work that offers a much-needed vision of how boys can truly move forward as better men.

Dark Soul Vol. 1


Aleksandr Voinov - 2011
    All the old hands have gathered—of course sharks will circle when there’s blood in the water—but it’s a new hand that draws Stefano’s eye.Silvio “the Barracuda” Spadaro is protetto and heir to retired consigliere Gianbattista Falchi, and a made man in his own right. Among his underworld family, being gay is a capital crime, but the hypersexual—and pansexual—young killer has never much cared for rules. The only orders he follows are Battista’s, whether on the killing field or on his knees, eagerly submissive at Battista’s feet.But Silvio has needs Battista can’t fill, and he’s cast his black-eyed gaze on Stefano. A fake break-in, an even faker attack, and Silvio is exactly where he wants to be: strung up at Stefano’s mercy, driving the older Mafioso toward urges he’s spent his whole life repressing. Stefano resists, but when the Russian mob invades his territory and forces him to seek aid, Gianbattista’s price brings Stefano face to face once more with Silvio—and his darkest desires.

Cupid's Poisoned Arrow: From Habit to Harmony in Sexual Relationships


Marnia Robinson - 2009
    Obediently, we fall in love amid showers of passionate fireworks, bond for a time … and then often get fed up with each other and grow irritable or numb. Perhaps we try to remodel our mate, seek solace online, or pursue a new love interest. Ancient sages recognized this biological snare and hinted at a way to dodge it: use lovemaking to balance one another and harmony arises naturally.  With an entertaining blend of personal experiences, the latest neuroscience, and forgotten insights from around the globe, Cupid’s Poisoned Arrow confronts current assumptions about sex and love and offers a refreshing, practical approach to sexuality.

Turning His Life Around


Grace R. Duncan - 2015
     Years ago, Ian Kelly accepted Kane would never return his love, since he knows Kane believes he’s incapable of it. Ian is willing to settle for what he can get—a best friend, sometimes casual lover, and occasional submissive. He's learned he can’t live without Kane, but he can’t let Kane know. Because when, not if, Kane confirms that Ian’s love will never be returned, Ian won’t be able to take it. But when Kane loses his job and asks Ian to step up their play to help him deal, Ian’s ability to hide his feelings falters. Then Kane starts his own computer security firm and asks Ian to join him, and Ian struggles further. It’s not until they visit the exclusive BDSM club the Iron Door that things come to a head. Kane screws up big time, and he’s afraid he can’t fix it. He’s sure he’ll lose his best friend, his Dom, his everything… forever.

The Curious History of Dating: From Jane Austen to Tinder


Nichi Hodgson - 2018
    The heroines of Regency novels could teach today's young women a trick or two'Sunday TimesWhat if Mr Darcy had simply been able to swipe right?'This book was a real education for me. It's like a Lonely Planet guidebook to dating.'Gilo'Lessons to learn for committed singletons and happily married alike, and everyone in between.'Anon'I loved it.'Adele Taylor'I found it hard to put down.'richie666Dating has never been easy. The road to true love has always been rutted with heartbreak, but do we have it any easier today? How did Victorians 'come out'? How did love blossom in war-torn Europe? And why did 80s video-dating never take off?Bursting with little-known facts and tantalizing tales of lovelorn men and besotted women, Nichi Hodgson's intriguing history of amorous relationships, from enamoured Georgians to frenziedly swiping millennials (and everyone in between) may leave you grateful that you live - and love - today.

One Man's Trash


Marie Sexton - 2017
    For the last twelve years, he's survived by working odd and often illegal jobs for some of Denver's less fortunate. His personal life is equally unsatisfactory. He can barely remember the last time he had sex, let alone the last time he got to use somebody hard and rough, the way he likes. Fate intervenes when a favor for a friend leads him to a pretty young rentboy named Taylor Reynolds.Taylor's spent the last few years on his own, working as a hustler, going home with anybody who'll give him a warm meal and a place to sleep. He enjoys having a bit of force used against him, and he makes Warren an offer he can't refuse - all the sex he wants, as rough and dirty as he likes, in exchange for room and board.At first, Warren thinks he's struck gold. Taylor's the perfect roommate - he cooks, he cleans, and he's dynamite in the sack. But Taylor has some dark demons in his head and some even darker cravings. Falling for somebody as volatile as Taylor is dangerous enough, but when Taylor's urges turn truly self-destructive, it'll be up to Warren to decide just how far to let things go.

Curing Doctor Vincent


Renea Mason - 2015
    Xavier Vincent. She worships the talented physician and company icon responsible for developing the cure that saved her sister’s life and isn’t immune to his charm. Even though puzzled by his request, she is excited and eager to get started on his latest project. But Dr. Vincent has other ideas. Instead of discussing cures, drugs and marketing strategies, he asks Elaine to join him in Paris to indulge his unique sexual appetites. Torn between gratitude for saving her sister, her attraction for the powerful man and compromising her pre-conceived notions of sexuality, she must decide if it's easier to feed his desires or walk away. Until she devises a plan of her own. “Make no mistake, Elaine, I am a king. Kings command and conquer. They are brutal and uncompromising. You don’t want a king. Face it, you came here expecting a saint.” - Dr. Xavier Vincent