Customer Reviews

Brown Sugar 4

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4 star:		(1)
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As far as secret desires are concerned, this one has it all: black/white; Haitian/Dominican (great story!); kissing cousins; loving lesbians; porn stars and eye doctors; ex-boyfriends; ghosts; and a fourth story by my old professor, Preston L. Allen, which features the brother-in-law/sister-in-law front seat of the truck romance between Pam and Johnny from "Nadine's Husband." Carol Taylor has done it once again. Excellent, excellent, excellent choices. I am still a purist, so I still rank Erotique Noire at the top of my list of all time greatest erotica anthologies (black or white); however, with the publication of Brown Sugar 4, I beg to make an amendment. If I consider the series as a whole, then the Brown Sugar books rank # 1 and Erotique Noire falls to # 2--especially when the stories in this latest installment (#4) are taken into consideration.

What is your biggest sexual fantasy? Would you share it with someone else? Or is it a secret held tight within the recesses of your dreams? In BROWN SUGAR 4: Secret Desires, Carol Taylor has assembled an impressive list of award-winning authors and mixed in others on the verge of their literary careers. These authors share their own versions of secret desires in this collection of erotic stories, the fourth and final installment in the Brown Sugar anthologies.

In reading erotica, one must first define the term and then realize the definition varies per individual. Though I didn't find many of the stories overly erotic, they were well-written and captured a range of writing styles crossing the spectrum from literary to street to almost poetic. Some showcased forbidden desires such as the preacher's wife, a family member's spouse, and even a lover outside of marriage. Others touched on moving friendship to an intimate level and stories of crossing race and social status boundaries established by parents or society.

My favorite story was Brandon Massey's "Ghostwriter" in which a horror writer visits a cemetery for inspiration after suffering through writer's block. I loved the originality, unpredictability, and subtleness of the story. A few others I enjoyed were Gar Anthony Haywood's "Where He's Getting it Now," "A Tale of Two Cities" written by jessica Care moore, and "My Brother's Wife" by asha bandele. I've never read works by any of these authors, but look forward to doing so.

While reading BROWN SUGAR 4, I was more drawn to the actual writing of the contributors. Most of the stories were more appealing to the literary lover in me and less to the sensual side hiding in my fantasies. I was, however, pleased to see romance and sensuality displayed instead of graphic sex. Yet, I was a bit shocked by some of the stories which crossed the border of being morally wrong as it pertains to my own beliefs. In spite of this, it was easy for me to fall back on one small thing: in most cases, secret desires remain a secret and may or may not be thought of as unobtainable, unacceptable, or simply unapproachable because we're afraid of the outcome.

Though a bit odd for a collection, the introduction actually stood out more than any of the stories. It was easy to see the passion Ms. Taylor has for her work on the Brown Sugar books and her writing itself is sensual, crisp, and poetic. And, though this is the end of her Brown Sugar series, I look forward to one day reading a collection of her writing and commend her on gathering together a medley of authors to showcase their individual styles of writing.

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

This book makes the fourth one in the series that I have read. And the series continues to decline. I was hoping that the Brown Sugar books would get better along the way, but this is not the case.

Although, Secret Desires is well written, I didn't find enough of the stories to be highly erotic and entertaining. If more stories that hold the readers attention would become a part of the Brown Sugar series, then it would make for a more pleasurable reading.