Customer Reviews

Neptune & Surf

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
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Quality erotic literature is rare, and well-done examples even more rare; such an undetaking demands a deft, but sure touch. Neptune and Surf holds three novellas, which nicely complement one another: a set of stories that are literate, with well-drawn characters, imaginative plots, and a marvelous sense of atmosphere; which holds, underlying all like a subterranean lava flow, a theme that is frankly, unashamedly, erotic.

Lewis begins our journey with the title story, set in the gritty, ramshackle Coney Island of the 1950s, a squalid, slightly shabby land of dreams that's lost its glitter long ago. It's a neighborhood were the residents scratch out a living as best they can, and two lovers, Nat and Roaslie, become one, for a few brief moments of bliss in this sad world, and are moved by the power of life.

The Mercy Cure, takes us into the home of two lesbian ex-nuns, women who have lost their church, but not their belief. Their comfortable relationship is disturbed by the appearance of a former student, one who has kept alive her raging schoolgirl crush on the former Sister Margaret-Phillip - "...a lean and hard looking woman, her black hair cropped short, making her angular features and dark eyes seem that much more severe." The girl drawn into their midst, yearns for a man's touch, even as she's driven to satisfy her obsession with her ex-teacher. She tries to explain her conflict to her lesbian lover: "...to have a guy wanting you that much, to be aiming all his lust right at you, so you can't ignore it anymore, until you're wanting it too". What is revealed is a richly complex relationship of love and hate, punctuated with laughter and tears, a short but telling journey, a fast ride on an emotional rollercoaster.

The final story, Gianni's Girl, once again turns out to be a story of faith -- the belief that even in the most forbidding circumstances, one can survive and triumph. Victoria is playing with fire when she gets involed with Paulie, a minor functionary of the mob. It is a world in which women are used, traded and bartered to satisfy male debts of honor. Victoria is forced to perform before these mobsters, made to engage in the most degrading sexual acts, and in the midst of this depravity, she meets Gianni - an unlikely hero, an innocent with boyish charm. Gianni's notions of love are straightforward; a man who knows nothing of sin and guilt.

Lewis' work is characterized by hope; sexual instinct fuses with the life force, driving the characters, in an affirmation of life itself. Her message is ultimately positive, speaking to the human spirit...and the human flesh.

I am a novice in reading erotic literature, so I cannot compare this to other erotic works. What I can say is that these novellas are well-crafted with fully realized characters in complex situations. The author shows great insight into a variety of diverse people and treats them with respect. By turns both delicate and brutal, these novellas maintained my level of interest by making me care about the characters. If you, as I did, have doubts about erotic literature because you are concerned with quality, start with Neptune and Surf and you will be very pleasantly surprised.

No matter what I'm looking for in fiction, I always enjoy it more when I care about the characters. Ms. Lewis drops us "behind the scenes" into the thoughts of tangible characters in intriguing interaction. She's also got a knack for the occasional sudden twist into a sexual situation - sometimes disturbing, sometimes gratifying.

I adored this book. Marilyn Jaye Lewis is a first rate erotic writer. I read it more than once, bought copies to give to friends. Her characters are so human, their stories so well developed, and the eroticism is...well, truly erotic. Everyone who appreciates erotic literature should read this book and everything else Lewis writes. She's the best of the best.

My girlfriend got me this. I had no idea what the hell it was, but I was out of regular books, so I read this. I thought it would be all lesbian stuff but it's *really* good and sexy and I've never really read *anything* like this. Totally cool.

This collection of erotic novellas was a real treat. I highly recommend it to fans of erotic fiction.

The strongest are the first and third novellas. "Neptune & Surf" is a sad tale of a man in love with a whore. "Gianni's Girl" is a great 1920s gang bang the moll tale. Some hot moments. The second one is a lesbian nun romp that reads more like wild fantasy than anything real, but what the heck: all good fun!