This was a unique and intriguing read. The stories were all so different and each pulled me in. Also, I think not knowing the various authors' identity made reading the stories even sexier...

An erotic short story compilation. Some of the stories are quite strange. Some are very beautiful. Some are just straight up "WTF?!" There is something for everyone in this novel.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book.*

A unique compilation with a little something for everyone, depending on your taste. Stories are vastly different, from spicy hot to quietly erotic.

thank you to Scribner and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of Anonymous Sex. As someone who is planning on becoming a sex education teacher and is overall a very sex-positive human, I was looking forward to this collection of short stories. After finishing the collection though, it just fell flat for me. I thought some stories were amazing with intricate details continually drawing the reader in, but others almost immediately disinterested me and made me feel disconnected from the stories altogether. Thank you again for the ARC!

I thought this book was going to be great spicy stories. Anonymous erotica seems like the authors could really go for it. In actuality it was a pretty depressing read for the most part. A couple of the stories I would have loved to know more, but mostly this book just left me sad. I had expectations of secret fantasies. This one made me feel like I was the lover looking at their watch to see how long it's taking for it to be over.

Anonymous Sex is a collection of short stories written by authors outside the romance genre. The authors wrote anonymously; freeing them to write whatever erotica story they wanted. The cover and promising premise was what drew me into requesting this on NetGalley. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to expectations. The first story started out strong and I was excited to jump into the rest. It went downhill from there. I'm not quite sure these authors have ever read a love scene in a romance book. I found these stories to be confusing, boring, and mostly lacking in steam. This book didn't seem to know quite what it was. If you look at the stories as just a collection of short stories then you can see the potential in the writing but purporting them as erotica is underwhelming.

If you are looking for erotica that isn’t just “wham bam thank you ma’am “ this is the one for you.

Every story is actually a story that has actual plot with sex as part of the story.

Not very story was my cup of tea, as there are some that are scy-fi or kind of off putting in some way.. But the writing is definitely stories and not just sex

Hated it.

Thanks to Netgalley, Hillary Jordan and Scribner for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 2/1/22

Hold on the spicy level is turned all the way up with this one. Very fast paced read! exotic spicer books are becoming more popular it’s like mini novellas put into one book!
Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to review!

These little stories had a ton of spice and made a great collection to keep you entertained. A great way to also find new authors.

I enjoy a book that I can pick up & read relatively quickly. This was kind of one of those books. The short story style made it quick at times but unexpectedly slow at others. I knew all of the stories wouldn't be my cup of tea, so that's okay. If you're looking for some sexy reads, you will probably find quite a few of these will interest you.
Thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

This anthology of twenty-seven erotic stories was a great idea in theory, but the execution fell flat for me. While I found the prose to be very poetic and have a good writing style, getting through these stories took a long time. Each story dragged on more than the last and was even hard to follow at some points. I was expecting more from a short story collection like this but ended up not enjoying it that much.

There are many different ways one could write a story about sex — erotic, arousing, sensual, romantic, comfortable, familiar, edgy, transgressive, subversive, whimsical, humorous, embarrassing, descriptive, clinical, anticipatory, a remembrance, etc. The theory behind “Anonymous Sex” was that by keeping the stories anonymous, the authors would feel uninhibited and produce more expressive and higher quality stories. In my opinion, the editors and authors failed in this goal. I started the book anticipating that some of the twenty-seven stories might not appeal to me, as it is hard to assemble an anthology where every story is appealing to most readers. However, I was surprised and disappointed at the number of stories that were boring or poor quality.

The opening story, "History Lesson" was decent, but the next four stories were lousy. "LVIII Times a Year" was decent, as were the next two stories ("Hard at Play"; "First Lust"). "Find Me" was the first really good story. [Not the most promising that it took until the ninth story of twenty-seven to find a really good story.] "The Next Eleven Minutes" was decent. "Rapunzel, Rapunzel" was quite good, probably the best story in the collection. And it was also the start of a series of good stories -- "Pearl River"; "One Day in the Life of Josephine Bellanotte Munro", and "How I Learned Prayer."

"Love Doll" was okay. "I Don't Miss You" was "blah." "Odi et Amo" was good. "This Kind" and "What the Hands Remember" were both okay stories. "Tomorrow Morning" was decent. "Holo Boy, 2098" was thought provoking but disappointing; too rushed. "The Great Artist" was borderline racist and poor quality. "Posseeblay" was decent. "Spectacular" was not spectacular at all. "Vis a vis 1953" was quite good. "Interruptus" was "blah." "Partita" was lackluster, starting off good but declining in quality fast.

Of the 27 stories, 7 were good or quite good and 7 were decent, with 13 that were okay or lousy. Other readers will have different opinions on these 27 stories, and it is possible that some readers will enjoy most of these stories. However, my suspicion is that many readers will have a similar opinion to mine -- they might have a different mix of stories that they thought were "good" versus "bad" but will find that the overall collection is of mixed quality.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Anonymous Sex is a very interesting concept.. I like the idea of authors submitting anonymous sexy stories.. It definitely adds a layer of spice to not know who the stories are written by.. Not every story was for me, but that’s the best part of multiple short stories in one book! Some stories are most definitely HOT! Very sex positive book and concept!

3 1/2 stars - rounding up to 4 stars!

This book was super fun to read and try and guess who goes with what story. As far as the stories go, they didnt grab and hold my attention like I hoped they would. The first story I enjoyed but felt as they went on I lost interest.

Thank you to netgalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was DNF at 44% for me. I just couldn't get into the stories. The ones I did read ranged from good to ones I wanted to gloss over since it didn't hold my interest.

YES PLEASE!

I love short stories, Especially erotic short stories! They are short and sweet. You can finish the book in a sitting or over a couple of months.

Love it! I hope there is another release soon!

I enjoy contemporary romance, and I enjoyed this anthology. I didn't love every vignette, but I liked almost all of them and I think there's something here for everyone. The stories are great as something to pick up for a short read, anytime.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC, in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars. While the concept is interesting--a bunch of lauded, successful authors submitting anonymous contributions on the topic of sex--the execution is uneven. Like any anthology, some stories will appeal and some won't. What I appreciated most was the breadth of topics covered. There are stories about thrilling one-time encounters and long-married love. Some are hardcore. Others are sweet. Some are gritty. Some are fanciful. Some authors managed to achieve an impressive amount of world-building in their short stories and the glimpse into those worlds was at least as interesting as the salacious bits.

The overall theme seems to be frustration; the tension between what we want and what we actually have. I don't regret reading this and I wouldn't discourage anyone from picking it up, but I'm not sure how long it's going to stay with me.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

Like all anthologies, there is likely something for everyone, but you won't like everything. There is a good mix of stories that are more nonconventional and more standard/tame erotic encounters. The stories were all well-written (even the ones that I didn't personally enjoy). I think this collection manages to bring in a variety of different stories within the genre to keep things fresh throughout th book.