Kink is a superb read and compilation of recent fiction writing in the BDSM realm. Definitely a page turner and well worth a read!

Human sexuality is fascinating, so I was eager to jump into this story collection. Like many collections it has stories that were excellent and others that were not. Overall I enjoyed most of them. Only one of the stories left a bad taste in my mouth.

I think that it’s important to note that one of the stories makes mention of incest between 2 children. I didn’t anticipate it and it really ruined that story for me. I had to put the book to the side for a bit after, and had to decide to pick it back up again to give the other stories a chance.

If I had been an editor of this collection I would have either not included this particular story or would have requested a content edit (or at least a warning).

I wouldn’t purchase this book for my own collection for that reason and would not recommend it.

I received a free review copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This collection of sharp, diverse, and provocative stories can be best summed up with a quote from Garth Greenwell's piece, "Gospodar." Greenwell writes, "But then there's no fathoming pleasure, the forms it takes or their sources, nothing we can imagine is beyond it; however far beyond the pale of our own desires, for someone it is the intensest desire, the key to the latch of the self, or the promised key, a key that perhaps never turns."

While certainly not for everyone (nearly all these stories contain graphic descriptions of sex), I thoroughly enjoyed this collection edited by R.O. Kwon and Garth Greenwell. I was impressed with the incredibly talented group of writers, some of which are renowned voices like Roxane Gay, Alexander Chee, and Carmen Maria Machado.

My favorite pieces were, "The Cure" by Melissa Febos, a witty and relatable story about old friends and learning to be comfortable with your needs and wants, "Reach" by Roxane Gay, about the complexities of of emotional and physical intimacy in a marriage, "Oh, Youth" by Brandon Taylor, which focused on a young man who makes his living as a companion for an older, wealthy married couple over the supper, and "Safeword" by R.O. Kwon, an unflinching look into a couple exploring BDSM.

Short story collections are hard for me to review most of the time. Some of the stories really held my attention and others were just okay and there were a few that I just didn't finish. I am not sure that this collection as a whole worked well for me, It's not a bad collection as a whole.

I'm not sure how to review this. I read a few of the stories and skimmed the rest. This really wasn't for me, content wise. I'm sure this would be great for some people depending on their taste.

I like some of these stories vastly more than others. Some were absolutely brilliant and others were less to my taste. Overall, I was very happy to have read a collection by so many authors I'm familiar with and such diversity across the board. I especially loved R.O Kwon's piece and Carmen Maria Machado's.

This collection of stories started off with a bang, literally. I loved the variety of LBGTQ+ authors, some of which I know and love such as Roxane Gay and Carmen Maria Machado, but many more that are new to me and I look forward to reading more of their work. I loved that every single story was so different. Some hardly erotic at all, while some were very heavily on the erotic side, some that blew me out of the water and some that to me missed the mark altogether. Overall it's a great assortment of stories that paints a beautiful picture of the wide variety of sexual and emotional relationships people engage in.

There was so much that drew me to this book. This is an all-star cast of LGBTQ+ writers. I also love that this collection is unabashedly discussing aspects of sex (kinks, no less) that are rarely revealed for public consumption.

This short story collection, while focused on BDSM and other kink-based sexual experiences, has a wide range of stories. There is a large representation of LGBTQ+ stories, but there are also stories about women, straight and cis people. There is something for a lot of different groups.

I really liked just how open this book is. It did not tackle the theme in a subtle way. It was not overly sexual and the reader doesn't get bogged down in overly-sexual language or scenes, but it certainly didn't shy away from the topic. I think sorties like this aid in chipping away the societal taboo of discussing sex (especially BDSM or other kinks), which, in all forms, is a healthy aspect of life that warrants a space in our greater culture.

Unfortunately, like any short story collection, there were some stories I didn't like as much. They either dragged or I just missed the point altogether. This didn't make the collection bad, but I rarely read a 5 star short story collection because not all of the stories resonate.

I recommend this to anyone looking for a LGBTQ+ focused short story collection. Thank you to NetGalley and to Simon & Schuster for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I feel this collection bears the wrong title. The title gives the impression that it is a collection of erotic tales about kinks but most of the stories are so much more. Many of the pieces are short stories that happen to contain a bit of deviant sexual behavior but are about more than that which I enjoyed. I would have stopped reading had it just been lust filled nonsense but I had a feeling there would be some good pieces based on some of the authors included. Most of the stories made me feel uncomfortable, which I had anticipated, but one made me absolutely sick as it was about crossing the boundaries of consent and featured a sexual assault - definitely should have had a trigger warning. Even when engaging in kink there are limits.

All in all, a good collection. My favorites included: “Trust”, “Oh, Youth”, “The Lost Performance of the High Priestess of the Temple of Horror”, and “The Voyeurs”.

Thank you to the authors, editors, Simon & Schuster, and #NetGallery for an eARC of #kinkbook in return for an honest review. Review will be posted on NetGallery and Goodreads.

Would probably rate 2.5 out of 5 stars. I found this collection somewhat inconsistent but I particularly enjoyed the contributions by Alexander Chee, Garth Greenwell, and Carmen Maria Machado. I think the collection would have benefitted from a more unified tone--it seemed to not be able to decide whether it was literary or erotic--and these stories often had a pretty loose definition of kink. Maybe I was expecting weirder stuff? I did appreciate the diversity of the characters and relationships included, though.

This was not the type of book I normally read and I honestly don't remember requesting it from NetGalley. That being said, I think if these types of stories are what you are into, you will enjoy them.

I didn’t know what to expect when I began this book, as I went in completely blind. The stories ranged from educational to humorous to touching, and tackled an array of relationships as well. For me, this book showed that relationships, either sexual or romantic, can take different shapes for different people.

This was certainly a fun book to dive into. While there were some stories and narrators I enjoyed more than others—for example I found the last few stories to be the least interesting to me— overall I felt I gained some knowledge by reading this book!


*Spoilery notes*: The incest in Impact Play quite honestly sickened me. Also, Gospodar should have a trigger warning.

This anthology has kink in all forms, some of it wasn't to my cup of tea. Some was a bit more extreme than I was prepared to read. I liked some of the stories a bit better than others. I would maybe suggest skipping some and reading ones you know you'd like the form of erotic (if that makes sense!)

Overall if you like kink and a variety of erotic stories I would pick this up

KINK is a collection of short stories exploring different facets of sexuality and desire. Some of my recent favorite authors contribute to this collection like Roxane Gay, Brandon Taylor, Alexander Chee, Garth Greenwell, and Carmen Maria Machado. As with any collection, there is a mix of stronger and weaker stories. There are stories about couples new to kink, couples where one partner is into it and the other isn't and trying to navigate that. Stories where kink is a small part of a relationship, versus ones where it overlies the entire relationship. The reader is given stories taking place in the present, and one story set in the Victorian Age (quite the journey, thanks to Machado). A woman who feels unsatisfied starting inviting men over and enjoys teasing them and not allowing them satisfaction. A couple visits a dominatrix for direction (I thoroughly appreciated the hate on 50 SHADES). I had been looking forward to Greenwell's contribution to the book, but it was an instantly recognizable chapter from CLEANNESS. Brandon Taylor's contribution was a highlight, where an older rich couple hire a young man as a third as a summer companion.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me an advance reader copy for review.

With a title like “Kink” you may be expecting a collection that is essentially erotica, but the introduction by editors make it clear that this book is stories, less about the sexual acts of kinky people and more about the “complex, psychologically rich act of communication” that is kink. The characters in the stories in this anthology span a wide range of gender and sexuality. No matter if you are cisgendered or trans, straight or queer you will likely find stories that you can relate to.

Like any short story anthology, it’s hard to rate or review of the entire book; some stories resonated with me more than others. Some of my favorites were “The Cure” by Melissa Febos about a lesbian who has sex with a straight man in a way that harkens back to her dominatrix days in college, “Oh, Youth” by Brandon Taylor about a young man who spends his summers as a paid companion, “Scissors” by Kim Fu where trust is key in a scene with a paying audience who get to vicariously experience the visceral fear of sharp objects while the subject is bound and blindfolded, and “Safeword” by R.O. Kwon where a straight couple new to kink consult a dominatrix. Most of the other stories were still enjoyable even if a few did not seem to belong in the collection.

Overall, I’d recommend this anthology to anyone interested in kink and looking for representation of the human aspect as opposed to strictly a work of erotica. My thanks to Netgally and Simon and Schuster for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I loved this Anthology so much it was emotional and real Each author truly Shined I've only read from some of the authors before I'm now Definitely gonna read their past work Carmen Maria Machados story was my favorite🌟 can't wait for this book to come and so other can read it!

This is an excellent collection of short stories. They are well written and include characters and plots that build around an idea. This isn’t porn but rather stories that contain subject matter of a sexual nature.

This book is well written and has good character development I just couldn’t personally get into the story and found it a little bit of a struggle to keep reading. Either way it just left a little lacking for me personally. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was an interesting read for me. I have read some erotica previously but always in the Lori Foster vein, which is to say generally tame and almost exclusively heterosexual. This book is most definitely not that.

I read in a number of reviews that this is a good introduction to erotica, and I can see where those reviewers are coming from. There are large number of different sexual preferences (both orientation & fetish wise) in this book and because it’s a bunch of short stories you’re not stuck with anything for too long. In that respect, it’s a good broad spectrum introduction if people don’t know what they want.

However, as a reader who has not read a lot in this genre some of it was too graphic for me. Not in a sexual way but for example there were at least three stories that included pretty detailed spitting kinks and as a novice that makes me a little squeamish. But to each his own.

Any essay collection is difficult to rate because some essays are 5-star reads for me, totally connected with the characters or situation or emotions and some are a bit less spot-on for me. This is actually a main reason that I love collections- I love the diversity! I would definitely recommend Kink- I think most people will be able to connect to a story, connect to a character, or simply explore an idea that they have wanted to learn more about!

This was literary erotica which I think is incredible. It’s not overly smutty and I found it very welcome as someone who loves literary writing- a nice way to break into erotica. These stories felt like they had a lot of depth to them and broadened my understanding of unexplored kinks which is absolutely beautiful.

It must be mentioned, that the diversity in Kink is EVERYTHING. Diversity is sorely lacking in most erotic literature and this was so beautiful to see. The diversity and representation alone deserves high stars because I know it will mean a lot to underrepresented communities in the world of kink who do not often see themselves in erotica or erotic literature.


I requested this the minute that I could because I adore Roxane Gay and this book has added a number of authors to my must-read list.

Final thoughts: if you are thinking about this book, read it. I do believe readers will be able to connect to at least 1 story. This is an honest, gritty collection of erotic literature and definitely worth a read.

Thank you Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.