As the introduction by Russell Smith states, this is not a collection of erotica. Twenty four published Canadian authors, in complete anonymity, submitted short stories about sex or involving some amount of sex, the premise being that they would be less inclined to sensor themselves when they know friends and family won't know who wrote what.

The stories were quite varied, and like many anthologies, some stories were bad, others great, and still more were thought provoking. I quite enjoyed most of this collection. There were a few surprising ones, including a vampire story.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I really struggled with this book to the point where I only read parts of some of the stories. I was looking forward to reading this book but it was quite the let down. Some stories, like the sexting story, made me chuckle but some just didn't make sense or follow any type of structure. I think then idea of the book and the "anonymity" is a good concept but a large majority of the stories just didn't capture my my interest.

It is nice to have an anthology and a section of choice and style. However, I didn't enjoy the majority of the stories. I found them to be far more experimental and incohesive, so this book is ok at best.

I thought the concept of the book was really intriguing and caught my attention to read what authors weren’t adding into their books. However, after reading the stories the appeal of the book was lost. I wasn’t as much intrigue anymore, and that is what I’m giving it a rating of two stars.

Unfortunately, this just wasn't for me. Like I DNF'd it it was so not for me. I think the idea behind this is really really interesting, but the stories just didn't keep my attention.

As I read through some of them, some were pretty good but I lost interest halfway through and haven’t been able to pick it up since then

The concept was interesting and fun. A collection of stories without the authors’ names attached! That’s unlike anything I’d read before.

But I didn’t enjoy the stories that much and the writing fell flat in a few. There were even a few stories that didn’t seem to belong in the book at all.

ARC provided by NetGalley/Rare Machines

I love the idea of stories published anonymously but I struggled to get into a lot of the stories and some I just couldn't finish. There are some gems and with the variety there's something for everyone. If you don't mind having to skip some stories, you'll find something worth the read.

I really like the idea of having these stories published anonymously, some of these stories are very captivating, but quite a few were average and hard to get into, though that's affected by my preference of writing style and theme. Overall an interesting book I would recommend.

Collection of 24 stories written anonymously by select Canadian writers.

Most of the stories are only a brief snippets of people’s love lives 💕 so don’t expect a traditional novel structure. I would recommend the book as a quick pick-up-put-down since stories are short and not too complex. I especially enjoyed reading it while traveling!

I was truly fascinated by the variety of stories! Some of my favorites are:

Watching You Watching Me - recently divorced woman weaving a story of her rebounds and meaning of relationships

Sext - man crawls for woman & she likes it until…

Niche Parade - stories fully compiled from titles on P**nhub

Some stories are quite jarring with sad revelations but all together present different types of love 🏳️‍🌈

Thank you to the publishers for the ARC!

Overall ‘Secret Sex’ did fall a bit short for me however the concept of this anthology was undeniably intriguing and there was clear commitment put into delivering a diverse array of narratives. I’m glad that a unique perspective was taken with these stories rather than it being 200+ pages of pure smut.

Unfortunately, not every story resonated with me. Some fell short of expectations, leaving me yearning for more depth or connection to the characters. Despite this, the commitment to diversity ensured that no two stories were alike. It was this willingness to experiment and break away from the conventional that kept me engaged.

In retrospect, ‘Secret Sex’ is a mixed bag. The gems in here do sparkle but are often overshadowed by the less-polished of the stories. The inconsistency really hindered my enjoyment of this book, but I suppose that’s a risk you take when mixing so many different authors and writing styles.

I’ve settled on a 2 star rating as I appreciate the concept and the effort to break boundaries, but the individual stories have room for improvement.

Spicy short stories for the win! Although some of the stories weren’t my particular flavor of spice, the variety was definitely fun! Some stories were to the point, some had you dancing around thought, again a variety of fun short spicy stories! Have fun diving into the sexy explicit world of sensual fun!

It’s fun not knowing who wrote what, and trying to guess as you read along! These stories are definitely literary, so if you don’t mind that mixed in with your reading, you’ll definitely enjoy this anthology.

Such an interesting concept - everyone I've described this book to has had the same reaction "ooh what a great idea!" Am I the only person with a twisted desire to pinpoint who wrote what? Probably not - which is exactly why this is so thrilling!

I would like to start off by thanking Netgalley for an ARC of this book. Unfortunately it fell flat for me as I couldn’t get invested in the character developments and was hard to get into some of the stories. Some were beautiful but a lot of them fell flat for me. The concept was amazing but unfortunately the execution was not. DNF at 64%

I initially requested an ARC of this book as it sounded super interesting! The concept sounded amazing-a guessing game of what author wrote what erotic short story-sign me up! The description of the book said the stories were of erotic nature (or 'risky fiction') and I expected them to be quite risqué, but it turned out to be more of slow burn literary fiction than anything. Of course there were some spicy elements but it wasn't what I was expecting.

I loved the mystery of trying to guess what author penned each story. I found it very exciting and I struggled to work out who wrote what, so it was done pretty well!
While I loved the concept, I did think that the execution was a little bit flat. I did feel like I lost interest quite a bit and I struggled to finish it.
Of course there are a handful of stories I loved, but I was hoping for a bit more spice and flair in how the stories were delivered.

"Secret Sex" was quite unique and does blur the line between erotica and literary fiction which was interesting to say the least. Again, I loved the guessing game but the overall execution could use a little more spice.

This is an interesting read of short erotic stories written anonymously so that there are no barriers to write your story as sexy as you like without fear of comment or ridicule. A selection of saucy stories for every taste.

Some of the stories are extremely entertaining, and it is fun to read about things that don't often make it to publication. I liked the concept of a collection of anonymous sex stories -- but after reading this, I'm not sure what the point was. I found this in the Erotica section of NetGalley, yet the intro specifies that this isn't Erotica. These are short stories that have something to do with sex, and no other connection. And so I am not really sure who the target audience is.

I thought this was an artfully written piece of work talking about made up sexual encounters. This was a lot different then just reading smut filled words which some may think this would be. Yes it’s erotic and explicit but many of the pieces have more of an artistic lens to them making them more interesting to read.

Russell Smith, the editor, proposed that anonymity gave authors the opportunity to write without feeling the need to self-censor, while also allowing them to push limits on everything from gender to genre.

Anthologies are tough to evaluate since some voices are more audible than others. But, overall, I like the concept, and I liked starting each story without knowing the locale, tone, or even the 'kind' of erotica I'd be diving into. It took a while for our main character to reveal their gender, so I'd be enjoying the love story as both gay and straight, which was a unique experience for me - and one I definitely suggest.

My reading preferences distinguish me from the average fic-lit readership in that I read a lot of spicy romance/smut/erotica. I'm accustomed to authors pushing the boundaries of sex, so it felt like some authors were still drawing their punches and tackling this issue from a different angle. I wish a couple of the stories/authors were as open and vulnerable about the subject as others.

In this book, a diverse spectrum of authors are given the opportunity to anonymously write a short tale about sex, with their anonymity allowing them to write sequences they may not otherwise publish.

Though the premise is intriguing, I have read similarly intriguing and literary depictions of sex without the need for anonymity — not all depictions of sex are in erotica or poorly written 'billionaire' or fifty shades of grey-style books, as the editor's note implies. Having said that, I'm sure anonymity was liberating for some of these authors, and there were some truly intriguing and innovative takes on the theme.