Punishment with Kisses - Diane Anderson-Minshall

Punishment with Kisses is the 3rd book I have read for my summer reading challenge. The cover of this book informs you that it is a sexual odyssey so I was fairly sure that it was going to be similar to a good ‘Mills and Boon’ read, but probably a bit more risqué! It was also another thin book so I was convinced that I would be able to read it in less than a week!

This book is written by Diane Anderson-Minshall who is the editor-in-chief of Curve (a top-selling lesbian magazine), and has also written other books.

The story

The story is told through the eyes of Megan, the start of the book shows her watching her sister, Ash, as she moves into the pool house of her fathers large estate, having been thrown out by her father for being such a wild child.

Ash then has a string of girls constantly around her and they have orgies and the such around the pool. A few chapters into the book Ash’s life comes to a premature end and Megan decides that she must find out who has murdered her sister. Megan finds her sisters diaries and acts out many of her sisters moves in an attempt to find out who her sister was and who would want to kill her.

Will Megan find out who killed her sister?, and will she find out what drove her sister to becoming the way she was, so blatantly sexual?

My opinion

I enjoyed this book as there were a few unexpected twists and turns in the plot, you even get so wrapped up in the lives of the characters that you forget that it’s actually a kind of who done it, as for a large part of the story you get to know the characters in-depth and get caught up in various relationships. I was expecting quite a lot of sexual reference, however, that side of it was a little slower to get started than I expected. Once the sex does start though there is lots mentioned, with the odd reference to a few fetish type encounters so if you get embarrassed about things that are a little kinky than this is not the book for you.

The language used in this book is mostly easy to understand, there are a few words that I wouldn’t encounter in everyday life but not many. The chapters are of a length that you could read a couple in one sitting, there are also a couple of natural breaks in the chapters so you can put the book down and make a cup of tea without losing your place.

Although this book is marketed as ‘A Matinee Romance’, on the whole the story is mainly a who done it, with a lot of sex thrown in for good measure.

Would you recommend this book?

When I came to write up this review I was a little surprised to see that this book is classed as a lesbian book, as far as I was aware books don’t need to be put into such a small pigeon hole, however as the book is based around the life of a very sexually adventurous lesbian, I guess I can’t argue that it’s in the wrong section either…however you don’t have to be a lesbian to enjoy this book!

As this book is filled with sexual language I would suggest that this book is only suitable for a more mature reader. I would recommend this book to you if you enjoy erotica style books, or if you tire of the same old plots in mills and boon books and are ready for something a bit more meaty!

Bookish bits

ISBN 978-1-60282-081-4
Price around £13 (shop around for best price)
201 pages (paperback)
Printed by Bold Strokes Books