by inkedrainbowreviews | November 15, 2015 · 12:00 pm

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3 stars for Memories by Valentina Heart #Trans #MF #erotica @LT3Press

Title: Memories
Author Name & Publisher: Valentina Heart (Less Than Three Press)
Publication Date & Length: June 2, 2015 — 58 pages

Acceptance is never any easy road for anyone, but some roads are much harder to travel than others. When Marlin comes home one night, she is greeted by the sight of her man, Gabe, spread out on the bed waiting for her. Accepting all the love he has to offer has been a long process, but recounting all it took to get where they are is a reminder that every step was worth it.

I give this credit for having some exceptionally hot sex that was very well done, but it didn’t quite make up for everything else this lacked. I realize erotica doesn’t always have much of a plot, but in this case, the plot was more or less every trans trope in one location. I was really put off by how it fell into the “acceptable trans woman” narrative–she’s very feminine, only interested in men, and her lover (or husband; it was a little hard to tell) was really masculine and possibly bisexual. I’m generally a fan of bisexual characters, but in this case it seemed to be all about how he was sort of bi because he was able to get over her body parts. (He never exactly identified that way except when he apparently lied about it to his friend–that was also a very bizarre plot point which seemed to only be there so readers would know he was not put off by the fact that Marlin hadn’t had bottom surgery.) There were all kinds of other annoying things, like finding every possible slur to use against her. I’m not sure if this was supposed to educate readers on the plight of trans women or served some other purpose. And while I support every trans person’s decision about medical and surgical interventions, Marlin’s reasoning that she just had to be confident in her womanhood so she wouldn’t need it seemed condescending to trans women who do choose to have surgery for exactly the reasons she rejected.

I’m getting tired of reading the exact same trans woman story in multiple ways. This author wrote such intense, beautiful, loving, life-giving sex scenes (and man, those were some of the hottest m/f I’ve ever read–just so lush and elegantly detailed) that I cannot for the life of me figure out why the rest of it was so bad. I’m going to trust that Ms. Heart can do a better job next time (and I really hope there’s a next time).

~AmyM

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I would say that I am first a reader and then a writer. My fascination with books goes way back into the past when I didn’t even know I could read something that wasn’t given to me in school. Writing came later. First when I tried writing down the plots of the movies I found overwhelming and later in the form of a very dark blog that connected me with people I still consider very good friends.

When in reading I always reached for happy ending romances that helped me deal with the bad side of the world, while in my short stories characters died and their life usually reflected the reality that surrounded mine.

In time, vampires and shifters took the place of knights in shiny armors and I still searched for that happy ending . But with the years also came that wish for something edgier.
My current reading habits take me daily into the world of men, where kink is preferable and angst the realistic side of life in my dose of fiction. It was only natural that my fingers followed my thoughts and I came to a point where men only ogled men and women became side characters.

Somehow out of love for reading a writer was born. I won’t say that the handsome men walking through my imagination have everything a reader might want. They are usually troubled, lost and insecure, but as they slowly stroll through my worlds, they eventually find their happy ending.

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Filed under 3 Star, Amy, Review, Trans, Uncategorized

Tagged as Contemporary, M/F, trans

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