Review ~ Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories

The introduction of Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel, opens with, "Hotel rooms are magical." They are, and so is this delightful Cleis Press anthology. 

The cover reminds me of the Niki Sanders/Nathan Petrelli hotel sex scene on Heroes. 


The stories I'd like to climb inside and inhabit include "Travelodge Tess" by Justine Elyot, "Night School" by Valerie Alexander and "Please Come Again" by Tenille Brown. 


The hero of "Please Come Again" is a homeless man. It gives me flashbacks to when I was a 19-year-old college student, doing a work-study at a homeless shelter. Working at the front desk, I had some interactions with "Tom" (not his real name), a resident who worked as a car mechanic. He had a smokin' hot body, and his tight mechanic's coveralls and grease-stained hands only made him more attractive. I got nervous around him, and he knew it. One time, Tom asked me for a bottle of hand lotion, then made quite a show of rubbing it all up and down his arms and over the back of his neck in front of me. I didn't do anything about it - except write a poem in the magnetic words on my dorm fridge. I believe it went:

"I said

I want the man

When he showers

Dry him with me."

Tom knew I wanted him, but the guy who wanted me was "Joe." A Gulf War One vet, Joe tried several times to show me his gunshot wound scars from the war. I didn't return his interest, however, and lived in moderate fear that his girlfriend would misinterpret something I did as flirting with Joe and try to kick my ass. She was skinny, though. I think I could have taken her.

Anyhoo...just in case anyone should question the sexual appeal of a guy who's lived on the streets - don't. Some homeless guys are way hot. See also: Mr. Reese from Person of Interest at the very beginning of the series, before he meets Harold Finch.

For me, a veteran of Catholic schools, the priest-prostitute role play in Ellie Vokes' "Dirty White Envelope" pushed all the right buttons. 


This collection also contains stories by some of my all-time favorites, Anna Meadows and Andrea Dale. I didn't quite love this one as much as I loved Lustfully Ever After, but I still enjoyed it very much.