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Erotica is read by women all around the world, and has been part of human sexuality for centuries. From the first cave paintings to the kindle craze of Fifty Shades of Grey, human beings have used the technology available to them to express and explore sexuality.

The best erotica is often based in fantasy, and transports the reader to a new world where anything is possible. Fantasy is an essential part of human sexuality, allowing us the freedom and catharsis to explore and be aroused by situations we would never want in our real lived lives. This need for fantasy extends way beyond sex – think about how many of your favorite books, movies and shows are fantasies at heart!

People who love action movies or superheroes don’t problematize their interest in the fantasy world. Yet somehow we give ourselves permission to watch action movies and enjoy the car chases and explosions, but when we read erotic fantasies many of us are worried about being aroused by fantasies – even though we wouldn’t want to be on a pirate ship in real life any more than we’d want to be in a high speed car chase. The idea of it is exciting, the reality might be devastating. Fantasy gives us this alternate reality where anything is possible, there are no limits and we are free to imagine and be aroused by our creative visions.

Compilations of short stories are useful because they allow you to sample a wide range of voices, scenarios and characters without the time investment of a whole novel. Many women report, however, that they enjoy going on a journey with the main character of erotica, and find short stories limited in the emotional intimacy department. Do you prefer long epic trilogies or quickie short stories? Let us know in the comments.

Here is some of our favorite erotica for women. Know about great books you want to share? Let us know in the comments or get in touch privately!

Best Erotica Series for Women

The Sleeping Beauty Series by Anne Rice writing as A.N. Roquelaure (The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty’s Punishment and Beauty’s Release)

The Fifty Shades Series by E.L. James (Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed)

Best Erotica Books for Women

The Story of O by Pauline Reage (a classic, almost old-fashioned, which only adds to the charm!)

Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin (also be sure to read her diaries, for a complete training in sensual and passionate living!)

Spring Into Summer by Eden Baylee (four short erotica novellas from one of the best contemporary erotic fiction authors)

Best Erotica Short Stories for Women

The Best Women’s Erotica Series Edited by Violet Blue

Best Sex Writing 2012: The State of Today’s Sexual Culture Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel and Susie Bright

Five Minute Erotica Edited by Carol Queen

Macho Sluts by Pat Califia (A classic in the field, featuring very heavy lesbian bdsm!)

Gay Erotica? Fireman Erotica? Fetish Erotica? Cleis Press has you covered with a “Best Of” anthology covering a big range of interests!

On Our Nightstand To Read:

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

We’d love to hear your votes for the best erotica for women – post in the comments or be in touch privately!

If you have just finished Fifty Shades of Grey and are wondering what to read next, or are just looking for your next hot erotica trilogy, all roads lead to The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, a trilogy by the incredible Anne Rice. Originally published under the pen name A.N. Roquelaure, this series has just been released in an all new edition, just in time to satiate eager Fifty Shades fans!

I first discovered this series as a teenager, and have read it dozens of times over the years. No matter how many times I revisit it, I fall in love with Beauty all over again and her epic erotic journey never fails to arouse and inspire me.

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty opens just like the classic fairy tale. Sleeping Beauty is under a spell, and her prince comes to her rescue, waking her not with a kiss but with ravishment. In this moment, right at the beginning of the first book, we know we are in a whole new world with our heroine. The prince “claims” her completely, and whisks her off into a world of sex slaves, heavy BDSM and spectacular erotic rituals. We as readers are immediately immersed in a fantasy world, where along with Beauty we can be seduced by the extreme pleasures and proclivities of the wicked Prince, the Queen and their imaginary kingdom, where every prince and princess receives rigorous training in sexual submission.

What is so amazing about this series is the complete fantasy of it. Anne Rice understands fantasy and elevates every sensual detail until the reader is transported to another world all together, where anything is possible and we have permission to be turned on by the extremes and intensity.

The world of fantasy is an essential part of the human erotic imagination, and all too often we blur the line between fantasy and desire. When we read vampire novels we allow ourselves to be transported to that fantasy world, without worrying about if we actually want to be the living undead in real life. We must allow ourselves the same freedom with erotic fantasy. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty allows us to make the leap into the sex-saturated castles and, just like our heroine, we can find ourselves aroused at the cruel prince, the powerful Queen, the indignities of Beauty’s punishment. In this fantasy world that Anne Rice so beautifully weaves for us, our sexuality is free to be aroused and inspired, and in that freedom is an erotic liberation that can change your sex life in a very real way.

Each book in the Sleeping Beauty series by Anne Rice is a new experience, exploring a new terrain of turn-on. In the second book of the series, Beauty’s Punishment we are transported away from the castle down to the village, where all new erotic adventures are possible. Instead of lavish garden parties with naked servants we find Beauty being spanked with a bread board, chained up in the town square for all to see, and violated by rough hands at the tavern.

The third book, Beauty’s Release, has always been my personal favorite. Beauty is swept away by an exotic sultan and we are transported to a world with new flavors of sensual detail and sexual debauchary. In the fragant halls of the sultan’s palace Beauty experiences the final chapter of her sexual training, and we are treated to scenes with golden body paint, harems of exotic beauties and hands down the hottest sex scenes in the trilogy.

Be forewarned: the themes of Dominance and submission, of physical brutality and painful pleasures are way more intense in Sleeping Beauty than Fifty Shades. No detail is spared as every orifice of our princess is used and abused. Household objects take on new meaning as the characters are beaten, penetrated and stimulated with everything from jeweled swords to thorny roses. The sex is heavy, and the BDSM is otherworldly.

What gives us the freedom to enjoy such brutality is the masterful writing of Anne Rice, who so fully transports us into a fantasy world where anything is possible, giving us the temporary freedom to enjoy such a brutal world, and then happily return to our ordinary world of sexuality, inspired and aroused but with a clear sense of coming home to a safer and saner world of sexual ecstasy.

More of the Best Erotica for Women