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Message-ID: <38011asstr$1030331403@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: Peaches and Cream  <peachescreamreviews@yahoo.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} {REVIEW} Peaches and Cream Reviews: #24
Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 23:10:03 -0400
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Hi! We're Peaches & Cream. We're just two ordinary Joes who like
reading and romance. Recently, there was a Summer Solstice Romance
Festival on ASSM, and it caught our attention. We started discussing
the stories and our reviews were born. Our format is simple: one of us
starts the review, the other chimes in, and then the starter finishes
it off. Because this is all about romance, we'll be scoring with 0-5
kisses. We're changing our format to include more than one story per
issue. There is a website devoted to the festival where you can find
all the stories we will review. 

http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Rui_Favorites/www/RomFest

***

Peaches & Cream Reviews: #24

What a grand thing, to be loved!
What a grander thing still, to love!
- Victor Hugo -

Stories to be reviewed:

The Longest Light/The Shortest Night by Uther Pendragon
To Love Doggedly by Foxbat
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Longest Light by Uther Pendragon
(rom Mf pett oral)
http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2002/36907

And

The Shortest Night by Uther Pendragon
(Mf rom 1st)
http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2002/36908

***

Peaches:

Hal and Lauren spend the night in a tent while his brother, Lance and
Lauren's friend, Samantha, spend the night at a hotel.

The Longest Light follows Hal and Lauren.

Hal and Lauren set up camp and eventually settle into the tent. What
follows is very gentle, foreplay and eventually oral sex.

I felt a little bogged down with the repeated description of Hal
kissing Lauren's breasts. This may be true to life, but the story
would benefit by shortening this scene.

The other issue I have relates to the fact that through the story it
*feels* like Hal and Lauren are only thrown together because they are
doing favors for Lance and Samantha. When suddenly, two thirds in,
they are professing their love for one another. It jarred. Maybe if we
see more evidence of this love earlier on in the story, it wouldn't
come out of the blue and seem unreal. The author takes great pains in
relaying this in real terms, details like, what to do with the toilet
paper or how do you eat something that's been in the bottom of a
sleeping bag. It seems a shame to lose sight of that nice reality when
they say, I love you.

A minor complaint: With four character names to learn, I found it
distracting for Hal to be called Harold as well.
***
The Shortest Night follows Lance and Samantha to a hotel.

Lance and Samantha are a couple. They've been a couple and they've
made plans that tonight is going to be *the* night. They're in love.
He's going off to college while she still has a year of High School
left (hence the code Mf).

This story is more poignant and gives you a lot more to think about.
Are they both virgins? What does this night mean for their
relationship? Does it seal the relationship or does it mark the
beginning of the end? These are questions the reader gets to decide.
It makes for some interesting reading.

These two stories stand alone fine, but when read together, they bring
a lot more depth to how each brother spent the night.

3.5 combined kisses

***

Cream:

I really think these stories should be combined or at the very least
connected, with "The Longest Light" preceding "The Shortest Night."
The contrasts are vital. I agree that "The Shortest Night" is more
interesting, more poignant; in some ways it very well might be the
saddest story we've read so far.

As for "The Longest Light," I didn't at all get the feeling that Hal
and Lauren were just doing the favor. What I didn't quite understand
was why the favor needed doing at all. I also didn't understand why
both couples couldn't stay up on the mountain.  That might have added
some interesting flavors.  And how come the "wrong" couple ends up in
the romantic spot?

There's a ton of really good below the surface stuff in these stories,
but maybe there's a bit too much on and above the surface. A lot of
the description (sexual and otherwise) seems mechanical.  Apt at
times, other times it just seems to go on and on.  I bet this story
would be twice as good if it were half as long.

3.75 kisses

***

Peaches:

I guess in the minds of some, a clandestine night spent in a hotel
room is more romantic then a night spent on top of a mountain on the
night of the summer solstice. These people are all at McDonald's this
morning instead of sitting by an early morning campfire. 

But I like that irony of these stories. The planned night with Lance
is not nearly as romantic or satisfying as the night with Hal. The
musician is not nearly as romantic as the engineer. These are nice
ironies, but only if you read the stories together.

***

Peaches: 3.5 kisses
Cream: 3.75 kisses
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Love Doggedly by Foxbat
(mf rom)
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/foxbat/www/lovedoggedly.txt

***

Cream:

The writing's a little messy in places, but the pace is
relentless--almost non-stop fuck action.  Given the title, I don' t
think it's too hard to see where this is going, where it might end.
It's often very clever but not too clever. Hard for me to savor the
tricks and teases or even the sex, though, so vital was it for me to
get to the end.  So that's the trouble--this story is mostly about the
tricking and teasing, and in the end it's not quite as satisfying as I
think it should have been.

3.5 sloppy kisses

***

Peaches:

It's not in the codes, but it is in the title and the disclaimer. And
there are plenty of hints along the way as to who Melissa's lover
actually is. Oddly enough, knowing the final outcome didn't bother me
nearly as much as the repeated use of "twat." 

This is a story for a certain few. I'm not one of them. And yet,
change a character and a few words and it might have potential to be
erotic.

2 kisses

***

Cream:

Is it because "twat" is a turn-off word for you, Peaches?  Kind of
interesting the way certain words work.  Actually "twat" is used only
twice in the story.  Synonyms such as cunt and pussy are used with
much greater frequency--five and three times respectfully.  Er, I mean
respectively.  I don't think the word choice was intended to be
degrading to the character.

>Reaching down with her hands she pressed his head into her crotch, 
>as he continued to lick and slurp, tonguing her like there was something
>especially tasty hidden in her twat. 

>Lying on top of her, completely spend, he breathed
>slowly and waited for his cock to deflate and slip out of her twat.

So if we switch the twat to some other sex word, say peach or plum or
honeypot, would that earn the tale an extra kiss or two? Words are so
slippery!  I'm not a big fan of twat, either, but I thought it fitting
the way it was used in this story.  No, Peaches, what might have
gained the story an extra kiss from me would have been a lover we
didn't expect.

***

Peaches: 2 kisses
Cream: 3.5 sloppy kisses

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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