"A Girl Named Charlie" by Day Dreamer. Guest review by BillyG.

Day Dreamer's stories have a pleasant signature style and "A Girl Named Charlie" hews closely to his familiar slow development of likable people engaging in healthy, enjoyable sex. For those who enjoy a story of real people living a believable life with human frailties, this will fit.

The story, while set in the 1940s, is not a period piece and for the feelings and actions of the protagonists, could easily have happened in the 60s or 70s. It might best be summed up as the story of the -feelings- of a 16-year-old boy and the sexual -actions- of Charlie, his teenaged girlfriend. We come to know the emotions of the story teller, but not even his name, for more factual identity is given to Charlene - Charlie - than the protagonist. He's a zero- experienced sexual virgin, albeit open and eager to learn. Charlie, at is turns out, is not, inexperienced that is. She alludes openly to her other experiences, which turn out to be two, and is most often the instigator in their sexual play and ultimate seduction. In fact, her unabashed enthusiasm and her unashamed experience lend a healthy air to the tale. Our boy is pulled along by the power of his own desires, often stimulated by Charlie's provocative horniness.

Is it a sex-linked thing? That some guys enjoy the fantasy of an adolescent seduction where the girl emerges as a strong co-conspirator if not the defacto seducer? I may be remember flashes of my own adolescence and that's why this slow progression so appealed to me.

Admittedly, there is a certain Pollyanna, other-worldly quality to Day Dreamer stories, for there's virtually no tension and certainly no strife. In the almost 22,000 words of this story, it moves along with the inexorable certainty of a large river, the delight experienced in the anticipated assurance of successful sexual exploration. The surprises are not wrapped in unexpected turns or multiple layers of hidden plots, but more in the depth of their surprising escalation of sexuality.

Rich in emotions and feelings, "A Girl Named Charlie" is a warm and sexy read, best enjoyed on a rainy afternoon curled up in a window box.