The Beauty Series ~ Anne Rice

Anne Rice, the master who brought us Interview with a Vampire and The Queen of the Damned has recently re released her Erotica Fractured Fairytale series. Having read the first in the series years ago , The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, I was eager to re read the series after picking it up Via Netgalley. Now I must point out this is an erotica series. Mrs Rice has crafted a world of dark fantasy where Princesses must learn to serve long before they can rule.

The books and their blurbs:

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty
In the traditional folktale of "Sleeping Beauty," the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a Prince. It is an ancient story, one that originally emerged from and still deeply disturbs the mind's unconscious. Now Anne Rice, writing as A.N. Roquelaure, retells the Beauty story and probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire. Here the Prince awakens Beauty, not with a kiss, but with sexual initiation. His reward for ending the hundred years of enchantment is Beauty's complete and total enslavement to him . . . as Anne Rice explores the world of erotic yearning and fantasy in a classic that becomes, with her skillful pen, a compelling experience. Readers of Fifty Shades of Grey will indulge in Rice’s deft storytelling and imaginative eroticism, a sure-to-be classic for years to come.

Beautys Punishment
This sequel to The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, the first of Anne Rice's (writing as A.N. Roquelaure) elegantly written volumes of erotica, continues her explicit, teasing exploration of the psychology of human desire. Now Beauty, having indulged in a secret and forbidden infatuation with the rebellious slave Prince Tristan, is sent away from the Satyricon-like world of the Castle. Sold at auction, she will soon experience the tantalizing punishments of "the village," as her education in love, cruelty, dominance, submission, and tenderness is turned over to the brazenly handsome Captain of the Guard. And once again Rice's fabulous tale of pleasure and pain dares to explore the most primal and well-hidden desires of the human heart. Preceding the visceral eroticism of E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey and even more haunting than her own novelBelinda, this second installment is not to be missed. 

Beautys Release

Before Fifty Shades of Grey, there was Anne Rice’s provocative take on the timeless fairy tale “Sleeping Beauty. “ In the final volume of Anne Rice's deliciously tantalizing erotic trilogy, Beauty's adventures on the dark side of sexuality make her the bound captive of an Eastern Sultan and a prisoner in the exotic confines of the harem. As this voluptuous adult fairy tale moves toward conclusion, all Beauty's encounters with the myriad variations of sexual fantasy are presented in a sensuous, rich prose that intensifies this exquisite rendition of Love's secret world, and makes the Beauty series and incomparable study of erotica. In it, Anne Rice, writing as A.N. Roquelaure, makes the forbidden side of passion a doorway into the hidden regions of the psyche and the heart.

My Take;
This is an adult only series. I believe the erotica starts by the second or third page and continues on through the whole series. Written long before Fifty Shades of Grey this is a series 
of novels with a compelling story. As the characters work through pain and pleasure the story actually builds keeping the readers interest and making you want to continue on to find out what happens to Beauty and those around her.
The fetish scenes are intensely written, opening a world most of us could never even imagine. Anne Rice is a magician with a pen, who has the ability to make me blush and that is saying a lot. If you have never experienced erotica this series may come as a surprise, so be prepared! If you think after reading Fifty Shades of Grey that you know all there is to know then I dare you to read an erotica series written by a fantastic author like Anne Rice, you don't know what your missing!!