Illicit Inheritance: The Complete Collection (Taboo Erotica) By Anya Merchant

The complete and uncut collection of the “Illicit Inheritance” series, by Anya Merchant.

The esteemed Count van Ludling of Blackthorn Isle has passed away, and he has named John Ludling, a normal 18 year old living a normal life, as his heir. Along with the sexy woman who raised him, John travels to the secluded island only to find himself greeted as though he was royalty, with a mansion, a gorgeous maid, and dozens of eager women ready and willing to fulfill his every need.

Change is never easy, especially when off-limits pleasure lies around every corner. John quickly finds himself at the mercy of his own desires, with the closest woman in his life tempting him with the possibility of crossing over into a forbidden and taboo realm full of raw, primal passion. Illicit Inheritance: The Complete Collection (Taboo Erotica)

This was an ok read. I had two main issues with it, though. The first issue is that not enough time passes within the story for some aspects of it to make sense. All in all, the whole story takes place in like 5-6 days. (A week passes after the climax but before the ending, but I'm not counting that part because it's not factored into what I'm talking about.) But regardless of that short passage of time, the protagonist John keeps thinking like all these meaningful things are happening to and around him. But they're not, considering it's only been such a short amount of time. He's worried about jeopardizing relationships he's building - but what relationships? You've only known these people for a handful of days. It's not that big of a deal. People he talks to praise him and act like they're old friends, even though they've only known each other for a few days.
Semi-related to that: a lot of the characters give John praise due to him being the new Count. A few remark about how the old Count was a good guy, so he must be as well. But that makes no sense. John literally did not know about the old Count's existence until he was already dead and they came to this island. They are also not blood-related: the old Count was his stepmother's father. She had cut ties with him before adopting John. So John is not related to the old Count, nor did he have any involvement in John's upbringing. There is zero reason to give any benefit of doubt to John based on anything the old Count did or was like, because there is no actual connection between the two.
This issue could've been mostly solved by a simple fix: have time pass within the narrative. Just a simple mention of a week or two passing, a few times. It wouldn't affect the structure of the narrative much at all, but it would add credence to some of the claims made. It would make sense that people of the island could get to know John in the intervening time. It also takes no extra effort on the author's part. But, alas, they did not do that. I see that Complete Collection is part of the book's title. Does that mean this started out as some kind of fan fiction type thing, released a chapter at a time? Because that perhaps could explain some of this. Maybe it was written over a long stretch of time, causing it to feel like a lot of time had passed, but in reality it only passed for the author, not the characters in the narrative.

The second issue deals largely with spoilers. The main thrust of the drama is that John was photographed getting a handjob from his stepmother. That's the threat hanging over his head: they will be exposed. But the problem with that is it's patently absurd. In reality, there is nothing illegal about what they did. Natalie is his stepmother, not related by blood. John is 18, and therefore is a consenting adult. It may be a bit taboo, and perhaps raises some concerns about possible grooming. But on its face, there's nothing wrong about it. But the novel does not treat it as such, obviously. Instead, it's the biggest possible threat imaginable to John. It drives his every action in the novel. It reaches unbelievable levels of absurdity when the villain of the novel reveals herself, and admits to John that she murdered her father. But tells John he can't do anything about it, because she will take the photos public. And John eats this up, and goes with it. This woman confessed to ACTUAL, LITERAL MURDER and it's treated as being an equal crime to John getting a handjob from his stepmother. IT'S FUCKING RIDICULOUS! Not only that, but the woman also claims that John and her are alike, because she reveals she had a similar relationship with her father. That revelation was fucking crazy, because it gets dark out of nowhere. Actual incest is not the same as what happens with John. It simply isn't.
I know that the main point of this book is the taboo aspect. I am aware of the tactic of writing what is basically an incest story (or making an incest porn video) but using step relation as a way to circumvent the illegality of actual incest. In essence, it's supposed to be an incest story, but they cover their ass by saying it's a stepmother. The problem is, regardless of what it's wink-wink-nudge-nudge supposed to be, they wrote it as being a stepmother and stepson. That is the literal text of the novel. This Pornhub-tier brand of incest that's not really incest because it's step relation just does not have enough weight behind it to do what the author was trying to do with it. If they wanted it to be truly important, then they should've just bit the bullet and make John and Natalie be related by blood. It at least would make a little bit more sense that way. (Although, even if it was, it's still not nearly on the same level of severity as the crime it was compared to...)

Anyways. All of that aside, I thought it was a fairly decent porn book. Certainly had the highest amount of sex scenes of any of these books I've read. It's kind of what I've been looking for in that regard. Most of the adult books I've read before seem to fall into similar breakdowns of around 70% story and 30% erotic scenes. This book was more like 40% story 60% smut.
I mean, most of the sex scenes feel a bit forced in a very porn way, if that makes any sense. Like the build-up is not very realistic. But, eh, it's kind of what's on the tin when you go into one of these. Kindle Edition

Summary ✓ E-book, or Kindle E-pub ✓ Anya Merchant