I've got some critiques on both the site and the stories.

First, I browsed the site on my phone and noticed that it might be useful for you guys to make a mobile version. The email signup cuts off a sizeable portion of the top, and while I can exit out of that, there's no way to close the social media links on the left side, which covers up part of the story.

Secondly, the pictures you guys chose as banners all fit into the same sort of cookie-cutter mold: svelte, white, and curvy. While that's beautiful in its own right, I'd love to see some more variety as well.

The stories are sort of the same as the pictures, particularly Love a la Shanghai. Every named character so far has typical English-speaking North American names, and the only difference is in Sandra, who is of Mexican descent (and whose name still only sounds vaguely Mexican, not in the least because it's also in common use among native English speakers). The fourth chapter states that the city is populated mostly by foreign nationals, with 'a handful of pretentious Chinese.' Aaaaa I cringed a bit at that. Shanghai is actually almost one hundred percent Han Chinese, with an incredibly small minority being of other ethnic and racial backgrounds. I'd bet my bottom dollar that the majority of those are mainly from other native Chinese ethnicities and from other Asian countries. That leaves very, very few non-Asian people, and for that sentiment to come from a main character, as though the Han don't deserve to live in their native country....eeeeehng.

In that vein, there should be much fewer people able to speak English and converse with Rachel, as most people would speak Wu Chinese or Mandarin. I feel as though this wouldn't hurt the story at all, however. Imagine; with all her free time, Rachel studies Shanghainese as hard as she can, holed up in an apartment in which she feels lonely, and as soon as she feels comfortable enough with the language to go outside and interact with people...BAM, she's an outsider. That would help explain, even more so with the reasons already put, Rachel's need to fight with Maya as an outlet for all the frustration she feels that go along with being out-of-place.

Even with all these critiques, however, I feel as though there's really some burgeoning talent here. The writing is earnest and pure, and there's a decent amount of world-building as well, which you don't normally find in erotica. These stories aren't just gratuitous porn; they're a journey of self-exploration and new beginnings. That is so, so rare. I have to dig deep to find that. While there could be some more work on things such as showing vs telling and some factual errors, I truly enjoyed being shown stories like these, in which I can actually follow the journey taken by both the characters and the writer. As the writing continues to evolve, and as the author continues to gain more writing experience, the stories will continue to grow. This is an amazing beginning for a writer getting back on the bandwagon, and I highly encourage your partner to keep with it, as I forsee nothing but good things coming from, and for, her.