The answer to the title of Erica Scott’s collection of stories, What Happens to Naughty Girls? is quite obvious, and that is perfectly all right. They get spanked, of course, after consciously or unconsciously, or semi-consciously having worked themselves over the knee of some firm but luscious hunk.

Ms. Scott’s book is amiably clear about what she is doing and the results are charming, sexy, earthy and direct. She includes fourteen stories that are semi-autobiographical fantasies about spankings that she claims to have been given or thought about getting. Given the spanking details, we are pretty sure she has done just that. The stories are the lively, no-nonsense misadventures of more or less the same girl/woman getting her bottom warmed. In fact they are pretty much the same story with different window dressings, but she makes no pretensions to doing otherwise. Thus finding out what happens to naughty girls is a predictable, effortless jaunt if you feel a spanking is what they need most. She certainly thinks so.

The femme figure is always naughty, cheeky, arrogant in an adolescent sort of way, and/or bratty, often has bad judgment or is possibly drunk, but she is never mean or tiresome. She may well be cranky, horny, or just in the mood to make trouble. Her characters discover that they think spanking is sexy despite their suffering derrieres.

On the other hand she wants the spankings to lead to sex after genuine punishment for being naughty. Okay. Fair enough. In fact, the spankings often seem pretty extreme as they extend from the lengthy application of an enraged male palm to more alarming use of a hairbrush or strap. We worry about her poor bottom. Still, both Erica and her behind soldier on bravely until her body betrays her arousal. Then of course the focus shifts to a sort of gauzy, romantic sex. That’s fine too.

In short, Erica, in all her various forms, gets what she wants and her pussy does too, even though she complains that it damply betrays her inner feelings when being spanked. It does just that and we are not unhappy about it. Just how naughty can such a girl be after all? Having worked that hard to get spanked, she really deserves some more tender attention.

Ms. Scott is a very straightforward, likeable writer though her work discloses nothing much about the inner life of her characters or, by extension, herself. Her men are all paternal, clearly very hot numbers to her way of thinking (and why not?), and beyond that largely ciphers. They do what she wants which is to be very dominating for an hour or two, spank her soundly, screw her attentively, and then hit the road.

As such What Happens to Naughty Girls? is an oddly feminist work. Nothing that happens in it is beyond the control of the female characters all of whom provoke and orchestrate the action. The Ken-doll spankers hardly seem to sense they are being manipulated even when they are told as much. So what one likes about this book is that while all these spankings must be very painful, they are exactly in the form she wants them. She is never in any danger, never truly bullied more than she wants, and she retains throughout the attitude of a darling little wise ass – who really ought to be spanked.