Alexa and her lover, Grant, have had sex dozens of times. In their motel room, sex is on Grant's mind again. But Alexa wants to go swimming. They only have the one night at the hotel, after all. Can Alexa coax Grant into joining her at the pool? Will both of them get what they want?

Dee Marr's The Swimming Pool is an interesting, though a tad confusing, short story. The tale begins in the motel room, where Alexa comes across as a strong woman who knows her own mind and is used to getting what she wants. In contrast, Grant's first introduction reminds me of a sulky child not getting what he desires. A bizarre hero and an interesting pairing, but OK. Now I wanted to know where the story was going to go. That the pair get down and dirty in the pool instead of going swimming is pretty much a given; it's an act during their sexual escapade in a public place that had me tilting my head in confusion. As you read the scene, you don’t know what's happening. Only as the scene comes to a close do you get a handle on the secret of the story, and even then the author does not confirm it. This could have been a brilliant plot twist, but as you cannot be 100% sure that what you think is true is actually what happened, it falls a bit flat. Nevertheless, the story itself is fairly well written and well paced. Grant, as a character, does transform a little, from petulant child to hunky guy who knows his way around a woman's body. The Swimming Pool is a good quick read, so long as you're not a reader who needs to have a handle on everything that happens in a story, or a reader who is looking for plot intricacies.

Reviewed by: Elizabeth