Hunter's Prey by Moira Rogers

TITLE: Hunter’s Prey

AUTHOR: Moira Rogers

PUBLISHER: Samhain

LENGTH: Novel (roughly 45k)

GENRE: Steampunk paranormal erotic romance

COST: $4.50

Two people attempting to change their lives. Ophelia, an ex-prostitute, has taken over the job of housekeeper for the bloodhounds in Iron Creek, while Hunter, a bloodhound, is trying to learn how to exist outside a cage. Neither wants to admit their attraction to the other. But when desire and emotions take charge, neither one really has a choice…

The world-building in the first book of this series intrigued me enough to invest in getting the second. However, I’m not completely sure it’s enough to keep me going after this one.

In this installment, our romance occurs between Ophelia, an ex-prostitute who has been given the job as housekeeper at the manor where the bloodhounds of Iron Creek live, and Hunter, a recently rescued new bloodhound who is still learning what it means to be one. Ophelia is done with being a pawn for men, as well as only being valued for her sex appeal, but being a housekeeper isn’t exactly what she wants either. She’s too independent and intelligent for such menial work, and decides she’s going to quit once the new moon is past. The one thing that gives her pause is the latest bloodhound at the manor. Hunter had been caged by vampires ever since being created, used as a feeding source for Nate (who has become a sort of vampire/bloodhound hybrid), and is just starting to learn what it means to be what he is. He’s afraid of what he can do, of how out of control he gets, and he’s especially afraid he’ll hurt Ophelia, since she seems to be the one woman who can really get to him. He turns down her offer to help him through the new moon (a period during which they need to feed off their partner’s lusts and desires, which is basically an excuse for lots and lots of sex over a three day period), but when she makes the arrangements for him to be seen by someone else, he refuses, demanding only her.

The story goes on from there, though honestly, there’s not much that isn’t horribly predictable. The bulk of it is spent on Hunter’s internal angst about who he really is and Ophelia’s flip-flopping back and forth on her feelings for Hunter, with a subplot about a threat running through Iron Creek supposedly bringing things together. While the world is just as fascinating as it was the first time, it’s less developed, relying too heavily on previous knowledge to work well as a standalone. I hadn’t read the previous book again before tackling this one, and found gaps in my knowledge that this one failed to fill in. For a new reader to the series, I don’t think it serves it well at all.

It’s not helped by the fact that the characterizations for both leads aren’t strong. Hunter’s primary conflict is his internal battle trying to figure out who he really is – the man he was before he became a bloodhound or the monster he is now. But because Hunter doesn’t know, we as readers don’t ever really get to find out either. It leaves him as a shell for me to project upon, an archetype to imagine going through the motions of what are meant to steamy love scenes. It’s boring, frankly. Ophelia fares slightly better, as she has a stronger sense of who she is, but just because she’s strong-willed and independent, that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s interesting. She’s not. And the sex isn’t written well enough to make up for the deficiency in either of the characters.

The broader cast of characters is interesting, with both new and old faces, but the story is too short to give any of them a decent treatment. There’s barely enough time to get the main conflict resolved, let alone touch on the multitude of subplots that get thrown into the mix (most likely fodder for future stories). I would have much preferred getting some meaty time with just one or two, rather than the plethora that took over the pages.

Will I read the third book when it comes out? I honestly don’t know. This one had such potential, with a hero type that usually falls right in the middle of a bulletproof kink (the broken alpha struggling for identity), and yet, didn’t follow through on its promise. I guess it’ll be a matter of evaluating it on its own merit rather than as an autobuy as part of a series.

Readability	8/10 – Clean and does the job
Hero	5/10 – The problem is, since he doesn’t know who he is, the reader doesn’t either
Heroine	6/10 – Being strong-willed and independent doesn’t necessarily make her well-rounded
Entertainment value	5/10 – As much as I love the potential in this, I never believed the romance enough to invest in it
World building	8/10 – As fascinating as this world is, it doesn’t work as a standalone as well as it should
TOTAL:	32/50

The Concubine's Tale by Jennifer Colgan

TITLE: The Concubine’s Tale
AUTHOR: Jennifer Colgan
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 23k)
GENRE: Paranormal romance
COST: $3.50

Curator Cait Lang is under orders to show their latest acquisition to collector Grant Pierson, a prospect she doesn’t really look forward to since she finds the man’s smug, know-it-all personality annoying. Grant is glad to finally have the chance to spend some alone time with ice-queen Cait, hungry to find out if she ever comes unruffled, but the story behind the papyrus on the auction block proves to be more enticing than either of them anticipate…

While this story had an interesting set-up, the actual follow-through didn’t quite live up to its initial promise. Essentially, it’s divided into two separate stories, the contemporary one between Cait and Grant, and the Egyptian one between Nayari and Khanu. Cait and Grant are professional acquaintances, with neither really knowing much about the other. Cait finds his superior attitude annoying, while he has never really looked past her ice-queen persona. He decides to see if he can get past it by inviting her out for a private dinner while she’s telling him about the papyrus, and though dating clients is forbidden, she agrees, largely because she’s curious, too. She begins relating the translation, making it clear it’s been embellished, and the story alternates between the rising tension between them and the growing attraction between the concubine and the warrior set to protect her.

The story Cait tells is a romantic one, about a concubine being used as a pawn in her master’s bid to become Pharoah, the world painted there rich and fascinating. Nayari is lovely to watch, from her initial pride to her horror at what’s intended for her to her growing feelings for Khanu. This story provides the strongest momentum for this short novella and offers glimmers of just what it could have been. Unfortunately, none of the other characters possess the same intrigue or depths. Nayari’s story is essentially a tool to get Cait and Grant over their initial misgivings and make them hot and bothered enough to ignore the order not to get involved. Not enough time is spent on developing them as real people for the attraction between them to feel organic, and the back and forth starts to feel very by-the-numbers.

The publisher calls this a paranormal story, but that’s stretching the definition. The problem is, this doesn’t fit neatly into any one category. The historical tale is clearly the most developed and compelling, but it’s tucked inside a contemporary package. The paranormal label likely springs from the mystical ending that Grant eventually discovers to the Egyptian lovers, but it lacks the credibility the rest of the tale offers. Though the publisher doesn't indicate it as such, this is likely meant to be a companion piece to another of the author's works called "The Soul Jar." There's an excerpt for that at the end of this, but in all fairness, I didn't realize this might be linked to something else (and thus give the ending more veracity) until after I started writing this review and went to the author's bio to get her web address. I never read the excerpts Samhain pads the end of their books with (a truly annoying practice, as those words get added into the total word count and can make unsuspecting buyers think they're purchasing a longer work). Frankly, I shouldn't have to happen to stumble across that excerpt/blurb to discover the ending I didn't buy for a second is rooted in another work.

Readers wanting paranormal attributes will be disappointed. If anything, I’d suggest this to lovers of Egyptian stories. That’s what it really has going for it.

Readability	7/10 – The Egyptian portions read much more vivid and interesting than the contemporary portions
Heroes	6/10 – One didn’t have enough depth, the other was too idealized
Heroines	6/10 – Nayari is fascinating, but Cait suffers the same problem Grant does
Entertainment value	6/10 – So much potential in this, but it just never gels together
World building	7/10 – The Egyptian world sizzles, which makes the weak contrast to the contemporary even more disappointing
TOTAL:	32/50

Gambling on Love by Jane Davitt

TITLE: Gambling on Love
AUTHOR: Jane Davitt
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 87k)
GENRE: Gay contemporary erotic romance
COST: $6.99

Eleven years ago, Gary ran away from the small town he grew up in on the night he accidentally outed himself and his best friend Abe to Abe’s coach. Now, a winter storm he underestimated and a toss of his lucky quarter have him stranded on the side of the road just miles from where he grew up. As fate would have it, the driver of the truck he hit belongs to none other than Abe, but they have to get out of the storm before they can even begin to deal with the shock of seeing each other again…

Jane Davitt is one of the those authors I can trust to write intelligent prose, which is why I don’t usually have to think to hard about buying one of her books. Unfortunately, it takes more than a strong grasp of language to make a great story.

The book opens in 1998 with best friends Abe and Gary as teenagers. We learn of their close friendship that suffers slightly when Abe realizes Gary is attracted to him, but that soon shifts when Abe finally confesses he’s gay, too, and in love with Gary. A puppy love, in the closet, relationship develops, but one day, the two boys are caught in the locker room kissing by Abe’s coach. Terrified about what’s going to happen to them as gay in their small town, Gary runs away, leaving behind a confused Abe when Abe refuses to come with him. Cut forward eleven years, and Gary is just a few miles away from his home town, on his way to do one last thing for his lover/employer who just died. He underestimates the storm he’s driving through, and ends up getting into an accident with a truck. The truck driver is Abe, who was on his way home, and after the initial shock of seeing each other and a couple arguments, they work together to get to the safety of Abe’s house. The pair end up snowed in together for a few days, during which time they have to come to grips with the resentment and residual feelings between them.

The prologue is appropriately gripping and entertaining, with likeable, believable teenagers discovering that first thrill of love. It backslides a little with the jump forward in time, because the twenty-nine year-old Gary is clearly not the same as the teenaged Gary, and the effect is jarring. It seemed to even out, however, and I was excited when Abe came onto the scene. I was looking forward to seeing these two iron out their differences.

However, that doesn’t happen for a long time. More than half the book is given over to this prologue and the first twenty-four hours they spend together. A lot has to happen in that time, I know, but it created a telescope effect, with far too much intense time spent on dragging out their initial conflict, then not nearly enough time spent on the days that came afterward. Once they get clear of the snow, the most conflict we get is from one or the both of them saying the wrong thing to the other, issues that get resolved too quickly in relation to the pace set in the first half of the story. That schism interrupts the flow, and makes it feel like you’re reading two different books, where the characters only vaguely resemble each other. Ultimately, it’s very frustrating, because Gary ends up proving uneven as a result. His prickly behavior lacks enough context most of the time to make the reader empathize with him. Instead, all feeling ends up getting aimed at Abe, who already has the bonus of being the wronged party in this by being the one left behind.

That imbalance typifies the story’s biggest weakness. While the sex scenes are usually hot, with some mild D/s thrown in as Gary finally gets to be dominant and Abe learns to better accept his submissive sexual side, everything around it lacks the cohesion to glue it all together. It’s not helped that the ending is telegraphed early on, easy to predict for anybody paying attention. The solid prose just isn’t enough in this case.

Readability	8/10 – Intelligent prose and believable dialogue, but pacing was all over the place and slowed it down considerably
Hero #1	6/10 – His skittishness is all over the map, making it hard to get a consistent bead on him
Hero #2	7/10 – Though I thought his turnaround in forgiving Gary was too swift, I definitely empathized with him more
Entertainment value	6/10 – It took forever to get past the first twenty-four hours, and then the rest of it snowballed too quickly to really feel much of anything
World building	7/10 – The prologue and storm aspects felt chillingly real
TOTAL:	34/50

The Locker Room by Amy Lane

TITLE: The Locker Room
AUTHOR: Amy Lane
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 85k)
GENRE: Gay contemporary erotic romance
COST: $6.99

Xander Karcek loves two things in this world – basketball and Chris Edwards. Both saved him from a neglectful home and a potential life on the skids. But being gay and being a prominent athlete don’t seem to go hand in hand. Chris and Xander are forced to keep their relationship under wraps, even though it’s slowly killing both of them…

This was one of those books that hooked me from the start, but increasing problems as it progressed ended up making me wish I hadn’t spent the time on it.

With a druggie, neglectful mother, Xander is literally starving to death when he meets Chris Edwards on a local basketball court. When Chris’s mother allows the new friend to come home for dinner, the start of a deep, lasting relationship takes root. Chris and Xander are inseparable, and as their athletic careers progress, so do their feelings for each other. They realize they’re in love before they graduate from high school, but their positions as popular sports figures, especially in light of their desires to go pro, keep them private, through college and then on to the pros when they beat the odds and get signed by the same team.

I loved Xander at the start of the story. He’s fighting horrific odds and somehow has the humility and strength to not realize just how hard he’s fighting. Chris literally saves his life by reaching out to him on that basketball court, a connection both Xander and I as a reader recognize. Since the story is told in Xander’s perspective, it’s very easy to get sucked into his pain.

However, those feelings started to ebb about a third into the story, for two very different reasons. First of all, the author is far too much in love with parentheticals for me. One or two are interesting, but more than that and I find the whole stylistic device too contrived and cutesy to stay immersed within the text. They do dwindle down as the story progresses, but there were whole sections where there were multiple parentheticals within single paragraphs. It’s disruptive to my reading experience because contrary to how I’m sure the author intends, it feels like the author has pulled me aside to whisper this little aside in my ear rather than the character doing it. That constant reminder, that sense of over-friendly “let me tell you this little bit,” was enough to destroy how deeply rooted I was within the story.

The second issue stems from the story itself. While I was initially enraptured by how much in love these two guys were, the heavy, heavy melodrama surrounding them grew too unreal to believe. All the conflict is external to these two, which is more than fine as long as that conflict is organic. But there is no middle ground with these two. They’re either flying higher than a kite, or they’re vomiting over the choices they have to make. It’s too extreme for me, and by halfway through, I felt like I had an ulcer, too. Toss in the fact that all the women surrounding them lack nuances, all worshiping at the altar of Xander, and I realized I just couldn’t relate to any of these people as believable enough to get past the other shortcomings.

I’ve heard so many readers exclaim how much they love this author, so I wanted to give her a try, but I can see now that her style is not going to be one I’ll be able to enjoy. The angst levels are too extreme, and the heroes too idealized. But at least now I know.

Readability	7/10 – The overuse of parentheticals and italics exacerbate the story’s over-the-topness
Hero #1	7/10 – His anguished, insecure strength was appealing, but it becomes increasingly unrealistic as the story progresses
Hero #2	5/10 – Too idealized to ever really believe
Entertainment value	6/10 – I was actually really enjoying this, but the constant over-the-top melodrama proved too much
World building	8/10 – The sports element is well incorporated and feels mostly authentic, while the rest of it suffers from extremes
TOTAL:	33/50

Out on the Net by Rick R. Reed

TITLE: Out on the Net
AUTHOR: Rick R. Reed
PUBLISHER: Amber Allure
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 18k)
GENRE: Gay contemporary romance
COST: $5.00

Ray Tolliver realizes on the day he’s supposed to get married that he’s gay, so he calls off the wedding…at which point, he begins blogging about his experiences in hopes someone else might be able to learn from his choices…

This short novella is comprised of a series of blogs written by recently out Ray Tolliver. It starts with his wedding day, where he finally admits to himself that he’s gay. His best friend Doug agrees to cover for him when he wants to call it off, at which point, Ray sets out recording his new life. He’s a virgin to gay sex, so his first entries are about the local rest stop notorious for gay hook-ups and his adjustment to being single again. They progress from there to his first date and beyond.

The appeal here is in the chatty nature of the author’s voice. It reads much faster than 18k, which works both for and against it. In the case of the former, it meant getting sucked in and finishing it before I knew it. For the latter, however, I got done and wondered, “That seemed a little easy.” I liked Ray, and I liked the window I got into his life, but without getting more depth into the resolution, I didn’t really buy it. I also wondered why Doug, the best friend who took the brunt of an angry bride and wedding party, never even got a mention after the first chapter. For someone who was so supportive and helpful, I would’ve thought Ray would look to him to for moral support at the very least. But no, Doug is just gone after that.

There are fourteen blog entries, but they lack dates to know just how much time has passed between each one. It’s sometimes easy to pick up on it, but not always. However, in spite of these flaws, the peeks we get into Ray’s life are entertaining and authentic. Reed proves his finesse with multiple genres here, ensuring I’ll keep coming back to his titles, regardless of what he decides to tackle next.

Readability	8/10 – Chatty and breezy, though sometimes the dialogue felt unnatural
Hero #1	8/10 – Believable and sweet
Hero #2	4/10 – This is where I had problems with the dialogue, I never really believed him
Entertainment value	7/10 – Liked the format and the freshness of the protagonist
World building	7/10 – A strong balance of details within the blogs
TOTAL:	34/50

Boot Hill Bride by Lauri Robinson

TITLE: Boot Hill Bride
AUTHOR: Lauri Robinson
PUBLISHER: Wild Rose Press
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 76k)
GENRE: Historical romance
COST: $5.50

Desperate to escape her politician father and stepmother, Randi Fulton runs to her aunt, only to have to run yet again when her presence risks discovery. She takes refuge in a tent outside the construction of a new hotel in Dodge City, but its owner, Howard Quinter, comes home in the middle of the night. They’re discovered in bed together the next morning by both sets of parents, at which point Ma Skeeter demands a wedding. The two are wed, and Howard vows to protect Randi from her terrible father and his schemes to be the next governor…

I don’t end up following a lot of series. I can’t come into a series in the middle, so if I miss the first book, unless I end up discovering the author with a different title, I just won’t go back and get it. Frankly, there are too many books out there to try. This Quinter Brides series has been an odd duck for me, but I’m not quite ready to give upon it yet.

Howard Quinter is the third brother to get forced into a shotgun wedding at the hands of his strong-willed mother. His bride is runaway Randi Fulton, the daughter of the man running for governor representing the Populist party. She tried to escape being sold off to marry a much older man by going to her aunt in Dodge City, but her aunt works in a whorehouse, and when her presence is in risk of discovery, she takes refuge in Howard’s tent. Neither wants to be married, but when Howard sees how awful her father is, he lets his argument go. Besides, there’s no saying no to Ma when she gets a bee in her bonnet. She vows to do anything she can to help Howard get his hotel up and running, and when it turns out she loves to cook as much as he does, it looks like a match made in heaven.

This book had one of the stronger starts of this series yet. I’ve had issues in the past with poor editing, but this didn’t suffer from it. Randi was taking charge of her future, Howard was appropriately honorable, and Ma and the rest of the gang were as entertaining as ever. I was charmed and reading with a huge smile on my face. The prose is never very sophisticated and the plotting was simplistic, but that’s not the appeal in this series. It’s the characters, and I was rather enamored with who I was meeting/getting reacquainted with.

But then I realized Randi wasn’t living up to the strong introduction she’d gotten. The woman who’d taken charge of her destiny became this crying mess, breaking down in every other scene. She had zero self-esteem and it showed. I grew very weary of her constant soppy attitude, and if it wasn’t for the fact that Howard remained a strong, noble presence, I would’ve stopped.

On top of that, the cleaner editing of the beginning disappeared halfway through. It started with verb tenses slipping, present coming in where everything has been and should have remained past. Then came the misspellings, more and more the closer I got to the ending. Combine that with Randi who remained a wet rag until the last few pages of the book (and no, one last scene of strength isn’t enough to counter nearly 70k of wimpiness/crying), as well as the sweetness morphing into chapter upon chapter of sappiness, and my enjoyment diminished.

Will I read the next book? Probably. Am I in a hurry to pick it up? No. I want to love these stories, and I do with parts of them, but the weaknesses keep cropping up. If the Quinter boys weren’t so entertaining, it would be a lot easier to quit. But I kind of still love them, so…yeah, I’ll pick the next one up. At some point.

Readability	6/10 – What started out promising gradually deteriorated in regards to simple mistakes, which, combined with the added sap, dragged it down even more
Hero	8/10 – The saving grace, strong and heroic
Heroine	4/10 – Too damsel in distress for me, her constant crying got to be a joke by the end of the story
Entertainment value	6/10 – I was enamored with this for the first third, but as soon as the editorial issues and Randi’s crying tendencies set in, became much less so
World building	8/10 – The one thing about the Quinter books is that I always feel like I’m there
TOTAL:	32/50

Dark Revenge by Jennifer Leeland

TITLE: Dark Revenge
AUTHOR: Jennifer Leeland
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 86k)
GENRE: Sci-fi BDSM erotic romance
COST: $6.99

When Commander Alex Zeerah gets intercepted on her latest mission, she’s ready to self-destruct rather than be taken prisoner by the captain, the only man she ever had feelings for, the one man she can’t have because of his exile from her home planet. Tory Ingle fought at Alex’s side for years, but he’s spent the last five planning out his revenge on how to clear his name from the treason he was convicted of. Part of that plan includes claiming Alex as his mate, but he’s entirely unprepared for how strong the attraction still is between them. They barely have time to rediscover each other before the threat of civil war looms over their home planet. It’ll take both of them to save the universe…

Yes, I know it’s an EC book so that means a lot of sex. But is it so much to ask that it work with the rest of the story?

It starts off very quickly. Alex is transporting important but unknown cargo for her king when she is intercepted by Tory, her ex-partner in the military and the man she saw exiled from their home planet five years ago. Rather than kill him or let her cargo be taken, she sets the self-destruct, an act he is somehow capable of overriding. He takes her prisoner and demands the rite to claim her as his Saria, an act of claiming a sole member of an offending bloodline to settle revenge. Once this is completed, he chooses her as his mate and restrains her to a rack in his quarters. The sex that follows reminds Alex of everything she could have had if she’d left with him as he’d begged her to do five years ago, but there’s little time to consider the what ifs when the political environment she left behind becomes even more charged. She was never intended to survive her mission, and the cargo she’d been transporting had a far deadlier purpose than she’d ever known. Tory knows much of the truth, however, and he’s determined to put a halt to the wars that are on the horizon.

From there, the book tangles into a complicated blend of interplanetary politics and action, ultimately offering a fresh and fascinating take on zombies. The problem with that is that I had to muddle through the first half to get to the much more interesting second. The success of their attempts to stop everything hinges on the relationship between Alex and Tory, though that’s not made clear while all the sex is going on. Instead, I had to sit through chapters of stop and start pacing as I’d learn an interesting tidbit about the world then have to sit through yet another sex session. Tory is into control and pain, and Alex finds out the first time he touches her she likes it, but I’m told all this at the start rather than learning it from the characters, and with so little time to get to really know them and feel comfortable in the environment, I read their scenes far more detached than I should have been. They’re not badly written – for an EC book, it’s remarkably clean editorially – but without caring a little bit more for them, they just felt like they were getting in the way of the real story.

Because there’s a lot of story to tell here. The author has taken great pains to create a layered, complex universe, with a broad spectrum of characters in varying Machiavellian roles, and it takes too long to be comfortable in their skins for this to be as effective as it should be. Once Tory and Alex stop having sex as their primary function, the novel hurtles forward into the action plot, engaging me far more as I tried to figure that out than any of the sex did. It gave me a different, fresh perspective on zombies – which I admit are not my thing, as I tend to automatically give zombie books a pass when I’m looking at new releases – and I ended up wishing that more of the book had paid attention to that so I could have enjoyed it more. That’s not to say it doesn’t try. It just happens too late in the story for it to really work well.

The two leads are appropriately strong, though I do have reservations about both. Alex, in particular, lost some of her appeal when various twists toward the end only happen by undermining her strength (by being things she has never seen, which I found highly implausible considering her military career). Much of that is mitigated by a strong secondary cast, however. Jezar in particular fascinates me, so complex, and though I might not have enjoyed this book as much as I wanted to, if there’s a sequel with him (which it really reads like there will be more to follow this), I’ll be all over it.

In the end, this was a book of missed opportunities, because really, I should have loved this from the start. It just needed a better balance between the romance/sex and the plot to work. If Jezar gets his own story, I hope that balance is found.

Readability	7/10 – Dense political maneuvering gets eclipsed too early by copious sex scenes, muddying the plot and ease of reading for too long
Hero	6/10 – While I liked him, I never really felt his baser, more dominant tendencies were fully fleshed
Heroine	7/10 – For the most part, smart and resourceful, it was just her blindness to so much towards the end that got annoying
Entertainment value	6/10 – This could’ve been so much higher if the first half hadn’t been so poorly paced
World building	8/10 – A lot of thought went into creating the worlds, but not quite enough to make sure it was conveyed cleanly
TOTAL:	34/50

To Die For by Caitlyn Willows

TITLE: To Die For
AUTHOR: Caitlyn Willows
PUBLISHER: Amber Quill
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 42k)
GENRE: Contemporary suspense erotic romance
COST: $7.00

Once a victim of domestic abuse, Zoe has moved on with her life, doing her best to rebuild with the man responsible for the damage behind bars. But now he’s out, and in a chance encounter, lets her know he’s coming after her. When Detective Frank Ludwig finds out, he swears to protect her. He’s been in love with her for six months, and damned if he’s going to let anybody hurt Zoe, even if she’s more than capable of taking care of herself…

Though this romantic suspense had a lot of potential in it, I finished it feeling like it just never quite hit the mark.

It starts off at an emotional high, as Zoe is coming off her shift where she has just saved a cop’s life by talking to him and keeping him engaged. However, in the same incident, she was also threatened. Her abusive ex-boyfriend was the criminal in question, and when he heard her voice, exploded with anger, emotions that have built since he was arrested and convicted after she’d turned him in. She arrives at a Denny’s, trying to figure out what she’s going to do next, and is dismayed to see a group of cops she works with there already. They applaud her as a hero, but when the man she’s been lusting over, Frank Ludwig, decides to join her, the whole story comes out. Frank has been in love with Zoe for months. When he hears about the danger, he refuses to see her slip through the cracks, taking her personal safety into his own hands while the department does what they can to track down her ex. Thus begins an explosive few days, as the threats escalate and the pair come to grips with their mutual attraction.

In spite of the confusing opening pages, enough becomes clear as the story progresses and Zoe opens up to Frank a little. I was intrigued about where it was going. Zoe is sympathetic and relatable to many women, insecure, plus-sized, and I liked her, even though she felt scattered. I disregarded the latter because it felt organic to her situation. I was meeting her in the middle of an emotional crisis. Of course, she’d be scattered. But what was scattered at the start became bouncing around from one extreme to another as the story progressed. It got a little tedious.

Frank proved the same. I liked him from the start, his fierce defense of Zoe, his determination to do the right thing. I was rolling onto loving him until the first time he really put his foot in his mouth. He has a tendency to stop thinking once their relationship turns sexual, and blurts out the first thing he thinks of, which is usually very much the wrong thing to say in the moment. This propensity gets worse as the story goes on, mostly because it felt like that was the only way to create any internal conflict between these two. They yo-yo like this throughout the entire book, a jerky effect that is mirrored by the stop and go nature of the suspense angle. It makes it easy to put down, even though I wanted to pick it up again moments later.

Suspense thrives on building tension, and while there is danger throughout this book, when the lulls come, the tension drops away almost entirely rather than ebb enough to relax the reader into getting sucked even harder into the next swell. I suspect it worked against me because of the extended nature of the romantic scenes within those lulls. I needed that momentum in the romance, but they went on too long for me, even as hot as these two were together.

In the end, the story was enjoyable enough for me not to regret reading it, but I ultimately feel like maybe with some tighter editing, it could have been really great.

Readability	7/10 – Minor typos and some terminology that usually turns me off, but otherwise swift and easy
Hero	6/10 – His reactions felt realistic in hindsight, but his propensity for stepping in it wore thin
Heroine	6/10 – Liked that she knew how to take care of herself, but she felt a little all over the place
Entertainment value	6/10 – The pacing was rather jerky, making it easy to put down when I hit lulls
World building	7/10 – The emotional reality of Zoe’s past was well-done, but I kept feeling like I was missing something in regards to the suspense portion
TOTAL:	32/50

In the Darkness by Charles Edward

TITLE: In the Darkness
AUTHOR: Charles Edward
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 73k)
GENRE: Gay historical fantasy erotic romance
COST: $7.99

Gareth is a monster. That’s what he’s always been told. He needs to hide away at night, never be seen. But his curiosity about the outside world drives him to watch, and in watching, he falls in love with a beautiful young man named Evin. Evin is the sexual toy to a powerful young man in his village, and when Gareth sees him getting hurt, Gareth breaks all his rules and interferes. In the days after Evin sees him, refusing to acknowledge him as a monster, the two become fast friends…then more…

This book is just further proof that I’ll finish a mediocre read if it targets one of my bulletproof kinks. In this case, it’s the Beast archetype.

Gareth is that Beast. Forced to spend his days in his parents’ cellar, he is only allowed out at night to do the chores. His parents have warned him his entire life that if he gets seen, he’ll be killed as a monster. The reason for that? He’s green and very large and strong. He also learns that he has unbelievable recuperative powers, which only seems to reinforce the monster accusation. His one escape is sneaking away to watch the people in the nearby village, specifically a beautiful young man named Evin. Evin is the sexual plaything for another young man, one with a great deal more power, and one night, when Gareth witnesses Evin getting hurt, he breaks the rules he’s been given to save Evin. He’s afraid to show himself to Evin, but Evin demands it. Though Evin is at first taken aback by his appearance, he soon gets over it, and the two eventually become lovers. But Evin’s so-called “master” isn’t happy about Evin’s shift in attention, and eventually, Gareth and his peace is interrupted.

In a lot of ways, this is two different books. The first half is straight-up romance. Evin and Gareth are all lovey and sexual and the only conflict is internal. Then, halfway through the book, it shifts to an action fantasy story. There’s no smooth transition, and the writing isn’t nearly sophisticated enough to meld the two. The problems I had in the beginning with an incredibly stilted voice morphed into a lack of clarity once the action set in. Much of that is due to being thrust into a fantasy world with such little preparation. There’s new characters, new politics, new dangers, and it took a long time to get it sorted. Too long. It needed more seamless world-building in the first half to make the latter easier to process. (I was also chagrined to see the perspective slip at the very end of the story. What had been a reasonably tight 3^rd all of a sudden headhopped in a crucial scene.)

So why did I finish it if I had a problem with the voice? Because of Gareth. The Beast archetype is an exceedingly common one in romance, and is one of my bulletproof kinks. I kept on going because I cared about Gareth, in spite of not being fully invested emotionally in the story. His simple ways, coupled with his unexpected gentleness, go a long way in making up for other shortcomings.

Evin isn’t quite as fully fleshed out as Gareth, mostly because he serves as a foil for Gareth in the first half, and then spends too much time not himself in the second. I kept waiting for more, but when it finally came, it was too late for me, and I finished the story a tad disappointed.

It’s certainly not a bad story, but it’s not a great one, either. Readers who are sensitive to sexual violence should likely steer clear, as well as those who’d rather not see any het contact in their m/m.

Readability	6/10 – The stilted voice in much of the first half makes it drag, and the schism between the two halves detracts from it further
Hero #1	6/10 – Tantalizing possibilities with him though not all were realized
Hero #2	7/10 – I’m a sucker for the Beast archetype and Gareth is no exception
Entertainment value	6/10 – Hard to engage because of writing style, then because of disjointed second half
World building	6/10 – It felt like a lot of good ideas that never got the fleshing out they deserved
TOTAL:	31/50

The Serious Moonlight by Janet Halpin

TITLE: The Serious Moonlight
AUTHOR: Janet Halpin
PUBLISHER: Wild Rose Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 18k)
GENRE: Contemporary romance
COST: $3.00

Anna accepts the invitation to her 25^th high school reunion, wondering if she’ll get to see her one regret from high school – the boy next door who was her best friend and then asked her out to prom only for her to turn him down…

Wild Rose Press has a series of unrelated books all about reunions of the class of ’85. I’ve refrained from purchasing most of them, but this one caught my eye.

When it comes to reunion stories, it’s hard to make them unique and this one is no different. Twenty-five years after the fact, divorced Anna regrets turning down her longtime friend Rick’s invitation to prom, and attends the reunion in hopes he’ll be there. She’s still friends with the same two girls who talked her out of accepting his offer in high school, but the only kiss that ever made her toes curl was his. She’s always wondered what would have happened if she hadn’t been scared of what it all meant. She gets her chance when he shows up, but his behavior isn’t clear. She can’t tell if he still harbors anger about what happened, or is willing to move on from it. Because he lives in San Diego, she’s only got reunion weekend to find out.

There aren’t many surprises here. Anna is nice enough, but fairly boring. The most interesting thing she does is have such a long childhood friendship with the scarred Rick. Rick, on the other hand, shows signs of being really interesting, though his first appearances in the story are marred by rather schizophrenic behavior as he flipflops between anger and attentive so quickly I got whiplash. Put them together, however, and there’s an easy sweetness to their story, and I found myself smiling when they finally got past their initial wariness of each other. The ending is appropriately saccharine, but it would’ve been better served by having secondary characters that didn’t make me bristle. I didn’t like either one of Anna’s friends, and couldn’t really see why they’d all continue being friends. They take up a lot of page time, too. Too much for me to really enjoy.

Still, for the romance reader looking for a taste of nostalgia and sweetness, this one isn’t that bad. The detail is a little more vivid than is usually found in these sort of short contemporaries, and the use of a slightly damaged (though still kind of stereotypical) hero lovely.

Readability	8/10 – Sweet and unassuming, with enough detail to make it real
Hero	7/10 – He seems a little too back-and-forth in the first half, but otherwise sweet
Heroine	6/10 – Her initial motivations were weak, but I warmed up to her
Entertainment value	6/10 – I was in the mood for something easy and sweet, and that’s pretty much what I got
World building	6/10 – Not a ton, but more than I usually find short contemporaries
TOTAL:	33/50

Intimate Whispers by Dee Carney

TITLE: Intimate Whispers
AUTHOR: Dee Carney
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 52k)
GENRE: Paranormal erotic romance
COST: $5.95

Sabrina Turner hears dead people, but it’s not a gift by any means. They bombard her at the worst times, driving her mad as she’s incapable of tuning them out. The only way for her to banish them for a while is by allowing another spirit to have his way with her, giving her body to him for hours until the world is silent again. Another attack leaves her in a fugue state at her local grocery store, where her neighbor Jason sees her and takes her home. When she says something to him only his dead brother would know, he’s driven to find out how and why. The truth will bring them together, but the reality of what she has to do just to survive the voice just might drive them apart…

I meant to get this done and reviewed before Halloween, but the holiday ran away from me. It would have been appropriate, given its slightly creepy tones.

Sabrina Turner hears dead people, and the only way she can get a temporary reprieve from the madness it creates in her is to have sex with one of those same spirits. She refers to it as Him, and considers him her savior. After she gives him what he wants, she gets some peace and quiet for a while. During her attacks, she loses time, forgetting where she is, who she is. It’s during one of these that her neighbor Jason finds her at the grocery store. He volunteers to take her home, but just before she shuts the door in his face, she says something only his dead brother would say. Unable to shake the questions it’s raised, he goes back to her apartment and demands answers. The only reason she gives him a hint of what she’s like is because he played the nice guy and helped her get home when he didn’t have to. They try another technique to make contact with his brother, but that doesn’t help much either. Jason is trying to forget about the whole incident when the ER contacts him and asks for his aid in getting Sabrina home. She’s had another attack. Thus sparks a series of events that will bring them closer together. The only problem is, both of them are holding back secrets, afraid of what the other might think.

I liked the premise of the book, the twist on the ghost whisperer theme with the heroine being plagued by the voices to the point of madness. The attacks are described well, coming to life even as Sabrina is driven mad by them. Much of that is helped by the author opting to occasionally show the attacks from Jason’s POV. He brings a poignancy to what is going on with Sabrina that her perspective lacks.

Sabrina’s perspective is where the book falters for me. Her characterization is solid enough, but the more I got to know her, the less I liked her. I found her attitude toward Jason bitchier than what was called for, and her behavior often callous in regards to his feelings. I understand her point about how she doesn’t have the space in her life to worry about anybody but herself, but that wasn’t enough for me to explain away how cold she was. In fact, even after she warmed up to Jason, I still found her personality a little off-putting. I didn’t start liking her more until very nearly the end.

On the other hand, Jason was a darling. He came across as caring and sincere, a little on the earnest side, and I found his self-honesty about how he’d never considered dating a black woman endearing. His chemistry with Sabrina was off the charts, too, a fact I could easily recognize even if I didn’t like her very much. He was more patient with her than I imagine most men would’ve been, and the fact that he sticks around through so much is testimony to his wonderful nature.

I did find the resolution easy and kind of obvious, but I appreciate the fact that the ending doesn’t sugarcoat other problems by giving them an easy out. Sabrina and Jason still have things to fight against when the story draws to a close, but then again, so do real life couples. This one might not be a definite keeper, but it does make me curious about the author’s other work. I like that she takes some risks and isn’t afraid of being true to human nature. It’s worth it to find out if that’s prevalent in other titles, too.

Readability	8/10 – The erotic elements work best in this, though the prose is solid throughout
Hero	8/10 – He was the heart of this, his caring nature sold me from the start
Heroine	4/10 – I understood her but for the bulk of the story, I really didn’t like her for being so bitchy
Entertainment value	7/10 – I liked it for Jason and for where it dared to go, but would’ve liked it more if I cared about Sabrina a little
World building	7/10 – Aspects of her talent were handled really well, but I wanted more into her past and why/how she had this gift in order to better understand it
TOTAL:	34/50

Someplace in This World by various authors

TITLE: Someplace in This World
AUTHORS: Lee Benoit, Kiernan Kelly, Syd McGinley, J.L. Merrow, G.R. Richards, J. Rocci, P.D. Singer, G.S. Wiley, Eden Winters
PUBLISHER: Torquere
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 65k)
GENRE: Gay erotic romance
COST: $6.99

A collection of gay erotic romance stories, all centered around the theme of home…

The theme of this anthology of gay romances centers around the idea of home, defining it in ways unique to each story. Some of them work much better than others, but then again, isn’t that usually the way with anthologies?

The collection begins with “Absence of Color” by Kiernan Kelly. Michael has been grieving the loss of his partner for three years. His brother isn’t happy with how he hasn’t moved and demands that he come out and live with him and his family for a while. There, he meets a nice guy in a mall, that actually leads to a date. But Michael hasn’t dealt with the loss of his partner well at all, and the date changes in ways he’s not sure he likes. I was wary after finishing this first story. The material is very dark, and the mood depressing. It deals with abusive relationships and grief and guilt in a very heavy-handed way, and I wasn’t sure if this meant the entire anthology was going to be like this. As a starter, it almost stopped me in my tracks, because I would expect anthologies to be edited to have a definite building flow, rather than starting on such in your face drama. Perhaps it would have been better if I’d liked the story more than I did, but it was too doom and gloom for most of it. Then, during the date, both guys end up spilling lots of deep, heavy secrets to each other. On a first date. Compared to how realistically it seemed the rest of the story was being told, this seemed really far-fetched. Too far-fetched for me, actually.

Next comes “The Prodigal” by Eden Winters, the story of prostitute Mark and his journey home again. As you can tell from the subject matter, this was another grim tale, but contrary to the first, this one felt a lot more genuine, with very realistic reactions and nothing sexually inappropriate for the situation just because of who the publisher is. One of my top three in the anthology.

I had higher hopes going onto “The Magic of Moving Houses” by G.R. Richards. It’s the story of two neighboring families whose houses start disappearing in the middle of the night, leaving them to figure out what happened to them. Though I liked the general idea behind this, the execution fell flat. POV is looser in this than in any of the other stories, and the sex scene at the end is over the top. I just couldn’t buy it in the end.

Some of that was redeemed in “Comeback,” by G.S. Wiley, the story of an A-list Hollywood actor trying to get back in the game after rehab. I loved the set-up and the characters in this, as well as the vivid descriptions, but all that potential was sold short by and ending that was too rushed and simplified for the complexity of the voice and characterizations I’d already been sold. It didn’t improve with much with “Return to the Mountain” by P.D. Singer, either. I realized right away this was part of a series I hadn’t read, and spent most of the first half just trying to keep straight all the characters. Definitely a miss if one hasn’t already read the others. It’s one redeeming grace was the character of Seth, a young man I would’ve loved to have known better.

My absolute favorite story of the anthology was J. Rocci’s “Oilsmouth.” This is a steampunk offering about a mercenary named Edge, who will do anything to protect his boyfriend Kit. That’s all I’m telling about the plot, because more will spoil it. The action is swift and crisp, the characterizations gritty and compelling, and the realistic ending wonderful.

It would have been hard to top anything after this, to be honest, and none of the last three stories did. “Light the Fire” by J.L. Merrow is a surprisingly fluffy contemporary about two guys who meet at a gym. One’s in mourning and keeps refusing the other, who frankly, got very annoying very early on. Then came Lee Benoit’s “Pack Horse.” I normally love Benoit, but I found this very difficult to slog through. The setting felt muddy for too long, and I struggled to place it until some very specific references showed up. The two leads were all right, their banter almost fun in parts, but the declarations at the end came out of left field. I did enjoy the final story, Syd McGinley’s “Home Is the Hunter,” the tale of two high school sweethearts who are reunited when one comes home from Afghanistan, but its charm was very ephemeral and fleeting. When I’d finished, I had difficulty even remembering the names of the two male leads.

Overall, it’s certainly not a bad anthology, though only two were truly excellent for me. Be prepared for a lot of downer topics, though. If you’re not in the mood for them, they probably won’t work for you.

Readability	7/10 – Varies from story to story, though mostly easy
Romance	6/10 – Like most anthologies, hit or miss
Characterization	6/10 – Some were great, others not so much
Entertainment value	6/10 – Slightly better than average, but there were enough clunkers to pull this down
World building	6/10 – A couple really excellent ones pull this up better than average
TOTAL:	31/50