Full Steam Ahead by Nathalie Gray

TITLE: Full Steam Ahead
AUTHOR: Nathalie Gray
PUBLISHER: eRed Sage
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 57k)
GENRE: Steampunk erotic romance
COST: $4.00

Racing sailboats is Laurel Benson-Desmarais’s life, but when she runs into a freak storm in the middle of a race, she finds herself thrown into a world she’s not sure isn’t one giant hallucination. Flying boats, acid oceans, a terrifying monster race determined to exterminate humanity…none of that hits her quite as hard as the captain who isn’t convinced she’s working with the enemy. Phineas Hamilton is driven, enigmatic, and unsure what to think of this smart-mouthed woman who shares the same coloring as their foes. But he has little choice but to trust her, and to hope the attraction flaring between them never sees the light of day…

I love Nathalie Gray. I haven’t read a story by her yet that I didn’t really enjoy. She writes tough heroines and broken heroes, with some gritty, fantastic action thrown in for good measure, and I can’t get enough of it.

This one is no exception. Laurel is in the middle of a boat race when a freak storm literally changes the world around in her. She finds herself caught by an anchor from the sky, hauled out of the sea as it eats away at her boat. After getting dragged up through the clouds, she ends up on what looks like a flying boat, with a crew dressed up in funny Victoriana-style clothing and tools and weapons she’s never seen before. The captain and crew think she’s an enemy. Apparently, her blonde hair and blue eyes match their coloring, though her size does not. When the ship comes under attack and she helps them out, however, the captain is forced to accept her, at least for the time being. There’s no place for her to go without causing a scene, though, so he agrees to let her stay on board to help keep her safe.

Laurel is resourceful, strong, and smart-mouthed, quick with a comeback and refusing to take crap from anyone. She stands up to Phineas, the captain, from the start, even not knowing what is going on around her. I loved her scrappy nature and fearlessness, especially when paired opposite his almost prim and equally fearless behavior. He’s enigmatic at best, but very sexy in spite of his recalcitrance to act on their attraction. They play beautifully off each other.

If you’re looking for a sex romp, you’re not going to find it here. Sure, there are hot scenes in the book, definitely erotic, but it takes a long time to get there. The first half is packed to the gills with action and world-building, with the romance playing second fiddle. That gave me time to get to know Phineas and Laurel better before they leapt into bed with each other, though. I appreciated that. I also think it helped to believe in their HEA, because I was more committed to both of them as people first rather than as romantic foils.

It’s not perfect – the steampunk world sometimes feels a bit too generalized to truly stand out – but Gray is turning into one of my go-to authors. I should just go to one of her titles any time I’m in a drought. I always find an entertaining, fantastic read.

Readability	9/10 – Heavy on the action, gritty and fun
Hero	8/10 – An odd dichotomy of prim and violent that strangely enough worked for me
Heroine	8/10 – Spunky and smart-mouthed, maybe too smart-mouthed
Entertainment value	9/10 – I’m a fan of Gray’s particular brand of characterizations and eroticism; this one is no exception
World building	8/10 – Some great world-building, though the prevailing sense that it could’ve been a pirate book instead of steampunk never really went away
TOTAL:	42/50

Agent Provocateur by Nathalie Gray

TITLE: Agent Provocateur
AUTHOR: Nathalie Gray
PUBLISHER: Red Sage
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 25k)
GENRE: Futuristic erotic romance
COST: $3.50

Stuck in a long-term prison sentence, Misborn Troy doesn’t expect to get out, until someone gives him an offer he can’t refuse. Mercury is tasked as his partner in an escapade that promises him parole, but their adventures – and attraction – are only starting to explode…

I’m not even going to try and summarize this story. Go read the blurb on the website for a better idea. Because honestly, things start happening so quickly and go off in such unexpected – and fun – directions, that almost anything I say would be a spoiler.

What I can tell you is this was a fantastic read on a whole lot of levels. Both leads are unapologetically arrogant and bitchy, toward each other, toward everybody else, but that’s because they both see themselves as separate from everybody else. They also have the skills to back up their arrogance, and the fact that neither makes horribly stupid mistakes gives them a lot of leeway for their attitudes in my book. In Mercury’s case, she so unequivocally claims her identity and needs that she becomes one of the best heroines I’ve read in a while. She’s smart, ruthless, and sasses with the best of them. I loved her to pieces.

Her chemistry with Troy is off the charts. Their sex scenes are explosive and feral, and it never feels gratuitous or cringeworthy. This same pacing is matched in the action scenes, and creates a frenzied, charged atmosphere that’s impossible to look away from. The leads careen from scene to scene, twisting the plot in a new direction each time. There’s no chance to take a breath, or relax from the incessant action.

The story’s biggest flaw is just how dense the world is. Though some detail is provided, the meaty explanations don’t come until late in the story, leaving questions in their wake. The exposition, too, isn’t always handled in the most deft ways. More than once, I felt mired in an information dump, as the author got out a few necessary details before sucking me into another action scene. Those slowed down my reading, and left a vague sense of unease undercoating my entire experience. As much as I really, really enjoyed this, it could have been more, and it’s the loss of that more that lowers my overall score.

Still, don’t let that stand in your way. If you like action-packed, gritty erotic stories, this one will be a standout.

Readability	9/10 – Dense and action-packed, it left me breathless
Hero	8/10 – An arrogant self-described asshole…and a breath of fresh air for being unapologetic about it.
Heroine	9/10 – Ruthless and unabashedly on her own side, I loved that she remained strong when she could have been wimped out
Entertainment value	8/10 – Wonderful to read something packed with so much goodness
World building	8/10 – The dystopian society that gets presented has some great potential, but it doesn’t get explained in enough detail nor does it offer what it does very elegantly.
TOTAL:	42/50

Bonded by Ann Wesley Hardin

TITLE: Bonded
AUTHOR: Ann Wesley Hardin
PUBLISHER: Red Sage Publishing
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 14k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: $2.99

A fantasy weekend at a luxury hotel doesn’t go quite as planned for ad executive Sela Wilson. First, her “hero” turns out to be a dud, then he shows up in her room, ready to make it up to her. Sela’s willing to give him a second chance, but only because she doesn’t realize he’s Daniel Bond, owner of the hotel…

I knew from the blurb and the brief excerpt that this was going to be light and sexy. What I didn’t expect was for it to be so laugh out loud funny. For the first two-thirds of this short story, I was amused, charmed, and thoroughly engaged with these smart, witty people. Sela is jaded enough to take a wry look at her almost absurd surroundings, and because she sets up that mood from the start, it’s easy to accept the outlandish scenarios that follow. I loved her smart mouth. I loved the chemistry she set up with Daniel. Their banter is hands down the best part of the entire story. The sex was more playful than hot as a result, but I was fine with that. For me, it was enough to be fun. If it exceeded that, all the better.

I only wish the story had ended better than it did. As soon as Sela leaves the hotel, still not knowing for sure who it is she slept with all weekend, the story’s charm vanishes, like the fantasy of the weekend is now gone. Sela in the workplace wasn’t nearly as interesting as Sela on a weekend getaway, and the late attempt to try and reach an HEA crumbles under its own weight. As a romance, I would rate this much lower, but thankfully, the vast bulk of the story is spend on those inventive two days, with Sela and Daniel forgetting about real world contrivances and simply letting loose. It’s a lesson for all of us, which seems a little odd to find in a short erotic romp. But it’s there. And even in spite of the ending, I don’t regret a second of it.

Readability	9/10 – Brisk and funny
Hero	7/10 – Charming and funny, much more believable during the weekend than the aftermath
Heroine	8/10 – Smart, quick and caustic
Entertainment value	8/10 – Within the context of the weekend, wonderful fun.
World building	7/10 – I’m not so sure about the business world the characters reside in, in real life, but then that’s not the focus of the story
TOTAL:	39/50