Temporary Spy by Lynne Connolly

TITLE: Temporary Spy
AUTHOR: Lynne Connolly
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 16k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: $4.36

Beth investigates industrial espionage, but when a new job ends up coming from the man she left behind, she insists on being the one to do it. It’ll give her closure, she believes, except the moment Finn Scott sees her, he’s all over her, the chemistry they’d shared three years earlier hotter than ever. Finn has never forgotten Beth, ransacking the country for any sign of her when she disappeared after turning down his marriage proposal. But now that she’s back in his life, he has no intention of ever letting her go.

When I saw this for sale earlier this week, I got excited. I’d recently really enjoyed some of this author’s work, and while I’ve already purchased some of her backlist, I thought buying her most recent release would have me reading her at the top of her game. I was wrong. I was so disappointed in this story, it’s hard to believe it’s the same author.

The story starts in Finn’s POV as he is fending off the advances of his PA. She complains about the awful temp she has to deal with, so he agrees to talk to her at the end of the day. He doesn’t expect the temp to be the woman who disappeared out of his life three years earlier, however. The second she walks into his office, he is across the room, kissing her desperately against the door. Beth is there to help him ferret out and prove someone is stealing from him, but she gets caught up in the passion between them, and the single kiss turns into sex, sex, and more sex. She believes with everything she has that it won’t work, though, and fully intends for their relationship to be over once the job is done. Finn has other ideas.

My problems started early. We get none of the backstory between Finn and Beth before she walks into his office, and yet, he throws her against the door with such passion, there’s a distinct disconnect, like some of the story is missing or that I’ve somehow lost it from my file. In fact, we get very little of the backstory until later in the story, and what we do get comes in boring telling sections that do nothing to add any kind of sparkle to the characters. Beth’s explicit reason for leaving Finn before is kept a mystery until the very end, even though it’s painfully obvious very early on. It’s also incredibly lame, because all of the drama about why it was such a big deal is merely referenced in conversation that has zero emotional impact.

Both leads are flat, and the sex between them uninspired. Finn does start getting interesting near the end, but then the story is over and it all feels like one big wasted opportunity. Beth, on the other hand, always felt like a wet rag, and why she thought she could have this last fling with a man she’d left with no explanation, I’ll never know.

The espionage story itself is handled clumsily and then abruptly (and conveniently) resolved, leaving this short novella’s primary focus on the romance between the two leads. There’s an HEA, but honestly, I laughed out loud at it. She’s shown very little reason to change her mind, until, oh wait there’s the ending, she has to. If I hadn’t read this author before, I would have dismissed all the rest of her work out of hand after reading this one. It was just that bad. Now, however, I can only hope that this is a blip, because of the publisher perhaps, or maybe because it’s so short or written to a deadline I can’t know about or something like that. There has to be a reason why this falls so short of the level I’ve previously experienced with this author. I can only hope it’s a one-off and doesn’t reflect in the other stories I already have waiting to be read.

Readability	7/10 – Short, so it went quickly, but ultimately a little cold
Hero	4/10 – Flat for too much of the story, by the time he started getting interesting, the story was over
Heroine	4/10 – Her behavior remains unexplained for too much of the story, making her annoying rather than sympathetic in any way
Entertainment value	3/10 – The sex was unengaging, the characters flat, and the overall effect extremely disappointing
World building	5/10 – Her past is sketchy as is her involvement, though there’s more when it comes to Finn’s work
TOTAL:	23/50

Cougars and Cubs by assorted authors

TITLE: Cougars and Cubs
AUTHORS: Ashley Ladd, KS Augustin, Mia Watts, Catherine Chernow, Elizabeth Coldwell, Imari Jade
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 105k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: ₤6.49

A collection of six erotic novellas, each about a romance between an older woman and a younger man…

My biggest hope when I buy anthologies is to discover new talent, but that doesn’t happen all that often. It definitely didn’t happen with this one.

The anthology starts off with “Scene of the Crime” by Ashley Ladd. Forty-four year-old Robyn returns to the college she graduated from as a history professor, but that also means returning to the town where she’d first had her heart broken by a man who lied to her about being married. Now divorced, he wants to rekindle things with her, but she wants nothing to do with him. Running out on a date with him that she got ambushed on, she goes to a local bar, gets drunk, and takes home the hot young guy she played pool with. The next morning, she’s appalled to discover he’s the spitting image of her ex. He should be. He’s his son. While the writing itself in this story isn’t bad – there’s even some chemistry between the two leads – I was so put off by the idea that this professional woman would get involved with the son of a man who hurt not only her but his wife and child, I could never really accept the too-swift love that came between them. The situation was just too complex, and people were too badly hurt, for this to succeed. It needed more time and depth to be even remotely believable, not to mention give me the reader a chance to empathize with her for her predicament.

Following the weak lead-in is KS Augustin’s “Singapore Sizzle.” Sophie is an ex-socialite who’s been divorced for two years, eager to get a little fun back in her life. She accepts an invitation to a masquerade ball, and there, she meets a gorgeous man who takes her up to the penthouse suite almost immediately. She has problems with the age difference, however, and flees the next morning. He, on the other hand, isn’t so easily put off. While this one has a better flow than the first, with a slightly more sympathetic heroine, the hero lacks much depth to give this anything more than a fling feel. Of the six stories, it has the most realistic ending, though, so points there for that.

One of the stronger stories in the collection is “Melting Melinda” by Mia Watts. Mel has been best friends with Karen for a very long time, but recently, she’s become attracted to Karen’s grown son, Ethan. The trio are practically family, but what Mel doesn’t know is that Ethan has been in love with her for years. He lets her know on the vacation they all take together, but she doesn’t want her moment of insanity to ruin the best relationships in her life and runs scared. This is the romance I bought the most of the group. The relationships between the three, as well as the two secondary characters Larry and Lyla, sparkle with authenticity. I never doubted Ethan’s feelings for her for a moment, and I really liked how the fallout was handled.

Unfortunately, liking that one wasn’t nearly enough to save me from the next. “Lucky in Love” by Catherine Chernow is about fifty-year-old Maddie Summers and the hot thirty-five year-old Jake Conroy who moves in next door. She discovers they work for the same company, and though she tries to keep things professional, he’s too attracted to her not to put the moves on. This one never got off the ground for me. The authorial voice is simplistic and borderline pedantic, with short, simple sentences and stop-and-go pacing. Maddie’s inner conflict is overwrought, and the transition from strangers to more too unbelievable for me to ever accept. Definitely my least favorite of the bunch.

“Something Within Him” by Elizabeth Coldwell is the 1^st person telling of editor Kate who agrees to see someone as a potential intern as a favor for a friend. He’s cute and smart, and hiring him is a no-brainer even though the last intern she hired was a fiasco. He makes his attraction to her obvious early on, but she manages to hold him off until a trip to Amsterdam to cover a new hotel throws them together. Of all the stories in the collection, this is the one with the most sophisticated prose, with some very nice descriptions and intelligent phrasing to help counter the fantasy of the entire situation. The ending is too saccharine in relation to the realistic tone set by the rest of the story, but the author’s voice was such a pleasant change of pace and the heroine so refreshing that I was forgiving of it.

The anthology ends with Imari Jade’s “Something to Be Thankful For.” Julianne is the manager for rock star Cameron, but when he tells her he loves her and wants more, she excuses the sex that follows as a drunken mistake. He disappears after that, and she tracks him down in hopes of repairing their relationship. While I rather Julianne in this, Cameron remains an enigma. We’re told a lot about him – that he likes women and alcohol too much, and overindulges with both – but little of it meshes with what I actually see on the page. I never felt like I got to know him, and without being able to see him as an individual, I can’t invest in the romance.

Unless you’re a fan of more than a few of these authors, I’d suggest passing. Pick up the authors you like individually, or, if you don’t want have one, try Coldwell’s or Watts’. They’re the only two in this that didn’t really feel like a waste of my time.

Readability	6/10 – Relatively clean, but a couple bordered on hard for me to finish due to the voice
Romance	5/10 – Little depth in most, with resolutions too easy
Characterization	4/10 – For the most part, very flat
Entertainment value	4/10 – Unmemorable and surprisingly not very hot
World building	5/10 – Only one seems to make any real effort here
TOTAL:	24/50

Unbroken by Lynne Connolly

TITLE: Unbroken
AUTHOR: Lynne Connolly
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 20k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: ₤2.49

Renowned model Vashti’s most recent job is unlike anything she’s done before. It’s also the first job she’s had since a car accident a year before killed her mother and left Vashti badly scarred. Artist Zoltan is more interested in her flaws than her beauty, however, and when he sees straight through her façade, in ways nobody ever has before, Vashti feels her defenses being stripped away, layer by layer…

Sometimes I pick shorter stories because I know I’m not going to have much time to read. This is one of those that I wish could’ve been much longer, because of the potential I could see glimmering within its words that didn’t quite come through for me.

The central premise behind this short novella isn’t really all that new. It’s a reverse Pygmalion, where the artist is attempting to manipulate the model’s flaws rather than beauty. Vashti has extensive scars from the car accident that killed her mother, the woman who guided Vashti’s modeling career ever since she was five years old. She’s taken this job modeling for Zoltan partially because it will help thrust her back into the limelight in time for her career to resume and partially because she’s curious about what he will do. He’s interested in moving from the abstract to life forms, and he’s chosen Vashti as his subject based on a candid paparazzi picture he saw that hinted at the honesty behind the public mask she wears. He sees through her almost from the start, a revelation so startling to Vashti that the physical attraction that had sparked at his appearance burns to proportions she can’t deny. The pair become lovers, but it inevitably has to end once the project is completed.

These are not caricatures or stereotypes. Both Vashti and Zoltan have depths that make them fascinating people, but they suffer from the story’s shortness. It always feels like there’s not enough given to me to get to truly engage with the emotions going on. It’s especially rough in the beginning when I’m thrust into Vashti’s perspective and very little is given on Zoltan to provide a basis for her first reactions. That ends up coming later in the first scene, and it’s very awkward. Gradually, I get to know more about the enigmatic Zoltan, but just when things start to get interesting, the scene ends and there’s a time jump. It’s not enough. It’s especially frustrating because these are people I want to really sink into.

The issues with the story’s brevity are mitigated by how lovely and lyrical some of the passages are regarding Zoltan’s art. These are exquisitely described and contribute a lot to the romanticism that permeates the entire piece. In fact, they go a long way in boosting my overall enjoyment, especially when it would’ve been easy to let my frustration and not getting what I needed from the characterizations take over. The sensuality that pervades the prose and their sex carries the emotional weight when the characters falter, making it easier to enjoy the ending when it comes.

If I learned anything from reading this, it was that perhaps I need to go back and check out the author’s backlist. I know she’s done a lot, but I can’t say that I was intrigued enough by any of the historical blurbs she has at Samhain or the contemporaries she has at Loose Id to buy one. I might have to re-evaluate that decision. I know those are longer. It could be exactly what I’m looking for.

Readability	8/10 – Some lovely passages combined with clean editing compensates for shortcomings elsewhere
Hero	6/10 – Took a while to get a feel for him, kept wishing for more
Heroine	7/10 – Marginally more well-rounded but could still have had more depth
Entertainment value	7/10 – Lovely and erotic, I only wished the characters were given the room to shine like it felt like they deserved
World building	8/10 – Their world was his art for the most part, and that’s where the bulk of the prose’s lyricism came to life
TOTAL:	36/50

Fresh Start by Jane Davitt

TITLE: Fresh Start
AUTHOR: Jane Davitt
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 17k)
GENRE: BDSM contemporary erotic romance
COST: ₤2.49

Connor and Helen have been living together for the past eight months. It’s the relationship Helen has been wishing for and never thought she would have, with her as a submissive to a Dom she adores. Just before Connor leaves for a business trip, he gives her a letter which details how he doesn’t feel she is truly submitting to him. That’s what Helen thinks she’s been doing but with his unavoidable departure, she has to figure out for herself if giving herself over to him exactly as he desires is what she wants from the relationship, too…

After such a lackluster week, I decided to get a book from an author I don’t have to worry about on an editorial level. While I found her usual clean and elegant prose, I can’t say I actually enjoyed the story.

“Fresh Start” was an entry in the Master Me anthology, but I bought it when it was released on its own very recently. It’s the story of Helen and Connor, an English couple who have been living together in a D/s relationship for eight months. Connor is Helen’s first Dom, though she is definitely not his first sub, and she’s spent the last eight months like a kid in the candy store, eager for everything Connor will give her, disappointed when she hits his boundaries. At the top of the story, Connor is about to leave for an eight-day business trip to San Francisco. He’s writing a letter with Helen kneeling and in clamps nearby. She isn’t supposed to move or fidget, but she’s not entirely successful, so afterward, he gives her a spanking as punishment. Though she usually loves this, on this particular evening she doesn’t get the same satisfaction. She doesn’t want Connor to go, and she’s not relishing spending the next week and a day on her own. It turns out that the letter Connor was writing was to Helen, a list of things he wanted her to do every day while he was gone. She discovers that he isn’t as pleased with the way their relationship has developed as she is. He’s spoiled her by letting her top from the bottom too much, and yielding to her pouting and disagreements when she decides something is too stupid or inane to obey. He’d like to re-evaluate their relationship, but when she points out that telling her this and then taking off before they can discuss it is the worst possible timing, he lets her off the hook. Helen isn’t comfortable with that. She’s especially not comfortable when she reads his letter. But her devotion to him is such that she wants to try, so she sets to learning what she can before he returns to determine if this is a change she wants to embrace or not.

It’s an interesting take on the D/s angle. Many stories that I see focus on the ohmigod so good angle of a new sub discovering a Dom, but in this, we find a sub whose eagerness and ignorance has held the relationship back rather than turning into true love. However, while I loved the idea of this approach, it ended up falling short for me in two areas. First of all, Helen’s ignorance and ultimate quest for knowledge ends up evoking a primer feel that detracts from any kind of emotional weight. The story’s not long enough to sustain it, and it breaks up any kind of flow it might have achieved, especially with a last chapter that felt entirely pointless and tacked on. It’s not helped that Connor is gone for a good part as well, leaving Helen to discover these things on her own.

And therein rests my second problem with this short novella. Helen comes across as an entitled, petulant, spoiled child in spite of being a successful professional. She tops from the bottom and when Connor attempts to explain things to her, gets defensive and argumentative to the point where I was thinking, “Just dump her, Connor, you’ll be so much better off.” I wonder if my perspective on her would have been altered if I’d had the chance to get to know her before she fell into such a sullen role, but that wasn’t to be in this case. She is incredibly distrustful and borderline disrespectful of much of what Connor suggests, which became the root of my disbelief that she would ever change her ways, no matter how much she said she cared about him. Personally, I think she was just too afraid of not finding somebody else, which isn’t conducive to believing in an HEA. I finished the story thinking, “She’ll leave him as soon as somebody else comes along who doesn’t make her do the stuff she doesn’t want to.”

Considering my respect for this author, I’m thinking of this one as a miss.

Readability	8/10 – Clean and elegant, just like all her prose
Hero	5/10 – An absent figure for much of the story, though his presence looms throughout
Heroine	5/10 – I can’t say I believed her transformation, she seemed too much like a petulant child
Entertainment value	6/10 – I was really looking forward to the promise of this but without liking or believing in the heroine, it’s hard to actually enjoy it
World building	7/10 – Much discussion about the variances of BDSM contributes to a sense of verisimilitude, though it can feel like a primer, too
TOTAL:	31/50

Bound Together by Jane Davitt

TITLE: Bound Together
AUTHOR: Jane Davitt
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 18k)
GENRE: Gay contemporary erotic romance
COST: $4.36

Book lover Simon Weatherly is always on the lookout for special editions, but the book Chris Ross shows up trying to sell him is all too familiar. Recognizing it as belonging to his ex, Simon purchases the book from the enigmatic man and later learns Chris has spent his own time in the ex's bed. A transaction like that has consequences, however, results that extend beyond the cash trading hands, and the unexpected attraction between Simon and Chris gets put to the test…

Though you won’t find a Jane Davitt title reviewed on this blog, I’ve read her before and enjoyed her intelligent eroticism to the point where I always check out her new titles when they come out. I don’t buy them all. I still need to read the blurb and excerpt and determine if it’s a book that interests me. But I know that I generally really like her voice, and this was no exception.

The story starts with Simon receiving a visitor. Chris Ross doesn’t seem like your usual book person. His hair is dyed, his ear has multiple piercings, and his leather jacket doesn’t exactly scream bookworm. The book Chris offers to sell him, however, is not Simon’s usual fare. He recognizes it as once belonging to his ex-boyfriend, so after much negotiation—and intriguing attitude—a deal is struck. Simon calls his ex to sell it back, and discovers that Chris is more than what he seems. He’d been sleeping with the ex as well, while doing some carpentry work for him, and when the job was done, the ex kicked him to the curb without payment. This complicated scenario starts a swell of events that drive Simon to striking yet another deal with Chris, one that benefits the both of them in other ways.

The thing I like best about this author’s work is her voice. There’s a subtle intelligence to her work that consistently shines through. It comes through in details, like discussing the foxing on a book, or in carefully orchestrated erotic scenes. What I enjoy so much is that it never feels obvious. Not only is her prose some of the cleanest I come across, but it often seems effortless, too. It’s helped that her particular brand of eroticism manages to hit a lot of my buttons. Even with a simple kiss, I find myself engaged on multiple levels. That’s not true of a lot of authors.

These aspects are where this short novella shines for me. The chemistry, once Chris and Simon kiss, is electric, and the promise of it is delivered as the story progresses. I leapt through the latter portion of the book, as breathless and anxious as Simon. I came to a grinding halt, however, when a misunderstanding arose that came out of nowhere and stalled the story dead. Simon’s motivations prior to that were a little muddled, partially because he’s still in the process of figuring them out himself, and frankly, when he jumped to this particular misunderstanding, I had no idea how he got there or what he was saying. I was as confused as Chris was. Even after it’s cleared up, I didn’t get it, and it diminished my overall enjoyment of the story.

While this story isn’t quite a keeper, there’s enough chemistry and hot eroticism between the characters to make it worth the investment. One of these days, she’s going to absolutely blow my mind. I know it.

Readability	8/10 – I love that there’s an intelligence behind the prose without being obvious about it
Hero #1	7/10 – I quite liked him until he went off with the misunderstanding two-thirds of the way through the story, that felt like it came out of the blue
Hero #2	6/10 – Slightly enigmatic, I never felt like I could get a bead on him
Entertainment value	7/10 – For my reaction to her eroticism, not for believing in the flow of the romance
World building	7/10 – Details about the book world were fantastic, and while I believed it was the UK, the rest kind of blended into the background
TOTAL:	35/50

Necessary Madness by Lisabet Sarai

TITLE: Necessary Madness
AUTHOR: Lisabet Sarai
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 47k)
GENRE: Paranormal gay erotic romance
COST: ₤2.99

Kyle has been plagued by the violence of his precognitive visions since puberty, driving him in and out of psych wards, on and off the streets. When Sergeant Rob Murphy finds him, he’s moved both by how fragile the young man is and by how attractive he is. He offers his help, but when he learns the nature of Kyle’s abilities, he attempts to put some distance between them. Lucky for Kyle, it doesn’t work, especially since Rob is probably the one man in the world who could understand…

I bought this book both because the premise intrigued me and because I wondered if I was too harsh with the first story I read by this author. I had a rather negative reaction to it, so I hoped that it was a one-off. Unfortunately, the issues I had with this short novel, though different, proved that this author is likely not for me.

It starts out well enough. Kyle is young, highly tormented, and seeking any kind of relief. He’s very sympathetic, and Rob’s dedication to help him admirable. However, as we learn to more about Rob, my misgivings grew. His position of power, as well as his age, cast him into a caretaker, and it feels a little creepy seeing him lust so fervently for Kyle, especially since Kyle is the last person to effectively gauge his own well-being. That falls completely on its face when it comes to the first sex scene. Kyle woke up from a nightmare, Rob walked in to see what was wrong wearing only his underwear, then, when Rob asks if there’s anything he can do to help, Kyle asks him to climb under the covers and hold him. And of course, he’s been sleeping naked. It’s such an obvious porn set-up that I rolled my eyes. It's unsubtle, and a little insulting in how blatant it is. This is the point the story lost me, and the writing in the sex scenes kept me from ever getting back in.

The problem is prose like this: Rob’s cock throbbed in his hand like a juicy heart. and At the same time, he squeezed a line of lube down the length of his cock, like mustard onto a hotdog… The author also has a propensity to use the word bowels during anal sex scenes, like …Rob exploded in Kyle’s bowels. It’s not sexy, and when there are so many sex scenes, it’s a killer for the mood. It's not just limited to obvious erotic text, but I won't complain about Kyle asking Rob to let him ease his pain. I've probably seen Field of Dreams more times than a lot of people.

The paranormal aspects help to maintain interest until the end, but it’s just not enough to counter the uncomfortable characterizations and the unsexy erotic scenes.

Readability	6/10 – Too many things pulled me out of a good flow, including homonym misusage, bad imagery, and erotic terminology that turned me off
Hero #1	6/10 – Though sweet, he seemed so badly damaged that it was hard to buy the “sex will fix everything” switch
Hero #2	5/10 – Considering how damaged Kyle was, and the age difference/power differential, I found it incredibly difficult to support his decision to pursue a relationship
Entertainment value	4/10 – Between my problems with the relationship and the sex scenes, I’m almost surprised I finished it.
World building	7/10 – Interesting elements, but none of it was explored to any measure of satisfaction
TOTAL:	28/50

Mitch by Dakota Rebel

TITLE: Mitch
AUTHOR: Dakota Rebel
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 63k)
GENRE: Gay paranormal erotic romance
COST: ₤3.49

Federal Marshal Mitch Baine gets his first assignment since getting seriously hurt in a vamp hunt, only to discover the serial killer vampire he’s supposed to take out is none other than the stranger who gave him the best blow job of his life in a one-night stand the night before. Jarrod Axlerod is lead singer for a band called Heartstrings, and now, the government wants him dead, for crimes Mitch isn’t so sure he committed…

I bought this book before I read the last story I reviewed by this author, which is why it has sat on my TBR pile ever since. I wasn’t sure it was going to be worth it, and when my TBR is already so big, I don’t like to waste time on authors I know aren't going to work for me. But I decided to give it a go, and while I’m still not a fan of this author by any means, this was at least a better story than the first.

The story starts out with a recuperated Mitch hitting the annual Masked Ball at Torque, a gay bar in Detroit. Usually, he sits on the sidelines, but this year, he’s determined to get into the action. Quickly, he hones in on this gorgeous man, though he knows right away the stranger is a vampire. But since he’s throwing caution to the wind, he indulges, and thus comes some of the most amazing sex he’s ever had. He’s shocked to discover the man’s identity the next day – Jarrod Axlerod, the lead singer in his seventeen-year-old sister’s favorite band. Jarrod is implicated in a string of murders, but something seems off to Mitch, and he starts to drag his feet about the assignment. He goes through the motions with recon, but try as he might to keep some distance from Jarrod, he just can’t seem to do it.

Though there’s nothing very original about either lead character, I was actually mildly engaged with their romance. The sex was on the hot side, and it wasn’t nearly as repetitive as the first story I read by this author. I also really liked the sibling relationship between Mitch and his little sister Reagan. Their banter and back-and-forth were the most realistic aspects of the entire story, and helped to carry me through portions that felt like it was stretching credibility.

But then, the whole serial killer plotline came to a head. Suspensefully so, I might add. Which would have been good if the story had ended shortly afterward. Instead, there was a whole third of the book to occur after that got resolved. The pacing that had been set ground to a halt as everything happened around Mitch, and the final straws to the romance were dragged out, page after page. Any sense of tempo was lost, and my goodwill toward the characters disintegrated as it felt like I was being dragged through more and more stuff that felt completely extraneous. That’s not due to the subject matter. I can see why the author wanted it in there for purposes of the romance. But in regards to pacing and flow, it never felt like it fit. The plotline about the serial killer was the central thread tightening its way through the first two-thirds of the book. Once it was resolved, the lack of its presence was an acute problem. It left the book feeling very disjointed, and ultimately disappointing what could have been a satisfactory read.

Readability	7/10 – Awkward pacing with a final third that felt like a brand new story dragged this down
Hero #1	6/10 – For a marshal, never felt like he was actually very good at his job
Hero #2	4/10 – Too perfect to seem very real
Entertainment value	5/10 – I was enjoying this more on a completely superficial level until the last third
World building	6/10 – Every time I started getting some nice details to flesh out the world, the story slipped back into the sex again
TOTAL:	28/50

From the Ruins by Bronwyn Green

TITLE: From the Ruins
AUTHOR: Bronwyn Green
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 10k)
GENRE: Historical erotic romance
COST: £1.69

Moira Boulton is charmed by the American soldier David Webber at the USO dance hall, but the passion they share might not be enough to survive his getting shipped off to France…

I read this author in an anthology recently and absolutely adored her story so much, I went in search of her backlist to see what else looked interesting. Color me surprised when I realized I’d already bought this short story back in May. That just gives you an idea of how insane my TBR list is. So I pulled out this short WWII erotic romance, hoping for more of the magic I found in the first work I’d read by this author. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with the story. It delivers what it promises – two characters with a so-called fated connection, they have a moment, they get separated by the war, then happy ever after. It just doesn’t do it very memorably. David is charming enough, but there’s not much depth as to why he’s so convinced Moira is the woman he’ll marry, other than he knows. Moira doesn’t even get the benefit of that. All she does is play the role of the independent woman who then waits for her soldier to come home. Much of the story is devoted to the two of them having sex, actually, and though it does the job, nothing really makes it stand out from a lot of the other erotic romances out there.

In spite of my rather meh feelings about this short story, I’m still excited about reading other work by this author. There’s enough ability there to prove she knows how to serve a story’s purpose.

Readability	8/10 – Clean and unassuming, with mild headhopping
Hero	6/10 – Charming, but there’s just not enough there to get any depths
Heroine	5/10 – Sweet, but suffers from the length as much as the hero does
Entertainment value	5/10 – An erotic morsel, though not much to make it unique
World building	7/10 – A flavor of WWII Wales, satisfying for what it is
TOTAL:	31/50

To Hate and To Hold by Dakota Rebel

TITLE: To Hate and To Hold
AUTHOR: Dakota Rebel
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 54k)
GENRE: Gay paranormal erotic romance
COST: £2.99

Vampires Ethan Connor and Jamie McHale have fought nearly all their lives, ever since Jamie’s parents were murdered and Ethan’s took over the royal crown in their clan. Their most recent fight gets interrupted by powerful magic, magic that bonds them together as husbands. For the first few days, the absence of physical contact actually brings them excruciating pain, and the only way to fix it is to consummate their relationship. That’s kind of hard to do when you can’t stand each other…

If I had known one of the primary sources of conflict in this story was going to be, “We have to have sex or we’re going to die,” I never would have bought it. While I appreciate that this particular trope, clichéd as it is, does appeal to some people, it really doesn’t to me. To me, it’s shorthand for any type of actual relationship development, forcing characters into bed for often ridiculous reasons, creating an excuse to have sex as often as possible. If that’s in a blurb, I skip right on by 99% of the time (the only exception would be if an author I trust has done it; then I’d go as far as read the excerpt and judge it on an individual basis). However, this blurb simply said the bonding put their lives in danger, so I bought it on the basis of the humor I found in the excerpt and a chance to read some escapist fun. It wasn’t a wise choice.

The story is told in 1^st person from Jamie’s POV. Jamie is a bitter, angry young vampire, with no direction in his life. He’s a silent partner in his sister’s pub, but he spends all his time drinking, mooching off his sister, and brooding over his parents’ murder fifteen years earlier. He loathes Ethan for a variety of reasons – stealing his boyfriends, being the new prince, but most importantly, because he’s always suspected Ethan’s parents had something to do with Jamie’s parents’ deaths. Every time they get together, it ends in a physical altercation. Before the story starts, the last fight had been a year earlier, right before Ethan left town with his mortal boyfriend. It was a fight that nearly killed him. While there’s not a whole lot unique about this set-up, there’s certainly a lot of potential there for natural conflict, especially since there’s a distinct appealing humor in the prose when the story opens. Jamie’s bitter sarcasm suggests there will be an edge to this romance, but any potential is soon lost once the bond hits them in the first chapter. By the second, we know they need to have sex to rid themselves of the pain they’re in. To tell the truth, this is probably the point I should have stopped reading. I knew then that it was a plot device that usually drove me bonkers. But I held out, hoping that the humor from the first chapter would carry through into something I could enjoy. There was always the possibility that the story could go in a different direction than I expected.

Except it didn’t. From that point on, it slowly degenerates into such repetition that I was bored thoroughly out of my mind by the halfway mark. Very little happens except the same patterns of sex, then shower. There are so many scenes of Jamie waking up, then they either have sex, or argue, then go off to the shower, either together or alone, that they blur together. The story isn’t helped that nearly all the crucial plot developments happen via third parties, and many of them off-screen. It makes for passive involvement, which for me, was the death knell. The one time Jamie actually did something about his own situation, his rationale seemed so utterly unfounded that I couldn’t even get behind it. The entire last third of the book hinges on the big misunderstanding plot device, too, another cliché it’s very hard for me to overcome.

While the story isn’t helped by sloppy editing (like extra words that appear for no explicable reason, i.e. Ethan let go of my hand, and I my stomach rolled.), it’s the sheer repetition and lack of believable character development that really cripple it. Jamie and Ethan are vampires, but that seems to be token nomenclature in an attempt to make them sexy. They drink blood, but breed like humans. They sleep at night, but seem to need to breathe. There’s nothing wrong with cherry-picking attributes to try and create something new, but when some standard vampire tropes seem tossed to the wayside, there needs to be some sort of explanation. There isn’t in this, and in the end, it’s just another reason why I really can’t recommend it.

Readability	4/10 – Early humor disappears completely in sloppy editing and boring, repetitive scenes
Hero #1	4/10 – Funny to start, but personality gets lost in favor of sex
Hero #2	5/10 – More sympathetic than the narrator
Entertainment value	3/10 – Too much repetition and a preposterous set-up make for a very boring read
World building	4/10 – The vampires are never explained well (like needing to breathe) and any semblance of political exposition is lost amidst all the boring sex
TOTAL:	20/50

Passion of Madeline by Robin Gideon

TITLE: Passion of Madeline
AUTHOR: Robin Gideon
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 29k)
GENRE: Historical ménage erotic romance
COST: ₤2.49

When Cole Darden and his best friend Hawk set out to rescue a woman who has been taken by stagecoach robbers, they don’t expect the fierce attraction they feel for the voluptuous Madeline LaFontaine. Saving her from rape and murder is easy; not falling head over heels for her is not…

This novella suffers from “it’s all about the trailer” syndrome. You know what I mean. You see a trailer for a movie in the theater, and it sucks you in and makes you all excited about it, only to discover when you actually do go see the movie, the trailer showed you all the best bits, leaving you with nothing else to enjoy. In this story’s case, consider the excerpt as its trailer. It was a bright introduction to two sexy men, out to rescue a damsel in distress, complete with action, motivation, and a singular perspective. The novella turns out to be a lovefest for a heroine too flaky to make up her mind and too irregularly drawn to be relatable, with headhopping galore and prose that doesn’t know the definition of the word subtle.

The problems start out with primary characters that make me roll my eyes because they’re so over the top. Cole is supposedly a regular studmuffin in the Wild West:

…For some, Cole was an addictive narcotic that had to be experienced again and again and again. For others, he set a standard for performance that they realised could be matched by no other man. And since it was abundantly clear that Cole was not on the marriage market, they were resigned to having luscious memories of several hours of blissful delight in his arms, but nothing more permanent than that. Often, when these women made love with their husbands, they closed their eyes and fantasised of Cole. He’d been told as much often enough, usually murmured under the breath by a former lover at a cattleman’s ball while the husband smoked cigars and drank port with other rich men in a separate room.

Some of his ex-lovers felt guilty for fantasising about Cole while in the arms of their current husbands. Others accepted their fantasising about Cole as an after-effect for having experienced his sensual charms. None of his ex-lovers, however, regretted their time with him. None regretted sharing their passion with him. And their numbers were legend.

There’s more, like when Madeline spies his hard-on later, and the reader gets pounded into her head – over and over – just how massive it really is, but already, I’ve decided Cole is one of those men who loves women too much to ever settle down, an opinion that doesn’t change throughout the course of the story, even though I get told – not shown – that he’s changed. Hawk, thankfully, comes across as better than his best friend, but Madeline is another mishmash of types that drive me around the bend, flipflopping and inconsistent. It’s best seen in this particular line: He’s a heathen, a barbarian! I hate him! thought Madeline, but she really didn’t mean it as she swooned, her tongue playing with Cole’s.

The prose is riddled with over the top phrasing, too, like the hyphenates the author seems to prefer: passion-swollen labia, and lust-addled disorientation, and passion-lubricated lips, and perspiration-moistened body, and the list goes on. It pulls me out of the story and makes it seem very old-fashioned. Toss in the fact that this isn’t really a ménage until the end, and I’m left wondering why I bothered to finish it at all. Madeline sees both men throughout the story, though never at the same time and never tells the other about what she’s doing with his best friend. It makes her flaky and unlikable in my book, and with that many strikes already against it, this book is a barely finished for me.

Readability	6/10 – About as subtle as a sledgehammer
Ménage	3/10 – Not a ménage in the true sense for most of the story, and thus never seems believable
Characterization	4/10 – Two of the three characters really drag this down
Entertainment value	2/10 – Can’t enjoy the romance because the heroine is a flake, can’t enjoy the drama because it’s never given any chance to really build
World building	6/10 – Starts off promising, and the landscape detail is nice but none of the characters feel authentic
TOTAL:	21/50

Bordello Dolls by Ellen Ashe

TITLE: Bordello Dolls
AUTHOR: Ellen Ashe
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 11k)
GENRE: Paranormal horror erotic romance
COST: ₤1.69

Scarlet Boujois, visionary, feels smothered by the demands others place on her abilities. She looks for peace whenever she can, and when she takes a stroll before a heavy summer storm, she stumbles across a small antique shop. Its owner, the enigmatic Nicolai Van Adler, proves unreadable, and far too seductive to resist. Scarlet falls under his spell, but even though someone warns her of a ghostly bordello and its evil owner – a man who bears the same name as her new lover – all she wants is to find him again…

Ellen Ashe is one of those authors I want to love, which is why I always look at her new releases with interest. She’s one of the more original authors out there, both in style and ideas, and when so many of the books I read can bleed together or be forgotten completely within a few weeks, originality is good. She has a remarkable talent for creating atmospheric works. This short story is definitely not an exception.

Though I didn’t fall head over heels for this, I can most assuredly say it’s my favorite of the three stories I’ve read of hers so far. Her prose is sumptuous, with a definite Baroque quality to it, especially as she describes the bordello and its denizens. It fits the subject matter perfectly; the entire opening of Scarlet’s thoughts on storms as she heads out for a walk before one is creative, rich, and a joy to read. A lot of this skill is prevalent throughout the story, but while the editing on this is tighter than it has been in earlier works, there are enough sloppy mistakes to weaken her prose. Nicolai’s last name, for instance, takes on two different spellings throughout; sometimes, it’s Van Adler, and others, it’s Van Alder. There are a few tense shifts, spelling mistakes, and assorted other minor problems as well. I know a lot of people won’t even notice them, but frankly, considering how lavish her prose can be, for this reader the mistakes detract from being able to enjoy it. Because that is by far her best talent in writing.

The story is not your typical romance. Ashe likes to take a look at the macabre, and in this case, the hero is creepy and malevolent, a pimp for his prostitutes even as he seeks out his mate. Scarlet is sucked under his spell; the entire story is much like Dracula as Scarlet embodies both Lucy and Mina, and the bordello dolls mirror the female vampires Dracula keeps at his castle. There is definite menace there, but the construct of the romance remains true, as long as you look at it from the hero and heroine’s perspective. They love each other, they want to be together, anybody that opposes that is the villain. Even if the villain is not someone who would normally be considered evil in the everyday world.

Even knowing all that, I can’t say that the romance really works for me as strongly as the rest of the story does. I find the focus on atmosphere and setting ends up shortchanging both leads’ characterization. Scarlet’s motivations are skimmed over – the sex is good, and she can’t stop thinking about Nikolai, therefore she must seek him out. There’s the bonus that she can’t read his soul, but that’s never fully explored. Scarlet ends up coming across like a puppet for the first half of the story as a result. Nikolai fares a little better, but because his history is shadowed so much, I ended up having a lot more questions about him than answers. Both become guides leading me through the story, instead of real people I get sucked into believing.

Because of the author’s voice and originality, though, this is a story that lingers long after it’s over. I don’t love Ellen Ashe yet, but if she keeps improving as she has been, and sticks with these dark tales that she so clearly adores, I have high hopes that I will.

Readability	8/10 – Sumptuous prose, though some sloppy editorial mistakes hold it back
Hero	6/10 – Some dark promise there, but there are too many questions cheated of answers in this short format to make him truly satisfying
Heroine	5/10 – Her motivations are kept superficial because of the format
Entertainment value	8/10 – A story that lingers, long after it’s done
World building	9/10 – Original and lavish
TOTAL:	36/50

Into the Blue by Ann Cory

TITLE: Into the Blue
AUTHOR: Ann Cory
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 13k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: ₤1.69

Samantha Jensen accepts a surprise invitation to a pool party as a means to an escape her frantic workaholic life, but the guests turn out to be more interested in sex than swimming. One gorgeous man takes her eye, but she never expects that he’s as taken with her…

Fantasy fluff. That’s what I call these kind of stories. I don’t mean fantasy in the otherworldly sense of the word, but rather in the daydreaming, never going to happen sense. It’s very hard to take them seriously because they’re so devoted to creating an entirely over the top experience. They have their own niche, however, and I do enjoy them to break up my patterns. There’s absolutely zero thought required to reading them, and this one is no exception.

Any depth of characterization is abandoned in favor of the erotic. Samantha is painted as a workaholic, but in the confines of this particular story, we don’t get to experience it, just hear about it all secondhand. She is too wrapped up in the sensual experience of the party, and taking every ounce of pleasure she can from the man determined to give it, even when it means getting his buddy to help break down her defenses at one point. Cole, the hero, lacks any sort of personality, but honestly, if you’ve bought this story, you’re not reading it to find out what kind of a conversationalist the man is. He’s a hot body – a very hot body – used as a means to get the heroine off. And in that context, it works. It more than works. In spite of mild headhopping, I enjoyed the dip into the daydream pool.

Just don’t forget that’s all it is. Late attempts to add depth to the characters never really work; the description of Cole’s life outside of the pool party made me laugh at how ridiculous it sounded. The strength isn’t in the story; it’s in the sex.

Readability	7/10 – Mild headhopping and definitely a trip into fantasyland, but its erotic scenes more than work.
Hero	4/10 – This isn’t about personality; this is about a hot body giving a woman everything she wants.
Heroine	5/10 – Some of her so-called flaws seemed painted on, rather than integral to her characterization
Entertainment value	6/10 – As long as I never forget this is just about a hot fantasy and nothing remotely real or romantic, it’s fun.
World building	5/10 – I don’t for a second believe any of the exterior set-up for these two, but then again, it’s a fantasy.
TOTAL:	27/50

Heart of the Bear by Cindy Spencer Pape

TITLE: Heart of the Bear
AUTHOR: Cindy Spencer Pape
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 18k)
GENRE: Shapeshifter erotic romance
COST: ₤2.49

Psychic Hannah Lightfoot only has a couple days left to decide whether or not she wants to return to her job with the San Diego Police Department. A traumatic event three months earlier has had her questioning her purpose, but when she still can’t reach a decision at home, she retreats to her grandfather’s cabin in hopes a different setting will make the choice clear. Everything conspires against her as her car goes off the road, a storm drenches her, and then a strange naked man surprises her at the cabin. But that’s just the start of what turns out to be the weekend that will change her entire life…

Novellas that try to set up paranormal series have a lot of work to do. The more complicated the world, the harder the job. The gorgeous cover on this particular story drew me in – April Martinez should be proud of another beautiful one – but ultimately, it failed to engage me into trying any more of this new series.

The world the author is setting up is a complex one. Hannah’s brother Will is part of a 5-man organization called Guardian; the hero in this story, Evan, is a member of it. It’s clear this is going to be at least a 5-book series, one for each of the men in the unit. Evan’s family are all shifters, and Will is a precog. There are hints throughout the book that the paranormal world is quite extensive, that Hannah's psychic ability isn't really that unusual, but very little of the world-building happens organically. Evan spends a lot of the time explaining things to Hannah, or we learn of it in exposition after the fact. We get most of Hannah’s backstory as statement after the fact, too, but it’s all indicative of a tell not show style that prevails throughout the story. This style of storytelling very rarely works for me. It drags down any chance this novella has to engage me.

Any other chance is taken away by both the hero and heroine’s swift “romance,” and Evan’s unrealistic dialogue. Evan and Hannah have sex almost immediately after he saves her from a bear attack in the woods – within minutes of seeing other for the first time. She barely knows his name and they’re doing it on the floor. And then in the shower. Within 12 hours, she’s melting just from the look in his eye, and all I can think, “Oh, brother.” By Evan's own admission, it's a mate recognition thing - Another thing you need to know about my family—we mate for life. When one of us finds the other half of our soul, it isn’t a long, drawn-out process. It’s almost always a case of love at first sight. - and I can't help but see that as shorthand for let's get to the sex and not worry about real relationship development. Toss in the fact that Evan says things like, Your hair is incredible and your eyes are like green velvet. You have the most luscious ass I’ve ever seen, and these incredibly feminine hips make me crazy, and You fit me like a glove, and I’m out of it. People don’t talk like that. Incredibly feminine hips? What exactly is that even supposed to mean?

The story does better when it slips into an unexpected kidnapping case for the couple, but while I don’t have to put up with unbelievable dialogue there, I do get subjected to more of the telling not showing. In the end, it’s just not going to work for me. I have another of this author’s stories in my TBR pile, and I’ve seriously wondered if I should bother reading it. I decided I still will. It’s novel-length, so hopefully it won’t fall into the same pitfalls as this novella, and it’s also not a paranormal. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Readability	6/10 – Minor editing issues, unrealistic dialogue, and telling not showing hinder what could be pretty smooth prose.
Hero	4/10 – Flat and not very interesting, especially with his unrealistic declarations
Heroine	5/10 – Only milder better than the hero, but at least she’s smart in a fight
Entertainment value	3/10 – Between information dumps to set up the series and a rush on the relationship, I’m almost surprised I finished it.
World building	5/10 – There is far too much telling in order to set up the series, and it makes for very boring reading.
TOTAL:	23/50