The Thief of Mardu by Marie Harte

TITLE: The Thief of Mardu
AUTHOR: Marie Harte
PUBLISHER: New Concepts Publishing
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 40k)
GENRE: Sci-fi erotic romance
COST: $4.50

When a statesman is murdered, bounty hunter Catam of Mardu gets sucked into helping his peacemaker brother track down the thief who did it. What he doesn’t expect is the almost violent sexual attraction to thief Isa Araye, or her vehement protestations about her innocence. Her story sounds all too plausible, so together, they work to prove she was set up to take the fall. And have a little bit of fun while they do it.

Marie Harte is one of the handful of authors I’ve reviewed so far on this blog that interested me enough to go look at her other published works. When I couldn’t find a third new release that interested me enough to buy this week, I picked one of her older titles that sounded like I might enjoy it. The result was very interesting.

According to the copyright, the book’s two years old, and trust me, it shows. Where Tied and True was easy to read with few errors, The Thief of Mardu has distinct head-hopping throughout the book – almost always the mark of a beginner – and florid prose when writing sex scenes that make it look like the author’s trying too hard. Referring to a pussy as “woman’s fruit” is just too purple for me, though thankfully, she only used that one once or twice. On top of that, because the story is sci-fi/fantasy/futuristic-based, almost everybody has an unusual name. Catam. Nu Fas. Rantak. Then there’s all the place names she makes up. Ragga. Mardu. Nebe6. And yes, that’s a 6 in that name. Normally, this wouldn’t be a bad thing, but she throws all of them out there – without explanation most of the time – almost all at the same time. There’s little time to adjust, and for somebody coming into this universe she’s created for the first time, it’s too much. She has other stories set in this same milieu, but she doesn’t do herself any favors of coaxing new readers if she can’t make each one as easy as possible to understand.

When the sex isn’t weighed down with heavy-handed words, there are glimmers of the hot eroticism that her later work carries. Her heroine in this is just as likable as Lindsay in Tied and True, too. I do have to give Ms. Harte credit for learning as much as she has in the past two years. That’s the sign of an author who’s interested in a real career. It also means that the books I want to keep an eye on are the ones she’s got coming out in the future, not the ones she’s already written.

Readability	4/10 – Head-hopping, unclear terminology, and florid prose doesn’t make it the best read.
Heroine	7/10 – Spunky and likable.
Hero	6/10 – Heroes with enhanced sexual abilities have a tendency to turn me off. Catam was no exception.
Entertainment value	5/10 – I’m left with a feeling “meh” when I’m done
World building	4/10 – I’m sure this is a rich world she’s building, but there’s too much information in too short a book to make it work as a standalone.
TOTAL:	26/50

Beyond the Night by Sharon Long

TITLE: Beyond the Night
AUTHOR: Sharon Long
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 89k)
GENRE: Historical romance
COST: $5.50

India Ashton’s entire life has been about one thing – searching for the mythical city, Pagoria. Ridge Hadley’s entire life has been about researching it. When a journal and an unexpected letter entwine their lives together, they are sent on a journey across the continent in a quest for truth, answers, and love. Even if loving Ridge is the last thing India wants – or needs – right now.

I wanted to like this story so much. It’s got an absolutely gorgeous cover, with a ton of elements, and the blurb had this grand adventure feel to it that was only made grander by the sense of myth the cover evoked. And I tried. I tried a lot. But by halfway through the story, I realized that it just wasn’t going to happen.

First of all, the writer’s style never engaged me. In the beginning, there were a lot of paragraphs with only a few sentences apiece, all of which started exactly the same way. He did this. He did that. He did this again. It was jerky to read, not to mention boring. It doesn't help that the pace plods along for the first half of the book. Add in the occasional typo and misused word – very atypical for Samhain books – and it was enough to keep me on the periphery of the story.

Then there’s the heroine, India. She starts out quirky and interesting, but by the last third of the story, she’s crying for one reason or another in every single scene. At least, it feels that way. Any potential she had is lost, especially when she spends all her time bemoaning how she’s betrayed Ridge by lying to him. Enough already! Ridge, for his part, was adorable in a geeky kind of way. I felt for him and his desire for a more adventurous life. Too bad he got saddled with a big ol’ crybaby for most of the book.

What promises adventure and romance comes across as a too-long melodrama that devolves into more tears for India. Not my style. I don’t mind heroines showing weakness, but damn it, own your choices. That’s the way to write a heroine I’m going to love.

Readability	6/10 – The author’s writing style is too jerky for me to enjoy, and it doesn’t meet the usual high standards of editing I’ve come to expect from Samhain.
Heroine	5/10 – Weepy through most of the book and I’m not sure I agree with her supposed motivations
Hero	7/10 – Sweet in a geeky kind of way
Entertainment value	4/10 – A heroine I wanted to shake through half the story and a pace like molasses made this a ponderous read.
World building	7/10 – Lovely detail regarding the period, but the author’s style couldn’t get me to appreciate it.
TOTAL:	29/50

Haunting Melody by Flo Fitzpatrick

TITLE: Haunting Melody
AUTHOR: Flo Fitzpatrick
PUBLISHER: Cerridwen Press
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 92k)
GENRE: Time travel romance
COST: $6.49

Costume designer Melody Flynn has a ghost in her apartment. A loud ghost. Who likes leaving music on her piano and watering her plants at two o’clock in the morning. When she tries to ask her eccentric downstairs neighbor for help, though, she gets more than she bargains for. She gets herself transported back in time to 1919 and Ziegfeld’s Follies, with a skeptical electrician determined to question her presence, a rash of missing Follies’ girls, and still no clue what happened or why. It’s up to her to stay on her feet, even when a madman threatens to sweep her off them.

I am just not having good luck this week with my reading choices. Where Monday’s book was all about hating one of the main characters, this story is just so ineptly written that I can’t even muster up the energy to hate either Melody or Briley. All I can do right now is try and hope my headache goes away.

Where to start? Well, first off, the author tries to pass off huge blocks of exposition as dialogue. None of these people talk like people you would know. A single person’s dialogue can run six and seven sentences long, revealing details of the story that the reader already knows or she thinks we need to know. Melody, the heroine, even does it throughout the entire first chapter when she’s alone in her apartment except for her dog. This, in particular, jumped out at me later on in the book:

Saree had regained at least a portion of her normally exuberant humor. She now punched Mr. Ellingsford in the arm and giggled, “Lloyd. You’re so cute. This is Melody Flynn, from Memphis, Tennessee and a brand new Follies dancer. Flo himself picked her just yesterday. She’s only been in Manhattan a couple of days. She got robbed at Grand Central her first afternoon and had to audition in her riding togs. But she’s in. One of us. And Briley and she aren’t speaking half the time because he accused her of being a spy for Brevities and that snake Clow. But she isn’t.”

This comes in chapter 7. When the reader already knows all this. And it keeps happening over and over and over and over again, until I just wanted to rip out the tongues of every speaking character in the book.

On top of that, there is absolutely nothing credible about this plotline. I love time travel romances, and I am completely forgiving of the suspension of disbelief that is required to buy into them. That’s not the part I have a problem with. What irks me are the events in the story that come out of nowhere, the HUGE leaps of logic the heroine makes halfway through the story to decide that – all of a sudden – they need to go to Memphis, and the coincidences that not even Days of Our Lives would try to get away with. And where the author thinks she’s being clever – in figuring out the mystery of Melody’s ghost – I just want to slap her. I knew who it was by the beginning of the second chapter. Let me tell you, that made for a very long 85k while I waited for Melody to figure it out, too.

The author does know her theater history, but simply throwing in as much detail as you can doesn’t create a world I’m going to believe in. You have to get it across without making me want to gouge out my eyes. Do I really need to say that’s not what happened in this book?

I wish this review wasn’t so harsh, but honestly, I’m not going to sugarcoat anything here. This author has a lot to learn yet. Until she does, I won’t bother with any more of her books.

Readability	3/10 – Huge blocks of exposition posing as dialogue combined with outrageous details made me want to chuck the whole thing against the wall.
Hero	5/10 – Certainly one of the better parts of the story, though even he stretches the lengths of credibility
Heroine	4/10 – Has moments of that “too stupid to live” syndrome that afflicts too many heroines in romances
Entertainment value	2/10 – Anything that gives me such a headache by the time I’m done with it is not what I’d call entertaining.
World building	5/10 – Lots – and lots – of detail to try and build the period, but it was inadequately disseminated so that there was no sense of getting immersed in it.
TOTAL:	19/50

Indiscretions by Elayne S. Venton

TITLE: Indiscretions
AUTHOR: Elayne S. Venton
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 61k)
GENRE: Historical menage erotic romance
COST: $5.95

Bow Street Runners Trent and William have denied their feeling for each other too long when a smuggling case forces their true passions to come to the surface. The main problem is, Trent also loves his mistress Anna, and when she is kicked from her home due to her dalliance and upcoming pregnancy, he refuses to sacrifice his honor or his affection for her in favor of giving up William. A temporary arrangement is agreed upon, where the three of them all live together, but jealousy is a wicked lover.

I bought this when it was first released in anticipation of reviewing it for last week, but because I didn’t want two stories with Regency and gay elements in it in the same review period, I chose to read J.L. Langley’s My Fair Captain first and this one, this week. I really wish I’d never bothered with this one at all. If anything, this makes me appreciate the other one even more.

The story is pitched as a ménage, but for the first ¾’s of the book, William is so hateful and jealous about Anna, I despised him in ways I haven’t despised a character in a long time. He says time and time again that women don’t do it for him, which is fine and good, but then when the author forces the three to come together, all of a sudden, one does. I don’t think so. I especially don’t think that the woman he has spent the entire book hating and hoping gets kicked out of the house is all of a sudden the only female to ever arouse him. His thoughts toward her have been nasty and vitriolic throughout most of the story; this sudden shift stretches and shatters every inch of credibility.

Add into that some very unfortunate writing in portions, usually the sex scenes. Maybe one of the most unfortunate – and humorous – examples comes in a rimming scene between the two guys. William, the more experienced of the two, is rimming Trent for the first time.

Daringly, Will leaned in and flicked his tongue around it again. The sphincter puckered. A long hiss broke the silence in the room.

Now, I know she means that Trent hissed, but that’s sure as hell not the image she presented. And it sure makes the rest of the rimming scene very ew-worthy to read. But this is just one example of a whole story of unfortunate phrasing. I could spend far too much time citing other passages, which actually, would be more fun than reading the book. Suffice it to say, it suffers drastically. Where was the editor on this book?

Maybe I’ll go back and re-read My Fair Captain to get this one scrubbed from my brain. In fact, so should you. Don’t bother buying this book. Get Langley’s instead.

Readability	5/10 – Too many cringeworthy words and phrases make this hard to take seriously
Menage	2/10 – I didn’t believe it for a second. A few moments of hot sex does not make up for a book’s worth of set-up in the other direction
Characterization	6/10 – Trent was the only well-rounded, believable character of the bunch.
Entertainment value	3/10 – How can I enjoy myself when I vehemently hate one of the three in the romance?
World building	6/10 – An odd juxtaposition of too many examples of modern speech interspersed with great period detail makes the story falter.
TOTAL:	22/50

Sex Between Strangers by Gabrina Garza

TITLE: Sex Between Strangers
AUTHOR: Gabrina Garza
PUBLISHER: Amber Quill Press (Amber Heat)
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 13k)
GENRE: Sci-fi erotic romance
COST: $4.00

When Sara Anderson’s husband dies, she gets the chance to allow his memories and personality to live on in the body of a donor. What she doesn’t expect is for this hybrid of husband and stranger to attract her far more than the man she supposedly loved ever did.

I’m not sure if it was my mood or something else, but this short story really got to me. Sara has been mourning her husband’s death, though it’s as much about being lonely as it is missing him specifically. When it looks like the entire process might be delayed, she forsakes having to start over in favor of taking her new man home, even though he both doesn’t have all his memories yet and isn’t exactly the clean slate she’d been promised. There’s a definite melancholy throughout the first two-thirds of the story that is poignant and moving. It sucked me in and made me ache for both Sara and Dace, the Marine who now houses her husband’s memories.

The author has a simple style, which works well in a short story setting. There’s nothing fancy about her prose, so it makes it easy to read and follow. If anything, though, I would have liked to see a little more explanation for some of the sci-fi stuff. It comes across sometimes as merely a plot device to have this sweet romance. That’s not necessarily a bad thing since it is a short story. I guess my main quibble is that I just wanted the story longer.

That being said, this was a very sweet, romantic tale. It occasionally borders on the simple, but you know, sometimes that’s a welcome change. I fell for Dace and Sara’s romance head over heels, in spite of some of my other misgivings. Maybe it was just what the doctor ordered.

Readability	8/10 – Easy to read, though at times bordered on the simplistic
Hero	7/10 – Sweet and hot, though the brevity of the story means characterization suffers
Heroine	7/10 – Likable, but I wanted some of her motivations better explained
Entertainment value	8/10 – I got sucked into the melancholy air of the story, but just wanted it longer
World building	8/10 – A sci-fi futuristic world built competently
TOTAL:	38/50

Blood Will Tell by December Quinn

TITLE: Blood Will Tell
AUTHOR: December Quinn
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 67k)
GENRE: Paranormal erotic romance
COST: $5.95

Brilliant scientist Cecelia Barnes is working on the brink of danger. Her blood research threatens vampire existence, and they attempt to put an end to it by kidnapping and killing her. She gets saved by the enigmatic Julian Mansfield, who insists that the only way to keep her safe is to say with him and his family. What she doesn’t realize is that the man who is driving her crazy is really a vampire, and he’s at the heart of the war her research is instigating. Love and desire complicate issues further as Julian races to keep her safe, as well as his true identity.

Just when I start thinking I’m insane for even bothering with Ellora’s Cave any more, I buy a book that makes me decide to stick it out a little bit longer. What’s so ironic is what makes this book more worthy isn’t the sex scenes. While those are certainly competent enough – and deluged throughout the book, just as EC books tend to be – what elevates this is the author’s ability to write tight, suspenseful scenes in the context of her plot. There is one particular chase scene a little over halfway through the book that is thrilling and nervewracking, as expertly executed as the scene in “Speed” where they have to jump the gap in the unfinished overpass. That’s just good writing.

It’s a shame, then, where the book doesn’t follow through on its promise elsewhere. There is minor headhopping – a pet peeve of mine – and descriptions in the sex scenes that border on the ew. Honestly, women who drench their partners when they orgasm isn’t sexy for me, and the word “weeping” should never be used in conjunction with female arousal. Cecilia is supposed to be this brilliant scientist, but she sure never acts like it. She falls for Julian’s attraction with barely a bat of an eye and spends a good part of the book whining about not being treated like she can contribute. Frankly, I think they were better off working on their own anyway. I certainly never believed she had the brainpower to be a useful part of the team.

That makes it harder to invest in the romance between Cecelia and Julian. They are best when they are bantering, which doesn’t happen nearly enough after the first time they have sex. Julian is sexy and engaging, but in the end, I didn’t understand why he’d choose this woman to be his partner for eternity after having been single for so many centuries. In my eyes, he could have done a lot better.

I looked at the author’s website, and this is only her second title to be released. With as much potential as she shows in this story, I’m definitely going to be watching her. I almost wonder if she might be better off steering away from the more erotic stories. Her plotting and action scenes are far superior to the romance in this particular tale. It’ll be something to watch with her.

Readability	8/10 – Non-sex scenes fare better than sex scenes in this, minor headhopping pulls me out of the story
Hero	8/10 – Charming and engaging, though I liked him much better when he’s bantering than when he pulls out the emo
Heroine	6/10 – A little whiny, and any attempt to convince me she was a brilliant professional failed
Entertainment value	7/10 – Oddly enough, I like this much more for the story than the sex
World building	6/10 – The author takes too long to explain her version of vampires (the end, practically), and I spend the whole book getting pulled out of it with niggling questions like, “Why are they breathing?”
TOTAL:	35/50

My Fair Captain by J.L. Langley

TITLE: My Fair Captain
AUTHOR: J.L. Langley
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 83k)
GENRE: Futuristic gay erotic romance
COST: $5.50

When Navy Captain Nathaniel Hawkins is asked to pose among the aristocracy on the patriarchal planet Regelence in order to find some missing weapons, the last thing he expects – or needs – is to be attracted to the King’s available son, Prince Aiden. Aiden, on the other hand, has no designs to follow what society dictates, wanting instead to pursue his art. That is, until he meets Nate. Attraction is instantaneous. But in a culture that has very strict rules about social conduct, neither man can act on their desire without facing the consequences. The question becomes…are the consequences worth it?

The premise for this novel was fascinating. It’s sci-fi, futuristic, in worlds that emulate Regency England, and most surprisingly, it works. The author knows this universe she’s created like the back of her hand, and her attention to detail shows in very sharp prose. By the time I finished the book, I believed in it, absolutely and utterly. I just didn’t understand it as well as I’m pretty sure she wanted me to. Because the author knows it so well, she has no qualms about going on for pages and pages using terminology that is confusing to those not in the know. It took me far too long to realize that when the princes referred to father and sire in the same sentence, that those were actually two different people – their father and his male consort. Instances of this occur throughout the book, like the way nearly every character has more than one name and is referred to both or all of them repeatedly, sometimes even in the same scene. It’s a shame, really. Clearly, the author has a way with words; they just needed to be clearer some of the time.

This same flaw corrupts what is otherwise a very intriguing plot. The story starts out with Nate being charged with discovering who stole some weapons from the King of Regelence, and the author is quite adept at weaving multiple scenes together to create a growing sense of suspense. About two-thirds of the way through the book, though, things start happening without explanation and the logic of the intrigue begins to fall apart. Aiden identifies one man in the conspiracy, naming him by name to the reader, without that character having made an earlier appearance at all. I actually stopped reading and went back to skim to see if I had missed something, that’s how much it jumped out at me. The last quarter of the book also suffers from the author’s apparent need to both set up sequels in this world she created and make other pretty boys she’s introduced as happy as possible. Out of the blue. It was just too much for me.

That’s not saying I disliked the primary romance. I didn’t. Nate, the rough-edged captain, is a strong and very passionate character, dominating and sexy as hell. I particularly enjoyed his interactions throughout the entire book, and when the sex scenes started…oh my. Hot. Very hot. This is a dom who knows what he’s doing.

My quibble with the romance comes with his romantic interest. Aiden is young – 19 to Nate’s late 30s/early 40s – and I never understood what in the hell Nate saw in him other than a pretty face. For me, he came across as very immature and nowhere near a worthy partner to the more interesting Nate. And I realize that this is specifically trying to emulate Regency romances, but honestly, Aiden might as well have been a woman. Between how he acted and everything that happened to him (plotwise, not sexually), it was straight out of any heterosexual Regency you might have read. That was probably a specific choice on the part of the author. It just didn’t work for me.

What did work –without a doubt – was the sex. Hot. Very hot. Nate is a masterful dom, and the slow build-up from the first kiss to the full exploration of Nate’s needs was extremely well done. It was so well done that I was willing to forgive a lot of the story’s flaws in order to keep reading. By the time the story was over, I bought enough into the romance – and okay, pretty much just wanted Nate to be happy so if Aiden was what he wanted, I’d live with the choice – to consider it worth the time to read. I am curious about whether or not she’s got future stories planned in this universe she created. The cast of characters is certainly large enough.

Readability	7/10 – Information dumps and plotting late in the book that comes out of nowhere pulls down what is otherwise some sharp writing
Hero #1	8/10 – Strong and mostly well-characterized, very believable as a dom
Hero #2	5/10 – He might as well have been wearing a dress. Annoying.
Entertainment value	7/10 – The sex is hot. Very hot. But what starts out as promising intrigue falls apart 2/3’s of the way through the book.
World building	9/10 – An original meld of sci-fi/futuristic with Regency, made very believable. The only reason this isn’t a perfect score is because poor dissemination of information keeps a complex society from being clear soon enough
TOTAL:	36/50

The Write Man for Her by Christie Walker Bos

TITLE: The Write Man for Her
AUTHOR: Christie Walker Bos
PUBLISHER: Cerridwen Press
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 96k)
GENRE: Contemporary romance
COST: $6.49

Jessica Singer is a successful advertising executive by day and frustrated writer at night. In an attempt to pursue her dream, she enrolls in an online creative course at UCLA. Her virtual teacher turns out to be the gorgeous Professor Brant Wilson, but all her attempts to meet him in the flesh fail. Determined to meet the man who has sparked her creativity, she seeks him out, but the reality of him is nothing like the fantasy she’s constructed. It’s up to Jessica to then decide which is better.

I’m a sucker for Internet romances. Maybe because I haven’t read a thousand of them, I don’t know. But something about the anonymous coming together in a surprising way always makes me sit up and take notice. Since the premise of this book was about an online, nontraditional student interested in her virtual professor, I jumped on it. But the excerpt I read didn’t quite prepare me for the reality of what the heroine was going to do.

She stalks him. Plain and simple. She even jokingly admits to it when she meets him. She lies in an attempt to get personal information, and when that isn’t enough, stakes out the man’s known living area and mailbox. Repeatedly. And follows a girl home who is taking him his mail. This is a highly successful professional woman in her mid-to-late thirties I’m talking about here, but honestly, as I was reading this, I kept wanting to shake her and scream, “You’re not still in high school!” To make it worse, when the man who’s interested in her at work happens to know what kind of drink she prefers, she gets all outraged. Like she hasn’t done far worse in attempting to find her professor. Is this hypocritical or what?

Maybe if there had been some actual build-up detailing her growing fascination with her professor, I wouldn’t have been so riled up by it. But there wasn’t. She talks about what a great connection they have during the class chats, but the reader never gets to see it. We just get to hear about it after the fact, or get a short paragraph summarizing. Nope. Doesn’t cut it for me. If a woman old enough to know better is going to be driven to stalking in this day and age, she better have a damn good reason for it, and for me, this book never gave it.

That was a next-to-impossible hurdle for me to overcome in reading this book. Any investment I had in the story at all was due to Brant, the story’s solid hero, but he wasn’t nearly enough to cover the story’s flaws for me. Though it’s not apparent in the excerpt provided on the site, the author is a headhopper, which I hate. But the thing of it is, she doesn’t even do it consistently. She’ll go through long sections with only one perspective, then all of a sudden, it’s hopping back and forth between Brant and Jessica, paragraph to paragraph. Once, I even caught it hopping within the same paragraph. It’s very disconcerting for me. Some people like it, and that’s okay. I don’t. If this is indicative of the author’s style, I can’t say I’m going to be standing in line to buy any more of her books.

Readability	4/10 – Uneven pacing, clunky exposition drops, and head hopping can’t compensate for few errors in the text.
Heroine	3/10 – Stalking does not a likable heroine make. Points for a believable professional, though.
Hero	7/10 – Far more likable than the heroine, it felt like the author was more concerned about making her tortured hero more real than the heroine
Entertainment value	4/10 – I was too busy rolling my eyes at the heroine to enjoy the story.
World building	7/10 – Satisfactory. At least I understood what the heroine’s world was like, and the extent of the hero’s condition
TOTAL:	25/50

Navajo Red by Paula Eldridge

TITLE: Navajo Red
AUTHOR: Paula Eldridge
PUBLISHER: Whiskey Creek Press
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 63k)
GENRE: Historical romance
COST: $5.99

Irish lass Nora O’Sullivan is a mail order bride, traveling from Boston to her new husband in Santa Fe, when her wagon train is attacked. She survives with the help of a Navajo named Kee, who is on his way back to his tribe after a three-year absence to marry his childhood friend. Taking another survivor – a young boy named Jamie – they set out across the West, where they face any number of adversities. Kidnapping, sexual assault, run-ins with other tribes…they all conspire to keep Nora from reaching her destination. The only trouble is…neither one of them really wants her to go.

I’ll admit, I don’t read a lot of historicals. Some time periods just don’t interest me, or I find that authors either give too much detail so that the story turns into a history lesson instead of a story, or not enough so that the time period or new place means nothing. I picked up this book because I do like Westerns, and especially stories with Native Americans as the heroes. I was a little iffy when I was reading the excerpt, but I thought, “What the hell, let’s try it anyway.”

I probably should have listened to that iffy. The author’s style relies a lot on talking heads who relay information in really a not very interesting way. Action scenes lack the necessary detail and pacing to make them truly exciting, and exposition gets lost in a lot of telling not showing. By halfway through, I was bored silly, which frankly, shouldn’t have happened with as much as the author tried to put into the story.

Therein lies the second large issue with the book. As long as they’re written well, I’m all right with clichéd circumstances within stories. There aren’t that many original ideas out there anyway. A good author, however, can make just about anything work. But if a writer just isn’t that good, the clichés end up painted in neon orange, glaring out at the reader. Some people don’t mind that. I’m not one of them. Nora is subjugated to the stereotypical rape scene, forced into prostitution, and a host of other typical Western plot devices that had me wishing for the ending long before the ending was in sight. Add in modern terminology or knowledge scattered throughout the book, and the poor thing never really had a chance.

Poor Kee’s characterization doesn’t fare well, either. The author has made Kee a bit of an outsider to Navajo culture by having him been kidnapped three years earlier and sold into slavery. He’s spent the past three years as a shiphand, which is where he learned his perfect English. And I do mean perfect. In three years, supposedly. The only times I remembered Kee was Navajo was when either he or Nora was making an issue of the difference in their cultures. Kind of defeats the purpose of having one, doesn’t it?

Can I recommend this book? No, not really. It’s not that there’s anything horribly wrong with it – at least I wasn’t catching weird typos every other page. It’s just that there isn’t much that’s right.

Readability	4/10 – Too much telling and not enough showing makes this very skimmable
Heroine	5/10 – Cliched and annoying
Hero	5/10 – I like Native American heroes, but too many elements of this one didn’t ring true for me.
Entertainment value	3/10 – By halfway through, I just wanted it over.
World building	5/10 – Hit and miss on detail, some parts were real and believable, others were reliant on reader knowledge
TOTAL:	22/50

Wounded Hearts by Liz Andrews

TITLE: Wounded Hearts
AUTHOR: Liz Andrews
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 21k)
GENRE: BDSM erotic romance
COST: $4.99

Erin Riley is eagerly awaiting the return of her fiancé, Patrick O’Rourke, from his deployment in the Middle East when she receives an e-mail breaking up their engagement. Though she fears it’s because of her weight gain, she decides to pretend it didn’t happen and moves into his apartment in anticipation of his return. The reality is colder than she expects. Patrick tries to brush her off, but when she refuses to go, his true reasons are unleashed, in the form of rougher sex and secrets of the war he doesn’t want to talk about.

It’s always refreshing to read romances where the heroine isn’t a size two. That was the biggest reason I picked this one up. But after the callous and cold break-up poor Erin was supposed to suffer through, I had the unmistakable urge to pick up my computer and shake it in frustration. The way Patrick chose to break their engagement was cruel, and she was hurt really badly from it. I was so angry with him, that it took a long, long time for me not to despise him or to feel frustrated with Erin for being such a wimp about it. Patrick had the potential of being a very tragic hero, but the author’s writing style glosses over any depth he could have had.

The sex itself, once it got going, was pretty hot, though. While he’s been away, Patrick has learned that he likes his sex rough and his women submissive, and Erin is prepared to do anything to keep him from leaving. The author walks a fine edge with the BDSM. There’s spanking, and bondage, and nipple clamps, and while it’s not too extreme, it’s hard enough to merit a real kink. The sex, really, is the best part about the book.

Maybe the story’s length is what keeps it from being anything more than a mild diversion. If it had been longer, I’d hope that the author would have given Patrick the room to explore his trauma, instead of just springing it in one chunk on the reader toward the end. It would have given her more room to allow Erin’s reaction to be smoother and realistic. I think the story suffers from the same thing as a lot of the erotic romances out there right now. Authors think we’re only interested in the sex, and the rest of the story gets shortchanged. A truly great erotic romance never forgets that the story still comes first. We just don’t get shortchanged on the sex when it happens. This story is not one of those great ones.

If you’re looking for some hot sex with an unconventional heroine, this might be what you want. I haven’t given up on this author; there’s potential here, but maybe not with this story for me.

Readability	7/10 – Fairly simplistic, but mostly error free.
Heroine	7/10 – Nice seeing a woman who’s not a stick, but some of her flipflopping annoyed me
Hero	7/10 – Lots of potential that doesn’t quite make it.
Entertainment value	5/10 – The sex was hot while I was reading it, but the story itself was very forgettable.
World building	5/10 – I’m disappointed that the depth of the war trauma wasn’t explored further.
TOTAL:	31/50

Your Alibi by Annie Dean

TITLE: Your Alibi
AUTHOR: Annie Dean
PUBLISHER: Liquid Silver Books
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 81k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: $6.20

Addie Alger’s world is slowly falling apart. She’s got a widowed father burying his grief in crazy inventions, a gentle giant of a brother-in-law who’s burying his grief in other ways, an ex-husband who’s ruined her credit rating and left her thousands in debt, and a hotel in the middle of Nowhere, California that hasn’t had a customer in months. Financial relief comes at last when she hits on the idea of an online company, providing alibis to cheating spouses. It might not be the most ethical of methods, but at least it pays the bills.

Until Sean Duncan, the husband of one of her customers, shows up and starts looking for answers. His marriage is falling apart, and he wants to know why. Addie takes advantage of a physical attraction to try to distract him, but real life always has different plans.

There’s a lot that could potentially scare people away from this story. Like, the heroine helps people cheat for a living. Or, the hero is married when the two start their affair. But you know what? The story works anyway. It works for a few reasons, not the least of which is Ms. Dean’s absolutely gorgeous and refreshing prose. She’s funny, and evocative, and it’s very, very easy to get lost in her turns of phrase. Simple observations, such as It’s a hell of a thing, Sean reflected, to face your lover’s father, stark naked, that made me laugh out loud, or evocative descriptions that make the characters and setting leap off the page.

It also works because her leads are eerily normal in a world of crazy. They talk like real people. They act like real people. I could easily imagine knowing either one of them at various points of my life. Because of that, it’s easy to forgive or forget the less than moral circumstances that bring them together. Because guess what? Sometimes we make less than moral decisions. That’s life.

Where the story stumbles is in its length. While the first half of the story trips merrily along, taking the reader along for the crazy, amazing ride, the second half has a tendency to drag, as scenes that slow the pace get in the way of the story’s focus. More than once, the author dances around confronting the morality of what Addie is doing, and more than once, she dances right away from it. It probably doesn’t fit the comedic tone of the book to really address it the way it should be, but in that case, Ms. Dean should have just backed away from the entire issue in the first place.

Still, it’s an engaging read, and the author has a distinctive voice that makes me want to read her other stuff. I have to say, too, that while I sometimes found Sean a bit bland, his final speech to Addie got me. The last line of the story left a smile on my face, which, considering the tone of the entire book, is exactly what Ms. Dean intended, I'm sure. That means a job well done.

Readability	8/10 – Some gorgeous prose, though extraneous scenes and unneeded detail at crucial pacing moments detract
Heroine	8/10 – Spunky and fun, a breath of fresh air
Hero	7/10 – An Everyman that makes a nice change from some of the angstier heroes
Entertainment value	8/10 – This would be higher if the second half had been tighter; the story drags and loses focus
World building	10/10 – Gorgeous, original prose brings the Grail and this world to life
TOTAL:	41/50

Best Man by Shelley Munro

TITLE: Best Man
AUTHOR: Shelley Munro
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 14k)
GENRE: Contemporary gay erotic romance
COST: $2.99

Rugby players Grayson Lynford and Jesse Peters are groomsmen for their teammate, sharing a room together the weekend of the wedding. What they don’t realize until they get there is that each is in lust with the other, but a drunken encounter puts all their cards on the table. With passions running high, they explore their mutual desire, but someone is threatening the privacy of their teammate, and their own.

I don’t like spoilers in reviews, but the ultimate message of this short story annoys me so much that I don’t really care about revealing it. You can stop reading now if you don’t want to be spoiled. Go on. This is your time to switch away from this page.

So you know what this story ultimately says? That if you’re gay, and you have any hopes of furthering your career, you should be prepared to deny your sexuality in public for the rest of your life, and spend time with the partner of your choice only in the privacy of your own home.

Honest. That’s what it says. In this story, Grayson and Jesse are both angling to be a part of the national rugby team for New Zealand, but when a picture of them kissing is set to be published in a national paper, their entire strategy for dealing with it is to deny, deny, deny. What kind of message is this sending? I understand that homosexuality is still a taboo in some parts of the world, both public and privately, but that doesn’t mean that the author couldn’t have tried to come up with some sort of resolution that doesn’t completely subvert what they are.

Even if the message of the story hadn’t completely turned me off, the lack of distinct characterization and boring – and far too short (one paragraph from penetration to orgasm!) – sex makes this a very disappointing read. Even at its low price, don’t waste your money. I certainly won’t be bothering with this author again.

Readability	5/10 – Run-on sentences and some interesting typos make this less than ideal
Hero #1	2/10 – Pretty much interchangeable with his partner
Hero #2	2/10 – See note above
Entertainment value	1/10 – The message this story sends completely ruined any entertainment I got from this.
World building	4/10 – She built a rugby world in New Zealand, but I can’t say that I liked it.
TOTAL:	14/25

Tied and True by Marie Harte

TITLE: Tied and True
AUTHOR: Marie Harte
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 23k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: $4.99

Lindsay Riordan is appalled to overhear sexy salesman Jared Hunt brag about getting her into bed. When she sets out to find whatever proof he claims to have, she is surprised with the opportunity to get more than some answers. And all it takes is tying him to the bed…

This short erotic romance is billed as BDSM, but that’s true in only the loosest sense. Well, the B sense, at least. Hero and Heroine are both tied to the bed and then lavished with attention, but that’s as far as the kink in this story goes. But guess what? This story doesn’t need any more. It’s hot enough without it, and that’s due primarily to having two charismatic leads and a reading style that sucks you in without being heavy-handed.

Heroine Lindsay borders on being one of those women you want to hate, which is exactly the stereotype she’s fighting within the story. She’s blonde, beautiful, and smart enough to almost be annoying. If she didn’t rebel against her image, I think I would’ve. Jared’s pretty much the same, except he’s a guy. These two are so perfect, in fact, that there’s nobody else for them except for each other. It’s a good thing the author’s voice is solid enough to sell this combo. Under less competent hands and I’d be gagging – and not in a good way – before the end of the first sex scene.

My only quibble really lies with the subplot that gets introduced. While it adds a necessary dimension to the story to lift it away from straight porn, it’s not as smart as its leads and a couple of so-called facts detract from the story. Someone as smart and anal as Lindsay doesn’t know how much money is in her savings account? I don’t think so. Still, for what it was, it worked well enough to separate this from other short erotic romances.

Don’t buy this story hoping for a BDSM read. Buy this story because you’re looking for a sexy short that’s competently written. You won’t be disappointed.

Readability	8/10 – Easy to read and engaging with few editing issues
Hero	8/10 – Sexy, intelligent, and believable
Heroine	8/10 – Likable even if she’s close to perfect
Entertainment value	8/10 – Hot sex and a subplot that actually works
World building	8/10 – The only part of this that faltered for me was the corporate world she tried to build with Tron Corp
TOTAL:	40/50