A Lady in Waiting by Samantha Kane

TITLE: A Lady in Waiting
AUTHOR: Samantha Kane
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 22k)
GENRE: Historical erotic romance
COST: $4.45

Much to her chagrin, Sylvie, the Dowager Marchioness of Bartlebyrne, has developed feelings – both lustful and loving – for the new vicar, a would-be reformed rake named Edmund James. Perhaps it wouldn’t be quite so bad if he wasn’t thirteen years her junior, or if she hadn’t succumbed to a single night tryst with her young coachman in an attempt to assuage the lust building inside her, except she is and she did, so Sylvie must find a way to live with her desires in secret. Now if only Edmund would heed her warnings and not confuse her with his own lust for her…

In spite of numerous recommendations, I must confess that I’ve never bought a Samantha Kane book before. I’m not sure why. Wait. That’s not entirely true. I’m obsessive. She first started getting recommended to me just before the third ménage book came out. I just can’t start a series in the middle 99% of the time, even if they are brand new characters, so I just never got around to going back and getting the first book. After reading this short novella, I think I might understand why she’s so popular.

Edmund is a man who’s spent his past as an unabashed hedonist. There’s a freedom in his sexual expression that’s very refreshing, and on top of that, he’s alpha and sexy as hell. Though I never really cared for Sylvie, I liked him enough to totally fall into the sex scenes – as numerous as they might be – and want an Edmund for my very own before their first day of trysts were through. I even put up with his over-the-top dialogue, though that started getting a tad much by the time the climax came rolling around. But the thought of a not-really-reformed vicar wanting to dirty the older yet innocent widow? Oh, my. More, please. And then a little more after that.

My issues with Sylvie spring mostly from her general weepy nature. She’s very conflicted about her desires and feelings for a younger man, and while it’s probably appropriate for the time and setting, that type of heroine bores me. She was sexually aggressive when the moment came for it, but it always felt like she was on the border of breaking down into tears, which made it more difficult for me to engage with her personally.

But I mentioned the hot, right? Because it is. Even the epilogue is hot, if not the hottest scene in the whole story. I might have thought the conflict needed to carry this short novella through to its ending a little contrived, but in light of the fact that it’s an erotic romance that is actually erotic for me, I’m willing to overlook that. Because ultimately, I cared enough about Edmund to want him to have his happy ending, and isn’t that what falling for romance heroes is all about?

Readability	8/10 – Except for some of the dialogue that gets a tad over the top by the end, this is very compulsive reading.
Hero	8/10 – Want one. Now. Though it would be nice if his language wasn’t quite as flowery as it gets in the end.
Heroine	6/10 – A little too weepy for my tastes, though at least she ends up owning her sexuality
Entertainment value	8/10 – Hotter than anything I’ve read in the past month, it only gets held back because of my annoyance with the heroine.
World building	8/10 – Rich enough for its purposes, though if the story were longer, I would have needed more.
TOTAL:	38/50

Temptation City by Lyric James

TITLE: Temptation City
AUTHOR: Lyric James
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 17k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: $2.50

In a last ditch attempt to discover how local mobster Joey Kinesta is laundering his money, Jalen Spencer is about to go undercover as a stripper at Temptation City. He doesn’t want to do it, but that’s as much about how he wants to believe owner Ashia Forrester is innocent as it is his reluctance to strip down to his g-string in front of a room of strange women. That’s the job, though. Just like getting her to trust him is. Too bad everything between them is based on a lie…

Okay, I’ll admit it. My number one reason for buying this book was the cover. I don’t normally fall prey to gorgeous artwork – and I’ve definitely seen some stunning covers that I had no desire to buy – but I saw this, and I saw that man, and I saw that it was an author I actually enjoyed in the past, and my credit card was out faster than you can say, “More, please.” I even looked past the whole stripper thing, even though it’s been done a million times. The excerpt was competent enough, so why not take the plunge?

Ah, famous last words.

It doesn’t start out badly at all. The prose is fairly simplistic, but it’s clean and easy to read. There’s reasonable UST in the beginning, too. Jalen’s audition is pretty hot. But it never really grows from there. The undercover plot to find the money laundering is never fleshed out well enough for me to invest in, other than for Jalen to bemoan what he’s going to do about lying to Ashia. He’s very hot and cold when it comes to her, and when she gets frustrated and angry at his behavior, so did I.

I lost sympathy for her when I discovered she’s an idiot. See, she walks in on Jalen in her office, after hours, and he’s sitting at her desk, looking at her computer. Personal records. Business records. One of her employees – a stripper she has only recently hired – is going through the boss’s files. What does she do? She never calls him on it. There’s a brief attempt at interrogation, but as soon as he apologizes for his most recent hot/cold act, she seems to completely forget what she walked in on, and Jalen is never held accountable for it. So when she finally discovers the truth and gets all hurt about being deceived? I feel zero sympathy for her. She deserved the lies by that point.

I’m not going to touch on Ashia’s propensity for tears in spite of the fact that she's supposed to be this so put together businesswoman. Or the fact that Jalen’s orgasms seem to literally start in his soul. Or the fact that the entire chapter where Ashia gets her big confrontation to discover the truth and discovers her brother is turning state evidence against his best friend is less than a thousand words long.

At least the cover is pretty.

Readability	7/10 – Mostly clean prose, but fairly unsophisticated
Hero	6/10 – Hot, but characterization is too shallow for more
Heroine	4/10 – Any woman who doesn’t immediately fire an employee for breaking into her personal computer deserves to be fooled.
Entertainment value	4/10 – The UST in the beginning wasn’t enough to carry a dumb heroine or shallow storytelling
World building	6/10 – Details are too scanty to provide any real sense of danger or place
TOTAL:	27/50

Some Gave All by various authors

TITLE: Some Gave All
AUTHOR: Jefferson Dane, Aline de Chevigny, Wayne Greenough, J.M. Snyder
PUBLISHER: Aspen Mountain Press
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 51k)
GENRE: Military drama
COST: $4.99

Four tales of varying genres, all celebrating those who serve in the armed forces.

When I first saw the blurbs for this anthology, it was the description of “Memorial Meeting,” by Aline de Chevigny, that prompted me to buy this. This is the story of the grandson and granddaughter of a nurse and soldier from WWI who corresponded but were never able to hook up after the war. The grandchildren are meeting in their elders’ stead, and it was supposed to be love at first sight. Well, in all fairness to the blurb, it was. Unfortunately, it was an absolute mess when it came to reading. The editing on this is some of the worst I’ve seen, with punctuation so poor that it literally changes the meaning of some sentences. Seriously. “He loved her child,” means one thing, while “He loved her, child,” means something else entirely. The entire story is riddled with these kinds of mistakes. When you can’t even convey what you mean, how am I supposed to be able to immerse myself into your story? It doesn’t help that the characterization is flat and unbelievable, either. The weakest story of the four.

“Flyover,” by Jefferson Dane, is a paranormal drama about a soldier rescued from the Afghanistan mountains, who has been traumatized by both the slaughter of his unit and the terror they witnessed on a nightly basis. It is moody and chilling, and proof that strong authors can rise above sloppy editing, because this suffers from none of the mistakes of its predecessor. The slowly built tension in this helps to make the paranormal aspects painted over an all-too-realistic and grim setting believable. Characterization is careful and delicate; I believed completely in all three of the principles in this, even if the psychiatrist is more of a means of ferreting out the story than anything else. By far, the strongest story of the bunch.

Wayne Greenough's “Thanet Blake's Memorial Day” is a little harder to pin down. I’m going to call it a paranormal detective story, but saying that, I had the distinct impression throughout that I was reading a character I was supposed to recognize. It wasn’t until I was done with the anthology and I checked the author’s website that I saw, yes, Thanet Blake has another story as well. With that in mind, I think this story is best served to those who are familiar with the author’s world. It tells the story of Thanet Blake taking his mother to various graveyards on Memorial Day, with new characters introduced every other page. There are so many that they all blurred for me; I had no distinction on any of them except for Thanet and then the ghost he gets coerced into helping. As a standalone story, it just doesn’t work. There’s too much going on in too small a space for any of it to make any kind of impact.

The final story in the anthology is the gay romance, “For the Boys,” by J.M. Snyder. Carl Prosser is stationed in Korea when he meets USO boy Tommy. Love ensues. Some light sex. And it’s sweet. As prolific as Snyder is, I have to admit this is the first time I’ve ever read her. I think I see what the appeal is. The prose is very romantic, and the situation more so. It’s competently written with likable characters, and if it’s not very challenging to read, it still managed to make me smile more than once. Probably the most feel good story of the anthology.

Readability	6/10 – The first and third stories drag this down.
Plot	7/10 – All but Greenough’s story worked for me.
Characterization	6/10 – Dane has the strongest entry, while Greenough bites off more than he can chew and falls flat.
Entertainment value	6/10 – Dane and Snyder are the only two I’d bother with again.
World building	6/10 – Again, Dane and Snyder are the pros here.
TOTAL:	31/50

I Bid One American by Amy Corwin

TITLE: I Bid One American
AUTHOR: Amy Corwin
PUBLISHER: Wild Rose Press
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 90k)
GENRE: Historical romance
COST: $6.00

Charlotte Haywood is outspoken and opinionated about women’s equality, which wouldn’t be a problem if she wasn’t an American heiress living with English relatives in 1818 London. Her behavior and lack of proper social status makes her undesirable as a ward, until her most recent guardians gamble her away in a poker game. Now she’s stuck in the Archer home, and being put face to face with the most notorious misogynist on the social scene, Mr. Archer’s nephew. Nathaniel, the Duke of Peckham, doesn’t want to be corralled into marriage to a simpering, mindless twit, but Miss Haywood is unlike any other woman he’s ever met. Unfortunately, women he spends time with have a tendency to come up murdered, and now Bow Street is looking at Nathaniel as a killer…

I love being surprised by a story. The blurb on this was fairly bland, and the excerpt freakishly short (as almost all Wild Rose excerpts are, I think I’d buy more if they were longer), but something poked me into buying this one anyway. I still wasn’t too sure what to expect after the prologue that didn’t really engage me, but it didn’t take too long for me to start rolling with this charming, madcap of a romance, or to fall for both of its lead characters.

It’s clear from their first meeting how perfect Nathaniel and Charlotte are for each other, and the fact that I still tumble along for this lighthearted romp for the duration of the book is testimony to the author’s skill. Both characters are flawed but charming, engaging me no matter who they are in a scene with. There’s a sense of slowly being overwhelmed for both of them – Charlotte by the social scene she wishes fervently she didn’t have to attend, Nathaniel by the women who refuse to leave him alone – and I found myself laughing and smiling throughout all of their exploits. Nathaniel in particular charmed my socks off. My favorite scene of the entire book is when his uncle suggests they “kidnap” Charlotte so that Nathaniel can rescue her. Nathaniel starts out appalled, but his slow descent into, “OK, but nobody hurts her!” – helped through copious amounts of alcohol – is the funniest I’ve read in a while. I don’t know how plausible it is to have so many debutantes hiding in his bedchambers or his carriages or chasing him down the street – all in the hopes of being compromised so that he’s forced to marry them – but it sure made for some entertaining reading.

The leads are supported by a sparkling secondary cast. Mr. Archer is gregarious and slightly goofy, while his wife is the calm rock these characters need. Even Charlotte’s caretaker when she’s kidnapped for real is fully fleshed. The villains of the piece might seem a little cartoonish, but that’s a minor quibble amongst such a wonderful array of personalities.

The only aspect of the story that didn’t really work for me was the mystery involved in who killed the debutantes. I have to admit, I figured that out as soon as the first body was found, so it left little surprise when everything was exposed in the end. Also, with the leads unable to solve it on their own – Charlotte because of the fact that she’s kidnapped through most of the serious investigation, and Nathaniel because, well, he’s Nathaniel – there’s really no choice but to bring in a third party to do the heavy lifting. Gaunt is a device more than a character, and I found his post-arrest solutions far too telling than showing. In the grand scheme of things, however, I didn’t mind so much because I still got to amble along with the leads who so utterly charmed me.

While historicals aren’t normally my bag, I’m going out and putting the author’s other book on my TBR pile. As engaging and entertaining as this was, she’s definitely one for me to look out for.

Readability	9/10 – Only the occasional problem, but charming dialogue and swift pacing keeps this utterly engaging
Hero	9/10 – His occasional tantrum doesn’t mar an irrepressible charm.
Heroine	8/10 – Not quite as amusing as the other characters seem to think, she’s still personable and entertaining.
Entertainment value	8/10 – Though the mystery part of the story doesn’t work as well for me, the joy at the rest of it more than compensates
World building	9/10 – Whether it’s believable or not to have so many debutantes willing to compromise themselves, I fell into this world with little problem
TOTAL:	43/50

Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Vic Winter

TITLE: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
AUTHOR: Vic Winter
PUBLISHER: Torquere Press
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 3.8k)
GENRE: Gay contemporary erotica
COST: $1.29

After a painful break-up, Jaiden’s best friend drags him away for the weekend, only to find he’s been brought to a B&B that caters to gay men. He has no intention of hooking up with anyone, but a surfer on the beach catches his attention and before he knows it, they’re back in his room…

I keep buying Vic Winter’s sips in hopes of finding something as charming as the first story I read, but this is the weakest of everything I’ve bought. It’s not riddled with any of the normal editing issues most Torquere stories are, but nothing about it was very memorable. The characters are very average, the situation a little mundane, and the sex more perfunctory than arousing. It’s a case of a weekend of sex mending a broken heart, which I can’t say I buy if the characters or the sex aren’t more exciting than what’s presented here.

I’m not giving up on this author. I know the talent is there. It’s just a matter of finding it.

Readability	7/10 – Easy prose without the usual Torquere problems, but nothing outstanding
Hero #1	5/10 – Likable, but ultimately forgettable
Hero #2	4/10 – Too short and doesn’t do much more than serve as a nice guy to help Jaiden forget
Entertainment value	5/10 – Diverting but nothing memorable
World building	6/10 – This is more about the men than it is about any sense of place.
TOTAL:	27/50

Exceptions to the Rule by Fae Sutherland & Marguerite Labbe

TITLE: Exceptions to the Rule
AUTHOR: Fae Sutherland & Marguerite Labbe
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 25k)
GENRE: Gay contemporary erotic romance
COST: $4.45

Nathan Daniels is an analyst for a health care organization. Jamie Nolan is a bartender with a bad boy appearance. Meeting in a strip club shouldn’t lead to more than a one-night stand, or even that. Except it does…

I have certain bugaboos in reading that almost always end up spoiling stories for me. Headhopping. Dialogue that doesn’t sound like real people talking. Lust substituting for love. Men sounding or feeling like women. Even women sounding or feeling like men, though honestly that rarely, rarely happens. This particular story fell prey to three of these, so the odds of me enjoying it were probably pretty bad from the midway point of chapter one where it all started happening.

The first instance happened while Jamie and Nathan were still at the bar, making arrangements to hook up after Jamie got off shift. Jamie called Nathan “honey.” In and of itself, it’s not that bad. Men do use endearments. Except Jamie then proceeds to use it in every other line of dialogue. And then Nathan starts in on his own endearments. His favorite seems to be dearling. Too, too sappy for my tastes, and felt far too feminine for a character that was deeply in the closet at work. Nathan’s entire character is about being stiff upper lip to Jamie’s free spirit. Turning into a Hallmark card at the drop of a hat? Unbelievable.

A lot of the dialogue feels stilted and unrealistic to me, though more so in the sex scenes than elsewhere. The exchange – “You feel like heaven.”, “What’s a sinner like you doing in heaven, dearling?”, “Stealing an angel, that’s what.” – is probably the worst. Maybe if I was invested more in the romance, it wouldn’t seem so eye-roll-worthy. But I wasn’t. Which leads to the second big problem in this.

Nathan and Jamie fall for each other that very first night. They’re talking love very, very quickly. This wouldn’t be a problem if we got to see what and why they love each other, but we don’t. We get told that there’s just something in the other man’s eyes. Nathan and Jamie both see something deeper, and apparently, that’s enough to declare everlasting love so they can spend the bulk of the story having lots and lots of sex. A reader doesn’t get to witness any of the supposed emotional growth or reasons for it. We just have to take the characters’ words for it. In a short story, it wouldn’t be quite as much of a crime, but the authors have 25k here. That’s more than enough time to give us more evidence than they saw it in each other’s eyes. There’s an attempt ¾’s of the way through the story to create conflict with one of Jamie’s exes, but it comes from so far out of left field, and Nathan reacts to it so hysterically, it completely misses the mark.

In the end, it feels like an excuse to write opposites attract sex scenes. The emotion doesn’t feel genuine because I have no reason to believe the hidden depths the characters are supposed to have. I need to see it to believe it, not told it’s there the moments before they hop into bed. Between that and overly sentimental men, there was too much here getting in my way of enjoying the story.

Readability	6/10 – The overuse of endearments and telling not showing made me take twice as long to finish
Hero #1	5/10 – Slightly more depth than his younger counterpart, though he falls prey to many of the attributes that annoy me.
Hero #2	3/10 – Unbelievable and annoying
Entertainment value	3/10 – All the endearments and sappy behavior had me rolling my eyes instead of falling for the characters
World building	5/10 – The author tells more about the setting than shows.
TOTAL:	22/50

The Younger Man by Lauren Hawkeye

TITLE: The Younger Man
AUTHOR: Lauren Hawkeye
PUBLISHER: Whispers Publishing
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 10k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotica
COST: $2.95

A recent break-up after a five-year relationship has a woman deciding to seek sexual release with her co-worker, a man nine years her junior.

I suppose I could expand that summary a little, but you know what? It’s a short story, and honestly, nothing else happens. The heroine – unnamed, and the story is told in 1^st person – picks up her co-worker dressed to kill, they go out, and then they have sex. All night. And that’s it. Seriously.

Not naming either character in this is most likely meant to portray the universality of the emotions involved. The woman is feeling unwanted and unattractive, and seeks to remedy that. The man is practically perfect, which is nice enough, but there’s never any more personality presented than the prowess he displays in bed and everyplace else they have sex. There’s brief mentions of him looking like a bad boy at the very start of the story, but that never pans out. He’s too sweet, through and through, and never developed into a character in his own right. It’s all meant to show how sex is a natural thing, desire is normal, and it’s possible to heal from bad break-ups with the right experiences.

The lack of setting detail also adds to the whole sense of everywhere/everywhen. I was never sure if this was in the US, the UK, or someplace else entirely. Without characters to sink into, I need setting, and this didn’t provide that, either.

The story itself isn’t bad. It’s just boring. It’s act after act of sex with little to nothing inspiring about the prose, and no way for me to connect emotionally with either principles as characters. Archetypes, maybe. But then, I’m not reading erotica to study archetypes. There. I said it. I wouldn’t have even bought this one if it had been billed as erotica. It’s not. It’s billed as erotic romance, so I fully expected it to have a little more romantic depth than it did.

Readability	7/10 – Technically competent, but mostly uninspired
Hero	5/10 – Sweet enough, but he’s a device more than a character
Heroine	6/10 – Very everywoman
Entertainment value	3/10 – The same over and over and over again makes for a very boring read.
World building	4/10 – I have no idea where this was set. Mentions of a pub and a few other terms made me initially think England, but it’s not consistent.
TOTAL:	25/50

Interstitial by Ann Somerville

TITLE: Interstitial
AUTHOR: Ann Somerville
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 24k)
GENRE: Gay futuristic sci-fi
COST: $3.50

Captain Sebastien van Hester is coming off a divorce from the man he still loves, so sleeping with his pilot probably isn’t the smartest thing he’s ever done, especially since Jason North has been nursing feelings for him for years. Now they have to spend three weeks together in space, and all Seb wants is to forget the one night-stand ever happened. Trouble is, they’re not the only ones in this romantic tangle. North had a friends with benefits relationship with Jatila Kan, their engineer, until he broke it off right before they left, not knowing she was in love with him. Now, all three are ready to tear into the others, hurt and angry and confused. But an enemy in space is ready to tear into them…

Reading Interstitial is like watching a tightly choreographed pilot for a new sci-fi series. Not one of those cheesy awful ones from the SciFi channel, but something Fox might take a chance with. And you know what? I’d totally watch that show if this was the script for it. This would have been more than enough to fascinate me and tune me in the following week.

Though the romantic entanglements thread through the entire story, they are not the driving force. This is not a romance. This is space opera, in the very best sense of the phrase. The main thrust of the story is our three characters battling the space monsters attacking their ship, as they fight to save the 600 lives on board in stasis. The action is taut and intricately articulated, and the terse prose serves it well by hooking the reader right into the middle of the action. The entire story is presented very cinematically, actually, with short, direct scenes and no extraneous verbiage to detract from the action. Even better, the characters act intelligently, as you would hope trained professionals in this situation would, with their pettiness and bad behavior coming through in comments alone.

Speaking of the characters, it’s a diverse bunch the author has created here. Seb is emotionally reserved and morose, Jati is sharp-witted and insightful, and North is the young man with rose-colored glasses. None are perfect. I like Jati and Seb best, if only because I find North a little too earnest for my tastes. The one thing I would wish for them is a longer story, though. There is a ton of history here, worlds of experiences, and I, as a reader, only get a brief taste of it. I’m not convinced this would have necessarily been a better book if it had been longer, since that would end up protracting the action and spoiling the effects. But I wouldn’t argue about more time spent with these characters at all.

One warning: be careful about paying attention to the time stamps in the first third of the story. It jumps back and forth rapidly, in different storylines before all three finally converge into one. With the scenes as short as they are, it’s easy to lose track, or get a sense of disjoin. Don’t let that deter you. As soon as the threat in space hits, everything coalesces into a smooth, exciting ride you won’t regret taking. Especially if you like a little romantic messiness with your sci-fi.

Readability	9/10 – Tightly paced, without a word wasted, the only drawback is the back and forth nature in the beginning that gets abandoned once the action takes place
Characterization	8/10 – Rich, interesting characters that deserve more than a short novella to fully explore them.
Plot	8/10 – The space monster isn’t hugely original, but the world is richly realized and even better, everything makes internal sense.
Entertainment value	8/10 – Taut and quick, it’s cinematically written and presented, which serves it extremely well.
World building	9/10 – Only the brevity of the story keeps this from being a perfect score, with too much rich detail to be completely satisfied.
TOTAL:	42/50

Perfect Timing by Barbara Elsborg

TITLE: Perfect Timing
AUTHOR: Barbara Elsborg
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 57k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: $5.95

Daisy Leaf decides to try something new in meeting men – a murder mystery weekend at a stately hotel north of London. There’s only problem. She’s misread the information. Instead of a sixties theme, it’s an over-sixties weekend. All her hippy attire does is catch the attention of the sexy hotel manager, Jake Weston. Of course, it doesn’t help that she’s tangled up in a sheep when they first meet…

I don’t buy a lot of romantic comedy books. Humor is so subjective. What’s funny to one person isn’t to another, and it often feels like an author is trying too hard when it comes to this particular genre. My yardstick is the excerpt. In the case of Perfect Timing, I chuckled – genuinely so – so often during reading the excerpt, I knew I had to buy it.

I wasn’t disappointed. The book is zingy and charming, with both hero and heroine having the quick wit to keep up with the other. This isn’t a case of just one of the leads being stuck into humorous situations, though that certainly happens. It’s an example of two characters with a sharp sense of timing and the ability to get zingers out without batting an eyelash. Daisy is the stronger of the two, and I suspect Jake comes off as well as he does because he thrives in her presence. They play amazingly well off each other, enough so that when it came time for some of the latter sex scenes, I just wanted these two to put their clothes back on so I could hang out with them in that regard. The humor isn’t just in their banter. Some of the description and actions is even funnier than their dialogue. I was especially tickled by what a life of its own Jake’s anatomy takes on, completely separate to any of his actions.

I don’t mean to imply that the sex scenes don’t work. They do. I don’t think they’re as hot as some others I’ve read, but they certainly hold their own in expanding characterization for these two. But in spite of the plethora of them, it’s not the glue that holds the story together. That honor belongs to Daisy and Jake. While their swiftness to get to the oh my god this is love didn’t ring completely true for me, I liked and enjoyed them so much, I was willing to look past that.

If the story has fault at all, it’s in the less than believable motivations that drive Jake and Daisy. The darker elements of Daisy’s past are easier to accept, though they still seem to stretch the realm of credibility in a world that feels frighteningly real. But Jake’s reasons for keeping Daisy a secret – while well explained – don’t sit as well. He clearly doesn’t like what he’s doing, so I never understood why he stuck it out, especially to the detriment of what he thought was love. Perhaps if there had been interactions with his father and brother earlier on in the story, I might have found it more credible.

All in all, however, this was extremely funny and engaging, with two charming leads and a delightful story. If you read the excerpt and chuckle, I think it’s a safe bet you’ll find the rest of the book just as entertaining.

Readability	9/10 – Zippy and often laugh out loud funny, the only time this bogs down is during some of the sex scenes
Hero	8/10 – I’m never sold on his motivations, but I’m certainly sold on him.
Heroine	9/10 – Charming and funny, though her motivations are only slightly stronger than the heroes
Entertainment value	8/10 – I liked these two characters so much, I would have liked to see more of them outside of sex scenes.
World building	8/10 – The hotel itself is nicely realized, but history and a sense of place outside of it falls behind.
TOTAL:	42/50

Poison by Joely Skye

TITLE: Poison
AUTHOR: Joely Skye
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 66k)
GENRE: Gay futuristic erotic romance
COST: $5.50

Alliance member Geln Marac has a mission – hang out on Rimania and gather information they can use to open trade routes between the low-tech planet and the Alliance. His attempts to stay on the periphery go out the window when he saves the life of a young man of the elite. In fact, everything seems to change completely after he meets Tobias Smator, including betrayal, temporary mindwipes, and Alliance spies going rogue. The last thing he should do is encourage Tobias’ crush on him, but Tobias just might be Geln’s last hope…

This isn’t a story for a quick, fluffy read. Densely plotted, it has a broad cast of characters in worlds different from present-day Earth that demands a reader pay attention. If you don’t, you’ll get lost. There is too much going on – and too little explained before the next twist comes – to simply skim. I’d likely call this more of a gay futuristic story than a romance, even. The romance between Tobias and Geln doesn’t come fully into play until well over halfway through the story, and when it does, it feels jarringly out of place. I suspect it’s because it takes so long to develop. While taking the time to set the plot in motion and keep the characters from just tumbling into bed is a good thing, in this case, it works against the story’s favor. It’s not that I wanted them to get involved sooner. I didn’t. But when they do come together, there are several chapters devoted to their new physical involvement that leaves the rest of the story stalled. They’re competently written; they just seem to spring up from nowhere and divert the focus.

This might be because I was more invested in the espionage aspect of the plot rather than the romantic one. As romantic heroes, I couldn’t fall for either of the two leads. Tobias is young and frightfully inexperienced, so much so that he comes across as a trifle dumb. He seems to end up on the wrong end of the bad guy’s attention too often, being knocked out more than once throughout the course of the story. It doesn’t help that so many of the other characters call him slow, either. Even Geln recognizes just how innocent and green Tobias is.

Geln, on the other hand, is a terrible spy. He’s quite histrionic in the first half of the story, and manipulative in the latter, especially when he takes advantage of Tobias’ crush for his own benefit. It’s difficult to find endearing qualities in him that would make me view him in a romantic light. I did like how gentle he was with Tobias, however. Though the romantic aspect of the story felt disconnected for me, his behavior toward Tobias during the intimate sections made me understand what Tobias could actually see in him.

As bumbling pawns in an extensive espionage scheme, both characters work. They try to take steps to fathom what exactly is going on around them – Tobias in regards to murders he wishes to solve, Geln in regards to why his AI is acting so oddly and what the other spy on Rimania is doing – but both men are buffeted by forces beyond their control. There’s a chaotic quality to the story’s pace that mirrors this, and all the way to the end, you’re left questioning just as much as Geln and Tobias. Even characters that you think you’ve figured out will surprise you. There are no easy answers, just as it’s not easy reading, but this is the story’s primary strength. Machiavellian twists keep you guessing through the very last chapter. Readers who thrive on that kind of thing will likely get the most of Tobias and Geln’s story.

Readability	8/10 – Dense plotting slows down what is normally smooth reading
Hero #1	6/10 – An idiot of a spy, his personality doesn’t really become clear until late in the story
Hero #2	6/10 – A little too young and a little too dumb for my tastes
Entertainment value	6/10 – I was more invested in the espionage than the romance
World building	7/10 – There are some interesting dynamics created in the otherworld, but not enough explanation to make it really coherent.
TOTAL:	33/50

Seduction's Bite by Madison Layle

TITLE: Seduction’s Bite
AUTHOR: Madison Layle
PUBLISHER: Cobblestone Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 34k)
GENRE: Paranormal erotic romance
COST: $4.45

Ever since her husband and child were murdered, Cheyenne Logan has been driven to hunt vampires, determined to eradicate them completely. Her actions don’t go unnoticed. A group called The Order wants to recruit her to help them, mostly because she doesn’t discriminate between rogue vampires and those who don’t kill to survive. Vampire Kieran Duboix is assigned to seek her out, but danger surrounds both of them when one of the most dangerous vampires of them all target them…

Smart heroines aren’t as common as I would like. There’s nothing more annoying than otherwise intelligent women doing stupid things for the simple purpose of advancing the plot. One of the strongest things about this particular story is that Cheyenne doesn’t fall into this trap. For the most part, she is capable and effective at what she does, and if she makes a really dumb mistake later on in the story, I’m willing to forgive it because she’s emotionally wrought and it works with her personality. The author does such a good job with her characterization that the entire last three chapters are utterly unbelievable for me. I’m not going to spoil anyone, but suffice it to say, it didn’t work for me. My score would have been much higher if it had ended differently.

Kieran is charming and fun, and the sections where he and Cheyenne are bantering are the strongest in entire story. There’s a zippy rhythm when they get going, a tempo that works well with the action sequences. It’s when things get maudlin or emotionally heavy that it’s not quite as believable.

It also loses me slightly when the author starts headhopping. It’s smoother than I’ve seen in other stories, but still noticeable. What is also noticeable is the absence of explanation on the variances on traditional vampire mythology. These vampires breathe and have heartbeats, in spite of everybody’s assertions that they’re dead. I have no idea why. There are other differences, but those don’t get repeated nearly as often as these two. If the heroine didn’t make such a big deal about vampires being dead, I probably would have let it go. But she does, so I couldn’t.

In the end, this was a pleasant diversion, though I’m likely to remember it because of the entirely incongruous ending more than anything else.

Readability	7/10 – Headhopping holds back otherwise competent prose, with spatterings of fun dialogue
Hero	7/10 – Charming and likable
Heroine	7/10 – Capable and smart most of the time
Entertainment value	7/10 – Enjoyable and mostly diverting, even if I didn’t buy the ending for a second.
World building	7/10 – Abandoning traditional vampire mythology means a reader needs explanation as to why, which didn’t really happen
TOTAL:	35/50

Teaching Molly by Desiree Holt

TITLE: Teaching Molly
AUTHOR: Desiree Holt
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 19k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: $4.45

A recent divorce, an ex-husband who convinced her she was sexually inadequate, and the ever-going gossip mill conspire against forty-five year old Molly Gerard. When she meets the attractive – and younger – Nick Trajan, she’s at a loss as to why he’s acting so interested in her. After the Fourth of July party where they meet, she agrees to go back to his place for a drink. But the doors that open to her from that point on aren’t just his. They’re the doors to her most secret desires to be a submissive…

I suspect I’m the wrong audience to give this story a fair review. I’m younger than Molly by a number of years, and I’m not as embittered as she very obviously is. My problems with the prose could likely be ignored if I was eager for the wish fulfillment fantasy the story provides. But I’m not, and the characterization isn’t nearly strong enough to convince me to buy into it anyway.

My problems began with the heroine’s obsession with how wet she gets, or rather, how wet she didn’t get when she was married. “Dry as the Sahara” is the analogy drawn, but then, when she meets the hero, the pendulum swings back in the opposite direction. All of a sudden, too much is about how aroused he makes her. …cream flooded her panties and She felt juices gather inside her pussy and Molly was so wet between her legs now she was sure the liquid had leaked out onto the couch. It goes on. And on. And on. Interspersed with all of it is her obsession with her age, and the ten-year difference between her and the hero, and I just never was able to connect with her, either on a sexual level or an emotional one. Her sexual responses were too over the top and her emotional attitude consisted of self-doubt and whining. I couldn’t relate to her in the slightest.

Added in to this were continuity issues, like the brandy snifter Nick handed her when she arrived at his home, and then the brandy snifter he handed to her again, three paragraphs later. All of this occurred in the very first chapter, a full fourth of the story. With so many hang-ups in the prose itself, I never had the chance to sink into the fantasy it presented.

Because it is a fantasy. Nick’s presented as practically perfect, there to answer all of Molly’s fears and satisfy all her desires. He’s a Dom, and it just so happens that Molly has been harboring submissive tendencies for years. She jumps into his offer with both feet and never looks back. From that point on, the story is more a primer for entering a BDSM lifestyle than it is a tale of giving a divorced woman a second chance. In that light, it almost works. Almost. Because it stops just as it’s starting to get to the meat of the story, lumping all the emotional development into the final chapter.

The dedication probably has it right. To all the Mollys who need to know that there is life after divorce and it can be truly delicious. Because everybody needs fantasies. Even if I didn't buy into this one.

Readability	6/10 – Continuity errors and too much attention to the heroine’s readiness kept me from engaging until nearly the end of the story.
Hero	4/10 – More fantasy than real, there’s no depth to explain his predilections
Heroine	4/10 – Whiny and flat
Entertainment value	4/10 – Without being able to get any kind of depth to the hero, this ends up being wish fulfillment held back by a whiny heroine and editorial issues.
World building	6/10 – The club he takes her to is nice, but the rest of it lacks any sense of place.
TOTAL:	24/50

Craving Candy by N.J. Walters

TITLE: Craving Candy
AUTHOR: N.J. Walters
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 57k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: $5.95

Candy Logan’s latest project is the one that could make her career – a cookbook filled with gorgeous art, anecdotes, and recipes from local hotspot, Coffee Breaks. She’s only got one problem. Owner Lucas Squires refuses to even return her phone calls regarding publicity. Determined to corner him once and for all, she attends a party at his new opening, where she meets the most charismatic, sexual man she has ever encountered. A wild tryst in a storage room makes her head spin, but it goes even more insane when she learns that the man who is driving her crazy is the one she’s been hounding for publicity. For his part, Lucas doesn’t know what to do with this woman who makes him want to throw caution to the wind, but if all it takes is a few publicity stunts to get her to go out with him, he’s more than happy to oblige…

The very first e-book I ever bought was Erin’s Fancy by N.J. Walters. To this day, I think it’s one of the hottest e-books I’ve ever read. I went out and bought the first in the series, which I also enjoyed, then got the third when it came out. That one disappointed. I’m pretty sure that’s the biggest reason it took me so long to get around to reading this fourth installment in her Awakening Desires series.

The opening chapter gave me chills. It starts out with a gripping scene of a young Lucas witnessing his father beating his mother and taking matters into his own hands, and segues into a powerful moment showing what kind of man Lucas has actually evolved into. It was darker than this series has been before – or at least how I remember it – and I got swept into the second chapter with breathless expectation. I was already half in love with Lucas, and was eager to see where he would go.

The promise of that first chapter never paid off. We meet Candy, who seems nice enough at first, and then the story shifts into one of those strangers see each other across a crowded room and five minutes later are having sex because they want each other so bad stories. I was still with the author at this point, because I thought maybe she’d subvert such an obvious set-up into something a little different. Except…no. She didn’t. In fact, the moment Candy found out she’d just hid out in the storage room with Lucas, she went illogical. She gets furious with him and storms off. When she gets home, she’s livid and throws a temper tantrum, and even goes so far as calls Lucas her “nemesis.” Huh? She’s his publicist. He couldn’t very well be responsible for hiding his identity from her when a) she only gave him her first name, b) she’d been going by Candace and not Candy so there was no reason for him to make the connection, and c) she specifically chose not to ask his name because she wanted it to be a one-time thing. Her animosity and anger made no sense. Except to provide conflict. This happens over and over in the book, with Candy making hasty, illogical leaps of logic that only serve to make her more and more unlikable. Other than sex, I never saw what Lucas saw in her.

Despite the promise of the first chapter, the rest of the story never deviates from its rather predictable progression. There’s a subplot about Candy’s family that feels like either filler or fodder for the next book, and there’s an attempt at more conflict when she gets a job offer in New York City. The sex is more than hot, but in the end, that’s not enough to compensate for an unpleasant heroine and an unsurprising plot.

Readability	8/10 – Even when I have issues with one of the leads, it’s difficult to stop reading.
Hero	7/10 – A glorious introduction that is never quite fully realized.
Heroine	4/10 – Illogical and too quick to judge to make her likable.
Entertainment value	6/10 – Hot sex scenes can only go so far when I don’t like one of the two leads
World building	7/10 – Adequate, though nothing earth-shattering.
TOTAL:	32/50