Favorite Heroes of 2009

I've decided that the reason my shortlist of favorite heroes is always my longest is because I read m/m, too, which offer twice as many men to choose from. Yep. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

4th Runner Up
Henry in Henry and Jim by JM Snyder

Henry is the emotional core of this wonderful short story. It's his pain that devastates the reader, and his love that permeates every word. Without believing in him, the ending wouldn't have hit me nearly as hard as it did, and made this a story to remember.

3rd Runner Up
Sutton Albright in Whistling in the Dark by Tamara Allen

While both young men in this novel are richly developed, Sutton was the one who got to me hardest. His innocence and subsequent growth mirror the tenor of the period, and it's his need and later strength that truly wrapped me up in knots. He brought out every protective instinct I possess.

2nd Runner Up
Jim Kinney in A Hearing Heart by Bonnie Dee

Another heartwrencher. Dee's deaf hero is testimony that beta characters do not have to be weak, that having a disability doesn't necessarily mean melodrama, that sometimes words aren't necessary to convey what someone truly feels. Of all her solo work, Jim stands heads and shoulders above the rest.

1st Runner Up
Brian Lapahie in Butterfly Unpinned by Bonnie Dee & Laura Bacchi

I predicted in my review that Brian would make it to this list, and sure enough, there he is. Brian is strong, gorgeous, and an all around decent guy. The kind who sees something wrong and wants to fix it. He was the true heart of the book for me, because for as damaged as Butterfly is, his plight was the one that I invested in.

And my favorite hero of 2009 is...
The Commander in The Commander's Desire by Jennette Green

I have no idea how many people read this book. I'll bet not many. It's not erotic, it's not something I see around a lot, and it's het in an e-market where it's obvious to anyone paying attention that the vast majority of books that sell well are either alternative lifestyle, come from Ellora's Cave, or offer shapeshifters. But I loved this book when I read it in e-format, enough that I turned around and bought a print copy for my keeper shelf, enough that it was one of my favorite novels of the year. The primary reason for that is the Commander, who hits one of my reading kinks so hard, he knocked it into 2010. He's an alpha hero who takes no prisoners, who has been viciously scarred both physically and mentally, and yet retains an unparalleled nobility and gentleness. Yes, he's a classic beast archetype. No, I really don't care. I absolutely adore him.

Favorite Novels of 2009

To finish out my lists this week, I chose my five favorite novel length reads that I reviewed for this blog. There's an oddity to be found in this group this year. Three of the five titles are in a genre that I really don't buy a lot of, and in fact, would say it's a genre I don't really like. But a lot of my favorites this year are breaking my usual rules. Novels were no different.

4th Runner Up
The Commander's Desire by Jennette Green

Beauty and the Beast meets Medieval Times. I lost time in a family excursion because I got so sucked into this story of a battle-scarred Commander and the woman who's been promised as his bride. The setting was more original than most historicals, the hero wonderful, and the heroine, once she got over crying so much about her predicament, sympathetic.

3rd Runner Up
A Hearing Heart by Bonnie Dee

Look at that. Another historical. Wanna guess what the genre that took me by surprise this year was? Where my love for the previous book was about the alpha male, a big part of my affection for this gentle, tender romance is for its beta hero. Jim's deafness is never glamorized or used for melodramatic effect. It simply adds another layer to an already complex character, and provides direction for the sweet storyline. My favorite of all this author's work.

2nd Runner Up
Hold the Dark by Frank Tuttle

Considering Frank Tuttle was my favorite author last year, it shouldn't be a surprise that the latest Markhat book made my list. He went short novel length for this one, which gave him the luxury of introducing aspects of his world he didn't have the chance before. His rich, immersive writing puts him at a level above the vast majority of writers I've found via e-publishing, and his creation a must read for anyone who enjoys solid fantasy writing.

1st Runner Up
Scythe by MK Mancos

The best romances are the well-rounded ones, where I love the two protagonists (regardless of gender) equally, where I'm entertained both because of humor and emotion, where I'm as drawn into action as I am the quieter moments. This satisfies all of those. It was a fast-paced, original escapade that had me smiling throughout the whole thing, and when it was over, wishing for more. A lot more. I'd read this author under a different pseudonym before, and while I'd enjoyed her, this moved her to my list of authors to trust. Believe me. That's not a long list.

And my favorite novel of 2009 is...
Whistling in the Dark by Tamara Allen

The final historical of the bunch, and one of the highest all-around scoring stories I've reviewed here. The author created a world in this novel that stole me away, yanking me out of the present and depositing me lovingly in her carefully constructed, early 20th century New York. Her characters were warm and multi-faceted, the romance and friendship between them textured and - most importantly - real. There isn't a weak characterization in the bunch, and when it's combined with talented writing, skill that sucks you in and perfectly matches the mood of the moment, it's impossible not to consider this an absolutely outstanding read.

A Hearing Heart by Bonnie Dee

TITLE: A Hearing Heart
AUTHOR: Bonnie Dee
PUBLISHER: Liquid Silver Books
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 94k)
GENRE: Historical romance
COST: $6.10

Catherine Johnson is the new schoolteacher in the small town of Broughton, Nebraska. When she witnesses a man getting hauled from the saloon and tied to a horse to be dragged through the streets, she races forward to stop them, succeeding in slowing them down long enough to get other locals involved. Jim Kinney is deaf-mute, communicating in only the most rudimentary ways. Most of the town thinks he’s stupid, too, but Catherine sees intelligence in him, and takes it upon herself to try and teach him to read and sign after saving him from the attack. Their friendship quickly escalates, their attraction undeniable, but their difference in social status makes Catherine wonder if they could have any kind of future…

NOTE: This is a review originally written for The Electric Elephant.

When it comes to romance, beta heroes are not the norm. The genre has thrived on alpha males swooping in to protect the heroine, or in more recent years, to stand at the heroine’s side while they both fight off some unknown evil. Men who take back row positions in life, who get negated for some kind of supposed weakness or difference, who hate confrontation, aren’t usually seen as the type that can make women swoon, but when they are written as well as they are in this book, the label of what kind of hero he is becomes inconsequential.

Jim Kinney works two jobs, full time at the livery during the day, sweeping floors at the saloon in the evening. By his own admission, he does everything he can to stay physically fit and strong because that’s his only resource. He can’t communicate well, and he lives a life of solitude because nearly everybody in town looks right past him. Before Catherine comes along, nobody has really tried to get to know Jim. He’s lonely, but he’s determined to make things better for himself. He’s been saving his money for a long time, with hopes of presenting an offer to Rasmussen, the livery owner, of partnership in the business. Then, the incident happens with the new men in town, employees of Grant Karak, a wealthy Easterner who has been buying everything up in Broughton. With it, Catherine gets introduced into Jim’s life and nothing is the same again.

Catherine is an interesting mix of teacher, open thinker, and lonely woman. Raised in an upper class culture, she’s come to Broughton to escape her grief – she’s mourning the death of her fiancé three years previous – and is trying to do some good at the same time. She and Jim aren’t even really on each other’s radar until the inciting incident of the book. Just like the other townspeople, she’s accepted that he’s simple-minded without pursuing the truth. The reality when they finally came together was moving, two lonely souls recognizing a need in the other. Jim, in particular, wrenches at the heartstrings as he tries to be a man he thinks worthy of Catherine without putting himself in any more danger than he might already be.

This isn’t to say that either character is perfect. Catherine is caught in the web of her upbringing. For a long time, she denies her attraction and feelings for Jim because he just is not a suitable match for her. Jim, on the other hand, is stubborn and prone to act impulsively when stressed. These flaws enrich their characterizations, and make it even easier to fall for them. Jim, in particular, got to me. He’s sweet without being weak, strong without being overbearing, intelligent without being capable of making mistakes. He is by far my favorite Bonnie Dee hero, just as this is likely my favorite of her works. I sometimes find it difficult to engage with her voice, but not so here. This is gentle without lacking drive, emotion-filled without drifting into melodrama.

Its one weakness rests in its ending. While it’s to be expected for there to be an HEA, the last three chapters feel rushed and tacked on. She packs months worth of resolution into those three chapters, making time jumps to get to the ending she clearly has in mind for them. They lack the same flow as the rest of the story, sacrificing pace for plot expediency, and dilute the romance’s lasting effects. This might have been the sweetest romance I’d read all year but for those last three chapters. As it is, though, it still remains an excellent example of a beta hero’s charms, as well as a heartbreaking romance.

Readability	9/10 – Until the ending that feels rushed through and tacked on, gentle and thoroughly engaging
Hero	9/10 – Heartbreaking, strong, intelligent, and adorable
Heroine	8/10 – Flawed and realistic without losing her appeal
Entertainment value	9/10 – I loved this so very much…all the way until the last few chapters that rushed through everything and felt so out of tone with the rest of the book
World building	9/10 – Some really great historical details to this
TOTAL:	44/50

A Gypsy's Vow by Bonnie Dee

TITLE: A Gypsy’s Vow
AUTHOR: Bonnie Dee
PUBLISHER: Liquid Silver Books
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 21k)
GENRE: Historical romance
COST: $4.25

As an innkeeper’s daughter, Bess Andrews should be flattered that a man of title and land would be interested in marrying her, but she’s not. She has dreams of more than her small English town, and would rather take care of herself than have someone marry her for her money. Then she meets a gypsy currently encamped in town. Alexi Comescu is charming, gorgeous, and attentive, and offers an escape she doesn’t dare accept…

This sweet novella is a mild diversion from some of the steamier offerings out there, though the two specific sex scenes are most definitely passionate. It’s told from the heroine’s perspective, a smart, capable young woman more practical than anything else. She manages her father’s inn, since he spends much of his time drunk, but dreams in her most secret place of escaping the boundaries of Framingham, a small town in Dorset, England. She notices a gorgeous gypsy in the market, and he dares to approach her, offering to carry her basket as she walks home. It’s a charming, simple opening, that does more to build sympathy for Bess than much of anything else.

Alexi comes across as more urbane than Bess, certainly very intuitive and appreciative without ever crossing gentlemanly borders. To be honest, he felt too good to be true much of the time, and though the details of his gypsy life are there, I didn’t necessarily believe him as a gypsy. I even know the point where it broke credibility for me. He hasn’t been formally educated, learning to read from “a friend,” and a third of the way through the story, tells her, “A man doesn’t need a Harvard education to study the classics.” The statement itself is certainly true, but I just can’t see an itinerant gypsy in 1902 England referencing an American college as a guideline standard, in such an off-handed, casual manner. Oxford or Cambridge, yes. Even any number of European universities. But an American one? Not believable for me, and unfortunately the straw that destroyed my suspension of disbelief for him as a real character. I liked him well enough, but without really believing him a man of his time and people, never was able to fully invest in the fairytale aspect of the romance.

The main crux of the conflict rests in Bess being torn for her desire to escape and the practicality of accepting a marriage proposal she doesn’t want. Lord Wallace plays a little flat until he’s thrust into the forefront, and then he fulfills the villainous role the story necessitates adequately if not originally. I thought the resolution of that part of the novella a tad disappointing in its ease, but the fact that it then allows Bess to demonstrate some real strength of character helps to mitigate that considerably. The ending is expected, but as satisfying as I can hope for since I don’t really believe in Alexi. It’s powered by my respect for Bess, and therein lies the story’s real strength for me.

Readability	8/10 – A swift if not original read, with some dialogue I didn’t believe
Hero	6/10 – Though I liked him, I never really believed he was a gypsy
Heroine	7/10 – Capable without being over the top
Entertainment value	6/10 – Sweet, but difficult to suspend disbelief long enough to invest in the long-term possibilities of the romance
World building	7/10 – For the most part, I bought the setting, though I think the short format holds it back from being as rich as it could have been
TOTAL:	34/50

Butterfly Unpinned by Bonnie Dee & Laura Bacchi

TITLE: Butterfly Unpinned
AUTHOR: Bonnie Dee & Laura Bacchi
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 86k)
GENRE: Contemporary BDSM erotic romance
COST: $5.50

When he accepts a job to create four unusual columns for a wealthy photographer, woodworker Bryan Lapahie is stunned to find four submissive women voluntarily enslaved in the house. The fragile Butterfly captivates him, as does the kink potential, but the extent they carry the lifestyle leaves him cold. His presence disrupts Butterfly’s delicate equilibrium, and for the first time in the five years since she entered the contract with her Master, she questions what she really wants. Escape might be possible, but it requires Bryan laying everything on the line for Butterfly. His protective instincts are screaming at him to save her, but there’s no way to be sure he can until it’s too late to stop…

NOTE: This is a review originally written for Uniquely Pleasurable.

Heroines don’t come any more damaged than Butterfly, the submissive, exceedingly fragile woman in Butterfly Unpinned. The story begins in her perspective, with a glimpse into her lifestyle as a consensual slave in a Dominant’s household. She is fearful of punishment for a disobedience infraction, as well as losing her status within the household. The latter isn’t necessarily for this mistake, but rather, because of a new slave in the house, a bold woman named Jasmine, who preys on Butterfly’s insecurities as well as Master ever did. There is no sugarcoating here. Though the prose is lovely and evocative, it doesn’t refrain from illustrating the extremes of her lifestyle or the depths of her emotions. She lacks true identity, voluntarily taking on the mantle of this submissive in its place because her previous life overwhelmed her. Then, in the aftermath of this particular disclosure about her mindset, we’re introduced to the outsider, the hero who provides a fresh outlook on the entire arrangement, and there, the story truly begins.

Bryan Lapahie is a tall, striking, talented guy, who’s left the Navajo reservation behind in Arizona for the busier climes of San Diego. Though he’s surprised by what he discovers in the mansion when he takes the job, he takes it all in stride, learning as much as he can without passing judgment. He has his own dominant streak, but it’s not nearly as sadistic as Butterfly’s master, and it’s Butterfly, with her delicate beauty and submissive personality, that absolutely captivates him. While I thought Bryan’s exploration into the BDSM world a tad bumpy with a few leaps that seemed to come out of nowhere, within just a couple chapters, I was head over heels for him. This is a strong, talented, just all around decent guy, with a need-to-save-the-girl streak a mile wide. I was caught up in his desperation for Butterfly almost from the beginning, even as I recognized both that he didn’t really know her all that well and that even if he did rescue her, there was little guarantee it would actually help. I simply didn’t care. I felt for him, for everything that he was going through, and all I wanted was for him to win.

The butterfly metaphor is carried throughout the book, and while it’s an apt one for the heroine in many cases, it has a tendency to get overplayed. Time and time again, the imagery and explanation of a butterfly learning how to fly is elaborated upon, from the specific passages in the heroine’s entrapment within the mansion to individual incidents afterward, like the butterfly landing on Bryan’s dashboard. I got a little tired of it being beat over my head, quite honestly, and would have much preferred a more subtle methodology to making the metaphor rather than the often literal one. It ends up losing much of its meaning for me by the end, and what could have been a true wallop of an emotional payoff ends up being merely satisfactory as a result.

That’s not to say it doesn’t still work. It does. The balance of Butterfly’s fragility and Bryan’s savior complex is a careful one, as is the dark sensuality prevalent in the first half with the deeper, heart-stopping eroticism of the second. I can’t necessarily say the same for the juxtaposition of Butterfly’s two worlds. In this case, it’s another metaphor of the harsh black and white of her damaging relationship with her Master versus the brilliant color of the Arizona desert and her healing relationship with Bryan. The transition between them is stark and jarring, and often creates the feeling of reading two different books. That’s likely a deliberate choice. Again, the contrast is likely done to heighten the romance, to create a real identity for Butterfly so her relationship with Bryan can have some actual hope of working out. It’s a necessary thing. It just didn’t work as effectively for me as other aspects of the book.

Like Bryan. When the end of the year rolls around, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on my list of favorite heroes of the year. He is the real heart of this book for me, and pushes this darkly sensual, unrestrained romance into a keeper status regardless of my other misgivings.

Readability	9/10 – Sensual, with a vivid palette of descriptions
Hero	9/10 – My only bump in the road with just how much I loved Bryan was the unevenness of his introduction to BDSM at the start
Heroine	7/10 – Fragile and heartbreaking, though I never always believed her growth
Entertainment value	8/10 – Dark and evocative
World building	9/10 – Both worlds – BDSM and Navajo – were painstakingly painted, they just didn’t necessarily feel like the same book
TOTAL:	42/50

Best Covers for 2007

Because it’s the end of the year, and I’m in the throes of a busy holiday season, I’m not going to do any more reviews for 2007. Instead, I’m doing my favorites of all the stories I reviewed this year, in six different categories.

Today’s category is Best Cover.

3rd Runner Up
My Fair Captain by J.L. Langley, cover art by Anne Cain

Sometimes, naked chests work. They work well. Especially beautiful, slightly hairy chests like this one. Simple composition is often the best choice, and this one offers just enough other elements to stay honest to the story.

2nd Runner Up
The Seagrass Whore by Ellen Ashe, cover art by ML Benton

This cover made me stop and stare. I find it sensual and evocative. The red against the black and white grabbed me, hinting at the spookiness the story promised to provide. It even overcame my hesitation at a romance with the word “whore” in the title. That says a lot.

1st Runner Up
Beyond the Night by Sharon Long, cover art by Anne Cain

What do I love about this one? I love the composition, with so many intriguing elements. The contrast of the dark blue, light blue, and earthy tones blend into a very elegant composition. I also love the female model. She’s pretty and looks intelligent without being intimidating. A definite plus for me.

And my pick for the favorite cover I reviewed this year is…

Boundless by Annie Dean, Bonnie Dee, & Dionne Galace,
cover art by April Martinez

I think April Martinez is one of the best artists out there right now. Her covers are often achingly beautiful, simple images highlighted and colored in such ways to create something new and original. This cover in particular gives the impression of intricate layers, melded together into a seamless composition. She doesn’t detract with awkward coloring and there are enough elements to intrigue a reader to pick it up and look further.

So now I want to know what your favorite cover was on e-books that you bought this year. I'm not interested in self-pimping; I want to know what covers you loved as a reader. Did you love the book as much as the cover? Did it have to work harder to meet your expectations? Would you recommend it?

I want to know!

Bone Deep by Bonnie Dee

TITLE: Bone Deep
AUTHOR: Bonnie Dee
PUBLISHER: Liquid Silver Books
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 60k)
GENRE: Historical erotic romance
COST: $5.95

When widow Sarah Cassidy first spies the tattooed man at the traveling carnival, she’s drawn to him in ways she can’t explain. When he shows up in her barn the next morning, after having run away from the owner who kept him a prisoner in his own life, the attraction is even stronger. She takes him in, offering shelter even though he claims to have had a dream about her. His visions later lead him into helping the small community find a missing girl, but his appearance creates mixed reactions. Sarah isn’t willing to hear any of it, too protective of the man she has fallen in love with to listen to any of her neighbors’ warnings. What she doesn’t know, however, is if they really do have a future together, and Tom’s visions aren’t any help at all with that…

I have never had any doubt that Bonnie Dee knows how to write on a technical level. In the two anthologies I’ve read that she contributed to, her prose was consistently solid with very little wrong with it, if a trifle dull. In at least one of the stories I read, there was genuine characterization that rose above, “Oh, I’m horny, let’s have sex!” characterization that cripples a lot of erotic romance. That works to her advantage in this particular story, when it’s critical that the reader understands and likes her two main characters.

Tom, the man whose body is covered entirely in tattoos, is as damaged as they come. He’s frightened at the start of the book, reluctant to communicate even with coaxing, and pretty much knows nothing about interacting with people. This is every “Oh, I can save him” fantasy anyone has ever had, all rolled up into one guy. To the author’s credit, Tom remains realistic, grows in a credible fashion throughout the story, and is pretty much the emotional anchor for the story. Without him, I very much doubt I would have been as invested in the story as I was. Sarah, the heroine, is solid and believable, but when Tom wasn’t around, she suffers from the sort of sameness feel I get from other stories I’ve read of this author. I believe her. I just don’t engage with her.

While the romance works quite well for me, the conflict generated by the community’s bigotry didn’t meet the same level of satisfaction. Ms. Dee does an excellent job carefully constructing the prejudice of a small town in the ‘40s, so much so that when she resorted to a Timmy’s stuck in the well plot device in order to introduce him to the people who fear him, I was hugely disappointed. The fact that Tom had supposed visions inherited from his mother – the carnival’s fortune teller – never sat well with me anyway, but then to turn around and use one of the oldest tricks in the book to gain sympathy for him set my teeth on edge. It was too easy. Way too easy. And the world the author created up to that point was far too complex for such a copout answer. Granted, it doesn’t completely work. But she had enough people falling for it that my disappointment tarnished my enjoyment of the second half of the story.

It is incredibly difficult to categorize this story, which in the end, becomes its greatest asset. It’s sold as a contemporary, though it falls into that nebulous mid-20^th century timeframe that seems to confuse a lot of publishers. I’m calling it a historical, because the narrow mindset of the 1946 timeframe is crucial to the story. It’s also sold as an erotic romance, but I’m going to make a confession. I almost never remember this author’s sex scenes when the story is over. It’s only been a few months since I read her short stories, and all I remember is thinking one had too much sex and the other had an m/f/f threesome in it. Where this story resonates is not in its plotting, or its eroticism, or its prose. It’s in the character of Tom. He is the heart and soul here, and the reason why most readers probably won’t even notice the things that bugged me.

Readability	8/10 – Gentle prose evoking a gentle story
Hero	8/10 – As damaged as they come, this one satisfies readers’ savior instincts better than most.
Heroine	7/10 – Solid and believable, if a little boring.
Entertainment value	7/10 – The romance in this worked for me a lot better than the plot the author laid on top of it.
World building	9/10 – Tightly detailed with some absolutely exquisite minutiae that lent even more credibility.
TOTAL:	39/50

Boundless by Annie Dean, Bonnie Dee, & Dionne Galace

TITLE: Boundless
AUTHOR: Annie Dean, Bonnie Dee, & Dionne Galace
PUBLISHER: Liquid Silver Books
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 67k)
GENRE: Paranormal erotic romance
COST: $5.95

Shapeshifting and sex come together in these three novellas, as three different couples overcome their differences to fall in love.

“Seven Days” by Annie Dean is a week in the life of novitiate Teresa Wolff when incubus Dev arrives to try and steal her soul for the Devil. If he succeeds, he gains his freedom and can return to his natural form as a dragon. If he loses, he’s damned forever. Who wins? Ultimately, the appeal of this story isn’t the final result. Annie Dean writes some of the most gorgeous prose I see in e-books these days; even the blurb for this story on Liquid Silver’s site is gorgeous. She stands out in a sea of mediocre writing as someone with a gift for finding unique ways of describing things. In this story, too, she demonstrates some rather interesting insights regarding love, religion, and redemption that you just don’t find too often in romances. What the story lacks, however, is a sense of balanced pacing. I was completely into the story for the first two days, but I’ll admit, my devotion began to falter on the third day when Dev flies Teresa to Paris. At midnight. And they land in Paris and it’s still night. Now, Teresa says that the nearest big city to the monastery she lives in is Vancouver. That’s an 8-hour time difference to Paris. I know it’s silly, but I got completely jarred out of suspending my disbelief for this love story when I sat through the entire Paris section – which should have been wonderfully romantic – thinking, But even if they traveled in the blink of an eye, it’s still the next morning there! I couldn’t find a single explanation for it, and the fact that I went and re-read that section three times looking for it shows you just how jarred I got. Because I wanted to love this story as much as I loved the prose. In the end, I didn’t. Because Dean never managed to suck me back into disbelieving, especially when she starts throwing backstory in for Teresa at the last minute. And I’m still not sure exactly why we got the final result to the story that we did.

“The Straw Man” by Bonnie Dee is the story of a lonely, 32-year-old woman who owns and runs a local farm. It’s Halloween, and in a moment of loneliness, she makes a wish on her scarecrow for just one night with the perfect man that she then describes. Lo and behold, that man knocks at her door that night. But that’s all she gets. Even if she wants more. Well, I didn’t want more, I’m afraid. What started out promising, with Dee’s solid, competent prose, derailed quickly as soon as Marie, the heroine, threw caution to the wind and started macking on her come-to-life scarecrow. Marie had spunk until she started kissing him, and then she seemed to lose any semblance of a character at all. By the time she was begging him not to leave in the morning, I just didn’t care. I didn’t even get into the smut, which just seemed to go on and on and on, and in inactuality was barely a third of the story. The situation only got worse while I had to read about Marie being depressed for a good month after this one-night stand. Bored doesn’t even begin to describe my reaction to this entire story.

The final story is “Waking Kitty” by Dionne Galace. Jack Ridley, jaded reporter and Vicodin thief, gets sent out on assignment to report on a ship that mysteriously appears in the middle of a busy bar. There, he meets the eccentric waitress Kitty, complete with pink hair, great breasts, and smart mouth. What he doesn’t know is that Kitty is experiencing blackouts and memory loss, and when a man shows up in her apartment the next day claiming to be a dragon and her mate, she is driven back into Jack’s company, and his arms. And the action doesn’t stop there. “Waking Kitty” hits the ground running and then turns into a tornado of sharp lines, fast action, and over-the-top zaniness. The best part of it is, it doesn’t lose steam. I laughed in the beginning, and I laughed in the end, always a good sign. I absolutely adored Jack. I love how much not-a-hero he is – I mean really, when was the last time you read about your hero raiding medicine cabinets of his one-night stands? And Kitty’s his perfect match. These two are remarkably refreshing, though the haste with which they decide they’re so perfect each other detracted from the romance angle for me. What would have been great would have been to see these two have more than a single 24-hour-period to develop a relationship. They certainly were interesting enough to carry a full-length novel for me.

Though the anthology contains very different stories, at least two of these will stick with me for a while. I might have misgivings about Dean’s sense of pacing, but her prose more than makes up for it. Galace has a humor and freshness that make “Waking Kitty” my hands-down favorite of the three. I would have happily purchased each of these two stories singly and considered it money very well spent. These are the authors to watch out for.

Readability	8/10 – Technically superb with 2 of the most entertaining author voices I’ve read recently
Romance	5/10 – The various romances are probably the weakest part of these stories, with Dee’s the weakest of all
Characterization	7/10 – Quirky and interesting for the most part
Entertainment value	7/10 – Some fascinating ideas combined with humor and original characters means I quite enjoyed this anthology.
World building	6/10 – Some valiant attempts get thwarted with the lack of space to truly explain these worlds
TOTAL:	33/50

Three by Lisa Andel, T.A. Chase, & Bonnie Dee

TITLE: Three
AUTHOR: Lisa Andel, T.A. Chase, Bonnie Dee
PUBLISHER: Liquid Silver Books
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 74k)
GENRE: Menage erotic romance
COST: $5.95

A trio of threesome novellas, from m/m/f, to m/m/m, to m/f/f. These three authors offer alternatives to traditional romantic relationships. Does love have to come in pairs?

“Tia’s Leash” by Lisa Andel is the first offering. I’m going to hope they decided to put these in order by author’s last name, because if this story is meant to convince me to continue reading, I would have stopped after the first chapter. It’s wham-bam-good-bye coherency and characterization in this one. The author might have a nice voice given the chance, but in this story about a female werewolf who is the object of obsession for her pack and every other male who encounters her, there’s no chance to experience it. Males in this story are practically interchangeable; 90% of them don’t have any personality at all. Don’t look for emotional involvement in this one. There’s no build-up, there’s virtually no plot, and the heroine spends too much time being a receptacle for every male body part around to have much of a personality. Pass.

“Two for One” by T.A. Chase isn’t quite as cringeworthy. Dr. Jack Samson is the new veterinarian in the town of Sumerset. The first night he goes out, he meets a local couple, Brady Vanderly and fire chief, Simon Wittman. Surprise, surprise, they’re looking for a potential third to make them feel “complete.” Well, Brady is. Simon is kind of going along for the ride in the beginning. Though this story is more readable than the first, and the characters a little more developed, my constant amazement that they are always having sex, in every way and every place, gets old very fast. There’s an attempt later on in the story to add some conflict, but really? This is about three boys having fun with their body parts. And that’s pretty much it.

“Awakening” by Bonnie Dee is the only story to even attempt a little bit of character complexity. Shy Melissa has had a thing for a British guy in her office, Michael, only to come home and find out that her best friend and more sexually adept roommate Rachel has picked up Michael as her latest conquest. When she learns that Melissa likes him, she suggests a weekend for the three of them, and thus commences…a weekend of threesome sex. Ms. Dee’s prose is definitely the most sophisticated of the three, and the more details she provides makes it much easier to get immersed in the characters she creates. I can’t say that I necessarily like any of them very much – Rachel’s pushiness grates after awhile, Melissa’s refusal to stand up for what she really wants is the same – but at least they’re real and not merely a means to get off. The pat ending didn’t work for me, either, in the context of the characters she created, but at least she tried. I’m still not sure the other authors did.

Readability	6/10 – There’s little technically wrong with the stories, though the simplistic styles of the first two makes for monotonous reading after awhile.
Menage	4/10 – Only 2 of the 3 menages even work a little bit for me, and one of them barely works at all.
Characterization	6/10 – Half of these points go to Bonnie Dee’s story. And 2.5 of the other points goes to the gay threesome. It’s hard to give much more than half a point to a story with interchangeable body parts.
Entertainment value	4/10 – I had to fight so hard to even finish the first story. And the other two were very put-downable.
World building	5/10 – Only the middle story had any believable world to me. Dee’s story was all about the characters and Andel’s was too wham bam to qualify for anything.
TOTAL:	25/50