Dark Revenge by Jennifer Leeland

TITLE: Dark Revenge
AUTHOR: Jennifer Leeland
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 86k)
GENRE: Sci-fi BDSM erotic romance
COST: $6.99

When Commander Alex Zeerah gets intercepted on her latest mission, she’s ready to self-destruct rather than be taken prisoner by the captain, the only man she ever had feelings for, the one man she can’t have because of his exile from her home planet. Tory Ingle fought at Alex’s side for years, but he’s spent the last five planning out his revenge on how to clear his name from the treason he was convicted of. Part of that plan includes claiming Alex as his mate, but he’s entirely unprepared for how strong the attraction still is between them. They barely have time to rediscover each other before the threat of civil war looms over their home planet. It’ll take both of them to save the universe…

Yes, I know it’s an EC book so that means a lot of sex. But is it so much to ask that it work with the rest of the story?

It starts off very quickly. Alex is transporting important but unknown cargo for her king when she is intercepted by Tory, her ex-partner in the military and the man she saw exiled from their home planet five years ago. Rather than kill him or let her cargo be taken, she sets the self-destruct, an act he is somehow capable of overriding. He takes her prisoner and demands the rite to claim her as his Saria, an act of claiming a sole member of an offending bloodline to settle revenge. Once this is completed, he chooses her as his mate and restrains her to a rack in his quarters. The sex that follows reminds Alex of everything she could have had if she’d left with him as he’d begged her to do five years ago, but there’s little time to consider the what ifs when the political environment she left behind becomes even more charged. She was never intended to survive her mission, and the cargo she’d been transporting had a far deadlier purpose than she’d ever known. Tory knows much of the truth, however, and he’s determined to put a halt to the wars that are on the horizon.

From there, the book tangles into a complicated blend of interplanetary politics and action, ultimately offering a fresh and fascinating take on zombies. The problem with that is that I had to muddle through the first half to get to the much more interesting second. The success of their attempts to stop everything hinges on the relationship between Alex and Tory, though that’s not made clear while all the sex is going on. Instead, I had to sit through chapters of stop and start pacing as I’d learn an interesting tidbit about the world then have to sit through yet another sex session. Tory is into control and pain, and Alex finds out the first time he touches her she likes it, but I’m told all this at the start rather than learning it from the characters, and with so little time to get to really know them and feel comfortable in the environment, I read their scenes far more detached than I should have been. They’re not badly written – for an EC book, it’s remarkably clean editorially – but without caring a little bit more for them, they just felt like they were getting in the way of the real story.

Because there’s a lot of story to tell here. The author has taken great pains to create a layered, complex universe, with a broad spectrum of characters in varying Machiavellian roles, and it takes too long to be comfortable in their skins for this to be as effective as it should be. Once Tory and Alex stop having sex as their primary function, the novel hurtles forward into the action plot, engaging me far more as I tried to figure that out than any of the sex did. It gave me a different, fresh perspective on zombies – which I admit are not my thing, as I tend to automatically give zombie books a pass when I’m looking at new releases – and I ended up wishing that more of the book had paid attention to that so I could have enjoyed it more. That’s not to say it doesn’t try. It just happens too late in the story for it to really work well.

The two leads are appropriately strong, though I do have reservations about both. Alex, in particular, lost some of her appeal when various twists toward the end only happen by undermining her strength (by being things she has never seen, which I found highly implausible considering her military career). Much of that is mitigated by a strong secondary cast, however. Jezar in particular fascinates me, so complex, and though I might not have enjoyed this book as much as I wanted to, if there’s a sequel with him (which it really reads like there will be more to follow this), I’ll be all over it.

In the end, this was a book of missed opportunities, because really, I should have loved this from the start. It just needed a better balance between the romance/sex and the plot to work. If Jezar gets his own story, I hope that balance is found.

Readability	7/10 – Dense political maneuvering gets eclipsed too early by copious sex scenes, muddying the plot and ease of reading for too long
Hero	6/10 – While I liked him, I never really felt his baser, more dominant tendencies were fully fleshed
Heroine	7/10 – For the most part, smart and resourceful, it was just her blindness to so much towards the end that got annoying
Entertainment value	6/10 – This could’ve been so much higher if the first half hadn’t been so poorly paced
World building	8/10 – A lot of thought went into creating the worlds, but not quite enough to make sure it was conveyed cleanly
TOTAL:	34/50

Fresh Start by Jane Davitt

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wrapped Around Your Finger by Fallon Blake

TITLE: Wrapped Around Your Finger
AUTHOR: Fallon Blake
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 29k)
GENRE: Contemporary BDSM erotic romance
COST: $4.45

Plus-sized fetish model Indie Hartley doesn’t look like the rest of the girls for her latest assignment as a living platter for a sushi dinner, but that doesn’t seem to bother Chef Banner Faust. In fact, he seems to really love her curves and distinctive look, enough to surprise her with an offer of three days as his submissive. With no strings attached, it seems like the perfect way for Indie to finally satisfy her curiosity…

This is actually one of the few times I bought a book for its cover. The woman as Indie (which, by the way, is a pretty good representation of what she’s supposed to look like) reminds me of a couple friends, and I was eager to see how a plus-sized heroine with tats, attitude, and unusual looks would fare in an erotic romance. The answer is not too bad.

Indie (short for Indigo) gets a last minute gig as a living platter for a special sushi dinner being thrown by top chef Banner Faust. With her tattoos and blue-streaked hair, not to mention that she’s not the size two all the other girls are, she doesn’t fit the usual profile, but as she’s being hustled off to make-up to airbrush away her tats, she runs into the chef himself, who insists she be left as she is. Not only that, he wants her as his centerpiece, and so she is put on display right where he is working. The two have a brief exchange which ends with Banner making an offer for Indie to think about over the night – the next three days with him as his submissive. He’s been without for a long time, and Indie pushes all of his buttons. She, in turn, has always been curious about the lifestyle but never acted on it. Getting to learn something with a guy she admires – she’s going to culinary school, too – as well as wants seems like a win/win situation. So she arrives right on time the next morning to begin three days of bliss.

Though I can’t say that everything about this novella worked for me, it does have some shining features. Without a shadow of a doubt, the single best part of it is the careful and loving detail given to all the culinary aspects. Since it starts out immediately in a food setting, it provides a strong anchor for the rest of it to build on, with specific details to convince me of the world these characters live in (not to mention really sparking some serious sushi cravings). Some of this attention to detail extends to the BDSM scenes as well, specifically the figging scene the two undergo the first day they’re together. While I have a hard time accepting two veritable strangers undergoing such an act so quickly, it was written with a keen eye for realism (like the freezing of the ginger prior to using it).

Indie is another joy in this. It’s exciting to read about heroines who don’t fit the usual stereotype, and Indie breaks a lot of those molds. She’s got a Dita Von Teese flair to her style, though not nearly as sultry kitten in temperament. Indie uses her clothes, make-up, and tattoos to hide behind, a fact Banner picks up on almost right away. I liked her a lot, though I found her a little too quick to trust Banner and not always as non-bratty as she claimed to be. Still, she was strong-willed and resourceful, while still being submissive for him, and lends the story more verisimilitude as a result.

Where the story doesn’t work as well for me rests in two distinct areas. First, I didn’t fall for Banner. He was charming enough on the outside, but the man I met at the beginning of the story often disappeared throughout. He’s not into dominating through rules but rather through emotional control, and ends up coming across more than once as domineering rather than dominant. It’s a fine line, especially when a character is professed to be so otherwise tender and caring. His quickness to fall for Indie, too, suggests a more obsessive personality than I think the author intends. He makes the three-day offer specifically because he’s afraid of scaring her off by asking for more. For a man who has been out of the scene as long as he is, consumed by his work (even when it’s not as satisfying as he wanted it to be), it never felt realistic or organic that he would be so willing to fall head over heels for her so fast. And figging less than twenty-four hours after meeting a girl who has never been in the scene before? I don’t think so. He has no idea what kind of boundaries or barriers she might have. He’s still learning about her. In my opinion, it’s too soon, especially since they hadn’t really talked about what was going to happen in their time together by that point.

My other disappointment was in the BDSM aspect itself. Considering the daring personalities of both protagonists, I expected something explosive in their coming together. There’s hints of it early on, but too quickly, it boils down into what I consider more BDSM-lite. It’s all so very tasteful. Mannered, even. I never felt it combust, which is what really well written BDSM does. I do wonder if this stems from my failure to appreciate Banner as the romantic hero. Without falling for him, it’s too easy to become more aware and critical of other aspects. In the end, though, the result is the same. I didn’t react to the erotic portions of the story nearly as strongly as I’m sure the author intended.

At this point, I wouldn’t actively seek out more work by this author, but on the other hand, because of her clear research and love of unconventional heroines, I won’t dismiss it, either. Perhaps I won’t have the same difficulties with her next romantic hero.

Readability	7/10 – A quick read, its biggest strength is its love of the food
Hero	5/10 – I didn’t buy the quick development of his feelings, and he often crosses the line between dominant and too bossy
Heroine	7/10 – Very real, a welcome break from the stereotypical heroine
Entertainment value	6/10 – I kept expecting more from the BDSM scenes, and my mistrust of Banner didn’t help
World building	8/10 – The food scenes sparkled with authenticity, and I was pleased to see the same care taken with the figging scene
TOTAL:	33/50

Master Bear by Angelia Sparrow & Naomi Brooks

TITLE: Master Bear
AUTHOR: Angelia Sparrow & Naomi Brooks
PUBLISHER: Amber Allure
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 20k)
GENRE: Gay contemporary BDSM erotic romance
COST: $5.00

When his Master decides not to undergo a fourth round of chemotherapy, Chris finds himself forced to take part in finding his next dom, someone to take care of him when William is gone, someone he can serve with the same dedication and love. Through his Master’s decline, he tries to be strong, but it’s only with the new friendship of William’s hospice nurse that he’s able to start having hope for his future…

High angst is a hard sell for me in romance, though I do occasionally get sucked into buying one. This particular story worked for me in some regards, but not so much in others.

For the past five years, Chris has been William’s sub, his slave in many senses of the word. Things were good for the first three years, but then William was diagnosed with cancer. The first three rounds of chemotherapy failed, but William doesn’t have the strength to endure a fourth. He’s decided to have a quiet, dignified death. His only regret is that he has to leave Chris behind. Because he doesn’t want to leave Chris alone, he decides to find his boy a new Master, a prospect that fills Chris with trepidation. He loves William with everything he has and cannot imagine life without him. His only source of solace is Mike, the hospice nurse who comes two days a week to check on William. He becomes a quick friend, and helps Chris stay strong while William conducts his search.

There’s a fervent desperation in Chris right from the start. His anguish over William’s impending death is palpable, heartbreaking in its intensity. Though there’s little hope for William, I found myself yearning for a miracle, just to save Chris the pain of what was to come. Watching William interview prospective masters for Chris was uncomfortable, but some of that was mitigated by the arrival of Mike, William’s hospice nurse. He helped balance out Chris’s angst, giving him a healthy outlet for some of his confusing and pent-up feelings.

So far, so good. The arrival of the second interview, however, sparked the beginning of my trouble with this short novella. Until this point, the story was deeply entrenched in a contemporary setting, within the context of this 24/7 Master/slave relationship. The second Dom mentions something similar to the first, a warning of sorts about another one called Master Bear. It’s repeated in the third encounter, which is all well and good, but when the time comes that Chris actually meets Master Bear…I hate the idea of spoiling readers, I really do, but this is the crux of why this book ultimately fell apart for me. Because every ounce of respect I might have had for Chris fell apart in that moment. I knew exactly what was going on, mostly because it’s insanely obvious and partially telegraphed beforehand, but Chris was completely and utterly blind to it. The fact that he’s grieving isn’t an excuse. What he’s blind to is so basic and so simple that when he finally sees it, I rolled my eyes, mildly disgusted it took him so long. It didn’t work, because it yanked me entirely out of the reading experience. I lost my empathy for his grief, I lost caring about Mike, I lost it all in the face of my mounting frustration.

The BDSM in this is tastefully done, though mostly within the context of trying Chris out with new Masters. The variety of partners didn't bother me, though it might others who are more sensitive to sharing partners. In this world, however, it made sense, and I accepted it enough to enjoy it when it was appropriate.

There’s a lot of potential in this short novella, enough to keep me interested in the authors’ work. But Chris missing something so obvious, I lost respect for him as a character. And when his emotional journey is the primary thrust of the story…there’s not much else to grab onto.

Readability	7/10 – Delicate and simple, but much gets telegraphed early on
Hero #1	6/10 – I liked him a lot more before he seemed overly blind and stupid to what was really going on
Hero #2	6/10 – Sweet and heartwarming though too good to be true
Entertainment value	6/10 – Though I felt for the grief/loss aspect of the story, I couldn’t get into the potential romance because it just felt too obvious
World building	6/10 – Most care is given to the BDSM aspects, not so much to anything else
TOTAL:	31/50

Want Ad by Philippa Grey-Gerou & Emery Sanborne

TITLE: Want Ad
AUTHOR: Philippa Grey-Gerou & Emery Sanborne
PUBLISHER: Amber Heat
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 10k)
GENRE: Contemporary BDSM erotic romance
COST: $3.00

Stacia Lewis places an ad, looking for someone to explore bondage with her in a no-strings relationship. What she gets is a blind date with the bane of her professional existence, the antagonistic Will Sutton…

With short stories, it’s often hard to find much constructive to stay, especially when it’s essentially a single scenario that gets played out. In this case, we meet ad execs Stacia and Will, adversarial to the nth degree at work. Stacia loathes Will with a passion, from his attitude to his shallowness, but when he turns out to be her blind date for the ad she placed looking for someone to introduce her to bondage, she decides to go through with it rather than listen to him give her hell forever for being a chicken. Thus ensues the big bulk of the story, as he takes her upstairs and fulfills her desires.

As erotica, it’s not the lushest prose I’ve ever read, nor is it very original, but in spite of its rather terse quality, it has its own heat that makes the sex mostly work. The BDSM borders on too tasteful for me, though. He takes it very easy on her, starting with plain cuffs, moving to a simple spreader and a glass dildo. It all felt very restrained and proper. For such fiery temperaments outside of the bedroom, inside was a tad disappointing.

I didn’t like Will, though. I thought he was a jerk outside of the bedroom, and didn’t recognize him at all once they were behind closed doors. I kept waiting for this juxtaposition to be smoothed out or explained away or something, but it didn’t happen. Because of that, trying to believe in the ending was too hard. I would’ve had a much easier time of it if it had been left as erotica rather than attempting to find some sort of HFN.

Readability	8/10 – Simplistic but clean
Hero	4/10 – Too much of a jerk outside of the bedroom, I never saw the link or justification between his two different personas
Heroine	5/10 – Strong, but rather one-dimensional
Entertainment value	6/10 – The erotica was on the terse side but hot for what was there
World building	5/10 – Some attention is spent on their corporate world, but this is all about the sex
TOTAL:	28/50

Fit to be Tied by Kate Willoughby

TITLE: Fit to be Tied
AUTHOR: Kate Willoughby
PUBLISHER: Liquid Silver Books
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 27k)
GENRE: Contemporary BDSM erotic romance
COST: $4.75

In high school, Sadie had one fantastic, incomplete night with the geeky Max, and then turned around on Monday and called him names in front of the whole school. Ten years later, she has the chance to apologize. Time has done wonders for Max, turning him from a nerd into a raging hot intellectual. He’s never been able to forget Sadie, and this seems like the perfect opportunity to finish what they started. But he’s changed in more ways than just filling out his clothes better. The question is, can she handle the masterful man he’s become?

This is one of the authors I can usually count on for frothy, funny contemporary erotic romances, and while this started out like that, it didn’t quite end up that way.

Sadie is a free spirit, rarely staying in the same place for very long, intent on visiting and experiencing all fifty states. Her latest job puts her right in the path of one of her biggest regrets. In high school, she spent one great night making out with Max Brody only to be interrupted before they could go all the way. On Monday, with her snotty friends watching, she disparaged Max in front of the whole school, and the potential of that one night was never realized. Now, she apologizes and discovers that he’s an expert in the very field her next job is about – tarantulas. He agrees to come check out the tarantula she has, and when the friend she’s staying with gets unexpected company, offers to let Sadie stay with him. Their attraction explodes, and one night turns into more. The sex is great, but Max has secrets he’s not sharing, secrets that are starting to drive Sadie crazy.

The story starts like many of the author’s better works. The characters are quirky and fun, delightfully different from the standard erotic romance protagonists. Max is an obsessive intellectual with control issues, while Sadie’s free-spiritedness borders on flakiness. The more I learned about Max, however, the harder it got for me to have fun with his differences. His independent wealth and various achievements start to make him too good to be true, and while I think I understand why his characterization went in that direction, I was a little disappointed he didn’t stay as more of an everyday, quirky Joe.

Sadie’s characterization suffers as well, though primarily because of events that occur in the last couple chapters. Gradually, she learns of Max’s interest in BDSM, specifically rope play, and she seems okay with it at first. Even when a previous traumatic event puts a hamper on their explorations, I was okay with it. What I wasn’t okay with how that traumatic event got resolved. It’s too easy for what was involved, frankly, even if this is meant to be lighter erotic romance fare. The seriousness of those sequences, actually, is very different tonally to the frothiness of the beginning, and it never meshed well for me. The greatest bulk of that rests with how lightly it’s handled. This could just be a sore spot for me, since the rest of the BDSM is handled tastefully and intelligently. But I just find it very hard to believe such a traumatic event – even for a strong, free spirit like Sadie – could be taken care of so easily.

This one’s probably middle of the road for me for this author. It has elements of what I adore in her writing, but I just can’t get over the resolution of Sadie’s problems enough to merit this higher.

Readability	8/10 – Mild headhopping and the sense of being two stories merged into one held this back
Hero	7/10 – I liked his quirkiness but it bordered on too much for me
Heroine	6/10 – An interesting blend of flakiness and likeability, but I wasn’t so sure about how quickly things turned around for her in the end
Entertainment value	6/10 – I was enjoying this as some pleasant escapism until the end that didn’t seem believable
World building	8/10 – Highly credible on a lot of levels, at least until the end
TOTAL:	35/50

Choice of Masters by Joey W. Hill

TITLE: Choice of Masters
AUTHOR: Joey W. Hill
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 33k)
GENRE: BDSM fantasy historical erotic romance
COST: $5.20

Thomas has lived his life by the code King Arthur set, and now has one final quest to complete – rescue the Lady Lilith from her captivity. He dreams of her constantly, and in those dreams, he knows her, loves her, recognizes her as his soulmate. After learning what he must to set Lilith free, he ventures to the wizard’s realms, where the world is not what he expected. Lilith is, though, and now he must show her that she has the power to make the choice to leave…

I adore Joey Hill. I may not love everything she writes, but for me, the sensual eroticism of her prose stands alone. I just have to remember as I read more and more of her backlist – because even though this was just recently released by Ellora’s Cave, it was originally published seven years ago in an anthology – that not only will she hit on some of my buttons, she will also show varying levels of skill in her storytelling abilities.

This one is a little hard to describe. Thomas is a knight who has been dreaming of Lilith, a woman notorious for being held prisoner by a wizard for years with an entire stream of other knights who have failed to rescue her. Thomas is convinced she’s his soulmate and is ready to do whatever it takes to make her accept him as her Master. He spends a month with a group of priestesses renowned for their sensual delights to learn how he can break Lilith free. When he feels he’s ready, he sets off and finds Lilith as the Great Whore in Zorac’s household. He is granted the right to attempt to rescue her, but Zorac is certain he’ll fail and leave in the morning without Lilith. Thus begins Thomas’s quest, a night of unbridled sensuality.

Some people think Hill’s prose is too purple, and I can see how it can sometimes verge in that direction. Much of the time, I adore it. It’s lustrous and rich, like sinking in thick, soft velvet. She has a way of wending and winding with her words that sucks me in, even when the events that unfold might bother other sensibilities. Then, it’s not until I’ve finished the story that I see some of the flaws it might contain.

This particular story has quite a few potential hotspots, but one in particular will likely bother a number of readers. Lilith is being held prisoner and forced to act as the whore to anybody Zorac wants. Worse, she is bound by a spell that keeps her forearms and hands immobile, invisible shackles if you like. On top of that, the magic also keeps her on the brink of orgasm without ever giving her a release. So Lilith is the victim of continual nonconsensual acts, with the demonstration of one at the dinner Thomas shares with Zorac after his arrival. I have to admit, this didn’t bother me so much in this, because it was so clearly fantasy from the very first page, however others are likely to disagree.

While Hill’s eroticism shines, especially in how surprisingly sensual the rituals Thomas performs are, the story suffers in other areas. Lilith lacks much of any kind of personality for much of the story, since she’s already wound tight from her lack of release. She’s much more of a damsel for Thomas to save than I normally like to read. Any strong sense of setting disappears as well. The entire tale has a dream-like quality, making it very hard to pinpoint. Definitive explanations on who Thomas really is or what he really can do are lacking, too.

But you know what? These were problems I identified once I’d already devoured the story. I was so lost in the sensuality of it, much of the other issues didn’t raise their heads until afterward. Thus, my rather skewed scores.

Readability	8/10 – Minor editorial problems broke up the flow, but Hill writes lush, sensual BDSM like nobody else
Hero	7/10 – Proud and honorable
Heroine	4/10 – She feels more like a vessel than anything else
Entertainment value	7/10 – Logic and depth of any kind of explanation gets thrown out the window for the gorgeous eroticism
World building	6/10 – With so much focus on the eroticism, the world and its nature felt very superficial
TOTAL:	32/50

Charade by Sabrina Luna

TITLE: Charade
AUTHOR: Sabrina Luna
PUBLISHER: Sugar and Spice Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 20k)
GENRE: Contemporary BDSM erotica
COST: $3.99

It’s an arrangement between a Dom and a sub, a chance for Dixie to learn what submission is all about. But when her Dom’s brother arrives for a short visit, she learns even more about what it means to submit…

For erotica to work, it needs to do one of three things (though preferably all of them) – engage the mind because the prose is beautiful, engage the senses with the erotic imagery, or engage the heart with the emotions. Most erotic fiction fails for me because it doesn’t meet any of these criteria. This short novella was no different.

There’s not much to this. Told in 1^st person from the female sub’s POV, it’s basically escapade after escapade of Dixie submitting in some fashion to her Dom, Mitchell. His brother arrives for a short visit, and gets to take part. Supposedly, he also offers insight into their relationship she wouldn’t otherwise have, then he takes off. Simple. Direct. To the point.

And it doesn’t work. The prose itself is unassuming, bordering on the amateurish side (Why on earth is there the need to refer to the hero by his full name after he’s been introduced and you’ve spent the last thirty pages only calling him by his first name? Answer: There isn’t.), and while I’ve definitely read worse in this genre, it failed to engage me either viscerally or intellectually. The characters aren’t people. They’re shells performing these parts. I know nothing about the kind of people Dixie and Mitchell are except in the very shallowest sense. Alex (the brother) isn’t much better, though the fact he actually gets to have a conversation and reactions that don’t involve either Dixie or Mitchell affords him a tad more depth. But only a tad.

These issues might not necessary be problems if it was hot, but it’s just not. Dixie acts like the things they’re doing, the lessons she’s learning from Mitchell are so very forbidden, but anybody who’s read even a couple D/s stories will find little fresh or dangerous in these scenes. She’s late for dinner once, he spanks her. He has her masturbate in public. They have anal sex. Perhaps if the characters were more fully fleshed, or if the prose itself was more sophisticated, this wouldn’t seem so humdrum, but that’s not the case. It’s boring.

And if even the sex is boring in a piece of erotica…I just can’t recommend this with any sense of good conscience. I would have got more pleasure from the nice coffee I could have bought for the cost of this.

Readability	6/10 – Unassuming and forgettable, though at least it’s relatively clean
Hero	3/10 – An enigma, but then that’s because he’s an enigma to the 1st person heroine
Heroine	4/10 – Personality-less, a vehicle for the sexual escapades
Entertainment value	3/10 – Boring and forgettable
World building	4/10 – Little attempt to give depth to anything but the sex
TOTAL:	20/50

Switched by Desiree Holt

TITLE: Switched
AUTHOR: Desiree Holt
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 20k)
GENRE: BDSM erotic romance
COST: $4.45

Attending a mandatory educational conference isn’t attorney Emma Holder’s idea of a good time. Until she accidentally switches suitcases with a man who packed a flogger and other BDSM toys in with his clothes. When they exchange their bags, Luke Borelli asks her out for a drink, then for more, more that opens up a whole new world of pleasure to her…

When it comes to erotica, I have a real soft spot for BDSM. I don’t review everything I read, but that’s because – honestly – some of it is dreck. Others are print titles which don’t fit the parameters of the blog. There isn’t a permutation of the acronym I don’t like, but the vast majority of what seems to be available is what I think of as primers for newbies. It’s the strong female who needs that release, and never even considers submission until the hero comes along and decides to educate her. Sometimes, it works. Others, it doesn’t. This story falls somewhere between those.

The premise is simple. Switched bags afford Emma and Luke a glimpse into the other person’s private life. Emma sees Luke's dominant tendencies; Luke spies Emma’s delicate underwear. He invites her for a drink, and she goes because she’s curious. He spends the next three nights of the conference teaching her what she’s been missing. Now, if this had been the end of the story, and it had been marketed as erotica, my scores would have been a lot higher. Because all the education aside, the story is hot. There’s enough emotion and sensation brought into Emma’s POV to make her new experiences truly scintillating. Luke more than fulfills his part by being the perfect Dom. I was even able to – mostly – overlook the various editorial mistakes (things like, “…Once we get pass that certain spot…” proliferate the text) and the author’s love of the word “rectum” (there’s just nothing sexy about that word).

But this is from Ellora’s Cave, and it’s not part of the Exotika line, which means some kind of romance needs to get shoehorned in there someplace. It happens without any real investment on the part of the characters. They don’t interact at all during the days of the conference, meaning when it’s done, all they’ve really shared is sex. Yet, Luke is thinking by the end of the first night of sex that things are different with this particular woman, even though he’s had more than his share of willing partners before. For some inexplicable reason, he doesn’t want this to end, and foresees a real relationship with her, in spite of the fact that all they have in common is sex and a career choice. I can explain away Emma’s attachment if I try really hard. She might be attached to him because he’s made her feel things she never has before. But it’s all superficial at best, and the attempts to make it any deeper are ridiculously convenient and clichéd.

The sex is hot, though. Look at it purely as erotic fantasy, and it’s definitely worth it.

Readability	7/10 – Minor mistakes kept pulling me out of the prose, and the use of “rectum” breaks up the sexual flow
Hero	6/10 – Pure fantasy, but a nice fantasy nonetheless
Heroine	7/10 – Viewed within the construct of an erotic fantasy, smart and consistent. Viewed outside of it, she was just asking for trouble.
Entertainment value	7/10 – If there hadn’t been an attempt for the obvious romance, this would have rated higher.
World building	7/10 – Knowledgeable about the world of BDSM, though the lawyer world didn’t feel believable
TOTAL:	34/50

All Chained Up by Brynn Paulin

TITLE: All Chained Up
AUTHOR: Brynn Paulin
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 28k)
GENRE: BDSM erotic romantic suspense
COST: $4.45

Keera has been on the run from her psychotic stepbrother for years. When he finds her – again – and threatens her lover of five hours, she decides to make another run for it. The problem is, her new lover is also her Master. And her boss. And Theo isn’t willing to just let her disappear without an explanation, and better, a punishment…

Going into backlist when I discover an author I enjoyed is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, if it’s an older story, it might not exhibit the same skill I admired in the current work. On the other, I could find more gems. E-publishing offers an entirely different set of mines to try and work around, since a lot of romance authors publish with more than one house. Anybody who reads more than a few titles knows right away different publishers have different reader bases and expectations, and that sometimes, authors hop from style to style, genre to genre, because of this freedom.

I loathed the first story I read by this author. The second turned out to be my favorite in an anthology, one I loved so much I decided to write off the first story as a fluke and went looking through her backlist. After reading a novella earlier this week by an author I’d previously read, I decided to pick this one up, and have come to a conclusion. I don’t care for Paulin’s sex-focused stories, which will mean anything from EC in the future.

The biggest problem in this novella – fast-paced as it is – is the lack of context. The book opens with these lines:

“How are you feeling about this?”

Keera Thornton snuggled into the arms of her lover of five hours and looked up into his gray eyes, captured by her devotion to him. Theo Cress. He owned every part of her and didn’t even know it.

The reader is thrust into a relationship that has already been consummated, with absolutely no build-up on who they might be or what they might be to each other. We are flying blind in these opening pages, with Keera already wearing Theo’s collar and Theo telling her it’s “wedding ring serious.” They have one more quickie (and I do mean quickie, 350 words from Keera offering herself to orgasms), Theo goes off to run a bath, Keera gets a threatening phone call, and then she’s gone. Just over 1400 words. I have no investment in the characters, no reason to be afraid except the author tells me to, no knowledge of what makes Theo special or why Keera is worth being collared.

I kept waiting for it to come. And waited. While I got a little more background, they were just facts, and not very satisfactory ones at that. The impact of the suspense was completely disintegrated because of the lack of emotional involvement I had with any of the characters. It felt too much like a reason for Theo to chase her down, to give him a reason for punishing her, and to isolate them so they could have even more sex. It never got better. At all. I should have clued in, since it was an Ellora’s Cave release, but the excerpt on the site was all about the suspense. That’s misleading to say the least. The characters were cardboard, the suspense a waste of time. However, I did learn what type of story to steer clear of in the future. Because Paulin proved she can write a compelling, rich romance with “In the Dark.” I know I can absolutely love her work. Just not this type.

Readability	7/10 – Incredibly fast-paced but that’s because it foregoes anything like character development or build-up to get to the sex
Hero	4/10 – I might have liked him more if I actually knew him as anything other than Dom
Heroine	3/10 – Idiotic and unbelievable
Entertainment value	3/10 – Sheer wish fulfillment with no lead-in to make any of the characters actually individuals
World building	5/10 – All the attention is paid to the BDSM…which is probably my own fault since this is EC we’re talking about here
TOTAL:	22/50

Board Resolution by Joey W. Hill

TITLE: Board Resolution
AUTHOR: Joey W. Hill
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 45k)
GENRE: Contemporary BDSM erotic romance
COST: $5.95

Savannah Tennyson is her father’s daughter. Bred to be his replacement, her entire life has been about the business, all the way to the rules she has posted on her wall. Business partner Matt Kensington is her intellectual and business equal, and if she has the occasional less than professional thought about him, she just squirrels it away to savor when she is all alone. Because she is alone. More often than she would like. And now Matt, with the help of his four-man team of associates, is determined to show her she never has to be alone again…

With the exception of one, maybe two, stories, I absolutely adore Joey W. Hill. Her writing is dense and evocative, and the eroticism of her prose unparalleled. She’s one of the few authors that I’ll read paranormal water creatures by, and when friends ask for D/s suggestions, I always recommend her. Ellora’s Cave recently released this short novel on its own as an ebook, after having been part of an anthology several years ago, so I’m only now discovering it. While some people will certainly have some issues with it, it worked so completely for me as erotic fantasy that I was shocked to see just how long it really was.

At thirty-five, Savannah has a plethora of not so flattering nicknames, including but not limited to, Savannah Cyborg. She has no personal life and lives for the business, the vast majority of her contact being with Matt and his “child prodigies” in the board room. As she’s gotten older, though, she’s increasingly aware of her isolation, and the armor she wears to protect herself grows thicker and thicker. At the story’s start, she is on her way to a meeting with Matt, scheduled for Friday evening, a tactic she is sure he is using because he knows it’s the one time she is most vulnerable. What she doesn’t expect is for his words to almost immediately take a sexual tone, blunt and erotic, but when she announces she’s leaving, he orders her to sit. This starts the back and forth game they have always played, a game that has always resulted in an inevitable draw. The difference is, this time, Matt intends to win, and Savannah is mostly trapped until that happens.

This is the first line readers might not be able to cross if they aren’t immersed already in the erotic fantasy of it all. This entire exchange has tones of noncon, though it’s done entirely in Savannah’s POV and she makes it clear from the start that she views this as an extension of their negotiations in the board room. She is determined not to let him win, which means temporarily acceding to his commands. In doing so, she finds herself strung up on a sling-type apparatus, blindfolded, gagged, and then put on display as Matt’s four-man team enters the room. What follows is Matt’s seduction, using the men who have come to claim Savannah as one of their own as his tools. While it’s a ménage in the technical sense (without physical contact between the men), the focus is all on Savannah and getting her off, and the men are just living, breathing means of making that happen. The entire night has been scripted before she ever arrived, playing out at Matt’s command, and if you’ve bought into the fantasy of it by this point – which I had – it’s a highly charged, whirlwind of an erotic adventure.

The characterizations of the two leads might not be as fully fleshed as they could have been – for instance, Matt takes a back seat for a large chunk of the story as the four men service Savannah; each of which, incidentally, felt as realized as either of the two leads – but that’s a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things. Few people write BDSM like Hill does. Even fewer make me accept such an outrageous erotic fantasy so easily. Yet, she’s done it here, and I know she’ll likely do it again. Because another of her stories has just been released this week, in the anthology Laced with Desire, and features one of the four prodigies, the third in this particular series as it turns out. I’ve had the second on my print TBR pile for ages, but now, knowing it’s connected to this one – albeit loosely – I’ll be pushing it closer to the top.

Readability	8/10 – Some of the mechanics of the equipment slowed me down trying to get a visual on it, but otherwise, I was shocked at how fast it read
Hero	7/10 – With so many other men in the room, he often took a back seat, but I liked what I got
Heroine	7/10 – I had a few problems with her experience vs her reactions, but I appreciated the attempts to make her so strong
Entertainment value	9/10 – Accept the fantasy of it, and it’s erotic bliss
World building	8/10 – My notions of their relationships at the start of the book were different than what was offered in the middle, but the crisp detail of the business world – even in their dialogue – crackled
TOTAL:	39/50

Kidnapped for Christmas by Evangeline Anderson

TITLE: Kidnapped for Christmas
AUTHOR: Evangeline Anderson
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 41k)
GENRE: BDSM erotic romance
COST: $5.20

Jillian Marks doesn’t believe it when her little sister tells her she’s paid for someone to kidnap her. Why would any woman have that kind of fantasy? But when she is mistakenly grabbed in her sister’s place, she finds herself thrust into a world her body seems to love. She should probably tell the amazingly sexy man who snatched her that he’s got the wrong woman, but when he gives her the most amazing orgasm of her life, she decides to shut up and play along…

Escapism doesn’t get more blatant than a kidnap-for-pay and mistaken identity plot, and yet, Anderson keeps this one fresh by the genuine chemistry between her two leads. Jillian is the responsible older sister, always cleaning up her skinnier younger sister’s messes, while Kyle is a Dom without a sub, wondering why he can’t find a woman who only wants to be sexually dominated rather than something full-time. They come together out of circumstance, when Sabrina flakes out at the last minute and takes off for the holiday without remembering to cancel her kidnap, and Kyle’s brother – the business’ owner – begs him to take this one job. What happens then is combustible.

The BDSM in this is fairly light stuff, mostly domination/submission, with some candle play, mild double penetration, and spanking. It never feels like it’s crossing a line, though the fact that Jillian doesn’t know the safe word is a tad troublesome. However, the fact that she and Kyle are so clearly on the same emotional page helps mitigate some of that concern. It’s hot and sweet all at the same time, thanks due to the tremendous attraction between the two. Not all heroes and heroines sparkle like this. It was a delight to sit back and enjoy.

Kyle, especially, is appealing as a fantasy figure. Both tough and caring in the bedroom, he has no desire to see that same sort of submissiveness outside of it. Toss in the fact that he’s attracted to larger women (Jillian is a size eighteen), and he’s a little too good to be true. While I can see this within the context of the story, though, I never really care that much, since, yes, I rather want to believe in him. If he hadn’t had such chemistry with Jillian, I might have been more skeptical, but the author succeeds in a little Christmas magic by getting me to believe. At least for the duration of this long, sexy, sweet novella.

Readability	8/10 – Sexy and sweet
Hero	8/10 – I liked him more than I probably should have
Heroine	7/10 – Some of her problems were her own doing, and it got a little frustrating sometimes
Entertainment value	7/10 – Not wholly original, but I liked the chemistry enough between them not to care
World building	7/10 – Immediate surroundings felt genuine, though the rest of it was skimpy
TOTAL:	37/50

The Geography of Murder by P.A. Brown

TITLE: The Geography of Murder
AUTHOR: P.A. Brown
PUBLISHER: MLR Press
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 79k)
GENRE: Gay BDSM mystery erotic romance
COST: $5.99

Waking up next to a dead man is frightening enough. Getting hauled away in handcuffs for his murder is even worse. Jason Zachary protests his innocence over and over to Detective Alex Spider, and when DNA evidence places someone else at the scene, he’s finally released. But Alex isn’t done with Jason, not by a long shot. Not now that he knows the young man is a very willing sub…

When a book has a plethora of technical errors, it has to excel in other areas in order for me to fall for it. Whether that’s the romance, the setting, or the characters, something has to compensate for the fact that mistakes muddy the reading experience. In this novel’s case, there just isn’t any one aspect that shines brightly enough to distract me from the multitude of grammatical errors that tarnish it.

The story is told in alternating 1^st person perspectives, jumping between Jason and Spider from chapter to chapter. On the one hand, it allows the reader to follow the procedural aspect of the plot, with much better ease than the romance angle is served. On the other, it’s not that skillfully done, as many of the technical mistakes in this come from inaccurate verb tenses. It doesn’t happen as much when they’re doing something as it does when they’re thinking something. But it gets worse as the story goes on, pulling me out of it more and more often. There are also consistency errors, like when Alex goes to a taxidermist to try and learn more about a clue, a stuffed raven, and wavers on mentioning exactly what the bird is because that’s one of the pieces of evidence they’re holding back from the media. Yet, when the paper runs a full article about Alex and his less than stellar progress on the case, it starts out with, “What do ravens and bloody trophies and horrific murders done in the name of vigilante justice have in common?” Things like this don’t help the reading experience.

Because I wanted to love this. One of the things that drew me in from the start was the notion that these were not your typical m/m heroes. Jason is a user, with serious esteem issues, while Alex is a control freak who lacks the ability/desire to get attached to anyone. Frankly, neither guy is very appealing on an aesthetic level, yet somehow, there’s an appeal in seeing them get together. I had better luck getting attached to Jason, however, when Alex’s control issues and BDSM tendencies slip into what felt like abuse to me. It felt like abuse to him, too, because it prompts him to do some serious soul searching, as well as abuse to Jason. But abusive men are one of my hot buttons. They automatically raise all my hackles, and I very rarely recover from it. I recognize there is a fine line to be walked with BDSM stories, but when both leads recognize behavior as abusive, it’s clear which side of the line that action falls on. Because of this, any interest I had in seeing Alex happy disappeared, and without wanting to see one of the heroes get a happy ending, it’s next to impossible to care about the romance.

As I said earlier, the mystery aspect of the story fares much better than the romance, and thankfully, takes a lot of page time. It was worth finishing for that, but for any sense of emotional satisfaction for the men, it fell far short.

Readability	6/10 – A lot of the technical niggles kept pulling me out of the story, though it certainly worked as a procedural
Hero #1	7/10 – Damaged and believable
Hero #2	6/10 – The borderline abuse merited a better resolution than he got
Entertainment value	6/10 – I liked the mystery part of this so much more than the romance
World building	8/10 – The cop world was crisp and believable
TOTAL:	33/50