Wish Craft by Lauri Robinson

TITLE: Wish Craft
AUTHOR: Lauri Robinson
PUBLISHER: Wild Rose Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 16k)
GENRE: Time travel romance
COST: $3.00

Jayden White can only think of one way to solve her sister’s money problems – travel back in time to invest money that will yield millions. There’s an added bonus to going back, however. Part of her is convinced that the diary she and her sister found upon their mother’s death is actually hers, detailing a life in the past with a man she’s never met…

This short novella starts right in the thick of things, with Jayden about to travel back in time to invest money and help her sister’s financial problems. A diary they found upon their mother’s death details the life of her sister’s great-grandmother, a woman with the same name as Jayden, who looks remarkably like her. Jayden is partially convinced it actually is her, and that she is destined to fall in love and marry her half-sister’s great-grandfather, Levi Grimshaw. When she goes back, however, she discovers that Levi is already engaged to another woman.

Though I’ve read a novel by this author that I really enjoyed – the primary reason I bought this – it’s impossible for me to rate this any higher than I have. The single biggest problem I have is an issue that riddles a number of small presses, and that’s the copy editing. Numerous easy mistakes are the marks of amateurs, regardless of the story’s potential. It’s easier to look past other editorial problems, since content editing is such a subjective thing. I accept that. What works for one might not work for another. Copy editing, however, is not subjective. That’s what dictionaries are for. That’s what style guides like Strunk and White are for. These are the basic building blocks for writers, and when publishers can’t even get that right, my faith in them erodes.

Wild Rose Press is really hit or miss in this regard, either because they have editors of varying skills (I can’t compare the books I’ve read since they don’t put the editor information on the copyright page) or because the authors themselves are that much stronger/weaker amongst themselves. This falls squarely into the miss column. Simple errors such as spelling mistakes (i.e, a flat-healed boot), incorrect word usage (i.e. allowed dusk to take it’s time), and easy typos (i.e. he forgot to breath) litter the text. It’s frustrating and annoying. I get pulled out of the story every time I find one, and when they occur as frequently as they do in this, it’s simply inexcusable.

If the story was believable in any way, it might be easier to overlook the mistakes. I adore time travel stories, and I fully recognize that some suspension of disbelief is required to make them work. I require very little to buy into time travel being possible, but it does require some kind of tangible explanation. Magic, science, talismans…it could be anything. In the blurb, it’s described as quantum jumping, but you know what it actually is? Meditate and wish real hard, and you can make it so. That’s it. It just feels ridiculous even by time travel standards, and honestly, the prose is nowhere near sophisticated enough to sell me on the explanation. Toss in the fact that there’s no natural flow or reasons for Jayden and Levi to fall in love – in a single day, with Levi forsaking everything he was going to do for this woman just because he knows in his heart that she’s the one for him – and it’s doomed. The characters come across as silly and flat, and the entire tale disappointing.

Why is it so much to expect authors and editors to know the basic tools of their trade? A couple mistakes are understandable, but the level of errors in such a short work is unacceptable.

Readability	5/10 – Riddled with simple errors and lack of a sophisticated voice made it impossible to buy into the outlandish premise
Hero	3/10 – Flat and uninteresting
Heroine	4/10 – Showed promise, but there’s just no realistic flow or depth to her to make her believable
Entertainment value	3/10 – Disappointing
World building	6/10 – The historical setting is the best part but there’s no hope of making the time travel believable
TOTAL:	21/50

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

New Canterbury Affair by Frances Pauli

TITLE: New Canterbury Affair
AUTHOR: Frances Pauli
PUBLISHER: Devine Destinies
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 30k)
GENRE: Futuristic romance
COST: $4.99

Lierra is returning to her home planet with her fiancé in tow, a union that will help bring prosperity to her uncle, the Governor. She’s hoping for an escape. What she finds is a world she no longer recognizes, and a man she’s admired for years. Forrest Ecks was one of the premier artists of his time until his ruined left hand stopped his career. He finds in Lierra a refreshing honesty and intelligence. Offering to give her lessons is just a means to ensure she refines her skills. Or is it merely the means to get to spend more time with her…?

I was fascinated by the potential set-up of this futuristic world, where the heroine travels to her home planet where time has been halted and modern conveniences are nowhere to be found. But like Lierra, I didn’t get exactly what I was expecting.

The story is simple. Lierra is engaged to Trent, a man she isn’t really attracted to but who is a good prospect. She’s getting past marriageable age, and doesn’t have a lot of options, and Trent seems like a good match, especially financially. The one thing she has is her art, and though she recognizes that she’s not very good, she knows what she likes in others. And she loves the work of Forrest Ecks. When she discovers that Mr. Ecks is now living on her home planet, and is actually a very good friend of her uncle’s, she’s both excited and terrified about the possibility of meeting him. But Forrest isn’t what she anticipated, younger and more attractive than she’d ever imagined him. Forrest has given up his art after an injury destroyed his left hand, but he recognizes a kindred spirit in Lierra and offers to give her lessons. It’s an offer she can’t refuse.

The futuristic world sets itself apart by having this haven against modern conveniences, completely with old-fashioned values and expectations. Lierra is upset when she finds that the planet is breaking away from those, and without even that anchor to hold onto, she escapes even more into her art. Generally speaking, she’s a strong woman, but it often feels like the emotions got glossed over. The events of the story unfold rather rapidly, and sometimes there are jumps in time so that what should have been meaningful interactions are told rather than shown. I kept waiting for deeper insight into her, but it just never came.

Lierra fares better than Forrest, though. I’m a sucker for a damaged artist archetype, but that’s really all he is in this. Ultimately, he lacks personality, and I failed to see the progression of his feelings for Lierra, primarily because of the aforementioned glossing of events. There was promise in the first third of the book, but really, once he started their lessons, things jumped quickly, with little depth to the time they spent together. This was where it should have gotten meaty and really made me fall in love with them, but instead, I got vignettes and time jumps and an awful lot of time spent with Trent, the fiancé. Too much time. The ending gets telegraphed from the second chapter, too, leaving no surprise about how it will all work out, and my final thought was, “Such a wasted opportunity.”

Readability	7/10 – Clean and unremarkable
Hero	5/10 – So much potential feels ultimately skimmed over
Heroine	6/10 – Stronger than the hero, but I lacked an emotional connection to her or her journey
Entertainment value	5/10 – I loved the idea, but in many ways this felt like an outline of a story rather than a full one
World building	6/10 – Some intriguing ideas that never really get explained or explored
TOTAL:	27/50

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

Angel 1089 by C.C. Bridges

TITLE: Angel 1089
AUTHOR: C.C. Bridges
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 62k)
GENRE: Gay futuristic erotic romance
COST: $5.50

Catching two demon burglars is routine for Gabriel 1089, who’s one cog in an army of cybernetically modified humans protecting the sky city of Heaven. Until two turns into a twenty-demon ambush. When he wakes up, he’s missing his network-enabled halo—and one of his metal wings.

The down-level junk dealer tending Gabe’s wounds has hands that spark nerve endings he never knew he possessed. But for an angel cut off from Heaven, an attic in Old Trent feels more like a trap than a sanctuary.

Demons on his doorstep are nothing new for Jeff Werth. Ever since they saved his daughter’s legs, they’ve been calling in their marker. In exchange for his services—nursing Gabe back to health so they can use him as a pawn in their war with Heaven—they’ll consider the debt paid in full. Except having a powerless angel at his mercy feeds a rising desire that has him rethinking the deal.

Then the de-haloed Gabe begins having dreams that become visions…then memories. Until he’s not sure whose side he’s on. Heaven, or the simple family man who healed his broken wings…and made his heart whole.

Note: This review was originally published at Three Dollar Bill Reviews.

The story starts out with a bang, with angel Gabriel 1089 answering a call of a warehouse being attacked by demons. A routine attack turns into an ambush, and he’s captured and taken downside, dropped in the lap of ex-hacker Jeff. Jeff owes a large debt to the demon who watches over the territory he lives in. He has no choice but to do as they say, removing the halo that connects Gabriel to the rest of the angels and keeping him in pseudo-custody until the demons tell him otherwise. Gabriel wakes up with one wing and cut off from everything he knew. He has no choice but to rely on Jeff and his daughter Kayla for survival, and slowly begins to integrate with Old Trent and its inhabitants. Not everything is as it seems, however, and soon enough, Jeff and Gabe learn more than is safe for them.

The author introduces the reader to a fascinating cyberpunk world, with a war happening between demons that roam the planet and the corporations that have taken over the skies. Heaven Corp. is at the top of the echelon with its army of angels to fight the demons, but those who are downside have to rely on what can get smuggled out to them and what they can scavenge in order to survive. Gabriel is a soldier with a single cause – to fight demons. When his halo gets stripped away from him, he’s literally cut off from everything he knows. All angels are plugged into Metatron and each other, and in turn to the God AI. He has to struggle to create a new identity while fighting to understand what exactly happened to him.

Crucial to this fight is ex-hacker Jeff. Jeff owes the demons a lot. When his daughter lost her legs at age five, they were responsible for getting her modded out with artificial limbs. She is the only family he has left, and he’s willing to do anything to protect her, even take in an ex-angel and lie to him about his involvement. He’s a tech genius, and the guilt he feels at hurting the angel manifests in trying to help the guy as much as he possibly can.

Though there’s a lot of potential with all of this, it never really came to life for me. My primary difficulty rested on the dense world-building. This dystopian future is drastically different, and thus, requires clear explanations or descriptions to be clear. It wasn’t. It started almost from the start as I struggled to come to grips with the hierarchy of everything. Using such iconographic terminology like angels and heaven means I’m coming into this with preset notions. If the story’s reality is different, then I need that clearly defined early on. It wasn’t, and because of that, I struggled connecting to any of the characters. I was too busy trying to get the world straight.

Part of that stems from the slow pacing. Though the opening chapter is swift and gripping, it quickly falls into a lull, shifting from the promise of thrills and drama to a slower, character-driven piece. It plods along as Gabriel and Jeff dance around each other, and Gabriel begins to learn what life is like in Old Trent. It would seem like the perfect opportunity for a better picture of the world to be painted, but it comes in drips and drabs, unsatisfying and unclear. The climax of the story picks up the pace again, mirroring the breathlessness of the opening chapter, but it’s too little, too late. It seemed to take forever to get to that point.

Because of my constant struggle to understand the world in which they lived, I never felt like I got a good grasp of the characters, both primary and secondary. Gabe is pretty much an empty shell to be filled, and while Jeff shows potential in his history, it’s glossed over throughout most of the story and only truly comes into play in the last quarter – again, too late to really do much good. The same holds true of the secondary characters. I could never keep Hank and Ian (friends of Jeff) straight, and until the last third (sensing a trend here?), the same held true for Ronnie and Mattie (more friends). Only Kayla, Jeff’s daughter, felt real and unique. With such a slew of personalities dotting the pages, that isn’t a great percentage.

One thing I did enjoy about this was how normal the relationship between Gabe and Jeff felt. Though a big deal is made of the BDSM relationship Hank and Ian have, there never felt like there was any sort of stigma on Gabe and Jeff’s budding romance. Their coming together felt both natural and inevitable, with little fanfare from anybody around them to make it seem so deviant. It was refreshing, even if I didn’t really invest in the romance by the end of the book.

This book marks the first of a series. While I did have some of my answers about the world resolved by the time I reached the end, I doubt I will continue onto the second book. I’m not sure this author is for me as the bulk of my reading time was spent trying to see the world she wanted me to. I lost out on the romance as a result. In such a dense world, that imbalance is enough to deter me from further explorations into an author’s work.

Readability	6/10 – Slow pacing and dense, incomplete world building really made this a slog
Hero #1	5/10 – A blank slate at the beginning, but I still didn’t feel like I knew him at the end
Hero #2	6/10 – More interesting than Gabe, but still not as fully fleshed as I thought he could have been
Entertainment value	5/10 – In spite of an intriguing premise and glimmers of story, I was too bogged by questions and slow pacing to enjoy it much
World building	7/10 – Some truly fascinating ideas going on, and while some of it gets adequately answered by story’s end, not enough of it does
TOTAL:	29/50

Trust in the Lawe by Stacey Joy Netzel

TITLE: Trust in the Lawe
AUTHOR: Stacey Joy Netzel
PUBLISHER: Wild Rose Press
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 98k)
GENRE: Contemporary romance
COST: $7.00

Kendra Zelner is on the run with her eight-year-old brother Noah. She only has to hide until her twenty-fifth birthday, when she gets her trust fund and can get full guardianship of Noah, away from the threatening influence of their half-brother. The one place she thinks they might be safe is at the ranch of the other half-brother she hadn’t even known she had until her mother’s death. On the way, she runs out of money and steals a man’s wallet from his car in a last ditch effort to make it to his front door. The man in question turns out to be her brother’s foreman, and Colton Lawe doesn’t believe a word that comes out of her mouth. Why should he? She stole his wallet and she’s obviously hiding something. When her brother allows her to stay, it’s Colton’s job to keep an eye on her and find out what is really going on…

This is one of those books that the whole is greater than its pieces. Taken apart, I shouldn’t have enjoyed this as much as I did. But it happens, even when I don’t expect it.

Twenty-four year-old Kendra Zelner is on the run with her eight-year-old brother Noah. Both of their parents are dead – their father when Noah was very young, their mother two years before the story’s start. Their older half-brother Robert is after them, and Kendra is determined to keep them safe until her birthday in a month when she gets her trust fund and can get full custody of Noah. She has no money, though. She can’t use her credit cards because Robert is tracing them, which leaves her few options. She decides to ask the half-brother she didn’t realize she had until her mother’s death for his help. She runs out of money in the town near his ranch and tries to steal a car to get there. In the glovebox, she finds a wallet, too, but the man she is robbing sees her from the window and comes out to stop her. She manages to get away with his wallet, only to discover that he works for her brother. Colton Lawe sees Kendra as a thief and doesn’t believe her story, but her brother clearly does, so Colton decides to just keep an eye on her until he can figure out what’s going on. He becomes her direct boss, and worse, ends up moving in the guesthouse with her. There’s definite chemistry between them, which surprises Kendra since she hasn’t been interested in any man since she was raped four years earlier. But she refuses to give in to it, and more, refuses to let Colton see her fail.

There are a lot of reasons why I shouldn’t like this story. Much of the conflict between Colton and Kendra stems from their stubborn insistence not to tell each other what is really going on in their lives. Each is keeping secrets, harboring guilt. Each is impulsive and quick to believe the worst, which ultimately means this book could have been a lot shorter if just one of them had chosen to be honest for a change. This translates into prickly banter between them, alternating with intense kisses and thoughtful moments when one of them lowers the wall for a split second. Yes, they’re all a lot of misunderstandings, but the pace is swift and the chemistry between them electric. I got swept up in spite of their frequent hardheadedness.

I also didn’t like Kendra at the start of the story. She’s a spoiled rich girl from New York and very self-centered (the only person she sees beyond herself for a long time is Noah). Her personal trauma doesn’t really do much to mitigate that, either. But she changes over the course of the story, growing from the sheltered upper class young woman into one that can take care of herself, facing down danger after danger. It got easier and easier to like Kendra, and better, to respect her. My one quibble – about both her and Colton – remained how stubborn both were about not telling the whole truth about what was going on. It would have easily shaved a third off the book.

But you know what? When I started reading the story, I could not put it down. I read past my usual bedtime, and every time I’d reach the end of a chapter, I’d glance at the clock and tell myself, “Just one more.” I didn’t stop until I reached the end. At four a.m. I got swept up in the story in spite of the issues I already mentioned (on top of the minor editorial problems, like confusing loose with lose, etc.). The ending was warm and welcome, and the passion electrifying even without being graphic. This is the second story by this author that I’ve enjoyed. While I haven’t been completely blown away, I’ve definitely been entertained both times. I’ll continue to keep my eye on her. Anyone who can make me not care about my personal peccadilloes and still finish a story satisfied with its romance deserves that.

Readability	8/10 – Minor editorial mistakes as well as formatting problems that make it seem like it’s headhopping were the only things to hold me back
Hero	7/10 – Impulsive and stubborn, but with a good heart
Heroine	7/10 – Spoiled at first, but grew on me
Entertainment value	8/10 – Considering I couldn’t stop reading, this one ends up being greater than its pieces
World building	8/10 – The ranch world is warm and real, but I kept expecting more from her other world in order for the contrast to be sharper
TOTAL:	38/50

The Sevenfold Spell by Tia Nevitt

TITLE: The Sevenfold Spell
AUTHOR: Tia Nevitt
PUBLISHER: Carina Press
LENGTH: Novella
GENRE: Fantasy erotic romance
COST: $2.69

Talia and her mother earn their living through spinning, but when a curse placed upon the princess drives the banning of all spinning wheels in the kingdom, their lives are irrevocably changed. Talia’s future becomes bleak when the man she’d expected to marry is ordered by his father to join the monastery. She decides to take her future into her own hands, but that means inviting speculation about her morality and breaking royal laws…

When I bought this last fall, it was because it promised to explore a minor (or nonexistent, since she’s not specifically mentioned) character in the popular fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. It’s not categorized as a romance or even erotic, but within a few pages from the start, it’s clear that’s what it is. This revelation didn’t bother me, because the more I read, the deeper I sank into the story.

Talia is a Plain Jane, complete with warts, and would have few prospects at finding a husband if she hadn’t already decided she’d take what she could get and befriended a farmer’s son at the market. Willard is as plain and awkward as she is, and she spends more time listening to him than really getting to know him, but still, they’ve decided they’re going to have each other regardless of their appearances. Then, all the spinning wheels in town are collected and destroyed, leaving Talia and her mother without the means to earn a living. Willard’s father, who was already not happy about Willard’s desire to marry Talia, orders him to join the monastery, and Willard isn’t strong enough to say no. With her only prospect leaving town, Talia makes the choice to get whatever future she can from him – a child. They become lovers for the time before Willard has to leave. Thus marks the beginning of the rest of Talia’s life.

It’s probably inevitable there will be some spoilers as I talk about this story. It’s not long, and it’s a very untraditional romance in a lot of ways. When Willard leaves, Talia throws caution to the wind and opts to find pleasure wherever she can. That means she has sex with a lot of men. Most of it isn’t detailed, but some readers might take issue with the fact that she does it. I didn’t. By that point, I loved Talia so much that I just didn’t care (though I doubted I would care anyway because I don’t hold most fictional characters to such puritanical standards).

This story proves that it’s not just the fairy tale princess that gets the happy ending. Talia’s life isn’t an easy one. She becomes the town pariah with her affairs, and she struggles with self-esteem issues. There are struggles over how she and her mother will survive, and her anxieties about her childlessness. Talia’s attitude toward marriage and children might aggravate readers looking for a contemporary heroine, and though she certainly exhibits modern sensibilities in her owning of her sexuality, this is most definitely set in a fairy tale world. In the context of this story, it made perfect sense, and in fact, endeared her to me even more. She is far from perfect, and she makes a lot of mistakes, but all of it succeeded in making her more realistic, and as a result, I fell head over heels for her. Since the story is told in 1^st person from her perspective, its success lies primarily with the reader being able to feel for Talia. I did. A lot.

The fairy tale as most people know it dances in and out of Talia’s tale until finally binding with it for the last third. I loved the ways they intersected, especially in how human so many reactions were to events out of the characters’ control. When I reached the end, I had a happy tear in my eye. That is not metaphorical. It filled me such strong feelings of hope and satisfaction that I promptly went back to page one and read it all over again. Fairy tales have evolved into lessons for children, offering the happy ending as the reward for doing good or resolving the conflict. This is the grown-up’s version. It embraces all sides of what makes us human, warts and all, and provides just as much of an fantastic escape as any of the classics did when I was a child.

This is the first of a series for the author, though it’s the only one currently available. When more show up, I’ll be first in line to get them.

Readability	9/10 – Though not what I was expecting, I devoured this
Hero	5/10 – He’s absent for a good portion of the book, but what we got of him, I thought was both sweet and promising
Heroine	9/10 – Loved, loved, loved her. I might not have agreed with some of her decisions (and is probably the only reason this isn’t perfect) but I understood what motivated most of them
Entertainment value	9/10 – Ended this with a happy tear in my eye, like the best kind of fairy tales can do
World building	7/10 – The fantasy milieu of the fairy tale realm was credible, but I often had questions about the set-up for Talia and her town throughout the first 2/3’s of the story
TOTAL:	39/50

Blood Lust by assorted authors

TITLE: Blood Lust
AUTHORS: J.P Bowie, Amber Green, & L. Picaro
PUBLISHER: MLR
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 62k)
GENRE: Paranormal gay erotic romance
COST: $6.99

A collection of three erotic paranormal novellas, each about a gay romance with a vampire involved…

I bought this anthology in August 2009, but then buried it in my TBR pile because I’d decided J.P. Bowie’s voice was just not for me after reading other works by him. When scanning through my pile recently, I decided to give it another chance, since I fully understand readers and reading tastes can change over time and because I’ve seen other readers extol Bowie’s work in that time period. After reading this anthology, however, I probably should have shelved it permanently.

The anthology starts out with Amber Green’s “More Than Memories.” This is the story of a ghost named Dick who manages to survive by feeding on other people’s memories. He’s attached to a young nerdy man in a museum named Harry, tormenting him by feeding him memories of lewd acts that drive Harry closer and closer to experimenting with his sexuality. Of the three stories, this was the one I had the highest hopes for, as I’ve had the best luck with this author in the past. While it is definitely the most original – with the most creative interpretation of the anthology’s theme – and Green’s voice my favorite by far, Dick’s 1^st person perspective makes it incredibly confusing to follow. It’s difficult to tell what is the present – and when the present actually is – and what is Dick’s past, as well as what memories are Dick’s and which are ones he’s stolen to survive. There are glimmers of a smooth story, when the tale sticks long enough in a single scene to add some well needed coherency to its flow, but not nearly enough to compensate for often perplexing narration.

Next comes “Vampire Dreams” by J.P. Bowie. Edward is an author struggling through his latest assignment, a story about a vampire for a publication named Gayfantasia. Unhappy with what he’s done, he goes for a walk to help clear his head and perhaps find some focus. Instead, he runs into David, a gorgeous Scot who goes home with him. When Edward wakes up the next morning, he’s convinced he had the best erotic dreams ever, but even better, he’s figured out what’s needed to fix his story. But then he meets David again, and realizes none of it was a dream. Though I’ve confirmed his authorial voice doesn’t work for me – I find Bowie a tad too saccharine and idealized for my tastes – his story is by far the most accessible of the three. It’s complete with its romantic flow, and leaves the fewest number of questions unanswered about its particular world. There’s little original about it, however, so it’s a trade-off. When the other two stories in the anthology are this unsatisfying, it was probably a worthwhile one.

Finishing up the anthology is “Blood Lust” by L. Picaro. Set in a futuristic society, Noah is out with his friend Anne when she disappears on him. He’s convinced she’s been attacked or kidnapped by vampires, and becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to her. His search leads him into the path of Russian vampire, Adrian Staritsky, who is in the middle of his own search. They decide to join forces, but other vampires within the city have different ideas for them. This was yet another story where the authorial voice did nothing for me. My primary problems with it rest with word choices, like comparing an anus’s response to a flower opening in the sun. Little thought is given to explaining the world in which this is set, either, though at the story’s end I wondered if its cliffhanger ending meant that it was a prequel to another work. If it is, it completely failed to interest or attract me as a reader, because it left me bewildered and very dissatisfied with its conclusion. Some readers would probably appreciate being warned that this story also has multiple erotic scenes that include both het and lesbian sex. Since some m/m readers would prefer to avoid those, it merits mentioning.

Probably the only thing reading this anthology did for me was confirm I’m not a fan of Bowie’s voice. I’m glad I gave him another chance, though.

Readability	7/10 – Mostly clean, but two of the stories suffer from inadequate exposition
Romance	6/10 – Only the second comes anywhere close to delivering
Characterization	6/10 – Problems with each of them leaves a lot of the characters a tad flat, though not always uninteresting
Entertainment value	3/10 – Really not my cup of tea
World building	6/10 – Attempts are made to make two of these unique, but lack of expositional detail and muddied execution means they are only tries, not achievements
TOTAL:	28/50

Taken to the Limit by Nico Rosso

TITLE: Taken to the Limit
AUTHOR: Nico Rosso
PUBLISHER: Liquid Silver Books
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 35k)
GENRE: Sci-fi romance
COST: $5.50

Dr. Korina Antonakis is on shift in the ER when a fire erupts. While everybody else runs, she rushes forward to fight it, only to be confronted by two men who appear out of nowhere. Sergeant Morrow demands she give the man with him medical attention, but before she can do much, they are attacked. Morrow and Korina barely escape with their lives. He tells her they are Dusk Warriors, bent on taking over the planet and destroying it, just like they’ve destroyed so many others before Earth. Morrow is a Nightfighter, an elite group of soldiers pledged to destroy the Dusk in the Limit War, and Korina is like no other woman he’s met before…

I’m always curious to read romances written by men, to see if they approach it differently or to appreciate a different style. While this one didn’t work for me, I would bet with a better editor and no romance, this author would be more my cup of tea.

The story begins in the ER, with Dr. Korina Antonakis working with an attentive intern. Someone screams, “Fire!” and everybody scatters. Everybody, that is, but Korina, who rushes to put it out. She’s confronted by two men who appear out of nowhere, both huge and covered in body armor. One is clearly wounded, and when his partner demands she treat him, she complies. Her ministrations are short-lived, however, when they are attacked. Morrow, the unhurt soldier, protects Korina while he and his partner work to stave off the aliens. Their ultimate escape means his partner’s sacrifice, and Korina finds herself in the middle of an intergalactic war, with creatures called the Dusk Warriors attempting to take over Earth for their own consumption. Morrow is part of an elite force called the Nightfighters who are attempting to stop them. Now, he’s added Korina to the list of who/what he is fighting for.

The world-building and bare bones of the plot are by far its strongest aspects. The tech is detailed well without ever being heavy-handed, and the construction of the aliens and their motivations – while hardly innovative – interesting enough to give the world depth and the action momentum. If this was just a sci-fi story, it would probably work much better, but unfortunately, it’s held back by an instant love/psychic connection between Korina and Morrow that never feels organic, and is in fact so rushed that I wondered if I’d missed parts of the book.

None of this is helped by the fact that the book needed stronger editing. Problems start early on, with loose POV – it’s not headhopping, but there are numerous times where perspective becomes loose enough that the other character’s motivations/thoughts get detailed within the prose – and verb tense issues. Occasional instances of present tense that don’t flow within the construct of the story feel like an attempt to gain immediacy to the action, and it really doesn’t need it. The author’s terse style – very short sentences stacked on top of each other – does that already. Spelling mistakes abound, too. For instance, I’m sure the author meant Morrow had looked at aerial photographs, not arial photographs. Some readers won’t notice these mistakes, but for me, they’re a problem as they stick out from the text as I’m reading. It breaks my flow and concentration, and makes it harder to get back into it.

In this case, there were just too many for that to happen after the fourth chapter. I finished the last half of the book very detached from what was going on. And when I’m reading a romance, detached is the last thing I want to be.

Readability	6/10 – Editorial problems and too much of a terse style pulled this down
Hero	6/10 – Strong and devoted
Heroine	7/10 – Surprisingly strong and independent
Entertainment value	4/10 – While I really liked the potential of the plot, the instant love and editorial issues pulled me out of the story
World building	8/10 – By far the strongest aspect of the book
TOTAL:	31/50

Tempting Alibi by Savannah Stuart

TITLE: Tempting Alibi
AUTHOR: Savannah Stuart
PUBLISHER: Ellora’s Cave
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 19k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: $4.45

Michaela has had the hots for her new neighbor ever since he moved in seven months ago, but she hasn’t said a word to him since welcoming him to the neighborhood. An ex-Marine, Scott now runs his own auto shop and keeps getting a lot of negative attention from the town’s sheriff. When the sheriff shows up and demands Scott provide an alibi for the night before, Michaela – who happens to be there dropping off her car – gives him one. It breaks the ice for Scott and Michaela, but will their disparate backgrounds keep them casual, or do they stand a chance at making it last?

I don’t have high expectations for short contemporaries from Ellora’s Cave. They have a very singular purpose, so I go into the read keeping that in the forefront of my mind. Sometimes, I get pleasantly surprised, while others don’t manage to attain what it sets out to be.

This story falls into the latter category. It’s the story of Michaela and Scott, their mutual attraction, and the quick development of their romance. Michaela is from a wealthy family in town, well-educated with good connections, while Scott grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, enlisted in the Marines as soon as he graduated, and now owns an auto shop. They’re new neighbors, and each has been harboring a crush on the other the entire time without ever speaking after their initial meeting. When the sheriff shows up at Scott’s shop demanding an alibi, Michaela leaps to his defense, which opens up the door to them interacting on a more personal level. That means sex primarily, since Scott’s not really a talker and Michaela seems mostly interested in getting into his pants.

Heat is what drives most of these short contemporaries, but unfortunately, I didn’t feel it in this. The best word I can think of to describe the author’s voice is inoffensive. There’s nothing really wrong with it, but it’s so simple and unassuming that I got bored. Especially since she’s a mild headhopper, too. It might have been helped if I’d cared for either of the two main characters, and though I tried, I just couldn’t. Scott lacks any kind of personality, though again, there’s nothing really wrong with him, while I thought Michaela came across as a prig. When considering how swiftly things get physical with Scott, she thinks, Normally she dated a man for months before thinking about sleeping with him. And even then, she usually got too bored with them before taking that next step. Someone who doesn't even think about having sex for months when dating someone just comes across as uptight to me, an impression that got reinforced throughout the story. There are mild BDSM elements to their sex – she keeps commenting on how commanding Scott is, while he realizes Michaela likes it a little rough – but because of those early impressions of Michaela, they always felt like window dressing, not organic at all to the kind of woman she is. I suppose the argument could be made that she’s coming out of her shell, that Scott does this for her, but that’s an intellectual rationalization made after I’d already finished the story and sat thinking about why it didn’t work for me. I just couldn’t relate to Michaela at all.

So without being able to connect emotionally to either lead and having an author’s voice that is just a little too bland for me, this one was a miss.

Readability	7/10 – Mostly inoffensive w/mild headhopping
Hero	5/10 – Lacks personality, though there isn’t anything offensive about him
Heroine	4/10 – I thought her a big of a prig for much of the story and couldn’t relate to her at all
Entertainment value	4/10 – Without being able to connect emotionally to either lead, I was left relying on the hot factor, and the author’s voice is just too bland for me
World building	4/10 – It’s a short contemporary that starts out good but then disintegrates in favor of the sex
TOTAL:	24/50