Sometimes an idea never gets old; something about it just really clicks with you. That's what made me pick up Christine d'Abo's Double Shot, the first book in the Long Shots series from Carrina Press. You know right away from the cover, and the title, that you've got one girl and two guys in this story and that is always an interesting combination.

Sadie Long's family owns a coffee shop, aptly named Pulled Long Espresso Bar, and they are trying to drum up business. She gets a surprise when her good friend Paul invites her to cater a party for the club he works for. Sadie has had her eye on Paul for a good long time but all he sees in her is a friend. Maybe catering the party at Mavericks, which just happens to be a sex club, will get Paul to see her in a different light.

What Sadie doesn't expect is to finally get to meet Josh, the sexier than sexy owner of the club. A chance meeting of the three of them in Josh's office sends the mercury in her thermometer screaming up the scale leaving her wondering just what happened at Mavericks and whether or not it might include the possibility of a bed made for three.

Josh has had about enough of Paul singing the praises of wonderful Sadie Long, but when he finds the two of them in an intimate conversation in his office, well, it becomes amazingly clear that Paul was not overstating her charm in the least. Not one to pass up any sexual opportunity, Josh tests the waters and finds that Sadie's one hot woman and he'll do all he can to see that Paul gets his girl – even if it means giving them a little help.

So you see folks, there is a little twist to this review. I'm not going to reveal what dear Paul has on his mind. Go get yourself a copy of the book and you will get all the details on the very interesting proposal he has for Sadie that involves a blue corset, black fishnet stockings and a delicious cake named "Boobs."

This was a fun story with emotional characters that you can believe in. The addition of Sadie's brother and sister hint at the next two books in the trilogy and I must say that if Sadie's brother Ian is half as fun in his own book as he is in Double Shot, well, Ms. d'Abo will have a place on my bookshelf for life.

For those who want to know, this is a boy-girl-boy sexual adventure. It's hot enough to make you turn the pages really quickly but not raunchy in any way. There is some mention of bondage, fetishes and all that, but that is due mostly to the location being set in a sex club.

Definitely pick up this book if you like coffee shops, shapely cakes and a walk on the naughty side with two gorgeous men and one very lucky woman.
 
Reviewed By Shawn Marie Mann
© November 2011

I have to confess that sometimes the initial draw to a book is something as simple as the title. That was the case when I saw Koko Brown's Nerds are Freaks Too. I have a soft spot for nerds and geeks and all those overly intellectual kinda guys, so I snapped this book up immediately.

Know what? I can honestly say I had more fun reading Nerds are Freaks Too than any other book in 2011. It was amazingly entertaining and I read it all in one sitting.

The story opens with a conversation between Roxanne and Leo concerning her decidedly vanilla sex life and how she feels the need to spice it up a bit. From the first moment we know Leo is a hottie, a bit geeky, but still definitely drool-worthy material, so when he offers up his services I sat shaking my head at her refusal. Doesn't she know the geeky guys usually have something going on? Heck, they spend all that time reading and practicing...

Unfortunately for Roxanne she seems immune to Leo's charms and begins a quest to find someone to fan her flames on WhipADate.com. Inexperienced Roxanne is too vanilla to even know how to fill out her profile. (Hair pulling? Why would she want someone to pull her hair?)

Enter Leo, the ever helpful best friend, who gives her a taste of what she might be waiting for – but only a little taste. Enough for me to being saying, "Hey, this is THE guy!" But Roxanne didn't listen to me.

What follows is a cat and mouse game between Roxanne, Leo and a wonderfully erotic mystery man named Constantine. Super hot conversation, delicious one-liners and a supporting cast that will make you laugh you head off follow in this one-of-a-kind, made-to-be-enjoyed story.

Koko Brown delivers a tight, hot and tempting book with a leading man I'd love to have a run in with myself. Oh you know, dark curls, beautiful blue eyes... and other endowments I can't mention here in this very family oriented review. What woman would not be swooning for Leo – well, and then there is Constantine. Yep. This book has it all.

Nerds are Freaks too earns my first full ten rating for Novelspot in years and it deserves that and much more on the fun rating. I've been waiting for this kind of book for a long time and thank you Koko Brown for delivering.

Readers - go out and get this one now... right now.

Reviewed By Shawn Marie Mann
© October 2011

First off Dyads in Dyad Love are not Fairies so nix that image of wings, pixies, and twinkling little dust from Peter Pan. I am sure you have seen some people who seem impossibly beautiful on covers of a magazine. Even better in person, someone who quite honestly takes your breath away just walking in a room. People like that throughout history have always attracted accolades and eyes for the time their beauty stayed with them, till it faded or, perhaps with some, a very rare few, never did. You could say these would be like the Dyad if there was such a race of beings (but then, I would never say never). As a race they never number more than one thousand which puts them slightly below the Bengal Tigers in the world (one thousand four hundred).

So you take what is a young woman made crippled by accident and now cured, who falls in love with a Dyad. Thing is, will this nine hundred year old Dyad love her? Still when the madness comes and there is no one else to help him, she choses to mate with him. Then the story that follows is anything but the “morning after regret.” Because it turns out there is an army of mercenaries after their race, a mad scientist, and others who want to destroy them out of revenge. Dyad Love has a lot of offer, maybe a bit too much.

I enjoyed the story, but in many ways it tried to be too many stories in one book. It is rare to find a writer that can handle the monumental task of developing a race of beings with culture, language, social behaviors and much more, plus politics. Then forbidden romance between the two races, a well developed enemy and their stories (why they became the way they did), and the fractions in the council of Dyads over contacts with humans and what humans are doing to the Earth.

If I were the editor, I would have suggested to Ann Hinnenkamp that she focus on which group she wanted to be the engine of the story, much as Hogworts is the engine for Harry Potter, with well defined main characters. Secondary characters are also well developed but in such a way they fit in the story flow and not seemingly out of place. Her book needs some re-arranging to become a fine saga of Dyad Dynasty telling. I enjoyed it, just wish it was better arranged. I do admit I want to see more of this Dyad series, if only because I have been made most curious about her take on the culture of these people. Keep writing Anne, you can only get better.

Reviewed By; Nancy Louise
© October, 2011

Sometimes you don’t have enough time to read a full-blown book. Sometimes you just have a few minutes on the train, while waiting in someone’s office or before you need to head to bed. Books like Bad Boys on Board were made for just those types of moments. A trilogy of erotic shorts, Bad Boys on Board gives you three juicy little stories that you can fit into those nearly forgotten moments.

The first short, My House, My Rules is a delightful little piece by Lori Foster. We meet Sam Watson and Ariel Mathers, two people who have known each other for quite some time but who get to know each other much better as this story plays out. Sam Watson is by far the best-written character in Bad Boys on Board. You’ll wish you could have a crack at him yourself. Trust me.

The middle treat is Going Down by Donna Kauffman. Of the three stories, this was definitely my favorite since it has a bit of a Cinderella fantasy going in it. A saucy little secretary, Callie Montgomery, has a chance to make it with Prince Charming – otherwise known as Dominic Coulbourne. I have a soft spot for British men and Ms. Kauffman plays out the fantasy for me in this juicy little play by play. It has a happy ending, folks, which I happen to be a sucker for.

Last up in the threesome is A Fast Ride by Nancy Warren. My least favorite of the three stories, I found this short to be far-fetched and kind of creepy. Nell Tennant and a motorcycle man with amnesia take center stage in this very edgy piece. A lot of deception and some just plain strange goings on made this story not to my liking. It might be just the right thing for you though.

All in all Bad Boys on Board is exactly what you would expect from an erotic threesome of modern short stories. It doesn’t excel in any way, but it doesn’t really disappoint either so I would say if you are looking for some fast action and a variety of men, take Bad Boys on Board for a ride.

Reviewed By Sabine Maurier
© October 2010

I have never so much a put a toe of mine in the island sands of Hawaii but after reading this short intense story, I feel as if I did indeed take a vacation there and back. Veronica Wilde did catch well the feel of the tropics. I have been in the tropics so I can validate what that feels like. How it intensifies smells and feelings all around as well as the ever-present heat.

Hawaii Moon about a former foster girl trying to make good in a world she only known to be as harsh and gray as New York City. Self-reliant, she is thrown off guard by the intense interlocking relations between people, myths, nature, and the invisible powers of mana or spirit of Hawaii. What is more, she gets caught up in the paranormal ghost, spirits, curses, and Pele the volcano goddess herself, whom she once scorned. Will this woman become unhinged, or reborn?

Read Hawaii Moon and take the journey for yourself. Loads of sex everywhere in every position imaginable (at least to me!), some bondage even, and yes, a real story in this, too.

Reviewed By Nancy Louise
© January 2010

Take a sexy as all get out female spy who wears sharp heeled shoes, is very deadly with any weapon and her hands, and not a slouch in the brain department either. Then add the guy who is a brilliant former football scientist with integrity, a nosy family that want grandkids, Black Ops, stolen classified high tech plans that could kill people, kidnapping, and enough sex to rival The Joy Of Sex book on ideas, and you have The Spy Who Wants Me .

Elle Gray and Dr. Beau Ruston can barely control lust from when they first lay eyes on one another. Both are telling lies to do their job, and finally give in to lust, lots of lust. Assuring one another, "It's just sex" between two gun shy folks here. Then there is sex between Elle Gray's brother and his paramour from ten years ago.

Now a book with so much going on can work. Unfortunately in this one, I found myself distracted and tired while reading it, keeping track of all the things and divergent paths the story was taking. The characters were in some ways too pat perfect and flat for me to relate to. The best scenes were when Elle Gray was relating to her blusterous nosy family. That brought out the most touchable side of Elle Gray. Dr. Beau Ruston tended to come off as a horny Apollo hunk of a man, and while everyone talked about his brilliance, I did not see any evidence of it – unless his ability in bed was to show that?

The book would have been better if there was more focus on just the erotic, or just the spy thriller. The two together were fighting each other for attention of the reader. Adding a third set of characters and their developing relationship also got in the way. Her brother Max was good to show Elle's humorous human side, and Max's paramour Chantal was the focus for a threat. But delving in detail into Max's and Chantal's developing romance as well was really a distraction and should have a story of its own.

All in all, The Spy Who Wants Me could have been a really good book, but with too much going on and not enough support to handle it all, it kind of fell apart for me.

Reviewed By Nancy Louise
© January 2009

I love a quickie as much as the next girl, so I’m constantly on the prowl for some hard, fast erotica to fill the time before bed. Rhian Cahill’s new story, One Night in Bankok definitely fits the bill.

Beth Martin has just gotten out of a bad relationship and is in the process of moving to a new job in a new country. She doesn’t realize how much she had tamed her true self while engaged to Alexander, but now she knew it was time to come out of her shell and be herself again.

When a dark, sexy man sends her a drink, Beth finds herself quickly thrust back into the game of boy-meets-girl. Though when Tom sits down at her table, she realizes this is no boy, this is a man. A hot-blooded, melt your panties and take you on the kitchen table kind of man.

After all the time she’d spent being Alexander’s plaything, could she really do this? Could she throw her cares aside for a one-night stand with a man this forward, this hot, this desirable, this wanting? Of course she could!

Rhian Cahill has crafted a genuinely enjoyable erotic quickie. There isn’t much here in the way of plot, but then again, there really isn’t supposed to be. What you will find is hot, sweaty action between a man and woman who have only one night together and want to make the most of it.

If you enjoy hard, fast, uncomplicated erotic stories, you will enjoy One Night in Bankok. 
 

Reviewed By Sabine Maurier
© April 2009

When I was a child, my cousins and I used to pretend we were gypsies, dressing up in bright clothes and travelling to unknown lands. When I come across a book with gypsies now, I almost always pick it up to reminiscence about those times so I was quite glad I came across this one.

A Gypsy’s Vow is author Bonnie Dee’s newest historical romance. She is a talented author who has releases out in multiple genres. I have had the opportunity to read several of her works and didn’t want to pass this one up.

Twenty-three year old Bess Andrews is the innkeeper’s daughter, practically a spinster for her time period. She has been managing the Thorn and Thistle Inn and taking care of her drunken father since her mother passed away five years ago. Bess is proposed to by Lord Wallace. Normally one would be thrilled to be able to raise their social status and procure a more stable position in society, but she knows he is only interested in the successful inn’s income.

Soon she meets handsome Alexi Cosmescu, a self-assured gypsy passing through town. At first, she is shy and cautious, but soon warms to his charms. She longs to see the world as he does, but is frightened to leave behind what is familiar. She is unprepared at the powerful connection that she and Alexi share so quickly. Bess will have to start making choices quickly, either giving up what she has known for a chance at love, or denying happiness and doing what is expected.

What I was expecting was a note-worthy read for the story length, labeled as a quick read. A Gypsy’s Vow went several steps beyond, surprising me with how well things came together in only that amount of pages. I do wish the story would have been a bit longer because I was quite enjoying it. The characters are so likable. The tension between the hero and heroine, along with the decisions they must make had me anticipating the outcome.

The story held my attention until the very end. I am unsure if I enjoyed reading about Bess’s personal growth, the alluring Alexi, or their whirlwind romance the most. A Gypsy’s Vow is definitely worth taking the time to read.

Reviewed By Pam
© June 2009

"Urban fantasy" has developed into a popular subgenre, one in which traditional mythic monsters (and heroes) are given natural origins and a mix of extra strengths and weaknesses. Savage Retribution, by Lexxie Couper, is an urban fantasy, with werewolves establishing themselves in modern Australia.
Couper stays fairly close to folklore with her werewolves showing heightened agility, strength and the ability to heal quickly. Her werewolves are not the result of being bitten by a mad, isolated individual. They are a separate subspecies, kissing cousins of Homo sapiens, attracted to, and able to interbreed with, humans. Couper emphasizes the duel nature, as well as form, of werewolves. Like wolves, they live in hierarchical groups dominated by an Alpha Wolf.
Regan, animal activist by night, animal physiotherapist by day, breaks into the Epoc Industries' Scientific Division to release laboratory animals. In a very powerfully written first chapter, she realizes that most of the animals in the lab are too damaged to rescue. She starts with a German Shepherd, using bolt cutters to open the cage. The dog is in great pain, and she injects it with a powerful anesthetic. Despite what the dog has suffered, it is still willing to trust her and gives a feeble wag of its tail.
She moves on to the wolf in the corner - the largest wolf she's ever seen, with silver eyes. The bolts are considerably harder to cut. She's half way through releasing the animal when three guards come in.
They have no intention of calling the police and having her arrested. They intend to rape then kill her. She fights back but is pinned down. The German Shepherd attacks the men and is shot; the wolf breaks out of his weakened cage. Reagan uses the distraction provided by the animals to get out of the lab.
She's followed by guards but the wolf shows himself and the guards follow the wolf. Reagan gets home and is puzzled by the wolf's behavior. Wolves do not altruistically show themselves to save a human being.
The next morning, when she wakes up, she finds the wolf asleep on her sofa. He seems remarkably recovered. She's stroking the wolf, puzzled by physical anomalies in the wolf's skeleton, when the wolf changes into a man. She's considerably more frightened by the naked man than the wolf. The hero then reacts as one would expect a naked male being stroked by a female to react and Reagan again narrowly escapes rape. Dual attraction, mutual misunderstanding and an escape that is a kidnapping (her view) or saving the damned woman from a fate she does not understand (his) take up the rest of the book.
This is a book with a sense of humor, strong characterization and some good supporting characters, especially Regan's brother, a policeman with a new, dodgy female partner. Everyone trusts the person they shouldn't and the whole thing is great fun.
If you like Kelley Armstrong, Patricia Briggs and Carrie Vaughn, with their new take on werewolves, Savage Retribution is something to add to your library.

Reviewed by Wenonah Lyon
© March 2009

It seems my schedule just keeps getting busier and busier, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still want to escape with a good book now and then. You know, one of those hot little numbers you can fit in at lunch or just before bedtime? When Kyann Waters’ novella Emerald: Eternal Rapture came my way, I raised my hands in thanks and settled in at my computer for a little diversion.

With her job as an Egyptian artifact appraiser, Selene Farrel had made her share of trips to odd places to view strange things, but the golden phallus she found in Anthony Mager’s collection was a first. Tipped with an exquisite emerald, she couldn’t believe that she actually held in her hands an ancient Egyptian sex toy.

She knew he was watching her as she moved her hands along the golden shaft. It was so hard to concentrate on evaluating the piece when her mind was telling her to turn away from the artifact and begin to handle her host instead! They had never met before, but it was as if she just knew sex between them would be explosive. With her hormones in a bunch, how could she ever concentrate enough to make her appraisal as her contract stipulated? And how could she ever leave this intoxicating man behind without knowing if her instincts were right about their chemistry?

Anthony Mager watched Selene closely as she handled the phallus. Would she remember now? Tomorrow? The next day? He knew that eventually her mind would remember their past together and she would again open herself to him as she had over the centuries. He hoped it was sooner rather than later. Even another hour of this torture was more than he could stand.

It’d been a long time since they last met, over a hundred years. He hated the fact that as he lived on year after year, she must die and be reborn again and again to be with him. Those years of searching left him empty and wanting, and yet here she was, so close he could smell her skin and sense her arousal. Each time it was so hard to let her mind remember instead of taking her immediately. Each time he wondered if he could last. Would this be the time he took her too soon and scared her away? Or would she remember quickly their shared intimacies and turn to him ripe and ready to begin where they had left off all those years ago?

Kyann Waters’ Eternal Rapture is a hot little number that will keep you turning pages not because of its creative story, but because there is just so much dirty fun to be read on nearly every page. In truth, the characters are unbelievable and the story is predictable, but I don’t think you’ll mind too much since the bedroom scenes are frequent and fiery. Sometimes we all want an erotic piece with all action and little substance, just to keep the juices flowing. If that is what you are looking for then Emerald: Eternal Rapture is the story for you.
 
Reviewed By Sabine Maurier
© April 2009

If your underwear flies through the air, you can figure you've got one of three things going on:

1. Way too good of a time last night.
2. Someone that is mad is throwing you your laundry.
3. You have a naughty ghost.

If you guess the story is about the first two, you need to expand your imagination. It is door number three. My Favorite Phantom is about a ghost who throws undies, drops ectoplasm (aka ghost snot) all over, and not in small amounts either, makes it freezing cold on the hottest summer day, and…well, you get the idea. There is Professor Cache who brought this house, who is having a party for the group of people deciding who gets a grant. A ghost popping up dropping undies or slime would not be a good impression. So he hires "Ghost Be Gone."

Only instead of getting the old man he heard on the phone, sexy Kaci Melton shows up. She is part actress, part mechanic, and her secret is that she is terrified of ghosts when her dad is not there. Normally her dad, (the old man) would handle this end of the business, except he has a little problem. He owes money to someone who makes a habit of causing those who don't pay to disappear. So dad is out of state, Kaci is terrified of the ghost, and the professor has a problem with pretty girls--he likes them too much. Of course, there is also the ghost.

In a short time you have decided My Favorite Phantom is part comedy of errors, with a ghost buster-type girl, two people trying to avoid each other (classic romantic sexual tension builder) who end up romping in bed, while trying to zap a ghost and keep secrets from each other, while both of them have other people spying / looking for them for different reasons.

This story was able to put the erotic actions in a way that did not disrupt the story too much, just enough that it felt a bit outside of the story line. It did not seem plausible to me that two sexy looking folks could jump in bed so fast. I was willing to suspend disbelief to some extent. The major problem was that the title has My Favorite Phantom and yet, the phantom was really more of a backdrop than center of the story. I picked up this book expecting more of a paranormal with a bit of erotica than the other way around. If the ghost had, by its behavior, caused the two to come together, that would have been a more satisfying read for me.

Other than that however, the story is a cute R-17 read. My Favorite Phantom is a one on one male and female, no gory violence, and no harm to ghost.
 
Reviewed By Nancy Louise
© January 2009

Robin Hood took from the rich and gave to the poor. He was the poor man's hero. At the risk of sounding "precious," I have to say that there's something special about the altruistic hero who puts himself in jeopardy for the greater good. Most men may have dreams of being Robin Hood, but when it comes down to it, people--especially
thieving ones--tend to line their own pockets. But then, if you look closer at the Robin Hood legend, you realize that Robin of Loxley had more than goodness on his mind. He was also thinking of revenge. We tend to forget that part.

Like Robin Hood, Marc Gossnor has more than goodness on his mind. But because of the first scene of Lily's Surrender, we are armed to forgive him forever. Picture this: the scene is a store. An eleven year old girl--pretty but poor and probably ragged--is wandering the candy aisle. She picks up a package of candy, and breathes in the scent, savoring it as much as one can without actually opening the cellophane. She can't afford it, she's not stealing it, but her actions draw the attention of Junior, one of store owner's smug sons. Junior focuses his bullying attentions on this poor girl--our heroine Lily--and succeeds in terrifying her. But instead of Lily being humiliated, or being dragged out of the store or worse, a boy stands up for her. This boy, this young Robin Hood in training, is our hero
Marc, and not only does he vanquish the villain and rescue the fair maiden, he absconds with the candy which he presents to her. Hence...Robin Hood.

Along with Lily, Liz Andrews and Lena Matthews hooked me in the heart in the first scene of Lily's Surrender. There's not much that is more poignant than a poor vulnerable child rescued by a bad boy hero-in-training-wheels with a heart of gold. Stepping directly from that sympathetic childhood into Lily's adulthood as she welcomes Marc back to town, and back to her life, I could not help but be interested in learning how their relationship develops. Marc is justifiably out for revenge against opponents who deserve some kind of consequences. We anticipate that Marc's need for revenge is going to interfere with his possibility of a happy ending.

If I had an objection, it might be that after I was finished reading, I felt I had been waiting for another shoe to drop, and it never did. However, this is an enjoyable book with substantial chemistry between very sympathetic characters. Yes, Marc is dominant, and Lily is a closet submissive. Lily's Surrender will definitely appeal to readers of BDSM romances.

Maîtresse
Copyright 2006

Reese Gabriel is one of the more responsible D/s authors who manages to come up with an unapologetic Dom who does everything but rape his heroine, while managing to read her mind at every turn as well as give her a safe word. (If only real partners were so insightful.) When you have characters as caught up in chemistry as hers, it is inevitable that they read each others’ signs on some level not available to people not in the loop. However, in this particular story, Scorching Sammie, most of the folks in town seem to be in the loop.

It all begins because Octave Development Corporation is out to open up a resort in a small Florida community, sending up and coming Sammie/Samantha/Red to work on the project in the distant Everglades, far from her NYC stomping ground. The highlight of her arrival in the boonies is not old-timer Toby running off with her designer luggage, being misrouted to the town's abandoned airstrip or being met by "Skeeter." It's the instant animosity/attraction to Sheriff Bill Donovan, whose abrasive attractiveness--not to mention shiny silver handcuffs--sends her mind into a realm of fantasy overload not recommended for people whose real intent is to make business deals. Instead of handling him as a normal entity, she relates to him as the long lost Dom she never had, and in their interactions sounds more like a vexing adolescent than a businesswoman.

But the tension does not actually kick into gear until she finds a snake in her hotel bathroom, and turns to calling 911 for help. The white knight they send is, of course, the toothsome and Dominant Sheriff Donovan who shows up to wrangle the snake, while she's still shaking with snake-terror, wearing nothing but water and a soggy hotel comforter.

The tension between Bill and Red is not the only conflict. Bill wants to keep the town the way it is--and protect the environment. The town needs an infusion of cash to keep it going and Octave Development Corporation wants to play a little game of engulf and devour. It all comes to a head with the arrival of Kyle Lenning, as smarmy a character as you would ever like to see run out of town on a rail.

Reese Gabriel is busy at her loom again, weaving a cat-dog tapestry. If there's a criticism, it is that the chemistry in Gabriel's stories is always accelerated and this one is no exception; typical Gabriel fare, in fact, with the characters spending a large proportion of the story engaged in horizontal activities, without missing a beat of repartee. The writing here is strong enough to support a real story, but in lieu of that, there is still a lot of chemistry. If bossy aggressive Doms with hearts of gold--and who can't take no for an answer--turn your page, then Scorching Sammie is positively screaming to sit on your shelf. Just don't expect it to sit quietly.

Reviewed by Maîtresse
© Nov 2008

What can I say? I am a sucker for women in strong roles, because then I can pretend it is me having all that fun. Nothing is more romantic and seductive than a woman appearing to be all of 'the weaker' sex only to find she can kick-box you into China's next week.

In Mechanical Rose there is much of machinery written here including the mechanics of sex. Two misfit characters are thrown into a conflict of values. The heroine, Rose, must persuade this absent minded, though brilliant inventor, to cease his creation, or kill him. She's done it before, many times, and as painless as possible. That's the plan until she starts to fall in love with him. Once that happens, her carefully crafted world of lies starts to fall like so many beer-soaked playing cards.

Rose also has a corset that has more weapons hidden in it than a Samurai warrior could dream of. She lives in a society of Victorian dress, turn of the century mechanics, and a world on the brink of ecological disaster from over population and industrial pollution never cleared. Imagine a world where World War I and II never happened. This could be the result. Secret societies abound and this woman is a part of it. She is also a professional assassin when needed.

Mechanical Rosedeals with what happens with a highly brilliant spy and devoted member of a secret society that keeps things in the balance, meets a brilliant inventor who is also a man of high principals whose invention intended to help farmers in drought, will be turned into a weapon. Two people with clashing ideals meet, and sparks fly. The resulting explosion of passion and the destruction of what they held to be their beliefs will challenge their inner core and bring about their own destruction, or their own power from within.

There is a lot of romp, rolls in the hay, etc. in this short novel. (spoiler alert) including one where they know the enemy is after them, he is supposedly coming in the morning. So they set out for a leisurely romantic 'night before the war' making love. When all I can think about is, Run, you FOOLS! I would think the love scene would have been better some place else, not when they know someone is coming to kill and destroy them. Still, there are some really good reads in this book.

If you enjoy the charm of an English Tea Party, Victorian gracious ways, added to the Industrial Age gone mad, you have the basis of this book. Plus as I mentioned above, there is the corset that any sleuth warrior would envy, and many other inventions created with both beauty and function in mind. If you enjoy Victorian times, dress and mores, you will enjoy this book. Mechanical Rose reads like James Bond meets Victorian Female Spy. No sports car chases, but something better, and yes, it is mechanical.

Warning: graphic heterosexual scenes.
 
Reviewed By Nancy Louise
© September 2008

Erotic Romance tends to come in two flavors. Full graphic, slam-bam sexual speed ahead or slow to a boil till you pop. If you are lucky, you even get a good story along the way to spice things up. With paranormal added in, you almost have to have a story or no one is going to know what is going on. Cursed By Moonlight brings together a noble man forced to turn into a werewolf each cycle of the full moon.

Alric, our noble hero and lord, is a cursed man, and Caasi is the enchanting seductress and witch. Godric, an old man, like a father to Alric, is determined to find a cure for the young man who has long since given up any such hope. Against Alric's wishes, he asks Caasi for help, and to her own surprise, she is willing. From then on, the fate of the cards is played out.

The characters in this very short story are well written and leap off the page. They are living and breathing, and very horny. I had to keep in mind this story was primarily written to be erotic and not paranormal fantasy. Still, part of me wished it could have been more the latter than the former. Because so much of the story was focused on the sexual scenes, a lot of the story was pushed into the background and I felt that was a real shame. Much like a movie where the action overwhelmed the story, especially when the story was very good and had a lot of areas to explore with depth.

If you are into graphic sexual description, including violent sexual rape/murder and paranormal fantasy in a big chomp, Cursed By Moonlight is for you.

 
 
Reviewed By: Nancy Louise
© September 2008