One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: Paranormal Romance, Menage a trois
Series: Grimm's Circle, Book 2.5
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Length: 821 Locations
Formats: Kindle


Ren is still hurting from losing his best friend and century-long occasional lover, Elle, after she and the man she loved, Michael, reunited. That pain is adding stress to the pressure of the darkness that is never far from his mind lately. Leave it to their boss (for lack of a better term) Will to send him back to Elle and Michael to wait for another task that the three Grimm must handle.

Seeing Elle is like salt in a grievous wound, and even her kindness causes pain. As an empath, he knows she feels his pain. As Elle, he knows she'll try to ease it. What surprises him, almost unmans him, is that Michael is surprisingly amenable. And the truth, the one that neither Ren nor Elle can escape, is that both still bear wounds not yet healed, and each needs the other for the love of their friendship and the hope of some peace.

For those unfamiliar with Shiloh Walker's Grimm's Circle series, this is not the place to start to become familiar. This short story is more of a coda on the end of the second book in the series, No Prince Charming, and should in no way be considered a self-contained short story. There almost no explanation of the events in the book preceding it, and little exposition on the world in which it occurs. For those who haven't read that second book, this short story could seem little more than a salacious bit of gratuitous erotica.

In truth, though, it's closure for two people who desperately needed it, and though the focus is on Ren, whose story is up next in the series (yay!), the events are just as important to Elle. Her death was such that it scarred her in ways that aren't important to list here, but with this little tale, those scars were tenderly addressed.

I'm not entirely convinced it was necessary to be handled in this format, though, and I was disappointed that the sole focus was on the sexual scene. The "job" Will sent them on was completely ignored except in passing. It did make this little piece of fiction seem a bit unnecessary and salacious, even to me, who is a fan of this dark and unique series. It wasn't bad, but it isn't enough to draw in new readers - may in fact give them the wrong impression of the series, and it isn't quite enough to entertain beyond the sexuality for those who are familiar. I'd recommend it only for those who are Grimm's Circle fans.

Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance, Menage a trois
Series: The Gray Court, Book 2
Rating: 4 Stars
Length: 4053 Locations
Formats: Kindle


Despite being swept away by the half sidhe, half leprechaun Moira Dunne as soon as he saw her, the sidhe Lord Duncan Malmayne wasn't as happy as he should be upon finding the mate he'd hoped for for five hundred years. In fact, despite being certain that Moira was his, he just couldn't seem to bring himself to complete the claim and exchange their vows. And Moira was starting to worry. Not only did she sense the spiraling depression in her mate, but she, too, felt something was not right. Some part of her heart still felt empty.

And she couldn't get thoughts about a kiss with the vampire Jaden Blackthorn out of her mind.

As members of the Malmayne clan conspire with the nefarious queen of the Black Court and plot to topple Lord Duncan from his position as head of the clan, it is Moira who figures out that Duncan and Jaden must accept that all three of them are meant to be together in a rare tribond mating before their separation kills them all and destroys everything they hold most dear. And she's got more than enough Irish in her to make her stubborn mates see the light.

Personally, I blame Jaden for this. See, I didn't like Dare to Believe, I'm sad to say (for reasons that can be found here). Despite considering myself a fan of Dana Marie Bell and thoroughly enjoying her Halle Pumas and Halle Shifters series, it just didn't work for me. I hadn't really expected to continue with this series after that first book. Then I found myself in a bit of a reading funk and started searching around for a light, sexy bit of paranormal brain candy to jolt me out of it. I was actually hoping there would be another Halle Shifters book out already, but when I looked I came across Noble Blood instead.

That's where Jaden comes in.

With his dark past and the sinfully delicious contradictions in his personality, not to mention his nature, he was my favorite character in Dare to Believe, and that book ended a bit grimly for him. Knowing that this one featured him poked, nudged, and niggled at me until I decided I just had to make sure he got his deserved HEA. So really, I blame Jaden. Because now I'm hooked on this series, too.

Bell writes the sort of fiction I most enjoy for my brain candy cravings: likable, sexy characters and a lot of fast, sarcastic, often humorous and sometimes sentimental dialogue. A heady mix of touching and touchy-feely. A little bit of yum and a lot of fun. It was just what I needed, and just what I got in Noble Blood.

The plot surrounding the characters is a continuation of events that were kicked off in the first book and the characters were introduced and fleshed out there, so I would recommend a reader new to the series start with that first book. Bell doesn't spend much time on exposition or world building here, and there really isn't much in the way of character description in this book, either. Instead the story and its characters hit the ground running and while I appreciate that from the perspective of someone familiar with the first book, that may not work for everyone.

As a book that's shorter than a traditional mass market paperback, Bell keeps the narrative of the story trim and the plot arc on the thin side. That style works for this sort of light, easy read, where conflicts rise and fall with relative ease and without an abundance of angst. What worked best for me in this book, though, is that while the plot does lean a bit towards the shallower end of the story pool, it's executed well, transitions smoothly, and evolves and expands through the book as it moves towards conclusion.

I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of Menage a trois romances. My romantic preferences lie in pairs instead of sets, regardless of gender. When I do read them, though, I prefer them to be like they were represented here, where each of the involved characters has an obviously deep and abiding love for each other equally, instead of a more two-on-one style. That may create a problem for some readers, though, as this book includes sexual scenes and discussion of the romantic relationship between Duncan and Jaden.

Every time I finish a book by Bell, I wish for the same thing. I wish they were longer. Even though I liked the book and love the characters (and I can't wait for the hybrid and the dragonness to get their story), a hundred more pages in Bell's fun, fast, ferociously imaginative world would have provided the opportunity for a more robust plot with added dimension and a deeper and broader evolution of the romance. Okay, so that's me being greedy. I know.

Like I said, I blame Jaden. Though Bell gets to take some of the blame for that, too.

Warning: This book contains a M/M/F Menage a trois relationship that may disturb some readers. M/F, M/M/F, and M/M sexual situations, including anal and oral sex, are included.

Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance, Menage a trois
Series: Children of the Goddess, Book 2
Rating: 3 Stars
Length: 224 Pages, 3603 Locations
Formats: Paperback, Kindle


Lux Sariel has been tormented by guilt in the five months since his lover was slain by the old and feared enemy, Les Loups De L'Ombre, the Shadow Wolves. It has changed the once easy going and openly sexual Trueblood healer, making him a male of control and self denial. On a quest to find the protected sister of the now dead Shadow Wolf leader Grey Wolf with the gorgeous and sexually aggressive Dydarren werewolf pack Alpha Arygon, the fruitless search and sleepless, nightmare-filled nights are getting to him. And so is Arygon.

Arygon Dydarren knows he is anathema to his people, a male who seeks sexual companionship from other males, but ever since he first set eyes on Lux Sariel, he's had hope. The Goddess would not have given him a male mate if She thought he was worthless. Lux may be stubborn as all hell, but Arygon is sticking by him, putting himself right in his face until the vampire sees what's right in front of him. And when he catches scent of the female werewolf they'd been sent to retrieve, and he and Lux finally see the ethereal beauty for the first time, Arygon realizes something that Lux is too guilt-laden to see or sense for himself. Lux Sariel doesn't just have one mate...he's got two.

Mother Goddess.

She is Antara, the bogeyman of her people, the destroyer. Since she was a child, Sylvain has been kept hidden, kept safe, but it has been a safety that's limited her contact with the outside world and ostracized her from her people. She is the werewolf who cannot change shape, the one who stands in the space between, and according to the true legends, and against all male superstition, she is not to destroy, but to save her people. And her first scent of Lux Sariel tells her two things, the prophecy has begun...and Lux is her mate.

Arygon and Sylvain have a bullheaded mate and a prophecy to see to, and Lux isn't cooperating. And only the three of them together will be able to change the course of both of their species. The Mother Goddess has deemed it so.

R.G. Alexander has created a dark, delicious world with fascinating and original mythos that is unrivaled in erotic romance. I was highly impressed with the first book in the series, Regina in the Sun, and almost taken aback at the quality of world building and depth of history imbued in that dark gem.

Picking up shortly after Regina in the Sun left off, the story shifts focus to the Trueblood vampire Lux Sariel and the werewolf Alpha Arygon Dydarren, two characters we met in the previous novel, and their quest for the sister to Grey Wolf that Regina asked them to find. Lux is hardly recognizable as the weight of his recent past weighs on him, but his emotional state and the reasons behind his motivations are wonderfully described and detailed. Arygon is a nice counterpoint with his unashamed sensuality blanketing a core of vulnerability and a tragic, heartbreaking past. I enjoyed both of their characters and applaud Alexander's ability to pen realistic emotional consequence to her male characters.

I wasn't as pleased with Sylvain, but that's no criticism of the author. Her character is well written, given depth and a realistic backstory to explain her personality. My preferences, though, lie in stronger, confident female leads, females who know their own strength and mind and use it. Sylvain is far more submissive in nature than I prefer.

As in the first book, Lux in Shadow offers up solid story potential, building off the mythos previously defined. For that reason I wouldn't recommend this one as a stand-alone novel and would suggest readers start with the first book in the series to get a better idea of the world and the characters of Lux and Arygon.

The drawbacks of the first book, though, are felt even more keenly in this one, and I had some significant issues with the berevity of the non-sexual aspects of the plot. The exposition was handled nicely for those who have read the first book, but there wasn't much development given to the progressing arc of the series plot and almost nothing of consequence to stand out as a episodic book plot arc beyond the sexual relationship between the three lead characters. That's a huge shame, because Alexander went into such fantastic depth with the history of this world and the dangers threatening all of the species, only to skimp to such egregious degree on using that backdrop to develop an equally rich and robust story.

Bluntly put, there's just too much sex and not nearly enough that's not.

I almost can't believe I'm saying that. Admittedly, the sex is very well written and hot. Alexander writes lusty, erotic, delightfully graphic sex scenes. I've mentioned in other reviews that Menage a trois relationships very rarely work for me, but the one between Lux, Arygon, and Sylvain is one of the best I've read - and that's strictly due to Alexander's talents. They truly are a loving threesome, and they have all mated to each other, which satisfies my need for equality in a relationship. That being said, so many of the sex scenes seemed more about titillation than plot progression, and that's where my line is between an erotic novel and plotless erotica.

That impression wasn't helped along by the fact that Lux is a dominant who likes sexual control, and bondage came into play often. I like a little bondage and dominance as much as the next gal, but to the exclusion of all else isn't to my taste, so it's possible I'm biased, but the sex seemed more about physical pleasure than emotional connection and the emotional connection between the characters felt lacking in ways it hadn't been between Regina and Zander in the first book.

I would love to see what Alexander can really do with this dark, twisted world she's created and the vibrant, three dimensional characters she can develop. So far the focus seems to be more on the sex than on the story, especially in this book. A better balance between the two would definitely take this series to a whole other level.

Warning: This book contains sumptuously sexy scenes of explicit sex, unconventional sex, voyeurism, bondage, menage a trois, and the following sexual pairings: M/M, M/F, M/F/M, & M/M/F, and may offend some readers.

Children of the Goddess Series:

Genre: Erotic Romance, Menage a trois
Series: N/A
Rating: 4 Stars
Length: Novella
Formats: Kindle


Doctor Jake McCoy has been in love with Dana Cochran since they were young. They've had an on again, off again relationship that's frustrated Jake beyond words. He doesn't dare tell her. He knows her too well. Whenever it comes to deep emotion, Dana keeps everyone at arms length. Playing, however, is her forte, and one night when a storm has taken out the power on the street they live on, Jake walks across to check on her, only to find her and her boyfriend in the back yard in an intimate situation. Dana comes off the porch to stand in the rain in front of him, and her entreaty is too much to resist. Ignoring his possessive nature and his dislike of her casual boyfriend Mason, he gives in to the woman he loves and joins them.

Dana knows that Mason is just a good time, that Jake is forever, but she's just interested in playing, enjoying her sexuality now that she has two men who will share her. She plays with them both, unconcerned, until one encounter with Jake changes her life. When you know you're going to be a mother, you start to realize either  playtime is over...or you have to start playing for keeps. And telling Jake and Mason takes that to a whole other level.

What started out as a relatively simple menage a trois erotica romance novella with Walker's classic intense romantic angst takes a turn after that and becomes a much more serious and emotionally powerful and poignant story of love and unspeakable loss. I have nothing against the first part, really, but it lacked a bit in depth and character development for my tastes. The second part was so intense, however, and the emotions so vibrant and real as Jake and Dana try to survive a tragedy that shakes them to the soul, that it utterly eclipsed the beginning and made it seem shallow.

I can't say I enjoyed the second part - it was very dark for the genre - but it was very well written and felt very emotionally honest. I have to give Walker credit for the courage and strength to write something so personally devastating. I also have to admit I loved the end and appreciated the hope and joy and promise that was reintroduced. I may not have been expecting the breadth of the story in Playing For Keeps, but I'm glad I read it.

Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance, Futuristic, Menage a trois
Series: Midnight Playground, Book 1
Rating: 3 Stars
Formats: Kindle


It's the year 2069 and Nissa has spent her life surviving by whatever means necessary - and doing so mostly alone. Everyone she's ever loved is dead and all she wants is to get into the Midnight Playground, an exclusive vampire sex club. She wants to give herself to the seductive species, become one of them. She's prepared herself for the club, but no none could have prepared her for the erotic delights of Hex and Aleron. Both are vampires, Aleron having given Hex the Turning kiss ten years ago. They've been together in every way ever since. And they want Nissa to join them.

Together they take Nissa places she's never known, made her feel things she didn't even know existed. As their time together lengthens, however, she starts to realize that no matter how deeply she cares for Aleron, it's Hex who stirs her soul and completes her. But Hex belongs to Aleron - they've been partners and lovers for a decade. She couldn't even imagine Hex giving that up for her. Unless Hex feels the same for Nissa. But does he?

Eden Bradley's erotica novella has a great plot concept and decent mythos, but the length of the novella - more on the shorter end - limited the character development and depth of the plot. It didn't limit the seductive, dark, erotic sex. Bradley made good use of her vampires in The Seeking Kiss, using their natures to add an edgy intensity to the sexual encounters that served the dark, futuristic world very well. The couplings range from M/F to M/F/M to M/M, as Hex and Aleron are long time lovers, so if you prefer your menage strictly M/F/M with no M/M or M/M/F then this dark erotica isn't for you, but Bradley writes deeply erotic sex scenes that tantalize and that is the primary strength of this novella.

There just wasn't enough attention given to character or plot development for me to consider the romance between Hex and Nissa completely successful, and some of the dialogue between them didn't really work for me because of it, so I wasn't totally enamored with the novella as a whole, but it definitely classifies as sizzling erotica.

Genre: Erotic SciFi-Futuristic Romance
Series: Wasteland, Book 3
Rating: 2 Stars
Formats: Kindle


By now the world of Wasteland, a post-apocalyptic earth over 100 years after solar flares in 2012 decimated life on the planet, is at least familiar, if not particularly a fun vacation spot. In fact, this bleak, desolate world is a shattering backdrop for the four novellas by four authors that feature and highlight the four different caste systems that are left for women in that world. Eden Bradley assumes the mantel for the third book and offers us Nitara's story. Born of a Breeder, she has been chosen by her goddess to follow the same path, and educated on all things sensual and sexual from a very young age. She anxiously awaits her ceremony of the sacrifice, where she will ascend to an alter and take her first male, abandoning her virginity and offering her body for reproduction.

There's just one teeny tiny little problem. After copulating with the male sacrifice, she will then plunge a dagger into his heart and bathe herself in his blood as entreaty to the goddess for her fertility. For years she's been groomed for and wildly anticipating that day, until a flash of intellect and fear in a fellow novitiate's sacrifice just prior to her own causes her to wonder if the sacrifices are quite the mindless animals she's always been led to believe.

Akaash, the Wanderer stolen from his people and his bonded lover Dhatri, is quite certain he's no mindless animal. He's being chained and kept drugged and isolated but for visits from Nitara that are for the purpose of inflaming his sexual need to the point of nearly willing sacrifice and its wreaking hell on his heart and mind. He is broken over the loss of his freedom and his lover, resentful of his impending death and under no illusions about life. He is also drawn to Nitara, despite knowing she is his doom, and the month-long preparation becomes time for them to share their minds and hearts as well as what limited abilities they have to share bodies. Can Nitara can save them both from the heinous crime against humanity that approaches? Will she dare? She is his only hope.

I have to say, I have no complaints with the narrative and development of plot with this novella. It was considerably more fleshed out in both character and conflict than the previous entry, The Whore by Lilli Feisty. I have, however, a significant problem with this particular novella that hearkens to my reason for reading erotic fiction to begin with. Obviously the best of the bunch offer a solid story with likable characters and, for my personal tastes, a happy ending along with smoking sex scenes that titillate and arouse. Well, in The Breeder, the sex was hot, and there was plenty of it, alternating from self satisfaction to M/F to M/M/F, and I had no complaint about that, but here's the thing...it's really hard for me to enjoy an erotica novella that starts out with the brutal slaughter of a man followed by the murderess slathering her body with his still hot blood.

Call me crazy, but that's not quite the sensual, sexual image that fosters a lot of yummy feelings, and it does nothing to endear me to the world in general and the story in particular. While the first two books also paint a grim picture of the world of Wasteland and a somber view of the decline of the human race, they also offer something that this one didn't quite manage to pull off...hope. I don't think I'll be spoiling too many people if I say that yes, there is a "happy" ending in this novella. That's assumed going in. But what continues to bother me is that it's "happy" only for the three main characters, Nitara, Akaash, and Dhatri. It's less happy for the victims-in-waiting of the next sacrifice, or Nitara's twin brother, castrated as a child and forced into servitude of the novitiates because their mother ran off with a Wanderer years ago. Without the hope for a brighter future for all, this novella left me feeling way too disturbed and focused on the bad big picture, not on the eroticism of the three leads. Nor did I think that the emotional connection between Nitara and Akaash, and then Dhatri, was sufficiently explored or developed to help keep the focus off the grim reality.

Erotic romance is supposed to be erotic and romantic, and unfortunately, due to the circumstances, for me, this one just wasn't, regardless of how well written it was.

The novellas of Wasteland:

Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance, Menage a trois
Series: N/A
Rating: 2 Stars
Formats: Kindle


While Anya Bast's Wicked Enchantment was one of my top surprise pleasure reads so far this year and totally turned me on to Anya Bast as an author, Taken, the short erotic paranormal romance didn't quite do it for me.

Whether due to the limiting nature of the length of the story (it's quite short) or due to my admitted lack of true enchantment with menage relationships (it has to be exceptionally well written menage for me to enjoy it - and I've read them), I found Taken to be rushed and harried at the beginning, and a bit drawn out and tedious towards the end. I saw some promise in Caleb and Van, but wasn't at all fond of Anne through the whole of the story. I'm not really sure why, but she got on my nerves, I'm sorry to say. I thought the strongest parts of the story were from Caleb and Van's perspectives and unfortunately, most of the story was from Anne's. Still, points for originality of idea. I'm still a fan of Bast.

Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance, Menage a trois
Series: Forces of Nature, Book 1
Formats: Kindle

3.5 Stars
This Magical Menage (M/F/M) is Charming AND Sizzling

Alexia Colton had spent every summer since she was fourteen visiting her grandmother in the charming seaside town of Jaffrey's Cove, until adulthood and the need to work kept her away. She loves the ocean, and always felt a sense of peace and home there, and was always enchanted by the dolphins that often play in the surf just off the shore. When her grandmother, a once strong and vibrant woman, now feeble and needing help to move into an assisted living facility, calls Alexia sounding frantic, Alexia rushes to her gram's side to get her settled. Sharing this time with her grandmother, whom Alexia can tell is starting to decline in health and mental acuity, is invaluable to her, and when Victoria offers her granddaughter her seaside home and a stunning family heirloom, Alexia takes the necklace but declines on the house. Her work is in the middle of the country, after all.

Soon Alexia is having erotic dreams of the boy, now a man, she'd once met as a child, making love to her in a cavern she's dreamed of her entire life. And her gram is acting stranger and stranger...and significantly less feeble than she'd been when Alexia first arrived. The ocean is calling to her and her body is burning with unfamiliar hungers. Alexia's world is shifting and she'll soon realize that she's not as human as she'd always thought, mermen are real, and the dolphins she's loved her whole life are all citizens of Jaffrey's Cove. And Alexia herself is the new matriarch of their pod, with two gorgeous and dedicated consorts, the cousins Joshua and Anthony, to love her body, heart, and mind for as long as she chooses. What's not to love about life changes like that??

I don't need to spend much time on the erotica aspects of Tidal Wave. The sex is sizzling hot and extremely well done. Arend manages a nice blend of emotion driven sexuality and explicit sex that's extremely satisfying and too rare in erotica romance. I also have to give her credit for how deftly she managed to keep the sex scenes (of which there are several...it's erotica, after all) from completely overshadowing or eclipsing the plot and character development. That's rather a nifty accomplishment in a novella length story, which tends to suffer in those areas to begin with. Also, I'm very very picky about my reading choices when it comes to menage a trois erotica, when I read it at all. It's not a particular favorite of mine and I rarely find menage done in a way that appeals to my tastes. Tidal Wave mastered that for me. I was exceptionally pleased with all sexual aspects of the story.

The other parts had a few bumps of a less erotic kind. This isn't the first story or series I've read by Vivian Arend. I've read several of the Granite Lake Wolves, as well, so this wasn't too much of a surprise because I've had this issue with her as an author before. Arend tends to master the sex and the emotion of a story in very short order, but the plot and characterizations sometimes have issues, as Tidal Wave does. Some of that is the nature of the beast in a novella. I like the way Arend writes and I'm greedy, so I want there to be more meat to the story, but to have more meat you have to either sacrifice some of the sex or write a book. While I have high hopes that Arend will eventually write a full length novel, with her novellas, she has a tendency to skimp a bit on fully developing the mythos of the world she's built in each story. In Tidal Wave that was a particular shame, because I would've loved learning more about the merpeople and spent more time with them in their dolphin form. I found the concept behind the plot to be fresh and unique and that's so rare it should be fully explored.

There were a couple of plot holes and characterization blips that got ignored in this story. Why was Joshua sent away every summer Alexia returned to Jaffrey's Cove after the first time they met and shared a sweet kiss when she was fourteen? He wondered but there was never an answer given. Why was he treated so dismissively by his brothers? Why did Alexia dream of the cavern before ever going there and before receiving the medallion? No one ever had before. Those holes were frustrating.

There was no explanation for Joshua's sudden calm acceptance of his cousin vying for Alexia's affections when earlier in the story he was quite adamant about being her only. The quick turn around in Anthony's case, from him telling Joshua he wasn't really interested in answering Alexia's call to being all gung ho about consorting with her was addressed, but in a cursory way at best that felt unsatisfying. Michael's plot thread was a very nice conflict and it added some depth to the story, but it wasn't as fleshed out as I would've liked, lacked a real solid motivation given the defined mythos of the pod, and the resolution was lackluster. Victoria was a nice secondary character, but she wasn't used as much as she could've been and she sort of left her granddaughter with very little understanding of her people. You'd think the former matriarch would care a little more than just passing off a necklace before disappearing.

I know it sounds like I'm being picky, but it's frustrating to find that great blend of erotic sexuality and original mythos with an intriguing plot and totally likable characters...then have a bunch of little issues through the story. None of that made me dislike Tidal Wave by any means. I hope I don't give that impression. I enjoyed the story...it's just I wish there had been a bit more. I know; I'm greedy.