One Good Book Deserves Another

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


The premise for the Wasteland series is fantastic. Four novellas written about the four different caste systems of women in the post-apocalyptic world of earth years after a solar flare in 2012 destroyed civilization as we know it. Lilli Feisty has given us the second book in the series, The Whore, a story about a young woman named Bryn. Wearing the tattoo of a rose on her earlobe that marks her as a prostitute, Bryn is constrained by the limitations of her female gender and after a lifetime of prostitution, has no love for males of her species. She's an independent soul who yearns for freedom from the brothel that serves as both her protection and her prison. Often she slips into the clothes of her patrons and sneaks out into the male-dominated city for glimpses of life free of the restraints she's bound by.

One such night she stumbles onto a pack of boys that are interested in the earbob hiding her tattoo. Bryn tries to fight them off, knowing if they find out she's a Rose (that's what whore's are called) she'll be horribly punished and lose even the smallest freedom. She's rescued by a pair of men who look like pirates and who step in and take care of the youth before letting her go on her way. Bryn is so overwhelmed by their help and camaraderie...and obvious affection for one another...that she's compelled to follow them back to the docks. Before she knows it, she's committed herself to work on the pirate ship captained by Xander, doing work that she's never had to do before even as she tries to hide her femininity from the men on the ship. Xander and his first mate and lover Hawke, however, aren't fooled by her disguise, and soon they've drawn her into a sexual situation that captivates and titillates Bryn, and despite her dislike of sex with males, she finds herself aroused to nearly unholy levels at the idea and participation of sex with Xander and Hawke. Her freedom at hand, Bryn surrenders to need, want, and love as Xander and Hawke remind her what it's like to be a woman.

I enjoyed the sexuality of this novella, and thought the menage relationship was well written and quite hot, but for me, the narrative surrounding it was a little light on plot and while I felt Bryn was very well defined as a character, I never fully got a clear picture of Xander or of Hawke as well defined characters beyond their sexuality. There was an scene with Xander at the beginning of the story that setup some interesting conflict, but ultimately it went nowhere. I also had some problem considering this story a romance. Where the previous book in the series, Crystal Jordan's The Wanderer provided an emotionally satisfying relationship paired with the erotic aspects of the story and the definition of the world, I felt that was sorely lacking here and it prevented me from fully enjoying the whole of the story and engaging with the characters.

Points again, however, for amazing cover art. It's truly beautiful.

Genre: Erotic SciFi-Futuristic Romance
Series: Wasteland, Book 1
Rating: 5 Stars
Length: Novella
Formats: Kindle


I feel utterly compelled to mention that I am not a huge SciFi fan and I actually dislike (and usually avoid) post apocalyptic, futuristic stories. I'm also not a huge fan of multiple partner erotica. Oh, yeah - I'm not all that crazy about novellas, either. I read so fast that I burn through them way too quickly, and they're usually not as satisfying as full length novels. So, now that all that's out of the way, I have something else to say: Wasteland: The Wanderer Blew. Me. Away. It's a SciFi-futuristic, post apocalyptic erotica novella featuring multiple partner sex scenes and I loved it.

Yes, it's a novella, and the first of four novellas by four different authors written in the same "world" with the same overall setting - post apocalyptic earth following the solar flare catastrophe of 2012. In this bleak and barren future, women are in vast minority and are often segregated from men, classified by the goddess as Wanderer, Whore, Priestess, or Breeder.

In this first book, Crystal Jordan introduces us to Kadira, the Wanderer shaman, and gives us a glimpse of her tragic past and the brilliant carnality of her present. Ezra, chieftan of his people and brilliant inventor, carries the scars of battles on his body and the wounds of shame on his soul. He has been captivated by Kadira for years, but she has never lain with him during any of the spring or fall celebrations that unite clans for the duration. This time, this year, he will have her. No matter the cost.

Jordan has penned a tightly woven plot full of breathtaking sexuality in just about all its forms and pairings and combined it with a captivating love story and personal journeys of acceptance and trust. What impressed me the most was the sense of fullness the story provides. With such limited space, novellas often have to sacrifice some aspect of full storytelling to pull off the story arc, and while it's true that Wasteland: The Wanderer did condense the build of the relationship between Kadira and Ezra, Jordan still somehow managed to encapsulate in very realistic fashion the evolution of her main characters and the triumph of their unity. I haven't seen a novella of any genre pull off such a feat in quite some time. I was very impressed.

The sex in this novella is also remarkably well done. Graphic, yes, but written with a passion and sense of culture that impressed and amazed me. This futuristic world is vastly different from our own and in no other way is that evidenced more clearly than in the orgiastic rituals and relationship structure of the Wanderer people, and yet, at no time did I feel that such graphic sexual displays were strictly for the readers titillation, and in truth, they were written with a sense of respect and joy for the participants that is unmatched. I can't imagine a more satisfying read on any front in the format and concerning the subject matter that Jordan offers here. It's exceptionally well done and I highly recommend it...even if some aspects just aren't your thing.

One more mention: I have never included commentary on cover art in a story review before, because frankly, it has nothing to do with the story, but I want to commend the graphic designer who covered this book. It's beautiful artistry that reflects the bleak world of Wasteland and the character of Kadira perfectly. Kudos.

Note: This novella contains graphic scenes of M/F, M/M, F/F, M/M/F, and M/M/F/F sex.