Monthly Archives: March 2016

Book Review: Fated Nights, by Wolf Specter / Rosa Swann

fated nights coverAbout the book:
Three book bundle, enjoy all Rosa Swann’s series’ first books in ONE SET!!

Feathers and Microphones #1
Florian, fallen angel and now part-time bartender, and Seth, an up and coming rock star, both want the same out of their one night stand.

Only, the next morning leaves them yearning for each other even more and, after some fun in the kitchen, things turn complicated.

Seth wears the brand of a demon and Florian is not sure he can get involved with someone who made a pact with a demon, again.

Party at the Lunar Pack (Lunar Pack #1)
Roy never thought that one party with his sexy new neighbours would turn his whole life upside down!

Roy’s life exists of work, dinner and sleep, boring. His friends are getting married, or having kids, and he sits home alone, too focused on his job to have much of a social life, let alone a love life.

Then he finds a letter on the doormat, an invitation to a housewarming party next door. There he meets Clyde and Sam, they seem interested in him as more than just neighbours, and definitely ready to explore if that interest is mutual.

But why does he feel like there is more going on between the three of them? And why are Clyde and Sam acting all weird the next morning?

Omega’s Fate (Mated to the Alpha #1)
The Mating Ball used to be a yearly event where bachelor Alpha werewolves meet potential mates, but now it’s a party mostly used to hook up with as many people as you can.

Ethan, one of the humans hired to entertain the werewolves, goes into the event with only one expectation: getting paid for having fun. The prospect of maybe meeting an Alpha female is only a bonus.

Max, a successful Alpha, has been getting pressure from all sides to settle down and prove his Alpha genes. Two problems: he doesn’t believe that the Mating Ball works and he is only interested in men.

Once there, he meets Ethan, who catches his attention immediately, but the man insists that he isn’t gay, or interested in Max.

As the ball comes to an end, the two men can no longer deny their attraction and take off together. Only to wake up to a very special surprise.

Review:

This anthology contains three stories, one by Wolf Specter and two by Rosa Swan. However, comparing the writing, I have a strong suspicion these are the same author. Which is fine; everyone’s welcome to a pen name or two, and I could be wrong, of course. But it seems worth noting that if you do or don’t like one, you’re likely to feel the same about the other. I did.

One should probably also note that while this appears to be a collection of stories (I downloaded it thinking books, so imagine my disappointment), it’s actually three first parts in SERIALS, so don’t expect any conclusions anywhere in evidence. There aren’t any. I feel very very strongly that serials should be labeled as such, so I was a little ragey to find a whole book of them and no label anywhere in evidence. (We’re told ‘first in series’ but not serials. These are different.) Readers should be able to make an informed decision about what they read, and being denied pertinent information is rude, if not dishonest.

Despite my serious disappointment in what this book contains (or doesn’t) I did give each story a solid chance to impress me. They failed.

 

Mini Book Review: Almost Paradise, by Caitlin Ricci

almost paradiseAbout the book:
Travis has done everything to keep his daughter safe. He’s fought a long, hard battle in the courts to gain full custody and has finally found some breathing room. But that security comes at a heavy price.Staying in a motel and living off his quickly dwindling savings is no way to raise a toddler, so when Liam steps into his life and offers him hundreds of dollars just to watch his dogs for a weekend, it almost seems too good to be true.But when he finds out there is more to Liam than he ever thought, he has a hard decision to make. Can he and his daughter stay and be safe or will he need to leave?

Review:
Too rushed. Too schmaltzy. Not well developed or characterized. Cute idea, but it falls flat due to poor execution.

Book Review: White Stains, by Anaïs Nin

white stains coverAbout the book:
A lost classic of 1940s erotica returns! Written by Anas Nin, Virginia Admiral, Caresse Crosby, and others for a dollar per page, this breathtakingly sensual volume was printed privately and soon became an underground legend. Beginning with a breathless mnage quatre in Alice and ending with the concluding remarks of the uproarious Loves Encyclopaedia, this is a priceless collection of explicit yet sophisticated musings.

Review:
I read about half of this. I made it through the stories, but I just couldn’t with the Encyclopedia of Sex.

While I thought the writing was wretched, it is from the 40s, and maybe that was how erotica was written at the time. What do I know? I could see of the language as precursors to some of the super-cheese I still see in the occasional bodice ripper, but can’t say I enjoyed it here any more than I do in more modern works (less even).

I was also repeatedly dismayed at the stories themselves. We have a 5yo boy being molested. We have a woman being drugged and raped, then taken advantage of by a second man. We have numerous men getting women drunk to take advantage of them and we have a married woman in an orgy with not-her-husband (though that was the least eyebrow-raising one of the bunch). Plus, with the exception of the orgy, every sex scene is essentially the same. Nope, none of them tickled my fancy in the least.

I don’t think anyone believes Anaïs Nin wrote this. I know if thought this was a representation of her work I’d never pick another one up.