Tag Archives: erotic fantasy

Audiobook Review: Her Soul for Revenge, by Harley Laroux

I borrowed an audiobook copy of Harley Laroux‘s Her Soul for Revenge (narrated by Desireé Ketchum and Gregory Salinas) through Hoopla. I read and reviewed book one in the series (Her Soul to Take) last summer.

Juniper

After a cult tried to sacrifice me to their wicked God, I went on the run, doing whatever was necessary to survive. Until a demon offered me a deal: give him my soul and he’ll help me claim the vengeance I seek. Blood will be spilled, and the monsters I once ran from will soon be running from me. But damning my soul was just the beginning; it’s my heart the demon wants next.

Zane

I’ve been hunting souls for centuries, but she’s the ultimate prize. Vicious and feral, she has a broken soul as dark as my own. I thought claiming her would be a simple game, but Juniper is far from simple. I chose to follow her on a path drenched with the blood of her enemies, but it’s our blood that may be spilled next. As an ancient God wakes from Its slumber, neither of us may survive.

Her Soul for Revenge is book two in the Souls Trilogy but can be listened to as a standalone. It contains sexual scenes including kink/fetish content, horror elements, drug use, scenes of trauma, anxiety, and PTSD.

I tried, I really tried. I checked out this audiobook from the library, but I had to renew it 2 more times before I managed to finish it. (Goodreads says I started it Dec. 12 and finished it Feb. 7!) Honestly, I should have just DNFed it, but I’m nothing if not stubborn. I think, maybe, there just wasn’t enough new to the story to keep me interested. The events of the book are basically what a different couple is doing simultaneously to the couple in book one. Which means there’s not much in the line of new plot points to hang this romance on. I was bored stiff. And because I was bored, I never got particularly invested in the characters or their romance. So, the smut didn’t even interest me. Honestly, I started fast-forwarding through a lot of it (and it still took me weeks to reach the end).

As a side note, that couldn’t have helped my opinion of the book. I found that when listening to this smutty book with an a-hole alpha-y male lead and humiliation and power dynamic tropes, I really REALLY hated having a male narrator read it to me. I could not seem to get the distance needed to keep it in the remember-the-character-likes-it, he’s not just being a dangerous real-world misogynist, realm of fantasy. I couldn’t help imagining how much a real-world man (male narrator) enjoys getting to indulge in what, outside of fantasies, is pretty toxic and abusive behavior around women and sex. I’m not saying the narrator did or does (or that he did a bad job with the narration), but I couldn’t get the distance to separate him from the shit in the book. There are just far too many systemic attacks on women (by men) in our society, at the moment, and it’s bleeding into my reading. This was a lesson learned, and I will avoid male narrators for such books in the future.

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book review | Her Soul for Revenge by Harley Laroux | Souls Trilogy 2

“Her Soul for Revenge” Harley Laroux

Book Review: No Demons But Us, by A.S. Etaski

I picked up a copy of A.S. Etaski‘s Treasure Revealed at Savers. Since it’s the second book in a series, I ordered the first one, No Demons But Us, with the intention of reading them together.

My sister deserved to die, but I didn’t kill her. The infamous Sisterhood couldn’t care less – it’s the perfect excuse to make their move. My name is Sirana. I am a young Noble trapped in a most wretched accused of assassinating my sister, the Matron’s heir. If I take the blame, I am next on the sacrificial altar.

Dark Elves live for intrigue in our underground matriarchy. We bend the rules for the cunning and the bold. To survive, I must play the game.

Court intrigue, demonic rituals, and mind-rending trials against deadly foes surround me, pervasive webs spun by our sadistic priesthood and the Queen’s brutal enforcers.

Through it all, the Red Sisters delight in watching me. I must prove myself beneath their ravenous gazes, engage in the power play, or become the next meal for our goddess.

Another reviewer described this book as if it “was written by the Dungeon Master that lost the point of the quest in favor of just getting down with everyone and everything in the campaign.” Personally, I think it feels like sexed-up R.A. Salvatore fan fiction, which is interesting because Salvatore is not among the inspirations the author gives in her GR author blurb. But you won’t convince me that the characters and events of this book are not set in Salvatore’s world. Period.

I wouldn’t hate that in general. I’ve not read all the Dritz novels, but I’ve been fine with the ones I have read, even if I didn’t love them. But this book…Yeah, I came pretty close to hating it. In fact, I actually own the first two books. As a book hoarder, getting rid of books I’ve not yet read feels very unnatural. But I won’t be reading book two (let alone searching out the next eight). It will go straight on the gieaway stack unread.

This is basically an erotic fantasy, which I read a lot of. So, this fact alone isn’t a problem for me. What was a problem was that I found absolutely none of the sex sexy. In fact, most of it is either rape or simply shoving things in a vagina…or netherlips…or netherhole 😬 . Even non-sexy sex might not have killed it for me. But despite the book’s lack of trigger warnings, there is almost no sex that involves people who both consent and enjoy themselves. There’s plenty of sex: sex as rape, sex as dominance, sex as duty, sex as hazing, sex to ‘learn’ someone, sex as a test, sex as a sign of endurance, magically impelled sex, the list goes on. But sex because someone wants to and is enjoying it? Very little of that is on the page. And if non-con is your jam, more power to you. The book is dedicated to “…my husband and companion, who did not know on our wedding day he had married one of his favorite authors.” So, apparently, Etaski’s husband does. But it is not my jam.

Just because most of the sexual abuse is at the hands or orchestration of other women does not give me any less of an ick. In fact, it adds an additional layer for me. Like Salvatore’s dark elven Drow, Etaski’s Davrin are matriarchal. But this matriarchy feels very patriarchal. As if Etaski merely made the men women, and the women men, but did not otherwise change the power structures or social hierarchies. As such, it still feels, to me, very misogynistic. I enjoyed none of it.

What’s more, so very much of it made no sense for its stated purpose. Want to test if someone will be a good spy? Let two men and a half demon rape her. That’ll for sure give you a good idea of her spy capabilities. Want to form a bonded, loyal group of women? Allow 40 other women to do whatever they want to the new one, so long as it includes sex. That broken arm and 2 weeks of coercive sex will for sure endear her to the group. Want to assess someone’s improvement in martial skills? Pit her against two fully-trained women wearing magical phalluses, winning points earned by forcefully penetrating the novice. What? Why? What exactly is any of this training her for?

And again, no judgment if this is something others enjoy. But this is my review of my experience with the book, and I am so glad to be finished with it and relieved to not be forcing myself to commit to completing the second.

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Book Review: Cruel Shadows, by Harper A. Brooks

I picked up a freebie copy of Harper A. Brooks‘ Cruel Shadows through Amazon.

I’m caught in the shadows…
…and the shadows want to play.

I thought I’d dreamed up the shadow realm and the place I called Dark Castle.

But it’s very real. And he’s still here.

My prince, my savior, my captor…

The monster in my bed.

But this time, he’s not alone.

I must escape, but first, my prince and his shadow men want me to fulfill their demands.

All of them.

The longer I stay, the harder it is to resist their dark promises, their insatiable hunger. Because, while these monsters’ smiles are cruel, their touches are the most delicious torture.

But they aren’t the only threat in this world. The darkness that wanted me before has found me again, and like my Shadow Prince, it’s ready to claim me as its own…forever.

This was a pretty big “meh” for me. It held my attention for about half the book, and then it lost me to boredom. I only finished it to finish it. The writing is fine. There’s a little inconsistency to it, but it’s perfectly readable. The characters could be interesting if they weren’t just cardboard cut-outs. The world could be intriguing if it were actually developed. The plot might have been fun if it actually materialized before the ~85% mark.

Let me be clear here that I’m not actually complaining about the lack of plot. I know what kind of book I picked up. But, for a book this length, I needed something to make me care about the characters and all the sex they were having. I don’t even necessarily need to like them, but I need to care. And that’s where Cruel Shadows fails. I didn’t care. No one grabbed my attention. Nothing kept me interested. All in all, like I said, “Meh.” It’s a thing I read and will quickly forget.

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