Tag Archives: erotic fantasy

Book Review: Hell Gate, by Veronica Eden

I received a copy of Hell Gate, by Veronica Eden in last month’s Supernatural Book Crate.

Open the gate…if you dare.

The first thing I’m warned about when I arrive at the girls’ home is to stay away from the abandoned graveyard. Local urban legend claims it’s host to a gate to Hell.

Then I was dared…

The legend is as real as the monsters I’ve summoned by activating the gate. Demons guard it, waiting for skeptical idiots like me to do the ritual. Three sinfully hot, dangerously powerful demons.

Valerian.
Matthias.
Alder.

Ruthless.
Deadly.
Terrifying.

The gate’s three wicked protectors won’t let me get away without paying their price.
I’m at their mercy, fighting to survive them and the supernatural world they drag me into.
But none of us are prepared for what is awakening within me.

A long buried secret and hidden ancient magic will change everything.
The match is lit and together we’re all going up in flames.

I gotta be honest. This was a big ol’ meh for me. It was competently written and I imagine it’ll find it’s audience. But I was bored with it. I just felt like Lily spent too much of the book whinging about her rough childhood and then the rest of the book was just the men telling her how amazing she was, over and over again. So, yes, I get it, she’s a special special snow flake and not like the other girls. Can we move on now?

Further, I was a bit weirded out by her barely legal-ness. She’s 17 (there’s an 18th birthday in there somewhere, but it’s unclear where). The sex starts as just sex but very quickly progresses to things like double penetration to accommodate three mates. Maybe it’s a symptom of getting old and having teen daughters, but I was just a tad squinked out by a new-to-sex woman so quickly progressing to kink-queen. Plus, the men where forever telling EACH-OTHER what to do with her—move her this way, make her beg, etc—but never speaking to her at such moments. I felt like she was just a doll for them to act upon with one another.

Lastly, the plot is weak. Sure, I get that porn-with-plot exists. But I didn’t sense that this 400+ book was aiming for plot-less erotica status. It had a plot. It was just a paper thin one.

All in all, it’s probably a taste thing. I liked the characters well enough and the world was interesting, but I was meh about this book. It’s probably fine, just not for me.

Other Reviews:

Review – Hell Gate by Veronica Eden

Hell Gate by Veronica Eden

Book Review: The Beast, by Jenika Snow

I purchased a signed copy of The Beast, by Jenika Snow.

What if the Beast never turned into the prince?

My father had just sold me off.

Bartered my body to erase his debt to the very devil himself.

A Beast of a man. Literally.

A creature whispered about amongst the villagers and feared by all.

He was a beastly visage at three times the size of a man, his monstrously huge body covered in fur. Sharp fangs and eyes that held an unearthly red glow. He had pawlike hands tipped with claws and horns that arched back from his inhuman face.

I was to live with him, to be his in every way—all ways—he saw fit.

I was to be his wife, and so I offered myself up as the proverbial sacrifice to the very devil himself.

I just didn’t expect to enjoy being with a monster as much as I did.

Meh, I didn’t love it. I picked this up because I’d seen it raved about over on Tiktok and thought the idea of Beast, from Beauty and the Beast, remaining beastly was intriguing. But there’s just not much to it. Which might be fine (erotica doesn’t need much of a plot), except what is there doesn’t even try to be original in any way. It just feels like poorly done Disney fan fiction.

So, if the minimal plot didn’t interest me, that left the sex. What a reader likes in a sex scene is super individual. But, for me, this was far too focused on how he was going to hurt her and she’d beg for more. (Plus, all the spitting…and leaking…wasn’t my jam). Which means the sex wasn’t a big winner for me either.

Thus, to say it again, I didn’t love it. But to each their own.

Other Reviews:

Book Review: Deceived by the Gargoyles, by Lillian Lark

I purchased a copy of Lillian Lark‘s Deceived by the Gargoyles. Well, actually, my husband always gives me his Amazon Prime credits to buy ebooks (for the family library technically, but I’m the only ebook reader). And I bought this book with his credits.

A curvy librarian looking to start a family, a clan of gargoyles, and the deception that starts it all.

My family has always found me lacking. From the way I dress, how I look, to the type of magic I have. My family name is full of pomp and prestige, and I want nothing to do with it.
I’m a witch that knows how to set a goal and I have one in mind.

I want a real family.

Dating is a travesty. All the suitors I meet are looking for a connection to the family name I left behind. I need help.

Enter the matchmaker. It seems too good to be true that I can give her the list of traits I want in a partner and have my deepest desire answered, but I’m out of options.

Love comes along in the most unexpected ways.

From the very first moment I meet Elliot Bramblewick, I have hope. But he’s tricky.
I’m not expecting him to be hiding two other mates. Mates who are as alarmed and intrigued by my presence as I am by theirs.

He thinks I’m a perfect fit for them, but can I open my heart and discard my list long enough to see if this is the family I’m looking for?

None of my lists and plans prepared me for being courted by three gargoyles.

This is my first booktok made me do it book. I bought it after seeing it recommended on Tiktok (which I’m new to). And I thought it was very sweet. I didn’t love it as much as the recommender, but I didn’t dislike it either. I thought it a perfectly passable fluffy read, with no need to be more than that.

I loved the body and sex positivity of it. I very much appreciated seeing a group of people all being conscientious and simply kind to one another. All of the tension building drama is from outside the group. In that sense, I can see this being a comfort read for some. I liked all of the characters individually and the world seems an interesting one.

However, I thought the villain and his motivation super clichéd. I thought it overly long, and the sex (which it is heavy one, being romantic/erotic fantasy) is very insert giant rod A/B/C into tiny slot V. The titillation seemed entirely dependent on the FMC adapting to be able to take massive and/or multiple cocks, with the climax (pun intended) being her ability to perform/endure double penetration with big ‘men’. It’s very focused on what went where, when and how. So, quite explicit, but not particularly erotic, in my opinion. But the men’s general care for boundaries and self-acceptance was sweet.

All in all, it was an enjoyable read and I’d read more of the series. But I’m not rushing out to buy the next (or previous) book.

Other Reviews:

Deceived by the Gargoyles by Lillian Lark

Deceived By The Gargoyles (Monstrous Matches #2) by Lilian Lark