Tag Archives: erotica

Book Review: Tangle of Dragons, by Jane Darkspire

I picked up a copy of Jane Darkspire‘s Tangle of Dragons as an Amazon freebie.

The city of Rendale is ruled by dragons—powerful monsters that control every drop of fame and fortune. They fear nothing, hunting without mercy and taking what they please.
And the Ruthless Dragons are the greediest of all.

I grew up believing if I worked hard my dreams would come true. Turns out that’s crap.
After two years of waiting for my life to begin, I was done sitting on my hands.
I’d have a final night of wild fun before packing my bags and saying goodbye to this wretched city.

But no one leaves Rendale once the Ruthless Dragons notice you.

Avrice, Sylt, Mortar and Rask.
The four of them masquerade as men to hide their wings and colorful scales, but they can’t wait to show me what they really are. Rumors say if they bring you to their den, you’ll be changed forever.
Warped and twisted by the time you walk out.

What happens if they never let me leave?

This is one of those books—I’m sure we’ve all read them—that objectively isn’t very good. While the mechanical writing is fine, the pacing is off, there isn’t any worldbuilding or character development, it’s too heavy on the tell instead of show, the villains are cliched, the primary one is conquered too easily and anti-climactically, the men are not given equal attention, and there is no explanation for why the H is The One the men fall for and not just another toy as all the other women. Objectively this book is bad. But subjectively, it’s a lot of fun. It’s so committed to its over-the-top ridiculousness that you find yourself rolling along with it without thinking deeply enough to notice how bad it really is. I’d read another Darkspire book happily.

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Book Review: Blade & Thistle, by Jacinda Hale

I accepted a review copy of Jacinda Hale‘s Blade & Thistle from Enticing Journey Book Promotions. The book was also over on Sadie’s Spotlight. So, you can hop over there, where the author provided a playlist, score, and book trailer.

Her father’s army came to conquer their homeland, but the barbarians of the Harrows will be the ones to conquer her.

Vasenia has hated her life in Eretamia ever since her father, Imperator Supreme of the Sadoran Army, forced her to join him on his military campaign. The cold, gloomy, backwater colony provides none of the high society of the capital. When her betrothed retrieves her for their wedding in the imperial city, Vasenia assumes the gods have finally shined their favor upon her.

Until her caravan is attacked along the forbidden, northern border and Vasenia finds herself in a hell far worse than Eretamia at the mercy of three ruthless warriors. No, not warriors–Harrow demons.

Barbarians. Savages. Harrow demons. Warriors Marek, Gaeb, and Ryfin know their people, the half-fae Itheni, are known by many names. Few who live south of the magical border that protects their home understand the Itheni, least of all the Sadoran invaders.

But when the three warriors rescue a Sadoran woman on their trek home, they discover she’s more than just another invader. She’s half-fae too, a descendent of the lost women whose connection to their people was severed by a curse a thousand years ago.

When an ancient bond links her to them, Marek, Gaeb, and Ryfin realize they have no choice; they must bring their enemy home. But if they want to keep her, they’ll have to claim her and reconnect her to the fae by the only means they have: pleasure.

I liked this quite a lot, but I didn’t love it. I think I might have loved what it could have been if it wasn’t Porn With Plot. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with Porn With Plot. I read a lot of it. I picked this up knowing that’s what it is. But in this case, Blade & Thistle has quite an interesting world and mythology sketched out, and by the end, when I had honestly gotten bored with all the sex, I found myself disappointed not to get more of it.

And really, that same sort of complaint paints several aspects of the book for me. I liked the characters a lot (most of them, anyhow). But all we really know of most of them is their caricature and what they are like in bed. I liked that Vasenia is self-sufficient and scheming. But eventually, it started to feel redundant all the times she reminded herself she was only doing what she was doing for the intel.

This is the first book of a series, so there’s a chance that some of the development I wanted will come in time. But the lack here did leave me wanting.

Now I want to have a little semantic rant. Let’s talk words. The writing here is lovely. I enjoyed it. But I want to complain about the word cunt. And before you imagine I’m clutching my pearls, let me assure you that’s not my complaint. I’ll admit it’s not my favorite, but it has its place in erotica. However, it is usually used in gritty scenarios to confer a certain admirable filth to a sex scene. But here, the Itheni consider sex and orgasm sacred acts of joining their goddess. So, the edginess of cunt felt horridly out of place in context. If it had been once or twice, I wouldn’t give a paragraph of a review to it, but it was frequent and pulled me out of every scene.

All in all, despite these complaints, I liked almost everything else about the book. I liked the openness of the Itheni. I liked the world. I’m invested in what happens next. So, I’ll be on the lookout for the next book.

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Book Review: Grave Stakes, by Grave Grahme

I recently picked up a freebie copy of Grave Grahme‘s Grave Stakes on Amazon.

BRITT
I thought I’d seen everything.

A decade as a cop tends to make anyone cynical. Even a cop with great instincts.

Until I follow those instincts one night, and get my throat torn out.

That’s a new one.

Odder still, I wake up in the ER with no trace of the lethal injury. Don’t get me wrong. I’m thrilled to be alive, but my memory is blank.

I’m going to find out what happened.

pnrI followed a man that night. I have a feeling he has answers.

Finding him might kill me.

ETIENNE
I was the king of the city. Untouchable.

Until a hired assassin tried to kill me.

My saving grace? A police officer caused a distraction allowing me to dispatch the assassin.

My mistake? Saving that police office. A woman who haunts me with the sweetness of her taste.

Someone is power-hungry enough to try to make me permanently dead. I need an expert to help uncover the source of the threat.

And I know just where to find a detective.

Whether she wants to help or not.

Meh. This was a fine read. I didn’t hate it. It didn’t light me up, either, though. I really liked that the heroine is older. I don’t think an exact age is ever given. But, she has some grey in her hair and has been in her job long enough to be the mentor instead of the mentee. I liked the archetypes that the men are filling. I liked the snarky tone, and the writing is pretty clean and easy to read.

But I also don’t feel like the book lived up to its own potential. The villain is paper thin and dispatched with no fanfare (super anticlimactic). I did not feel any connection between the romantic leads. The lust is instant and baseless. So, I can’t even say I felt the erotic chemistry.

There’s also a trigger warning for SA. So, I’m not complaining about that. But I also always assess if an SA is actually integral to a plot or if an author could have skipped it without changing the story any. And that is 100% the case here. It just wasn’t needed.

All in all, I’d be willing to read the next series. In fact, I’d like to. This one kind of felt like an extended prologue more than anything else. But alas, it isn’t out yet, and I’ll probably have forgotten about it by the time it is.

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