Tag Archives: erotica

Book Review: Wolf Hunter, by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

I won a signed paperback copy of Linda Thomas-Sundstrom‘s Wolf Hunter.

Two enemies fated to be supernatural lovers… Only a few people know about the Weres hidden deep within Miami’s underground. Those few either embrace the wolves, or seek to destroy them. Cameron Mitchell has sought to protect his kind. But one beautiful woman may be his undoing. Born into a family of wolf hunters is one thing. But when Abby Stark actually meets one, she is immediately drawn to Cameron Mitchell. Abby knows she and Cameron have no future. Yet walking away from him, and from the danger he represents, proves to be impossible.

Welp, this was not at all what I expected. I’d seen this labeled New Adult. And to be fair Abby is 23-24 years old, so New Adult age. And while I know plenty of New Adult titles do have sex in them, they don’t usually have the characters sexing it up within about 10 minutes of first meeting, after having exchanged about 10 sentences, which is what happens in Wolf Hunter. I’ll grant that Thomas -Sundstrom did a good job of establishing that there was some sort of magnetic, paranormal draw at play. But it definitely required that I re-calibrate my expectations. (I also didn’t realize it’s 4th in a series, but that took much less mental adjustment. It stands alone pretty well.)

I don’t actually have any problem with the book being more erotica than romance. In fact, I can’t really say there was any romance at all. The attraction and loyalty and love was all based on the characters being fated mates and the go-go-go of the plot never allows them to actually speak and get to know one another. So, I’ll re-phrase. I don’t have any problem with this being erotica (or erotica-like, since I wouldn’t quite call the sex graphic enough to truly qualify), instead of romance, as I expected. Especially since the little bit of plot that the sexy-times hang on is entertaining, the writing is easily readable, and the editing clean.

Thus, as long as you go into this with appropriate expectations it’s perfectly enjoyable. I’ll probably even look up those earlier books that I apparently skipped.

Other Reviews:

Paranormal Romance Guild

Book Review: Steampunk Cyborg, by Eve Langlais

I do this thing sometimes where I search Amazon Prime for the odd, extreme sales and let fate and random algorithms sell me a cheap, surprise book. Eve Langlais‘ Steampunk Cyborg came into my hand in this manner.

When a friend drags Agatha “Aggie” Bowles to a romance convention, all she wants to do is find some new authors and a quiet spot to read. Instead of relaxing with a book, she ends up kidnapped by a steampunk cyborg.

Which is as exciting as it sounds.

Except for the fact he’s more interested in the cog hanging around her neck than Aggie herself. He’ll do anything to get his hands on it. Problem is other people want it, too.

Can this cyborg relinquish a priceless treasure for love?

This was utterly ridiculous. In one sense I can’t really fault it for that. It’s absolutely not supposed to be anything else. This is written to be cotton candy enjoyment with no depth or subtly. But in another sense, I have to admit there just wasn’t enough here to keep me interested.

Oddly, if there was more sex in it, I might call it Porn With Plot, and thus say it’s exactly what it set out to be. But there’s really not much sex in it at all. The thing with Porn With Plot books is that you don’t expect much more than an outline of a plot to hang the sex on. The Porn is the primary component, the With Plot secondary. This has about the same amount of plotting, but not the sex, which leaves it feeling flimsy at best.

The mechanical writing and editing is pretty good though. It’s certainly readable. Just maybe not for me.

Other Review:

Paranormal Book Reviews

Book Review: The Awakening, by Christine Feehan

I wanted a shortish audio book to listen to while I did chores this afternoon. While I have audio books I could have listened to, I decided to see if I could find one to download from the library that was on theme for my March reading challenge, which I have named the Awakening Challenge. I set out to read eight books titled Awakening. But, like with this one, I’ve been adding books. here and there I call them Bonus Awakenings. They may not meet the challenge criteria I set out exactly, or even if they do, I picked them up after I set the initial challenge. Christine Feehan‘s The Awakening is one such book.

Maggie returns to the place of her birth and her world suddenly turns into a sensual, but dangerous delight. The rainforest holds secrets of her birthright and a mysterious man, as predatory as any of the animals, waiting in the very heart of the jungle for her arrival.

Under the blazing heat of the Borneo sun, a beautiful naturalist’s dream comes true – to live among the feral jungle creatures. But an untamed, irresistible beast of another sort forces her to explore her own wild side.

This was fine for what it is. But it should be kept in mind that what it is is a bit of erotic fluff written over a decade ago. The Paranormal Romance genre has come a long way since then, but Feehan’s The Awakening is an example of what it used to be. Heroes were meant to be predatory and virginal heroines swooned and became ‘aware of their femininity’ (code for sexuality) in their presence. It tiptoes awful close to the men-writing-women meme sometimes, even though it’s obviously something else entirely. But the descriptions of all but anthropomorphized breasts can comes close.

There’s not much to this honestly. The plot is just a backdrop to paint the angst and eventual sex on. The relationship is based on sexual attraction and the mythical shifter mate bond. It didn’t light me on fire in any manner. But, again, it is what it is and should be judged accordingly.