Tag Archives: erotica

Book Review: Jane and the Monster, by Sophia Smut

After seeing Sophia Smut‘s Jane and the Monster on TikTok, I picked up an Amazon freebie copy.

Jane has always heard stories about giant monsters residing at the top of the Mount Moorhead. Any woman who dares trespass would disappear, becoming captive to the villainous creatures and never to be seen again. But instead of fear, Jane has always harbored fantasies of encountering a monster at the top of the mountain…

So one day, she puts on her hiking shoes and treks her way up, only to lose her way a few hours in. After she panics and passes out, regretting her crazy idea to venture out of her comfort zone, she wakes up to find herself chained to a bed in a cavernous room, an odd sensation between her legs… and a giant monster from her fantasy tales with enormous arms, a tail, and two horns.

Maybe fantasy and reality are not quite the same. Or maybe they are…

Geez, I was totally pulled in by that great cover. This book is simply bad. It’s only January, but I’m fairly sure this will be on my short list of worst books of 2024. No one is likable. No one’s character is developed enough to be interesting or invested in. The heroine thinks about her ex-boyfriend for the whole book, but notably right in the middle of other scenes such that everything stalls. The sex scenes are bland, there are several consistency issues, the writing is amateurish, and the whole thing ends on a cliffhanger.

Honestly, I secretly suspect that Sophie Smut is actually a man with a female pen name or a woman who has so internalized the male pornographic gaze that she honestly thinks a moneyshot is the height of erotica. There is no emotion or feeling to any of them. I will not be reading anymore.

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Book Review: In Her Thrall, by Chloe Parker

I picked up a copy of Chloe Parker‘s In her Thrall as an Amazon freebie, over the summer.

Rumor has it there’s a beautiful beast stalking the English countryside.

For hundreds of years, the Van Helsing family has searched for the creature Dracula, a demon of the night that stalks the shadows for hapless prey. Freshly returned from service in the Great War, Van Helsing heir Jonathan Edgewood finds himself in the English countryside on a hunch that the creature has taken a new form: the Lady of Harker Heights, Bianca Ivyshade.

Each year on All Hollow’s Eve, Bianca hosts an extravagant ball, and Jonathan has landed an invitation. He brings with him two other vampire hunters and his Great War compatriots: shy scientist Marcus Ryder and charming occultist Edward Shelley.

When a storm confines the guests to the manor for the night, Jonathan, Marcus, and Edward find themselves irresistibly drawn to the beautiful Bianca. And they soon learn that there are secrets hidden at Harker Heights—and perhaps even a greater evil than the vampiress herself.

Will the men escape with their lives? Or will they fall under the vampire’s thrall?

To begin with, the blurb is a little inaccurate about the setup of the plot of the book. While not devastatingly important, it is annoying. So, I figured I’d mention it.

More importantly, this is mostly smut, with just enough plot to string it all together in some sort of context. That’s not a criticism; just making sure we’re on the same page about what sort of book this is. It’s pretty good for what it is, too. The villain (and thus the challenge that gave the book what little plot it has) is pretty cliched; nothing new, original, or interesting there. The same could be said for Bianca. She challenges none of the norms for female characters of her ilk. But I liked her well enough.

I found Jon, Marcus, and Edward interesting. Perhaps not particularly well-developed since the book isn’t deep enough to allow for it. But I enjoyed them all the same. There is sword-crossing and a genuine pre-existing relationship between two of the men, and I liked that. However, by the end of the book, the relationship configuration felt like two couples who overlap rather than one polycule, which is perhaps a little disappointing. But, again, enjoyable enough.

I have book two of this series, which I intend to read. And honestly, the fact that I’m willing to continue the series says more about the book than any of the above.

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Book Review: Live and Let Orc, by Dani Wyatt

I picked up a copy of Dani Wyatt‘s Live and Let Orc as an Amazon freebie, earlier this year.

I’m loaded down with a backpack full of stolen weapons when a seven-foot wall of orc steps in front of me. He’s got three-inch tusks pressing into a curling upper lip, eight-pack abs, fists the size of cantaloupes and his heated gaze devours me.

I make it out of there alive, barely.

The next day, the same orc that blasted my panties and made me wonder what a tusk laced kiss would feel like turns up at my festival booth sending my customers running for their lives.

I’m ready to blast him with both barrels but, before I get a word out, I’m over his shoulder wondering less about those tusks and more about what’s under that leather kilt he’s wearing.

Soon, I’m falling hard for this primal monster. But, will the burning bridges between our two worlds keep us apart or will we forge our own path to our happily ever after?

This actually started out really well. I thought I’d lucked out. Then the two of them met, and the whole thing went to shit. Look, I’ll fully admit that daddy-kink is not my thing on the best of days. But something about the way it is used here gave me a special sense of ick. And everything about it just seemed to get worse the longer the book went on. They have translators that translate all the languages and he can speak perfectly well. But his syntax deteriorated when speaking to her for no apparent reason. The sex (and it’s erotica; most of the books are sex) just sounds painful. His possessiveness doesn’t come across as endearing or even bad-boy alpha but just as a huge flying red flag. And honestly, the way he behaved and talked during coitus didn’t match what little we learned of him outside the bedroom. All in all, it may be a matter of taste, but despite the moment of high hopes in the beginning, this was a flop for me.

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