Tag Archives: erotica

Book Review: Mia, by J.A. McCorkle

This is a replacement post, as the original seems to be missing. I believe the author, J.A. McCorkle, sent me a copy of the book.

Mia Harrington’s life as a wealthy socialite is changed forever when a duo of deadly vampires attack her home in the middle of the night. Lucas Bradshaw, the handsome and powerful leader of a vampire clan, rescues Mia from the evil clutches of her attackers and vows that nothing will ever hurt this woman again. As Mia is exposed to the vampire world that she never knew existed, can Lucas really keep her safe? Especially when his clan is being threatened by the same vampires that attacked Mia?

As Mia recovers from that violent night, the attraction to the mysterious vampire leader grows. Will Mia be able to handle the intense attraction she shares with Lucas? Will he share more with her than he ever has shared with anyone before?

My Review:
Mia is just what it claims to be: a vampire erotica. Mia is a strong-willed protagonist who is easy to like. Lucas is every bit as powerful and sexy as you would want him to be. The uncharacteristic vulnerability he shows Mia endears him to the reader. There is no lack of steamy sex between them. The bad guy, Blair, is truly evil, and this is made abundantly clear by his cruel domination of the women around him. When he was around, the book often read like a cautionary tale of sadism and misogyny. I didn’t care for this, but that is more of a personal preference than an indictment of the book.

My only real complaints are the frequent tense changes and that Mia and Lucas have an instant, almost visceral reaction to each other that sets in motion the events of the book. But you never really find out why. Similarly, Mia has a fairly drastic change of opinion at the end of the story with no identifiable instigator. Despite this I would still suggest giving it a read.

Book Review The Cat & the Crow, by S.K. Hart

During the last big clearance event I grabbed S. K. Hart‘s m/m romance, The Cat & the Crow, from Smashwords.

Description from Goodreads:
A dark romance between two unlikely male characters. The recent death of Tarro’s wife was not only sudden, it was inconvenient. Being forced to mourn for a woman he never truly enjoyed, he accepts an offer for company that only ends up leading to more trouble. With a reputation for being able to ruin anything, he starts to wonder if he’s ruining his new house guest, or perhaps himself.

Review:
Before I even read the first page of this novel it had two important things going for it. I secretly love m/m stories and I am a closet manga addict, so the very yaoi-ish cover attracted me immediately. I am thrilled to say that it lived up to my expectations, exceeded them even. I read 90% of it with a ridiculous silly grin on my face, teared up more than once, had to get myself a quick glass of ice water and return to it again and again (whew), then eventually had to admit that the whole thing made my heart hurt. Tarro’s life isn’t an easy one to face. It is definitely cringeworthy. But every painful, horrible thing that happens in this book is made up for in the wonderful character that is Nerin. *swoon* Yes, he and Tarro have turned me into a sad little fangirl.

The book is told in first person, from the POV of Tarro. I’m not generally a fan of first person narratives, in fact I kind of hate them. But I have to admit I enjoyed it here. Tarro had such a fantastically sarcastic and jaded tone/voice that it was a pleasure to read. I also liked his blatant honesty, especially about himself and his own proclivities.

I read a lot. I write a lot of reviews. But I rarely rave. I rarely give unadulterated praise. But I am officially declaring myself an S. Hart fan. If you enjoy yaoi or M/M romances (and honestly I would only recommend this if you do) this is one worth picking up.

☆Here’s a hint too. If you check the book out on Smashwords you’ll find a little free extra story too. Tarro and Nerin do Christmas…and toys.

Book Review of Eve Langlais’ Delicate Freak’ Flower

I grabbed Eve Langlais‘ erotic shifter novel, Delicate Freakn’ Flower from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
Dammit , just how many toes was she going to have to stomp on before people realized she was a delicate freakin’ flower?

Naomi doesn’t want to follow tradition and settle down with a violence-loving, chest thumping shapeshifter. She grew up in a household with five, testosterone laden brothers where none of the dishes ever matched, the ugly-as-sin furniture could withstand any catastrophe, and where crazy glue was bought by the case.

When fate—with a snicker—makes her meet not one, but two mates, Naomi digs her heels in and refuses to do what her wolf—and her body—demands. No way is she voluntarily allowing herself to get hitched to a pair of dumbass—totally hot and muscled—lacrosse players.

Can Ethan, the towering Kodiak bear, and Javier, the sexy, tanned jaguar convince this she-wolf that life with them won’t be all chaos? And can this delicate freakn’ flower unbend her prejudices enough to recognize she needs a pair of men who can handle her thorns—and her passion?

Warning: this is a hot threesome story where all the focus is on her with pleasurable consequences.

Review:
Delicate Freakn’ Flower is just plain pulp. You can even tell from the sarcastic title that it isn’t going to be anything serious. But if that’s what you’re looking for, it’s all good. There isn’t a lot to the plot, but not much is promised in the description either. You get what’s on the cover in this one.

Naomi’s character is a lot of fun. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a total bitch to almost everyone. But I rather enjoyed the fact that all of the men around her let her be that way, even liked her that way. It’s one of my favourite fictional events when strong men allow a female complete control over them, or cower in the face of her fury. Of course they could stop it. Of course they are only allowing her the control, but I still always get a kick out of it. This book has that in spades. In fact, it’s pretty much the crux of the plot.

On a side note, though subtle, I appreciated that Naomi isn’t described as a twig. She has large breasts and a gently rounded tummy. That tummy is still worshiped by two hot guys. I really liked that she was described this way AND Langlais didn’t make any sort of issue about it. Not once did she call herself fat or appear anything but comfortable in her own body. I may be reading more into it that was intended, but I thought it marvellous.

The beaus, Ethan and Javier were just as sexy as you would expect. I did have to wonder that their relationship wasn’t explored more. The two of them did everything together even before discovering Naomi, including previous threesomes. They didn’t even blink when they discovered they shared a mate and seemed to be in complete accord about everything. It’s hard for me to not see them as a couple with or without Naomi. This wasn’t even hinted at, of course, but I think the book might have had a little more depth if it had been addressed one way or the other.

While the book was generally well written, there was some unfortunate language use (IMO). Prick, pussy, cleft, cleft, cleft…why does it have to sound like cheap porn to be considered erotic? I haven’t figured that out yet. At least Langlais had the grace to not throw cunt around too. On the same theme I found it disconcerting that when the trio finally made it to the bedroom together Ethan, poor shy, awkward Ethan was the one throwin’ down the dirty talk. It didn’t fit his previous character at all.

In the end the book was utterly ridiculous, but a fun/hot way to pass a couple of hours. Plus, it was a freebie. How could I possibly complain.