Erotic romance readers who are weary of porny positions and situations may find this book a refreshing change. I just wish there had been more space for the world and the romance to develop.
This review is part of the AWW2012 Reading and Reviewing Challenge. Click here for a list of books I’ve read so far.
Lissa, Princess of Horvald, fall in love with her slave, Devadas, who apparently perishes in battle. Ten years later, she learns that not only did he survive, he has come back to conquer Horvald and take revenge on the princess who abandoned him to the whims of war.
This story really needed to be longer or to have started at a different place. There just isn’t enough space in a novella to show how Lissa and Devadas move from master/slave to lovers, then to conqueror/slave to equal partners, while also dealing with secondary characters and antagonists. I think I would have preferred to start at the point where Devadas returns to take his revenge and have the backstory fed to me in bits and pieces.
Author Keziah Hill builds an intriguing world—although warring kingdoms are fairly common both in historical and fantasy romance, Lissa and Devadas also come from very different cultures whose views on sexuality are almost at extreme ends of the spectrum. As well as providing much fodder for sexier scenes—and this book is pretty hot without going over the top—Hill touches on the way in which women have power in both types of communities.
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A taut, intense and brilliantly written erotic read in the first book of a trilogy that Fifty Shades wants to be when it grows up.
Zachary Easton is the most brutal editor of ‘high brow’ literature around, and Nora Sutherlin, best-selling erotica writer, wants him for her next book. Unbeknownst to Zach, Nora is also New York’s top dominatrix, but she’s afraid that this would cloud his impartiality in editing her work as a writer of erotic BDSM fiction. In addition, she’s running from a former lover and trying to keep her hands off Wesley, the virginal (and vanilla) nineteen-year-old she lives with.
Everything about The Siren is deliciously complicated and it’s an experience I don’t want to spoil (plus I’m not in the habit of killing fairies, so to speak).
“I like doing things that hurt.” She gave him a Cheshire cat grin.
Nora pretty much introduced herself as one of my new favourite literary heroines of all time. Full of contradictions, she epitomizes female sexuality and is so wonderfully glib about all things sex that it’s both amusing and horrifying. Not to mention exciting. No wonder she’s considered dangerous. The banter between Nora and [insert any character she comes into contact with in the novel here] is fantastic, and her chemistry with all the men in her life is palpable.
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A novelette that contains some of the most fascinating themes I have ever read in a romance, let alone an erotic specfic, and leaves behind a strong and inspiring sentiment.
I am receptive to just about any story—it doesn’t matter what it’s about, or how morally ambiguous or taboo it is, it’s all in how it’s written and presented. The Watchmaker’s Lady certainly makes for unconventional reading, challenging the traditional notions of a romantic story, as it involves a deeply loving and sexual relationship between a man and a doll.
That’s right, a doll.
The exploration and exploitation of the fetish isn’t exactly new in fiction, but it’s arguably a daring premise in the romance genre. I’ve put it quite crudely just now, but don’t go pulling repulsed faces yet. The Watchmaker’s Lady does have a man and a female automaton having sex—lots and lots of sex—but this is no typical fetish story. Author Heather Massey assures us that ‘if you dig a little deeper beneath the kink you’ll discover a heart-warming romance between two soul mates’.
And so it is, but it does take some digging.
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This book has surpassed its humble origins, and if you can overlook an under-defined heroine and clunky prose, you’ll find a lot to enjoy, especially in the bedroom.
This series has engendered some very polarised opinions. Some people refuse to read it on principle because of its origins as Twilight fanfic (posted as Master of the Universe). As dirty as I feel to think that just a pair of fangs and a sparkle may be all that separates me from the Twihards, my opinion is what it is. Fifty Shades of Grey hit the mark for me.
I originally read the e-book a few months ago, looking for BDSM smut and as long as the story (and especially the sex scenes) can convince me of the inherent conflict, connection and creativity between the hero and heroine, I might not notice or care about things that irritate other readers, such as the first person/present tense writing, hero Christian Grey naming his company Grey Enterprises Holdings when either Holdings or Enterprises would have sufficed (Holdings gets my vote), or Ana describing Christian’s ‘cool, cold lips’.
Although the quality of the writing is questionable, I sometimes wonder if that isn’t part of its appeal, lending a greater sense of intimacy because it feels less like a professionally published book than someone’s diary.
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Broken by Megan Hart
A beautifully executed story that challenges the boundaries of the romance genre. This is what erotic romance should be—edgy, deliberate and deeply emotional.
Megan Hart is an author whose work I’ve always been curious about but was afraid to try. Yes, afraid. Hart has a reputation for blurring the lines between erotic fiction and romance, and I generally don’t consider myself a romance genre boundary bender.
When I was asked to curate Raunchy Romance Storytime at Customs House Library last month, I had a feeling I would eventually have to read Hart’s work. After reading Jessica’s list of her top 9 romantic love scenes in romance—and being assured that the book is indeed a romance—I bought a copy of Broken.
Okay, yes. First I read all the smutty bits. Doesn’t everyone?
But then I read Broken the way it’s supposed to be read, and I was absolutely seduced. Not by the sex, mind. Hart uses erotica to invite the reader into Sadie’s story, but by the time you’re in the actual story, you find yourself wishing there were less erotic fantasy and more of the characters’ everyday lives.
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Photo Opportunity by Jess Dee (Tanner Siblings, Book 1)
A friends to lovers story that doesn’t quite reach the emotional heights—or depths—that I prefer in my romances.
I love me a good friends-to-lovers story—it’s one of my favourite pairings. In theory, Jess Dee’s story in which the hero, Daniel, decides he’s had enough of being platonic friends with childhood friend, Amy, and executes a plan to change their relationship status…well, in theory it ticks the right boxes for me. Bonus for being an erotic romance, even though, as I may have mentioned a few times before, I’m so very picky with erotica.
Well…it kind of work and it didn’t. The fact that I’m a sucker for friends to lovers probably kept my interest longer than the book should have. Unfortunately, it just didn’t have enough emotional depth for me to care much about the characters.
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Perfect Formation by KB Alan
Perfect Formation is KB Alan’s impressive debut e-book about a Will and Grace-type couple’s ménage with a bisexual dominant man.
Richard Daniels and Taryn Moss are walking home drunk and are immediately struck by a man who captures both their attention. Caleb Black thinks their drunken admiration and palpable intimacy are cute, so he decides to ask them both out when they’re sober. Sparks continue to fly when they learn that although Richard is gay, he likes having sex with Taryn, who is straight, and that Caleb likes topping both men and women.
Even though the relationship is somewhat affected by outside influences such as their families and friends, Alan skilfully balances each member’s relationship with the others. Taryn is uncomfortable with getting too close to her men in case the relationship fails or she loses Richard’s friendship. Richard is afraid that Taryn and Caleb may decide that they want a completely hetero relationship, since they can marry and have children in a socially acceptable and legally recognised union,
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Remastering Jerna by Ann Somerville
A BDSM book for readers who don’t read BDSM. Yes, it was that good.
[Edited because my previous intro was highly susceptible to misunderstanding.]
Australian author Ann Somerville has, at times, been a controversial figure in some of the online romance communities I hang out in. I mention this up front because I get the feeling that a lot of readers will want to dismiss her work based on preconceived notions.
All I can say is that they’d be missing out on one of my most unexpected keepers of 2009. (And I’m not the only one who thinks so.)
Yes, the book starts a little shakily as Somerville sets up the protagonist, Jerna Setiq, a devoted husband, teacher and father of two, whose contented life is decimated when he’s falsely convicted of child perversion. Once the stage is set for Jerna’s emotional journey, however, Somerville gets it just about perfect.
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Sweet Seduction by Maya Banks (Sweet Series, Book 3)
A blend of sympathetic characters, the heroine’s emotional journey and hot fantasy sex overcome the far-fetched plot in Maya Banks’ latest erotic romance.
The drama between Nathan Tucker and Julie Stanford stems from a Big Misunderstanding: he’s so in awe of her that he can barely get 2 words out in her presence and instead comes off as uninterested. Julie is a drama queen and doesn’t accept his apparent disinterest with good grace. Oh, no, this brassy chick makes a final attempt to get Nathan’s attention by throwing in a free blow job with his back massage before telling him that she is no longer offering him her services (those of a legitimate nature, at least) and avoiding him for a week out of sheer vindictiveness and petulance. After all, why shouldn’t he know what he’s missed and keep her from being the only frustrated one?
She doesn’t feel bad about violating her professional ethics or deliberately stirring Nathan up knowing she has no intention of letting things go further and decides to exorcise her Nathan demon with an anonymous threesome at The House
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Cold Front by Ann Somerville (Pindone Files, Book 4)
Because who could resist that cover? Seriously.
When I was offered the chance to read an M/m romance by Australian author Ann Somerville, I scrolled through her website and the book with the shirtless man in tight black pants with his hands cuffed behind his back brought out my inner cover tart.
Then, when I read that it was along the lines of an M/m BDSM paranormal CSI, I was even more interested in the story because just one of those would have been enough to attract my attention. The book contains two prequel novellas, One Brief Encounter and A House is not a Home, followed by the novel Cold Front, which is the focus of this review.
One Brief Encounter
One Brief Encounter is told mostly from Dekan hon Cerimwe den Tsikeni’s point of view. Dek met Rensire hon Parmin den Vizinken in a bar while visiting Ren’s home region for police training and they had an immediate connection.
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