New Concepts Publishing – 3 Books; Erotica – Shapeshifter to Futuristic

New Concepts Press has several very reliable authors in their stable, the two I read most are Madelaine Montague and Kaitlyn O’Connor and this lot was no different.  NCP does not release books on any particular schedule, so it’s not a site I check on any regular schedule.

So here we go, with the Good, the Bad, and the Really Icky.

• Title: Dragon’s Blood
  
• Author:  Madelaine Montague
• Type:  Paranormal erotic romance; ménage or polyandry
• Genre: Dragons living hidden among Native Americans
• Sub-genre:  FBI recruit finds herself pregnant and confused about a bear attack
• My Grade: C+  (3.4*)
  
• Rating:  NC-17 to X
• Length and price:  Full novel about 80,000 words ebook for $5.99
• Where Available:  book available at New Concepts Publishing book store online
• FTC Disclosure:  purchased book from publisher’s website

Two Short Reviews: Samhain eBooks

As most of you know, I read a lot of Samhain ebooks.  Many of their authors are among my favorites and overall they put out some of the best quality material.  Usually.  Mostly.  OK – this week was a HUGE miss for me.  Granted, not every week do I find something that grabs my interest, but when I do buy, I am rarely so disappointed.  On top of that, Samhain is starting to have the same kind of egregious editing errors for which New Concepts Publishing is so famous – or infamous.  “Peaked” where it should be “piqued”?  Last week it was “check” where the word was “cheek”!  You might think that an aberration, but it’s happened too often of late and mistakes are escalating in number and distracting from the flow of the story.  With the cost of ebooks escalating, my tolerance for such bush league nonsense is rapidly dwindling.

The editing issue was compounded this week by two entries that should have died on an editor’s desk.  One was just a saccharine costume drama in modern dress and the other a sex fest one might expect from Siren Ménage or NCP.  OK, I grant you one novella was by a writer I didn’t know, but the other novella was written by a well establish author that I’ve read and enjoyed in the past, so I was shocked at the awfulness of it!  Here are two titles that can be skipped – completely.

• Title: Pride and Passion
  
• Author:  Jenna Bayley-Burke
• Type:  Homage to Pride and Predjudice
• Genre:  Regency virgin miss in modern dress
• Sub-genre:  Dumb assumptions fed by stupid lack of communication
• My Grade: F (0*)
  
• Rating:  PG
• Length and price: Short Novel, category – about 50,000 words for $4.50 (10% for short time)
• Where Available: ebook available on the Samhain site
• FTC Disclosure:  purchased book from publisher’s site

BOOK REVIEW: Sweet Persuasion by Maya Banks (erotic romance)

Once again I find myself confronted with a book that is wonderfully well written that I disliked beyond redemption. I know my personal distaste for certain lifestyles influences this, but I simply cannot get past it. Of all the contemporary romance writers doing erotic stories, Maya Banks seems to be the most talented in creating characters and writing intelligent, highly sensual stories without getting trite or predictable. That said, she also goes places I just do not understand and I find myself so repulsed by certain events that I cannot enjoy the book at all.  Such was the case with Sweet Persuasion.

I have said many times I do not understand or enjoy BDSM. A little goes a long way with me and then I find myself angry at the protagonists. Actually, I was so distressed by one scene that I had trouble sleeping and woke with it praying on my mind. Some would say it speaks well that an author can create characters I felt that deeply about, but I’ve learned it’s because they hit a nerve that’s like a sore tooth I can’t leave alone. Even crappy writers can do this to me.

June Erotic Romance Roundup – Part 2

I did warn you it was a werewolf kind of a month, so let’s do the Lunar Mates books I read first and I finish with another werewolf tale.

Christmas Moon by Loribelle Hunt (Lunar Mates Book 5)

Werewolf twins Cain and Abel Williamson have a special Christmas present this year – account Delilah. Raised in foster homes, Delilah has spent her life fending for herself, but when an old friend called and asked if she was interested in a job, Delilah applied and ended up with an offer she didn’t want to refuse, even if it did mean relocating just before Christmas. At least she’ll know Chloe, her college roommate. She made a Thanksgiving wish, a tradition learned from one of her foster mothers, for a man of her own. Standing in a house in the middle of a blizzard, her very first snow storm, she has a matched set. Twins.

BOOK REVIEW: Only Pleasure by Lora Leigh

Lora Leigh is a very prolific erotic romance writer and a highly successful one. Her Breeds books are popular paranormals, some of her better work in my opinion, and her Bound Hearts are popular ménage books, some with a D/s element. The Nauti series is more erotic mainstream, if there is such a thing. Her SEALS books are just ludicrous and have so many technical errors it’s annoying. Only Pleasure is actually part of the Bound Hearts series and follows the story of Chase Falladay, the twin brother and third in the Cameron Falladay story told in Wicked Pleasure. All of these books revolve around the men of the Trojans Club, a very private club for men who enjoy sharing their women, even their wives. Chase and Cameron Falladay provide security for the club in addition to being members themselves. Chase Falladay was one “hero” I despised in the first few pages and Kia Stanton – for a supposedly smart business woman – became an illogical annoying simp who makes bizarre, irrational decisions regarding how her ex-husband, an employee of her father’s company, is handled.

Kia Stanton’s husband Drew attempts to get her drunk and force her into a ménage with another man from the Trojan’s Club. She gets away, gets help and files for divorce. She was apparently unaware of his sexual preferences prior to marriage, so the whole ménage thing was a shock. Drew threatens her with the power of the men who are part of the Trojans Club if she tries using the incident as grounds for divorce. In the argument, he hits her. Kia, in distress over all that’s happened, tells a friend about the Trojans Club. The friend promptly starts spreading the rumor. (Well, duh! This is Washington DC, what else would happen?) But the Trojans protect themselves with their money and positions of power. They threaten the family business run by Kia’s father. Dad, one of the few real men in this book, is willing to lose it all if his daughter wants to fight her swine of her soon to be ex. With all this on her mind, Kia answers her door to find the Trojans very own enforcer – Chase Fallady – is making a house call.

Chase, supposedly the secret object of her fantasy desire, has been sent to ‘persuade’ – read coerce – Kia to humiliate herself even further by telling her friends she fabricated the story of the Trojans to hurt her husband. Now stop and think about this for a moment – a woman is victimized by a member of the Trojans Club with attempted rape with another member, then her husband hits her during an argument, thereby committing another felony,

eBooks and Erotic Romance – The Good, the bad and the just plain awful PART 1

The reason ebooks seem like such a good – and inexpensive (relatively speaking) – way to buy erotic romance is largely due to the fact the vast majority of these books – many short novels and novellas – simply aren’t worth more than one read – if that. I’m not knocking these books for their sexual content, after all, they ARE erotic romance, but isn’t the reader entitled to SOME story? A little character development? A beginning, a middle, and an end that actually have some purpose other than a backdrop to sex? And at least a shred of believability? I know it’s a given that the men will all be hung like bulls – has there ever been a male with small equipment? – and I know they will have insanely short recovery times between bouts of sex, that I can live with. It’s no worse than the silliness of an action movie where the hero walks away from a car wreck. Fine. They’re super studs. If I’m buying a book with vampires and werewolves, or spaceships and aliens, that’s the least of my problems. It is fiction, so hey, go for the gusto! But I still deserve a STORY!!!!!!

I confess I’ve deleted many of the awful ebooks prior to this entry, but I’ll try and post some from each category – and focus on the positive.

The books reviewed below can be purchased at  Bookstrand

Mari’s Men by Stormy Glen – (ménage) I know, the author’s name should have been a dead giveaway. The first chapter wasn’t awful. Twins Cole and Bear, the leaders of the Alpha Squad, apparently go to rescue a kidnapped child in the Cascades and find Mari with the boy. Apparently Mari can communicate psychically with the brothers – who naturally have the psychic twin thing going already. After facing down the bad guy she – unbelievably – faints at the sight of Bear as she runs from Cole, her rescuer. Everyone tough enough to face down a Russian mobster faints when rescued. It’s a given she wakes up, apparently none the worse for wear and (without any inconvenient awareness between woods and house) in bed with Cole and proceeds to have sex – unprotected sex! After that, it went right down hill.

Would someone please explain to me how supposedly intelligent men busy having unprotected sex with a young female cannot count to 28 and realize that said female has not has a period in over 2 months? Never mind, that the least of the problems with this book. I was 2/3^rd’s of the way through before I found out why the ‘Alpha Squad’ even existed and what the hell it was. The author kept using the SAME SENTENCE over and over just different characters in a single chapter! Good grief. Bad writing, NO character development and no discernible story line. Hard to believe, even the sex was dull. Avoid this tripe at all costs.

My Grade: F-

Rating is NC-17 to xx This is a menage story

Sweet Dreams – Cowboy’s Curse 1 by Jenny Penn – Author Jenny Penn is capable of writing decent erotic romance. Alas, this rather garbled story isn’t one. It seems reincarnation is playing a part in this, but that’s about all I could glean as to motivation since the characters driving the story are sketchy at best. Mike Baxter, eldest of the Baxter boys, is cursed by Leslie Dicks for having sex with her sister after having been warned off. To keep things interesting, the curse hits his twin brothers first by making them 2” tall. They somehow find a witch to lift the curse and she tells them only Fairies can help. Next, they enlist the aid of biker fairies – I know, I know – to lift the curse by winning the love of a woman in a kind of dream state that only fairies can create. The premise had promise, but had the feel of a book that was written in a hurry and had elements missing. Like how the hell the biker fairies and Leslie knew each other? Why did Leslie know about past lives and not Mike? Why curse innocent bystanders? I despised Leslie for her complete lack of logic – and just to make things dumber, she knows the biker fairy that’s helping the brothers and has this long conversation with him about her obscure motivations (so believable, right?) – and Mike existed as one dimensional prop in the story. Other than the curse, it was kind of a trite twins ménage story and very uninteresting. At the end, the curse rolls over to another brother who wakes with a wooden hand. Eye roll please.

My Grade: D-

Rating is NC-17 to XX – This is a menage story

Mating Claire – Sea Island Wolves 1 by Jenny Penn - It was this book that prompted me to try some of her others. A werewolf/paranormal book. Claire Hallowell is a disgraced FBI agent thought to be mixed up with a crime boss. What the FBI didn’t know was the crime boss was taken over by a demon, Agakair, and he’d marked Claire with his brand. Under suspicion and suspension, Claire finds herself working for the Masters of Cerberus, a group that hunts and exorcises demons. Following the trail of a serial killer brings her to Wilsonville, South Carolina – a town of mostly werewolves. The alpha is Sheriff Derek Jacob and one whiff tells him Claire is his mate. She is less than thrilled to be chased by this ‘man slut’. Claire is feisty, smart and funny. The Sheriff is such a guy you have to smile. Claire has a mouthy, voyeuristic ghost that helps her out. The story is good and makes sense – within the boundaries of the genre.

My Grade: B-

Rating is NC-17 to X

Taming Samantha – Sea Island Wolves 2 by Jenny Penn – werewolf/ménage/paranormal Twin brothers Sheriff JD McBane and Caleb McBane have cameos in Mating Claire. Alphas of another pack, called Covenanters, a were breed that can half transform, produce an intoxicating mating musk, and father children only on their mates. JD comes to a racing park to just check out the new owners. Dressed in protective gear and a respirator mask, Sam (Samantha) is busy painting cars when the officious male insists she speak with him. As she strips off her gear and JD smells her he realizes the mouthy little bundle is the mate he and his brother have been waiting for. Enter a battle of wills, hot werewolf sex, a cursed necklace, a slimy ex-fiancé, and a short, mouthy PI – Lilly Masterson – and you have your mix. Some of the sex gets into that grey zone that I can find annoying as it’s ‘dubious consent’, but that’s me. The demon Agakiar puts in an appearance at the end and you’re left thinking Lilly will be starring in a future Sea Island Wolves book. My favorite scene – Sam transforms into a wolf, drags the brothers’ clothes out of the truck and rolls in them as they stand there thinking how cute – then she shreds them into confetti and proceeds to attack all four tires on the truck till they’re flat.

There is an odd disconnect in the dance scene where Mike is called her sister’s husband, not their brother as per the rest of the book. Erotic romance tends to have rather poor editing and this is no exception.

My Grade: C

Rating is XX to XXX for menage and some light bondage

Just Say No – Lords of the Satyr trilogy

I rather foolishly took the high ratings of Nicholas, the first book in the The Lords of the Satyr trilogy, as being indicative of a good story and bought the three books – Nicholas, Lyon and Raine. Never again will I buy all parts of a trilogy before reading at least one book. What a waste of money.

The writing quality is excellent, far better than your average erotic romance novel, even the lead character Nicholas, is interesting. But somewhere along the line, the story just doesn’t work for me. It starts out well enough as three brothers running vineyards in Italy in the mid-1800′s just as the notorious Phylloxera infestation sweeps the European vineyards. That the Satyr vines remain unaffected is a source of some speculation on the part of other growers – but is explained to readers as a natural outgrowth of the Satyr blood link to the land – the health and well being of each is interdependent. The story draws on various elements of Greek and Roman mythology and the relationship between various demi-gods and the fertility of the Earth.  Like the mythic half-goat half-human satyr’s, the brother’s grow horns and copulate with various creatures, including “shimmerskins” (sort of magical audio animatronic inflate-a-date substitutes) once a month at the full moon.  Their link to the mythic realms seems to include the Fey, though what Fey and descendants of the Geeks and Roman gods have in common is beyond me.  Anyway, the King of the Fey, Feydon, is dying and he asks that the brothers find and marry his three daughters that he fathered among various females in the human realm.  Nichloas, as eldest, goes first, and takes the first city offered by Feydon – Rome.  Initially, the story moves well with Nicholas finding the first daughter with little trouble and basically blackmailing her father and aunt into marriage, but once it moves back to the estate, it falls apart.

The lead characters go flat and their interaction has no spark.  Even though the book is written by a woman, the female characters are weakly developed and single dimensional and the only male that gets some substance is Nicholas – and he ends up coming across as a neglectful jerk.   At this point the story gets more absurd than anything.  Here we have a female lead who is wise enough to see the danger her aunt poses, but deliberately places herself back in the woman’s life and her supposedly intelligent husband allows it?  She finds ghosts cleaning the house at night and doesn’t freak out?  Finds her husband has a room – ROOM – full of ‘magical’ sex toys and isn’t even shocked?  All I could do was shake my head and skim the rest of the story in a desperate hope for an improvement.  No such luck.  The ‘ICK!” factor kicked in at mid-point and wouldn’t quit.  It didn’t help that you couldn’t become engaged in the characters – they just were not at all interesting or likable.

The second book – Lyon – the next brother gets mated to a hermaphrodite.   OK – now we are getting really freaky.  I honestly couldn’t get past the first couple of chapters with the nasty physician that exhibits the hermaphrodite and the syphilitic priest that wants to engage in sex with Lyon.  It was just too much.  Once again, we have a female – or shemale – that stupidly leaves the safety of the estate for no intelligent reason and walks directly into trouble.  Again, the ‘ICK’ factor is high and the plot weak.

I must admit, I was so fed up at having wasted my money on Nicholas and Lyon, I was almost reluctant to start Raine.  Would you believe the third daughter is a naiad?  May we have an eye roll please?  I surrendered.  Even I have my limits and I had reached them.

I can usually find SOME redeeming feature about a book, but honestly, these were just bad stories and more than just a little creepy – and not in any good way.  They left a bad taste in my mouth.  I treasure books, even the most mediocre represent hard work by the authors and I’m hard put to trash them.  I had no trouble tossing these three away.  Honestly, I’ve read books by Anonymous that were better than these.

Grade: F-

Who would enjoy these books: No one I know.  Maybe those heavily  into kink and not at all into a choherent story.  The books are XXX and yet they’re dull.