Book Review - The Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes Lackey

In the land of 500 Kingdoms where fairy tales not only aren't just tales but are in fact events that occurred in the not so distant past how does one prevent "The Tradition" from taking control and causing the worst parts of the fairy tales to come true at the expense of the good people involved?

Well, if you are a fairy godmother by the name of Lily who has had the same kingdom Eltaria to watch over for 300 years then you use every trick in your fairy godmother book to try to make sure that events happen as they should and not as "The Tradition" would choose for them to happen.

Rosamund (Eltaria's princess) is being fought over by two very different princes. While at the same time her kingdom is besieged on all sides by others that want to control it.

With multiple fairy tales converging due to "The Tradition" read this enchanting story to find out which fairy tale prevails in the kingdom of Eltaria.

This is Ms. Lackeys 5th book in the 500 Kingdoms series. Each of the 500 Kingdom books is a pleasure on it's own but as with any series the more of the series you read the more understanding and enjoyment of the author's universe a reader is able to achieve.

Ms. Lackey's 500 Kingdoms universe is one I enjoy being drawn into each time I pick up another one of these re-imagined fairy tales.

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Book Review - Alison's Wonderland - Edited by Alison Tyler

If well written Erotica is not your thing you may want to skip this review.  Alison's Wonderland is very much an adults only playground.

I have mentioned previously that I am addicted to well written stories.  Erotica is no exception  to that.  To me the mind is a person's main erogenous zone.

Every one has their own tastes in erotica and while some may prefer straight male-female interaction, others may like three-somes or more-somes.  From vanilla to BDSM each person has their own particular flavor or kink that touches that erotic hot spot in their mind.

A lot of times as a reader I will buy a compilation of erotica and after reading through twenty to fifty stories realize that only about fifteen percent of them push my buttons just the right way, twenty-five percent are enjoyable, and the other sixty percent are a one time read if that. (Not a scientific study just personal experience)

Since this is not an adults only area of blogspot I will not be going into detail on any of the stories.  However, I will say this.  I made a chart of the stories and marked which ones I loved, which ones I liked and which ones just didn't do anything for me.  Now, even that last group was well written they just weren't related to any of my particular kinks.  Out of these twenty seven stories, seventeen are ones that I would enjoy reading many more times, seven are ones that I will probably read again, and only three were ones that I would chose to skip over.

Alison's Wonderland edited by Alison Tyler will be hitting bookshelves this July.

If you have ever wondered what would happen if Little Red Riding Hood ran into the Big Bad Wolf after a bout of car trouble give Wolff's Tavern by Bella Dean a read.

Want to know what really happens to Cinderella after marriage? - After the Happily Ever After by Heidi Champa

How about if one of the three Billy goats taught the troll a lesson? - The Three Billys by Sommer Marsden

What if a Cupid who is into bondage and likes being called Sir meets his Psyche online? - Cupid Has Signed Off  by Thomas S. Roche

I couldn't decide whether this story was about Sisyphus or the little girl who cried wolf one too many times.  Either way they both reached their happy ending.  Check out Benjamin Elliot's story An Uphill Battle and let me know which you think it was based upon.

In addition to the stories I mentioned there are twenty-two more.  Cinderella needs a shave in one and there are a couple different stories based off of Rumpelstiltskin. Who knew a grumpy dwarf could inspire such lusty thoughts, to reach paper, for others to enjoy?

Whether you keep your collection of erotica out openly on your bookshelf, or hide it in a box in the dark corners of your closet Alison's Wonderland is a must have for your personal library.


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Story Review - Kept by Zoe Winters

It is amazing how life can throw things at you.  Somehow last week, I know it was through twitter but can't for the life of me remember how, I found another paranormal author that was enjoyable to read.

Zoe Winters has created a world in which other paranormal creatures buy Therian (shifter) blood.  She was nice enough to post one of her short stories novellas to the web.

Isn't that something like a drug dealer...Give a free sample to hook your customer and you have an addict for life.  The theory works well with her writing.  I had my sample (an approximately 80 page short story novella) and I am ready for my next fix.

I will admit it.  I have a problem. I am addicted to the written word, as long as it is well written.

Kept is well written.  Ms. Winter's book is due out soon.  Spring/Summer 2010 entitled Blood Lust (The Preternaturals Book One). The book consists of three short stories novellas linked to each other.   At this time the first of those stories is located on Ms. Winter's site as a free download.

KEPT:
As a cat therian (shifter), Greta's blood is already sought after to enhance  spells and potions, but due to a quirk of her birth, her blood is potent enough to kill for.  When her tribe plans to sacrifice her, Greta must ally herself with Dayne, the dangerous local sorcerer, and the only person strong enough to protect her.

Kept was an interesting story. Enjoyable and yet another take on the paranormal/preternatural. Greta (therian), Dayne (sorcerer), and even Minx made an interesting set of characters to read about.  Ms. Winters is even working  on establishing some background and legends into her story."She’d read legends about therians born in their fur and having extra powers, but she’d always thought they were just stories."

Kept is definitely written for the Adult reader and not the YA market.  I look forward to reading the other two stories; Claimed and Mated; in her book, Blood Lust, when it hits the market.





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Book Review - Moon Dance by J.R. Rain

Lately, I had been thinking that vampire stories were overdone.  I have my favorite authors in the genre and honestly wasn't looking for anymore.  It seems that authors don't want to write about normal people anymore.  The stories all seem to have vampires, witches, wizards, and zombies in them. I was looking for an author that wrote normal stories not paranormal.  Spies, police officers, detectives, these were the heroes that I was looking for.

I first ran across J.R. Rain's work on myspace.  I had a friend request waiting in my inbox.  I accepted and went to look up his work.  Wow, what an impressive list of reviewers, what could my thoughts possibly mean after so many great authors have said such positive things about his work.

While I was debating which book to start with for our book club I got the opportunity to read Moon Dance.  I have never been overly impressed with first person fiction, with a few notable exceptions. Maybe, because I never felt like I could become the character.

Right there Mr.Rain's story had two strikes against it.  Strike One - Main character is a vampire (paranormal).  Ball One - Detective.  Strike Two - First Person narration.  The count was 2-1 and I was waiting for that third strike to fly directly over the plate and pound into the catchers mitt, instead Mr. Rain's story connected directly with the ball (my mind) and knocked it out of the park.  

Mr. Rain managed to make me fall so far into the character that I couldn't put the story down once I started reading. I laughed at the reference to The Greatest American Hero and remembered sitting in front of the TV to watch it as a child.  I even cried during some of the scenes where Samantha Moon was upset.

Samantha Moon is a fairly new vampire. She is just an everyday woman trying to juggle a husband, her children, and working out of her home as a detective.  This story shows us how she copes with these normal challenges while coming to terms with the fact that she is indeed a vampire.

With a teaser like this how can a book fail to pull a reader in.

Blood....
I ripped open his flannel shirt, buttons pinging
everywhere. His chest was awash in a sea of caked red.
The hole in his chest was a dark moon in a vermilion sky.
His blood would contain alcohol, as he had been
drinking. I didn’t care. The blood would be pure enough.
Straight from the source. The ideal way to feed. Then
again, ideal was relative. Ideally I would be feasting on
turkey lasagna.
I dipped my head down, placed my lips over the massive
wound in his chest, and drank....


The visually compelling way that Rain writes was pure enjoyment to read.  As shown above the sky wasn't just plain every day red it was a vermilion (brilliant scarlet red) sky.

After finishing this I wanted to know more.  More about Mr Kingsley Fulcrum, more about Randolph ,more about Detective Sherbert, and more about Fang.  I just wanted to know so much more about this fictional world that had managed to pull me so completely in.

I bought Teeth as an ebook. This short story is a little bit more information about one of the characters that inhabit Samantha's world.  The story is very well written and I wont say any more than that because I am still a little bit confuzzled and bemused by it.

I am eagerly awaiting Vampire Moon the next book in Samantha Moon's life that J.R. Rain has coming out soon.   

While I await that book I will be adding some of Mr. Rain's other stories to my library.  Check out his site at jrrain.com.

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Book Review - Every Night I'm Yours

Good Read

Christie Kelley has published a couple of books since this one first came out.


A WOMAN YEARNING FOR A TASTE OF THE FORBIDDEN…
Buffalo Soldiers rip At twenty-six, aspiring novelist Avis Copley intends to wear spinsterhood as a badge of honor. But when she discovers a volume of erotica that ignites a searing fire within her, Avis realizes just how much she doesn’t know about the actual pleasures of the flesh. Determined to learn more, she devises a daring plan…

A MAN READY TO TEACH HER MUCH, MUCH MORE…

The Battle of Midway download

Avis chooses Emory Billingsworth, a fellow novelist-not to mention a beautiful specimen of manhood-to instruct her in carnal pleasure. But when the brash earl of Selby, Banning Talbot, a man she has known for years, unearths Avis’ true intentions, he claims she’s made a dangerously bad choice. Volunteering his services for one wicked night of reckless, abandoned passion, Banning promises he will satisfy all of her deepest longings. Yet Banning cannot begin to imagine the effect his willful, voluptuous, and very eager student will have on him-or how far an innocent lesson in desire can go...

I found the idea of an innocent Victorian lady finding a book of erotica to be intriguing.  The book is a basic formulistic Regency romance.  This is not a bad thing and is not meant to be a criticism.  There are rules in the world of romance.  The author must have a heroine who is just interesting enough to make the reader care about what happens to her.  However, the author can't make her to much of a Mary-Sue.  She needs to have some flaws.  Something in her background that is doled out a little at a time.  This again helps keep the reader intrigued.  The same sort of rules apply to the hero.  He has to be just distant enough to make him intriguing with a slight hint of something in his background to make him possibly dangerous.  However once again he must have a flaw or some secret in his past that the heroine helps him overcome.  The villain has to be written so that he has no redeeming qualities. 

For the most part Ms Kelley followed these rules.  The only issue that I truly had with Avis was how contrived her shooting skills seemed to be.  There was a  little bit of information about her knowledge of fire arms that seemed to come out of nowhere and was never utilized or explained better. I found Talbot's character to be well written and intriguing.  Emory's character was interesting.

While the book may not qualify as the best book I have ever read it is definitely far from the worst. I enjoyed reading it  The sexual scenes are not so graphic or frequent as to make the book unreadable for those that would rather skim over those parts. 

I look forward to reading more of Ms Kelley's books particularly Every Time We Kiss in which we get a chance to know more about Lady Jennette Selby who was introduced in Every Night I'm Yours.

Every Night I'm Yours is a 348 page paperback. Overall it took me about three hours to read.

Ms. Kelley's website is Christiekelley.com

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