Taina Aponte, the sole survivor of an arson fire that killed her family, was taken to safety in Puerto Rico by her grandmother to escape the wholesale destruction of The Bronx. Thirty years later Taina, now a witch and still haunted by her memories, is back in the hood.
Taina’s search for the murderers uncovers a vast werewolf/dhampir conspiracy—and an alliance of fae to aid in her quest for justice. She enters into an uneasy alliance with Arnaldo Arroyo, a reformed addict turned community activist. The truths she uncovers shake her faith in everything and everyone she ever knew. Will she accept the mandate of the orishas to restore the balance between good and evil and take back the neighborhood? |
Jolene Gray works as a nurse during the day, but we never find out anything else about that part of her life. Since she was eleven, she saw a ghost named Iris, allowing her to communicate with the dead. She can only see the ghosts of children, but she can hear all of them. She's been doing weekly night meetings at a local church--they're usually crowded with believers who want any messages from their dead relatives. Iris makes them all speak one at a time, so Jolene can pass along their words.
Red MacFarlene is a director of reality TV shows, but what he really wants to do is direct movies. Unfortunately his younger brother, whose name we don't learn until the end since Red calls him Golden Balls, has made a name for himself as a highly successful and sought-after movie director. So they haven't spoken much for years. When Red's boss offers him a chance to direct the season finale episode of the popular show Canada's Most Haunted, he jumps at the chance to gain more visibility. They've hired Jolene to be the psychic responsible for ensuring that any spirits actually in the place leave the living folks alone. I wasn't very convinced by the ghost story. The big bad ghost turned out to just be misunderstood, and the conflict seemed to be resolved too easily for me. What I really enjoyed was the steamy romance between Jolene and Red. I mean, when you're so hot for each other that your first time is in a maintenance shed of a cemetery, you know you've both got it bad! Complicating matters is that Red doesn't believe in ghosts, so at first he's afraid that he's having hot sex with a crazy woman. It doesn't stop him but he figures he'll need to get her some help, before they can have anything more. When he discovers, to his dismay, that the warning she gave them all about telling the spirits to not follow them home was really necessary, he's forced to admit that she's not crazy. She's got an ability he never believed in, and he's going to need her help to get himself free of a malevolent ghost. Enjoy the ghost story, but read this book for the steamy romance! Jason Hofstadter has spent many years attending the Four States Annual Scrabble championships in Omaha. In fact, last year he made it up to number two! He aims to score higher this year. But that leads to the second reason he attends to score in bed with a likely candidate. He has to be careful about whom he chooses to approach, since approaching a homophobic man could get him thrown out of the tournament. But using his "gaydar," he's always managed to have successful, if totally forgettable one or two-night stands with a different guy every year. He has no reason to think that this year will be any different.
When Jason sees a young man sitting by himself, peering through his thick glasses at lists he's obviously memorizing, Jason approaches him, asking if it's his first championship. The man's sexy smile makes him harden, and when the young man glances at his crotch, he's sure he's met this year's choice. Matt Sawyer is just what Jason looks for in a man. They do some flirting, exchange some words, and before long, Jason is sucking the younger man off in a uni-sex bathroom in a Starbucks. This leads to more varied exploration of each other in Matt's room. Jason is surprised when Matt brings out a paddle and some restraints which he asks shyly if Jason will used on him. Seems Matt's dom passed on a couple of years ago, and Matt's been waiting a long time to find someone new to take his place. But Jason has never been into the BDSM scene. He's never even held a paddle. Will he enjoy it, or will his fear that he's hurting the other man make him too anxious to enjoy it? This is a quick read and I was disappointed when it ended. I grew to really like Matt--and Jason has possibilities of growing into being the new dom that Matt craves so desperately. Or Jason might just return to being the unrepentant horn-dog that he was in the first chapter. I want to know which way things will end between them! But the story ends on a HFN note, and one can only hope about which direction their budding relationship will go. After being thrown out of his pack by a cruel leader, Omega wolf Simon has learned to survive by ignoring his gentle nature. His mother was also an Omega, who couldn't allow her 13-year-old son to be on his own away from the safety of a pack, so she went with him. When the story begins, 12 years later, he's once again on the grounds of the Blue Mountain pack, to bury his mother, who asked him to accompany her there, knowing she'd die while there.
The first four pack members who find him, rough him up a little, to scare him off. Then they report back to Frederick, their current pack leader. He and his twin brother Mitch, killed off the last pack leader and his three beta sycophants, then took over the pack. They're both alphas, but Mitch has no desire to be a leader. He's the "enforcer" for the pack. His gruff manner keeps everyone at bay, and that's just the way he likes it. When Mitch and Frederick smell the blood of a foreign shifter on their reporting pack members, they both realize that this is Mitch's mate. Frederick tells him to go deal with the interloper. When found by Mitch, Simon panics, he's been treated badly by Alphas and other male shifters before he smells "off", because not only is he a rare Omega male, but he's gay. His first instinct is to roll over and submit, but he fights until he's worn out. Then he wants to bare his belly to allow the alpha to kill him, since he's tired of always having to fight to survive. But Mitch takes him to his home that he rebuilt out of an old ruined house, it's close enough to where the pack leader lives, but far enough away for Mitch to have the privacy he needs. Simon fights against everything Mitch tries with him and he refuses to tell Mitch why. Luckily for them both, Mitch's rough exterior hides a gentle, loving man, who will give Simon all the time and space he needs to realize that they're a mated pair, bound to each other for life. The realism in this book was totally engaging. I was captured by Mitch's gentle giant, and astounded by Simon's inner strength, which he didn't believe in, but which kept him alive during his time living out of a pack. I loved both of these characters, and almost wept with happiness that they both found in each other, a harbor for their hearts and souls. Chloe Hart is a wedding photographer who had to toss out her ex when she found him banging her supposedly close girlfriend. Chloe's still not over the betrayal, so she's not ready to date yet. She fears there aren't any men who could fulfill her the way that her "book boyfriends" do, since she devours romance novels and takes care of her urges herself.
One day a mysterious painting is delivered to her apartment, with the sender's info a mystery. When she unwraps the painting she's amazed that it's a realistic painting of "a big, blond Viking of a man," a perfect specimen of a man in his prime. He's physically perfect--or at least as far as she can tell, since there's an obtrusive animal skin draped across the crucial part of his nude body so she can only guess at what it's hiding, by examining his large hands. She promptly hangs it over her bed, to replace the nude photo of her ex that used to hang there. That night she has a wonderful dream involving the gorgeous man--she's in a medieval castle, and he's the conquering knight who has come to claim her virginal self. She laughs that she's not virtuous, but her words are ignored. The man makes wild, passionate love to her, resulting in the kinds of intense orgasms she never go from the ex who claimed she was a "pervert" when she suggested that if he tied her up, she might get some enjoyment out of sex with him. Over the next few days, she dreams of the hot, hard-bodied man every night. She learns his name is Radolf of Varik. Of course he's been cursed by a witch. The witch gets power from the orgasms he gives to women in their dreams so she's been pimping him out all this time. And he's been hoping that finally he'd meet a woman who would love him enough to enter the painting and break his curse by kissing him awake. This is a cute, clever take-off on Sleeping Beauty, only it's the man who's asleep and Chloe is just resourceful enough to figure out how to defeat the witch. Honestly, I'd probably enjoy reading a grocery list if it was written by Angela Knight. She writes toe-curdling, steamy sex scenes that can't help but fire up your imagination along with your body parts. This is a very short read, but it's got plenty of heat. I liked the nod to "romance-landia" where we all live, creating and reading about book boyfriends who are never too tired, are always hard, and always know how to pleasure a woman. Nickolas Steele has just left the brotherhood of being a SEAL. He's spent many years thinking he has no heart, because he lost his parents and sibling years ago to a car crash, right after he enlisted. Since it's been so long since he's had any, sex is on his mind when he stops for gas. He sees a blonde woman who instantly gets his blood pounding, so he tries flirting with her. Since she rebuffs him in a flirting manner, he's intrigued. She bounces on her feet as if filled with excess energy, so he mentally nicknames her Tigger. He's only interested in the fact that his tab A will fit into her slot B, and wants that to happen ASAP--so he can get back to traveling to the island.
Thea Gale is a woman on a mission. Unfortunately, there is a tornado headed their way, and once she drives away from the gas station, she gets caught in it. Half of the station lands on her, and she's knocked unconscious. When she awakens, there's a tough-looking man pulling the debris off her, and he quickly assesses her physical injuries, deciding that she's got a concussion along with other things. But when he offers to take her to a hospital, she responds with terror. Seems she's lost any memory of who she is, but she does know that she can't go to the police or to a hospital. Luckily Nik was trained to be a medic. But he's in a quandary. Take her to get the treatment she needs? Or take her to somewhere safe, so he can figure out the mystery she represents? And why is her large dog so protective of her, almost as if he's had military training? This story was slow to start, but once it got going, it was heart-pounding action for the rest of the book. I didn't like Nik at first, since he viewed females only as vessels for his physical needs. Thea brings out his protective urges along with making him so physically uncomfortable it's surprising he can wear pants around her at all! There are alternating viewpoints, so we learn that she's as attracted to him as he is to her but she's not sure if she can trust him. And he's trying to be a gentleman, for reasons even he doesn't understand. As her story is slowly revealed, she still doesn't get her memory back. But she does know that she's falling in love with the man who has the killer body she lusts after. When he discovers she's still a virgin at 25, he's even more determined to let her take the lead--which she does. They really only do the deed once where the reader gets to enjoy it along with them--and it's her first time, so not really that enjoyable for her. The other incidents of that night are only referred to. Frankly, after all of the build-up, I wanted a whole lot more steamy sex between these two! The story has a satisfying ending, and definitely hints at sequels that will involve Nik's sexy ex-SEAL bro, as well as that guy's equally sexy brother. Maybe they will get to have more sex we can enjoy along with them? I sure hope so! Cyprus Reid has exploded into the consciousness of the world. She's an overnight sensation whose fans are intensely dedicated, and whose detractors are equally rabid. When she sings, listeners are moved to tears. Everyone is intrigued by her. Her sexuality is blatant, irresistible and she is always accompanied by five ridiculously sexy men. Are they her body-guards or her lovers? A reverse-harem, or just eye candy for everyone, to add to the mystique of her allure?
Ex-Navy SEAL Jason Giles is a government-intelligence operative now, who has taken on a dangerous assignment. Scientists have been dying in the towns visited by Cyprus and her entourage. Is she connected in any way? When Jason gets himself hired by the hotel she's staying at, to provide protection for Cyprus, it doesn't take him long to realize he's in way over his head. Cyprus is much more than just a young man in a dress. What Jason discovers will change his life forever. I'm a huge fan of sci-fi in any medium: movies, TV shows, and books. So I'm aware that building a world is time-consuming. The more you want to play in that world, the more painstaking you have to be in establishing the parameters. This is a very ambitious beginning to a series. I wasn't sure at first what direction the author was going in, until the action became as compelling as the sexy men surrounding Cyprus. With her being a hermaphrodite, even when a man is having sex with her lady parts, there is still a very functional set of man-parts to contend with as well. Once we start experiencing the sex that goes on within this coven, it gets intense very quickly. There is a whole lot of male/male sex going on, and because three members of Cyprus' coven are alpha-males, there is some very violent sex that takes place as the alphas try to force each other to yield. In the end, there is also a very-much-deserved avenging of a horrific wrong committed against Cyprus and her coven, but it's also very violent, so reader be warned. Ms. Burke has created an interesting world, and the characters who live in it do so by their own codes. I will be watching to see how many books she plans in this series, and if any will be not just back-stories, but will continue the story she started here. The Coven is a highly recommended read! In this book, Leah has a problem many women would envy. She has two men madly in love with her, and she returns the feelings to both of them, with a fervor that scares her in its intensity. She's still totally in love with her husband of ten years, the artist Daniel, who swept her off her feet with romantic gestures and trips that bound them together for an eternity but she doesn't get everything she needs from him. A part of her craves being dominated, and Daniel isn't that kind of man. Greg is. She was his sub for quite a while, beginning when she was very young and thought that would be enough for her. It wasn't.
What I adore about Lisabet Sarai's writing is that you feel what the main character is feeling, and think her thoughts. This immediacy makes for engrossing reading. Once the conflict is established, you have to keep reading to see how it will end. Now she's convinced both men that living in the same house with her is the perfect solution. Except for them, it isn't. They're jealous of each other, moody and irritable when she mentions the other man to them and being unable to choose between them is tearing her apart. So she runs away from both of them, with no destination in mind. She finally remembers an inn she stayed at with Daniel once, and heads up to the relaxation of the quiet to be found at the inn in Maine during the off-season. How will the men react to being in the house without her? And how will she ever decide between them? This isn't quite as steamy as Sarai's usual, but the heroine spends most of the book away from her lovers. There is a steamy menage scene that makes the reader feel as if it might be possible to love two men at once. Phew! Kayla gets a free ticket to a rock concert from her assistant. Right before the show, she hooks up with Jason, the much younger-than-her lead singer. She provides oral sex for him. But it's apparently mind-blowing and alters both their lives--and those of others as well. It seems that the bass player, Erik, has been tight with Jason since they were both young orphaned kids lost in the system. Whenever they were separated, they'd both suffer immense physical and mental pain and anguish. When they're together, Erik waits for Jason to have meaningless sex with groupies, then Jason brings the energy he gains from that back to Erik--and they have wild sex. But once Jason meets Kayla, he gets sick from her not planning on seeing him again.
I hesitate to call this a romance series, because the whole point of the stories is that these people are on an erotic journey, seeking to discover how they can create a triad that benefits all of them. In turn, the ties of power that encircle them all, strengthen them all as well. And being on an erotic journey is the textbook definition of erotica. So that's what I rated this book four stars and it's good at what it does. The two men love each other, and somehow neither are jealous of another person entering their relationship. Nor are they jealous of the time each spends alone with Kayla. But they're all happiest when in bed together. Considering that the first book in the series opens with a blow-job, you know from the start that this is going to be a steamy series. It doesn't disappoint. What plot there is exists only to take the participants to another sexual interlude. The four titles are: DAZE ON END, INTERLUDE IN C, FINDING THE CHORDS, COLOR HAZE. In the first 3 books, the focus is on Kayla, Jason and Erik. Randy, who is the drummer for their trio band, just broke up with Liz, when he found her involved in an interlude with Tom who unbeknownst to him, used to be with Liz when they were in high school. So the last book introduces another triad in the making, as another group of people start their erotic journey to happiness. his was an interesting series that explores the ins and outs (pun intended!) of a menage relationship. If you've ever wondered what it could be like to have two men in bed with you, this a series you'll really enjoy! This time, we get to watch the action through Cal's eyes. He's the wolf-shifter who was badly abused by his pack-leader father. He and his brothers (by different mothers) were all beaten, starved, and deprived of a normal upbringing to suit the pack-leader's ego. In the previous book, he and his brothers returned to their childhood home, only to discover that it wasn't an accident--their father had summoned them in order to see if any of them could challenge him for leadership. Of course they did--together. The youngest brother was killed, but Cal was the one to triumph by ripping out the cruel leader's throat. His older brother Mark wanted the credit, which was fine with Cal. So they got Layla to agree to lie with them, and to say that Mark was the one to kill the alpha. Cal doesn't want to have to become the new pack-leader, and we don't yet know what Mark wants to do, since he's MIA. Cal's mother lives in Arizona, a very long way from where he lives now (close to where he grew up.) She contacts him because another pack is threatening her. He fears for her safety and immediately decides to journey there to face whatever enemy she faces. He can't afford to book a flight, nor can he get a seat quickly enough. But his trusty old truck fails him. Up drives Layla in her small car, volunteering to take him across many states to help his mother. He's happy she's willing, but not happy that the incubus (lust-demon) who is bound to her until she fully develops and can control her witch-magic, will of course, accompany them. The journey is very dangerous, since everything that can go wrong, does. Much of the early conflict involves Cal's jealousy, since he realizes he's falling in love with Layla, the only positive influence in his life. He clutches her closely, to try to maintain his tenuous grip on sanity--he can't even look in a mirror without being reminded who his father was, since he looks so much like him. So even though Layla finds his blond, hard-bodied self incredibly hot, he vacillates between hating himself, and hating the life he's been given. And though she never turns him away for Ink, her incubus--whenever he has a crisis of emotional intensity, Ink is always there to satisfy her desires. Which just gives him more angst. This was an exciting book to read. There was some romance, since it's obvious how much Cal needs, desires, and yes, loves Layla--even though it takes him forever to tell her. There are some hot encounters, but often they're interrupted by him surrendering to his emotional crises--which encourages Ink once again. Will Cal ever work up the nerve to tell Layla how he feels? Will the fairy they meet help them, or will she cause them all to be captured by the Hunters--who Cal always thought were a myth made up to scare young shifter children? What will happen when they finally meet up with his mother? Where has Mark gone? And will they all live through this journey, to make it to the next book? I sure hope so, since the author describes this as a Reverse Harem series. That's enough to have me waiting not-so-patiently for the next book. I can't wait to see Layla getting her every desire taken care of by the lust-demon who can read her mind to know what she wants him to do next, and the hot, hard-bodied shifter whose manly attributes were so graphically described in the last book. |
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