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WOLF’S LAW – Cheyenne McCray
Analeen has been captured from her village and is going to be sold into slavery. The two men who capture her, drag her behind their horses on their way to the slave market. She is tired and wounded, but even those things will never take the fight out of her. When they threaten to rape her before selling her, a huge black wolf comes charging out of the woods and begins to attack the men. Analeen races off into the dark woods to escape both the men and the wolf. When she heads for what she thinks is a safe direction, she runs into a handsome man, Law. Law takes care of Analeen until she is healed from her wounds, but he soon finds out that her hurts are more than superficial. He sets out to prove to Analeen that she is a beautiful and desirable woman, in the hopes that she will fall in love with him. Law has a secret, and only Analeen and her love will be able to save him from a life of loneliness.
WOLF’S LAW is a highly erotic wolf tale. While I know it’s hard to establish much character development in a short-story, I found it difficult to connect with Analeen and Law. There isn’t much dialogue in the story and what is there seems forced, using graphic language to push the mood verses enhancing it. Overall, the story was well written, but I feel not a true example of Cheyenne McCray’s talent.
SCARLET SWEET – Anya Bast
Cerian is the leader of a war ravaged band of Tutha De Dannon on the planet Gamon. She is unique in that she is marked from birth, predestined to become an Embraced—a vampir. She would be one of a kind, a vampir sidhe. Cerian always new she was marked, but up until now, had never thought it would happen. The Sarthian ruler, Ta’bat, is forcing her hand. Cerian and her people are miners of an energy crystal that Ta’bat will stop at nothing to get, even forcing Cerian to be his consort, but what Sarthians hate more than anything is the vampir. Rhys ap Griffyn is the Embraced the council sent to Gamon to perform the Embracing ritual on Cerian. Rhys expects to complete the Embracing and then move on, just as he’s always done, but Cerian intrigues him. Her loyalty and selflessness toward her people only serve to enhance the outward appearance that has Rhys’ body on fire, and leaving after the Embracing is no longer an option.
SCARLET SWEET combines science fiction, fantasy, and erotica into a short but sweet story. Cerian is a heroine that we don’t get to see too often, one of great pride and responsibility. Rhys is the perfect hero to give Cerian a little fun in the midst of her chaos. I liked that Anya Bast blended the fairie and vampires, two of my favorite subjects, and wrote a heated action story all sci-fi readers will enjoy.
WRITER’S UNBLOCKED – Diana Hunter
Jessica Blackburn is a teacher and romance author. Her husband, Jack Blackburn is also an author who writes romance with an edgier bite to it. They’ve been married for two years and with both of them being romance writers you’d think their sex life would be phenomenal. Both Jessica and Jack, however, are holding back sexually. Jessica longs to be dominated. She is highly respected and revered by Jack outside and inside of the bedroom for her independent spirit, but she really wanst him to take control of her sexual desires. Jack is suppressing his dominate tendencies in the bedroom because he loves his wife and doesn’t want her to think ill of him. When Jessica tries her hand at writing her bondage fantasy, she thinks that’s all it will be, until Jack stumbles across it and makes her fantasy a reality.
Not too often do authors write about married couples. It’s always about the thrill of the chase, but Diana Hunter reminds us that even in marriage the chase is still on. I did, however, find it hard to believe the premise of the story, that two people really in love would not know each other sexually. This is a dominate/submissive story so if that’s not something you’re into, skip on to the next one.
LOOKING FORWARD – Mary Wine
Never could Leah have imagined that her new life on the planet Tailarmar would begin with burying her husband, Howard. She felt little remorse for the man she’d barely known. It had been Howard who joined them up with the Sacred Heart Fellowship that allowed them to travel to the land rich planet. That was all she had to be grateful for in her marriage. All she could do was look ahead to her new life. When the group of pilgrims Leah is traveling with is confronted by the Tailarmarians who demand payment for the land, nothing the Fellowship has is considered equal payment to the value of the land. But when Aaron, a Tailarmarian warrior, finds out that Leah is unattached, he accepts her in payment. The Tailarmarians have a custom, however. Their woman may choose their man based on how the men please them sexually, and Aaron is determined to wipe any thoughts of any other man out of Leah’s mind so that she chooses him.
Life on other planets is something everyone thinks about at one time or another, but if that life looked and behaved like Aaron, we’d be flocking for the space docks. I don’t want to call the story heartwarming because that makes me think of after school TV specials, but Mary Wine has written a sensually charming story of second chances that warms your heart and other places too! This is my favorite out of all the stories.
RAPTOR’S PREY – Delilah Devlin
Captain Andromeda O’Keefe and her prisoner, Khalim Padja of the Rapter Clan, are in suspension chambers aboard her ship, en-route to deliver Khalim over to the authorities. During the flight, Andromeda is plagued by erotic dreams of exotic places with Khalim as her lover. When she wakes early from suspension to find her prisoner awake, her first thought is to figure out how to put him back in suspension. Khalim’s mind control enabled him to connect with Andromeda while they were sleeping, but she’s not convinced the dreams were real and is still his captor. Now he must convince her of his love, trust, and innocence before his time runs out.
Delilah Devlin is the driver on a journey that takes both, the reader, and her characters on an erotically charged tour though dreams, reality, and dreams that are reality. Add a little suspense and RAPTOR’S PREY delivers as a fantastic story. Ms. Devlin does a great job of closing the story and not leaving us hanging, while at the same time, there is much to this story that could either be expanded or written as sequels. Personally, I’m hoping for sequels.
VOYEURS: OVEREXPOSED – Sherri L. King
Humans think that they are safe because of their justice and protective systems, but it is the Shikars that have kept them safe from the Daemons. This is a secret that has been kept for ages, but Alek, a photojournalist, has the misfortune of talking pictures of a battle between Shikar warriors and the Daemons in a New York City park. Agate, a female Shikar spy, is assigned to retrieve the photos and wipe Alek’s memory. She’s fascinated with anything human and has taken great care to blend in on her mission. However, once Agate meets Alek, she is enthralled by him, his looks and his mind, and gives over to her passions, hoping for one night of bliss before he forgets her forever by her own doing.
Talk about exposed; this one packs the heat with sex around every corner. Agate is cute as she tries human things for the first time, but turns into a wild cat when she gives into her passion. Alek could have used a little more character development, and he seemed to be starkly opposite in what characteristics were developed during sex. Overall a good story, a little heavy on the sex, but certainly peaked my interest in Ms. King’s other books, the Horde War’s series, that are connected with this story.
I had the privilege of reviewing ELLORA’S CAVEMEN: TALES FROM THE TEMPLE II, which I felt was a great group of authors that wrote some great stories. I have to say I’m a little disappointed in this third installment of ELLORA’S CAVEMEN. Only two out of the six stories, Scarlet Sweet and Looking Forward, really kept my interest with their attention to setting the scene, developing the characters, and infusing the right amount of sensuality. The others felt like sex stories for the sake of sex. I have read previous works by these authors and they are exceptional writers, among the best that Ellora’s Cave has to offer. But I think that sometimes less is more, and in this case, less would have made this reviewer more inclined to rave about this anthology. Overall, ELLORA’S CAVEMEN: TALES FROM THE TEMPLE III does what it’s supposed to do, give the reader tantalizing samples of EC’s great crop of authors, but I’m hoping for better stories next time around.
Reviewed by Tina Burns
for The Road to Romance
October 21, 2004
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