This book contains 6 very different stories by 6 very different authors. You start out in the future and later slip back into time and end in the present. Each story has it’s own pluses and minuses.
Companion Operation by L.A. Day starts this book off. Jewel Havin confessed to murdering a fellow officer in the United Earth Military. She didn’t do it but no one really questions her. She’s tried and convicted very quickly knowing that she will be sent to a prison for life…..if she even makes it more than a few days before being killed by her fellow prisoners. A higher-ranking friend makes arrangements for a different type of punishment. She is to become the first sexual companion for a 5-year mission. She is to service the officers of the crew. What she doesn’t know is her friend will be trying to clear her name and hopes to do so prior to her actually leaving on the mission. She also doesn’t know that the man she loves will be one of the officers on the mission and the other is his best friend. Neither believed in her innocence but can she trust them with her heart? Can the man she loves share her or will this mission tear apart their friendship?
This was a good story to start this book off with. The guys are hot and the sex even hotter. Best of all, the plot did not go as I thought it would. Ms Day added a pleasant twist and made a fantastic happy ending. However, the quickness of Jewel’s trail and conviction along with the obviously lack of investigation into the incident gave me little hope if this is what the future’s military legal system is going to look like.
Following Companion Operation is Gothic Master by Request written by Isabelle Drake. Lorelei shows up at a rural mansion looking for an innocent friend who plans on taking sex lessons here. She fully plans on stopping her friend and getting the heck out of there. Things change quickly when she finds herself tied down naked on a bed with the understanding that Lorelei’s here for the lessons and no one has heard of her friend! Lorelei has no intension of having any kind of lesson nor does she think she needs them. Now, if she can only convince the Master of that.
The Master is tired of his role. This will be the last woman he teaches before he finds someone new to take his job. He doesn’t expect to be attracted to Lorelei especially after already being burnt by a former student. Yet, the feelings are there. Should he act on them?
This story confused me. Gaslights in the hallways made me think late Victorian but a refrigerator in the kitchen brought me back to the present. I’m not at all sure what era this book was suppose to be set in. Another thing that struck me is this story seemed to be part of another series or an off shoot of another book where readers would know who this missing friend is and know some of the background material. I finished it with more questions than I expected and few answers. The story’s timeline was one night but what a night that was. Lorelei gets lessons she didn’t expect and found herself reaching out for desires she wanted to be kept hidden. I think if it were in context with a larger piece of work, this story would not only make sense but also be fantastic.
Call the fire department for Hotter Than Hell by Regina Carlysle. Then again, maybe not. Ellie Grant moved to Dallas after her divorce. She had to get out of the small town she grew up in. She bought a house next door to sexy firefighter, Sam Dare two years ago. Since then, they have become best friends and spend lots of time watching sports and hanging out. Ellie occasionally has more sexual thoughts about Sam but knows that she’s just not his type. Little does she know that Sam is just waiting for the opportunity to make their friendship more. After being dumped by the latest guy she was dating, Ellie turns to Sam for a shoulder to cry on but gets offered a weekend living out her fantasies. Does she dare to take him up on the offer? She doesn’t want just a pity fuck!
I fell in love with Sam right along with Ellie. Who couldn’t love a tender, good-looking guy that puts his life on the line to save others? I really enjoyed this contemporary love story that moved best friends into best friends and lovers. Surprisingly, even with this short of a story Ms. Carlysle was able to give the characters a depth that is usually missing. She was also able to give them lives, jobs and families that really enhanced the story.
Nadia is a whore in Nadia Seduced by Madison Hayes. At 18, Nadia is married to a man wanting to make money from selling her body. After she runs away, she puts her knowledge to work for herself vowing to never allow a man to have the control over her that her husband did. When young, handsome Mikhail comes to her door, Nadia experiences feelings that she has never felt before. In those few hours with him, she thinks she’s learned about love. But when his brother comes the next day, Nadia experiences similar feelings. And when yet another brother comes, the same things happens! Each offers her a life on their farm but she’s still married and at this point confused. Will there be a solution or is Nadia going to play it safe and continue working as a whore?
This story was set somewhere in the “old country” in the past. Mikhail is really intrigued by Nadia, which is why he sends his “brothers” to see her. He wants to know what she likes and how she likes it. I almost felt as if I were reading an adult fairy tale. Again, an ending I wasn’t expecting but a happy one nonetheless.
Silent Abandon by Aubrey Ross incorporates modern technology with finding true love. Starla was devastated when her last boyfriend betrayed her trust. He had introduced her to a lifestyle very different than what she had previously known and their entire relationship was based on that trust. Now, Starla is much more cautious. She wants to submit to a Dom but doesn’t want the heartache that comes with caring. She’s been instant messaging with a co-worker who doesn’t know her real identity. He’s a Dom and she knows it. She’d love to submit to him but without strings, ties or him knowing who she is. Does she dare suggest a real life meeting? Her best friend doesn’t understand why Starla likes being tied up and whipped but if it makes her happy and doesn’t hurt her, she’ll support Starla however she can.
This story had more depth than I expected and a Dom who doesn’t do surprises. I loved that the timeline was spread out over several weeks and not crammed into a day or two. The characters were mature and knew what they wanted which also made a welcome change. I could see this story being redone into a full-length book with ease though it’s excellent at this shorter length as well.
The last story in this book is Stick Up by Brigit Zahara. Monica works as a bank teller and is having a bad day. It really turns bad when she is given a robbery note and kidnapped. It could have been worse though as two of the robbers are good friends of hers from college, Josh her ex-boyfriend and Wes, their best friend. She doesn’t’ know what happened that they’re robbing banks and waving guns but she’s going to find out. What she doesn’t know is, can she trust them. When another of the robbers attempts to rape her, Monica finds out whom she can trust and whom she can’t.
After reading the first chapter of this story, I didn’t want to read any more. However, I did and found that the ending of the book was so much better than the beginning. I did find several things that I felt were unbelievable within the story but again, the ending won out. While this was not my favorite story in this book, it really isn’t a bad story.
Six different stories by six different authors gives readers a wonderful taste of their styles and exposes them to many ways erotic romance is written. The variety means that if one isn’t your cup of tea there is a very good chance that another will be. All are well written and there is hot loving in all of them.
Don’t know whom to read? What kind of stories you like? You’ve heard of this erotic romance but not sure what it is? This is a great place to start and I can’t think of a better way to spend a couple of hours than with some hot guys and some innovative sex.
Companion Operation
L.A. Day
Jewel betrayed Reece, the only man she ever loved, when she confessed to a murder she didn’t commit. Sentenced to life on a desolate prison colony, she faces the horror of becoming some warlord’s sex slave. Miraculously, she’s offered an alternative. Sign on as sexual companion for a long-term space mission. She’ll still be a sex slave, but only until the mission ends. Jewel agrees and is introduced to the man who will use her body for the next five years—Reece.
And contempt has replaced the love in his eyes.
Gothic Master by Request
Isabelle Drake
Bound and naked in a training Master’s bed, Lorelai struggles to forget her sexually disappointing and emotionally painful past. When her alluring attempts to convince the cloaked man to untie her fail, she challenges him to teach her something new.
Will the Master and his red velvet bag of training tools help her accept her passionate appetites?
Hotter Than Hell
Regina Carlysle
Ellie Grant hasn’t had the best luck with men, unless you count her friendship with Sam Dare—a friendship on the cusp of change as the sexy fireman challenges her to a weekend of no-holds-barred, hotter-than-hell sex.
Sam had spent plenty of restless nights aching for Ellie and he’s grown tired of waiting for her to notice the attraction. As a firefighter, he knows a little something about heat and, as far as he’s concerned, Ellie is the only woman who can make him burn.
Nadia Seduced
Madison Hayes
Tall, dark, sinfully handsome Mikhail is fascinated by stories of the lovely whore who never climaxes. Unable to get her out of his mind, he vows to be the man who makes her scream with pleasure.
Eighteenth-century women belong to their husbands, but Nadia is determined to remain independent. Mikhail must convince the headstrong beauty to face her greatest fear—allowing him to possess her heart as thoroughly as he’s claimed her body.
Silent Abandon
Aubrey Ross
No past, no future, no questions. Tonight there are no words.
Devastated by betrayal, Starla is unwilling to risk heartbreak again. She hides behind a fictitious persona and arranges a purely sexual rendezvous with a coworker she’s been attracted to for years. But Cole knows her true identify and the reason for her fear. He’s determined to fulfill her every fantasy…then help her mend her broken heart.
Stick Up
Brigit Zahara
The wonky thermostat at the historic bank building where Monica works is on the fritz again. Just when she thinks things can’t get any hotter, a pistol-packing stud slides her a note. He’s demands money while his sexy smirk demands her body’s response.
Realizing that he is none other than her old boyfriend from college, there with his appearing-out-of-nowhere sidekick, the couple’s former best friend, Monica gets pretty hot under the collar. But when the daring duo take her hostage and retreat to a rustic hideout, the situation really heats up.
Reader Advisory: This book includes an attempted rape scene by a villain.