Liviania’s review of Newly Fallen by Megan Hart
Paranormal romance released by Spice Briefs 1 Dec 09

I’ve followed the advice of several of the other duckies in the past.  Today it was limecello’s turn.  Anyway, I know that limecello loves Megan Hart.  Megan Hart just released a Spice Brief, the perfect way to try out her writing without committing to a large page count.  This is only my second foray into the Spice line, so it was also a chance to get a feel for that.

Let’s start with the line.  I’m clearly not an expert, but I believe the Spice books are spicy, the closest thing Harlequin publishes to erotica.  While Newly Fallen includes several explicit sex scenes, they don’t really set off my spicy meter.  They’d be fine in almost any romance, though slightly less concentrated. However, I have never been one to read a story for the sex scenes.  (Not that a good sex scene isn’t a bonus.)

Lilly Gold is celebrating Hanukkah alone when a man falls into her yard.  We’re given a brief explanation that she’s always accepted unusual things to explain why she isn’t freaking out that she has a strange naked man in her yard that knows her name.  But hey, I’ll go with it.  It’s a short story and Hart needs to move onto the relationship as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, the romance fizzled for me.  Lilly and Zacharias played games some before falling into bed, but it still seems like most of their interaction was the sex.  I’d buy that it was good and thus they wanted to develop something different, but instead there was instant falling in love.  It felt too easy.

Hart’s writing was competent.  I was excited to see a Hanukkah story instead of a Christmas one.  I enjoyed that Hart used the holiday in a meaningful way instead of leaving it as window dressing.  The story was sweet.  But in a short story about a miraculous love, I need to believe in the love and I didn’t.  I found it very disappointing.  (Perhaps it’s lime’s fault for talking her up so much!)

As it is, I still need to try a full-length Spice.  But I probably won’t go for a Hart first.

Grade: D+

Summary:
Faced with spending her first Hanukkah alone, Lilly Gold wishes for a miracle that would change her life just a little bit. Then her prayers are answered–in a big way–when the most perfect naked man appears in her yard during a blizzard.

Zachariah tells Lilly he’s been sent to be–and do—anything she wants. And for eight passionate days, trapped together by the snow, he does just that, giving Lilly all the pleasure she could have hoped for. But when their holiday is over, only another miracle can keep their affair from ending, too…
No excerpt found.

Wendy the Super Librarian‘s review of Wet by Lauren Hawkeye
Erotic romance eBook short story released by Harlequin Spice Briefs 1 Apr 09

I’ll be blunt. Sometimes erotica and romance cannot co-exist peacefully. A story could make a halfway decent erotica story, about a woman “finding herself,” but the moment the author tries to shoehorn in a traditional, romantic happily ever after, complete with some truly mind-numbing plot devices, the whole affair goes to hell in a hand basket. Or in this case, the story ends up all wet. And not in a good way.

Tabitha is an overworked graduate student stuck in her dorm room during a heat wave. She needs a break, and hits the local spa in order to get it. There she meets Susan and Adam. Despite the fact that Tabitha has never been attracted to women before, she’s now all hot to trot to get in Susan’s panties and agrees to go out to dinner with the couple. There they proposition a studly waiter, and the merry quartet go back to the spa for naughty shenanigans….and it doesn’t end well.

I’m not naïve. I know that sex isn’t always pretty, people get hurt, and even used. I just don’t want to read about it. Which is what I was subjected to here in the form of Susan and Adam who are so selfish I wanted to reach through the hard drive of my Sony Reader and happily strangle them. Tabitha is hurt, but ultimately reassured, another sexual encounter ensues, soul mate drivel enters stage left and swear to God….talk about how they were just so swept up in the moment that golly, she could be pregnant.

Seriously, shoot me now.

Color me cynical, but I’m just not buying the whole “this was meant to happen, I feel like I’ve known you forever” claptrap that’s masquerading as a “happily ever after.” How much better would this story have been with just the hot sex, a confrontation and a heroine who grows a pair? Yeah, a lot.

Grade: D-

Summary:
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All I wanted was to escape my stifling grad school dorm room and soak away my stress in the nearby hot springs.
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Then I meet Susan and Adam, a slick city couple who intrigue from the moment I spot them at reception. And from my first encounter with Susan in the pool, it’s clear I’ve caught their eye, too.
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But once they offer me up to a complete stranger and take us back to their suite, I realize I’ve been made a pawn in their own sexual game. A game in which I don’t know the rules and I have no idea what might come next…
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No excerpt found.

Wendy the Super Librarian‘s review of Flower Arrangement by Adelaide Cole (no author site found)
Historical erotica ebook short story released by Spice Briefs 1 Mar 09

While perusing the eHarlequin ebook site, Flower Arrangement caught my eye for a couple of reasons: 1) It’s a shorter read, and I’m a bit of a ‘ho for short reads; and 2) it’s an erotic historical story set in 1903 London. When I actually opened the story to start reading, I noticed a couple of things.  First, when they say Brief, they mean it; this story clocks in at 27 pages on my Sony Reader.  And second, the story is strictly erotica.  Anyone hoping for an “erotic romance” is going to be sorely disappointed.

Emma is an independent-minded girl with ambition. Selling flowers on street corners had been a somewhat lucrative gig, until her supply dries up. So she lands herself a job as a maid in an affluent household where she hopes to save enough money to open her very own flower shop. She quickly develops a lustful crush on the man of the house, Master Riggs, and assumes it’s strictly a one-way fantasy. Imagine her surprise with the handsome master takes a shine to her, and proposes an “arrangement.” Satisfy his carnal desires and she’ll be that much closer to realizing her dreams.

Basically what we have here is the 1903 version of the young woman who works as an escort to pay for grad school. It’s hard to not think of Emma as a prostitute – because essentially she’s trading her sexual services for money and a ticket to a better life. The story did supply my one basic requirement for erotica – and that’s that the heroine has control over her own destiny. Certainly Emma enters into this adulterous affair to “get ahead” [Gwen ed.: heh] – but one never feels like she couldn’t have told Master Riggs to go screw himself, that she couldn’t be bought. Emma wants to have some fun with the man, and why not use him to get where she wants to go?

And that’s going to be the stumbling block for a lot of readers. If you’re looking for a (very) quick, hot read that’s straight-up erotica, this story is certainly going to fit the bill. However, if you’re a reader who needs the romance to go along with the hot sexing? Yeah, keep on walking. Nothing to see here.

Grade: C

Summary:
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London, 1903
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Emma is a maid with ambition. She dreams of opening her own flower shop one day, determined never to lose her independence…or the pleasure she finds in lifting her skirts for a handsome boy.
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Emma also dreams of what it would be like to share that pleasure with the master of the house—a fantasy that Master Riggs apparently shares. For when hears about Emma’s plans, he proposes an arrangement: he will help Emma achieve her ambition if Emma will help satisfy his desires in exchange…
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No excerpt found.