Category: Anthology

Anthology-Christmas at the Club

Merry Kinkmas! Today we have an anthology written by 17 authors that take place in several different worlds, and involve 17 different kink clubs. We have established groupings, new couples, Doms and Dommes, Littles and subbies, and good, clean, kinky, dirty fun. Christmas at the Club includes stories from Alta Hensley, Jennifer Bene, Samantha Cole, Pepper North, and Linzi Basset. As with any anthology that is this long, and it is long, I’m only going to mention a few. If you want to see what I thought about all the stories, you can check out my GR review.

Jennifer Bene A Not So Silent Night

This one includes the Infamous trio of Emma, Chase, and Jaxon. Chase doms Emma, and Jax doms them both. They weren’t the first MMf trio I read, but they are still my favorite. the Infamous trio is the basis of the entire Black Light series. Generally, they are written by Livia Grant, but Jennifer wrote this one, mostly because Livia has another story in here. Anyway, I was really glad to see these guys because they are always so hot. On top of being hot, we also get the real life issues of trying to be parents, trying to spend time with in laws, and trying to be the kinky fuckers that you are. I really loved the juxtaposition.

Livia Grant A Kinky Crossover

This is Livia’s story. It takes place in her Punishment Pit world, which appears to be in the same world as Black Light, as Jax has called Lukas to ask if they can come to Lukas’ Christmas party. Because of that phone call, we get to see another little bit of the trio, as well as getting to see Lukas and Tiffany. I love Tiffany’s spunk and the fact that she hasn’t lost that in the year of being married to Lukas. She also has some of my favorite lines in the entire anthology, including her answer to why she’s being punished. She tells the person asking that she’s pretty sure that the reason that she’s getting punished this time is because she married Lukas. Her entire thought stream about her clit at this point is fucking hilarious too.

Alta Hensley Villains and Champagne

This takes place in Alta’s Top Shelf series. Harley is my absolute favorite of all the Domes in that world. In fact, I need to go reread his book sometime in the very near future. I was just so happy to see him again. In this one, there’s going to be a party at the club. Harley just wants to go home to see his sub, Marlowe. Except Marlowe has just walked into the club. She really wants to go to the party. I love all the machinations that go into this story.

Maren Smith Keeping Kaylee

This takes place in Maren’s Castle world. Kaylee is the primary female character in the story, but it really involves all the Ladies of the Castle. They all have plans, because they all feel some kind of way right now. But Kaylee is the driving force. I have to admit that I really felt for Kaylee. It’s easy to end up feeling like you are the last priority on everyone’s list. It’s a really hurtful, sad, and lonely place. I don’t blame her for her plan to get Marshall to pay more attention to her.

Golden Angel A Sassy Christmas

This one takes place in Golden’s Stronghold world. We get to see Adam and Angel struggling to keep their kinky marriage kinky or even sexy after being parents for a year. Now, if you have been a mother, you totally get Angel in this story. I’m not dissing Adam, because parents are going to get him too, and he is doing the best he can, and he does pretty good. But for me, it’s all about Angel and how she feels. I remember feeling that same way when my now very adult son was a baby. I didn’t understand why I wasn’t ready to jump back into sex at 6 weeks, and I hated being touched for a long while. I nursed a very clingy baby, for a year. I almost never had any time when people weren’t touching me, so I totally felt Angel in this one.

There are a lot of other really good stories in here. The nice thing about an anthology is that there is a little something for everyone. Some of the stories are pretty short, but some of them are longer. If you want something that you can read in a few minutes before bed, you can find one with no problem.

OK, that’s all for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading.

Anthology-Outlaws

When I signed up for the ARC of this one, I didn’t really read the blurbs. I don’t always, depending on who the authors are. With Yolanda, Petra, and Ally, I knew that it would be good whatever it was. So, when I started to read Outlaws, I wasn’t sure what I was going to get, but I knew it was going to be good. And holy fuck, was it. Now , before you start to read this, be aware that the title doesn’t refer to bikers, Mafia guys, or anything like that. I’m pretty sure that it comes from jokes about outlaws and in-laws.

All of these stories are filthy. Some of them are so filthy I need a shower just from thinking about them. They all take the thought of family to a whole other level. They are twisted and will leave you questioning your personal morality.

Yolanda Olson-Susurration

First off, I just need to say how much I love the title. It’s a fun word. Susurration means whispering or murmuring. And it is highly appropriate for this story. Yolanda left me with more questions than she answered, but that’s a very her thing to do. It’s a short story, but it is perfectly done, with enough tension and all.

AA Davies-Unruly

The characters in this aren’t exactly family or in-laws, but they are close. I really liked how the story ended up, and I’m not entirely sure that I would call this one quite as twisted as the others, but it is definitely twisted. I really like Remi though.

JM Walker-Her Little

You remember me saying that some of these are so filthy that I need to take a shower just thinking about them? Well, this would be one of those stories. It really is filthy AF. I mean, yeah. The only thing that dimmed it slightly for me was that I was hoping for some Little action going on, because of the title. I can see where it could lean that way, and overall, I’m not disappointed in it, so there’s that.

Ally Vance-Fragile Vows

Twins. ‘Nuff said. OK, not really. I think that Ally went to an interesting place with this. It didn’t happen quite the way I expected, but I’m not going to complain, because I think her way was better.

Jason Hes-The Scent of Wolves

This is my first Jason Hes story, but I will be seeking more. He dragged me in and left me with wanting so much more, in the very best way. I’m itching for more.

Petra Knox-His Best Interest

I really liked this one. Not necessarily for the sexy bits, although, those were really good, but I thought that Petra did a great job of creating awesome characters in a very short story. That’s a lot harder to do than you might think.

Cole Denton-Secrets

Yeah, this family has so many secrets. So, so, so many secrets. We learn some of them, but I’m pretty sure that there are a lot more somewhere, hiding. I would love to get a continuation in this world. Go Wolverines!

Anthology-Auctioned

Auctioned is a MF omegaverse anthology. There are 7 authors, some of whom I’ve read, some I haven’t. I used to be able to keep up with all the new MF o-verse authors and books, but there are enough now that it’s hard. Which is a good thing. More authors means more stories for me to read. I’m always happy to have more things to read. So, without further ado, let’s talk about the stories, shall we?

Intro

The intro lets us know what’s going on, Basically, there is this festival called the Rathsima Unity Festival that is celebrating the end of a war. The high point of the festival is the huge slave auctions that go on, where all kinds of beings are sold.

Raevyn London-Fight For Her

Raevyn is new to me, but I will be reading everything I can find, for damned sure. This starts with Anders, who is an alpha who was stolen from his village in a raid. He’s just been sold, when he discovers where a scent that has been distracting him comes from, and her name is Kasi. This was a really sweet story of alpha finds omega and does what he has to do to protect her.

Leann Ryans-Unexpected Gift

Leann is an old friend of the blog. I know that I’ve talked about how much I enjoy the way that she takes on the omegaverse. Working within the framework, she twists things around. She does that in this one too. Instead of being Mf, it’s Fm. We have Scarlett who is a female alpha, and her friends are going to give her a gift. It’s an omega male that they are buying for her. We haven’t seen a lot of Fm, at least not on Amazon yet. I’m sure there are some on Wattpad and Radish, but I haven’t had a chance to get over there to read them. I have a hard enough time making sure that I have the time to read all my books. I won’t tell you what my TBR looks like. Anyway, I loved Leann’s take on this, and I would love to see more of this world.

VT Bonds-The Omega Spy

VT is another newbie to me, and if the rest of their stories are like this one, I’ll be right on top of them. We have Omega, who is a spy and has been altered many times to kill people or get info. Now she’s been altered again to go find a specific alpha. Alpha buys her, and much mayhem ensues. One thing I really liked about this story is that we never learn names for our Omega and Alpha. I thought that it worked really well, and gave us a really interesting mix of distance and intimacy.

Merel Pierce-Eli’s Hellcat

Merel is another old friend, and she gifted me this book, so thank you so much, Merel! This is a MMf book. Well, sorta. When you read it, you’ll see. Elias and Lorin are alpha guards over the slave pens, but they are also lovers. Eli also likes females, and he’s been eyeing an omega slave who is scheduled for disposal. I really like the relationship dynamic between Eli and Lorin as well as Eli and Magda, and even Magda and Lorin. It’s a really interesting look at the world of omegaverse. I would really, really, really love for Merel to write more about these guys. (Hint, hint)

Emma Mountford-Alpha’s Pet

Goddamned motherfucking authors who want to go and rip my fucking heart out. Pay heed to the disclaimer. It’s a true thing. Fucking hell. I’m haunted.

Isoellen-Proper Behavior

I’ve read Isoellen before, and I’m pretty sure I reviewed her here. Like 99% sure. Well, she has a great story in this one, and I really enjoyed it. We have Druku, who is a genetically engineered being who was created for war. He’s been sold as a slave, but was supposed to be disposed of. But, these things happen. Omega Niddie is trying to run her uncle’s estate, but it’s not working well. Luckily, Druku is there. I really like him a lot. He’s really such a sweet guy, for, you know, a genetically engineered killing machine, which may be one of the weirdest sentences I’ve written in a while. But, it’s really true. I would love to see more of them too.

LP Dillon-An Alpha for Dahlia

LP Dillon is another new one for me. This was their first omegaverse story, but I really hope it won’t be their last. I really liked their take on it. We have Lia, who is a beta and whose beta lover is urging her to let them get together, but she really wants an alpha. She was willing to stay with him, but things happen, and she ends up with Bain. There are a lot of secrets and things happening in this one, and it really kept my interest. So, I’ll be keeping my eyes out for LP Dillon.

OK, if you’ve been thinking about dabbling in omegaverse, or you want to stay on the lighter end, mostly, then Auctioned is perfect for you. Go check it out!

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Anthology-Dirty Daddies

So, last year, a bunch of Daddy authors got together and started a party room on FB. There’s a lot of parties, jokes, posts, and so forth in there. There’s also a pretty damn awesome anthology that came out of it. And I was the lucky one to get a full ARC of the whole Dirty Daddies anthology. Rayanna Jamison asked me if I wanted it, which I feel like was some kind of test, because, like I’m going to say no?

There are 12 stories in here by 13 authors, since Rayanna and Allysa teamed up on their story. All of the authors have written Daddy stories before, and I had read all but two of them, and they were both on my TBR. But, shall we talk about what my TBR looks like on any given day?

There are a lot of reasons that I like to read anthologies like this. One is that you get a lot of takes on the theme, and there is quite a range in here. Another is that you can get a good flavor of authors you aren’t familiar with, which in my case was Laylah Roberts and J.M. Dabney. Some of the stories in here, like Golden Angel’s Little Leigh, Pepper North’s Sylvie, and Katie Douglas’ Daddy’s Precious Little Girl belong in established worlds, while others are new stories in new worlds. And then you get Brianna Hale, who got her inspiration from a thread on FB. And Brianna? I think I read that thread too. I probably said that it would be the only way that I would exercise too. LOL.

All 12 stories are good stories and I like them all. And I would really like to have any one of these 12 Daddies, because they are so yummy and Daddy-licious. But, like with any anthology, there are going to be stories that I like more than others. Because that’s just how it is.

If you have read my blog, you can probably guess that Lindsay’s Secret by Emily Tilton is one of my favorites, because yeeeeeaahhhhh. We all know how I feel about Emily and the way that she writes about erotic humiliation, because it’s just so dirty the way that she does it. I mean the language around it. I know, I know, every time I talk about Emily, I say that, but that’s because every time I read her books, I’m struck by it. The only way for it to get hotter is to listen to an audiobook. I can’t listen to her audiobooks while I’m driving. It’s a rule. But, I liked watching Lindsay and Rick figuring things out.

J.M. Dabney’s An Odd Little Girl is another one of my favorites. They wrote a fun little story about a Daddy finding his little girl, and a little girl finding the Daddy she’s always needed, but never knew she needed. I really like Via because she really just exudes sweetness and light, and I could totally feel that. I like how Donavan accepts everything about Via, including the rest of her family. And frankly, I think her family is just ridiculously wonderful.

Aubrey Cara’s Cry for Daddy is another favorite of mine. It’s darker than the rest of the stories, but it’s not totally dark, just darker than the others. Her story is about Lily and Maximus, and how they fit together in each other’s lives and with the world in general. I felt sorry for Lily, but also I felt like she kept a core essential of who she was hidden. Maximus wasn’t the entire hardass that he wants to believe he was. Not to say he isn’t a hardass badass, but he has a soft marshmallowy center.

OK, if you want 12 smoking hot Daddies, then this is definitely the anthology that you need to get. Of course, I’m willing to fight you for several of the Daddies, and spoiler, I fight dirty. I enjoyed each and every story, and I will definitely reread the stories when I need a quick Daddy pick up.

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Anthology-Super Daddies

So, 8 Daddy authors got together to write 7 super stories. We have Super Daddies, naughty heroines, little villains, and a Daddy Shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo. Shall we dig into our stories, then?

Stella Moore-Weathering Lainey

Donovan is a Variant who has stayed under the radar, then he saves a woman from the bad guys, and ends up having to keep Lainey. He won’t tell her his name, only that she can call him Daddy. And he enforces it with his firm right hand. He tells Lainey she’s a Variant too.

I really enjoyed this story and how Lainey’s power works. I’ve always wanted to have that power myself. I thought that she and Donovan were really cute together, and I’m pretty sure I’ll never look at a rainbow the same way.

Golden Angel-Little Villain

Chaotica wants a Daddy. She thought she found one in the villain Big Daddy. Only, she found out that he really didn’t want to be her daddy when he left her for the hero Pluto. But Pluto, when he captures Chaotica, sees something in her, and he wants to see what he could find out about it.

Oh, Chaotica is just super cute. I think that she’s a total Little, from morning to night, with no ifs, ands, or buts. I mean, the first time we see her, she’s all excited about sparklies. Which, you know what, I kinda don’t blame her, sparklies are pretty awesome. And she has a stuffie collection. She should pretty much just wear a nametag that says Hi, I’m a Little. And it totally fits her, and I think that of all the Littles in this book, she’s my favorite. The name Chaotica really suits her, but in a good way.

The Dynamic Duo-Super Daddy

Angela gets rescued by a mysterious caped figure, just as people are trying to break into her pawnshop. He flies her off to a safe house, and leaves, just in time for the baddies to break in and try to kill Angela again. So, he decides that he will take her to his house. Brian and his house, Marshall, are bound and determined to keep her safe.

Brian was a side character in one of Ally and Ray’s other books, one in the Fantastical Daddies series. You’ll have to go read the books to see if you can find it, because yes, I am that mean. I love the whole snarky smart house in here. Marshall is a total PITA, but in a funny way.

Adaline Raine-Daddy’s Sassy Little Superhero

Caitlyn works two jobs, and still barely scrapes buy. When her boss sends her out to the worst place in town so that she can deliver a pizza, she ends up meeting the nasty mob boss and discovers that she has super strength. Then she passes out, and wakes up in a strange man’s house. Kade rescued Caitlyn, brought her to his house, and now he’s going to take care of her, whether or not she likes it.

I liked Caitlyn’s spunk. I thought that she had a lot of spirit and I think that it’s perfect for Kade. I have to admit that I really love Kade’s sister. She knew what he needed, whether it’s what he particularly wanted. I think that they are a cute couple, and I love the way that their names fit together.

Maren Smith-Daddy Shark

Doo doo doo doo doo doo.

Ommin has a secret. If he gets hit with saltwater, he gets all sharky. This becomes public knowledge when he jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge to save a jumper, and he hits the Bay. Turns out, he does that a lot. Not necessarily jumping into the Bay, but trying to save people on the bridge. Ommin is a pretty nice guy. He offers a brand new journalist an exclusive and is intrigued about her tattoo that says “Daddy’s Little”. So he goes to do some research.

This was a fun story. I mean, not only do we have a Daddy Shark, we have Liquidman, who literally turns into water. And Ommin accidentally eats one of his toes. Ooops. I like the way that Ommin takes control of the whole situation. It was pretty sweet. I also laughed about it.

RJ Gray-Daddy’s Justice

Morrigan is a forensic investigator who has been working on a serial killer case. A serial killer case in which she meets the exact victim profile. Tall, long pale blonde hair, incredibly blue eyes, athletic build. One afternoon, as she’s indulging in her favorite Daddy books, up comes a giant and two women, one of whom looks almost like her. Turns out that they are two valkyries and the Norse God Forseti, and they are going to take her with them.

I like Morrigan a lot. I like Forseti too. I don’t like Odin very much in this because he is kind of a prick about certain things in this one. I kind of felt like Morrigan never got any kind of choice on her own, but more that she got forced into choices and she just had to deal with them, like them or not. But not by Forseti, just by everyone else.

Emily Tilton-Ultragirl Powers Up

Eighteen-year-old Susan has just discovered her superpowers. She has used them to save a cute little doggie from Charlatan’s flame cycle. She’s also discovered that she is an alien, and her powers are powered by, well, sex, fucking, orgasms, and arousal. But, she’s a good, modest girl, who would never do anything wrong. Then she meets Bob, Nightprince, a member of the CPE, a superhero organization. And he discovers her secret, mostly by catching her masturbating and oh, you know, shaking the entire building as she does it, you know, as one does.

I think that Emily leveled up when she wrote this. She went from the Queen of Filth to the Empress of the Filth Galaxy. You get Emily’s delicate touch with erotic humiliation in here, which is OMFG so filthy hot. One of the hottest scenes in this entire book, hands down, is in this particular story. One a scale of 1-10, it was a 69.

This anthology was a lot of fun to read. There were just so many, many fun things about it, and so many, many filthy things about it. I  mean, what more could you want?

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Anthology-Bite Me

So, several of the usual suspects, plus a couple new ones, have gotten together and given us 9 lovely vampire stories. Bite Me has stories from Addison Cain, Zoe Blake, Alta Hensley, Myra Danvers, Eris Adderly, Livia Bourne, Sara Fields, Anita Gray, and Cassandra Faye. Cassandra Faye may sound like a totally new person, but that is Jennifer Bene’s new pen name for her more paranormal stuff.

As with any anthology that includes these ladies, there is dark and then there is DARK. That’s one of the nice things about anthologies, if you ask me, you are going to get a wide variety of darkness plus different takes on the subject. All the stories are about vampires, but there are 9 different ideas. The stories also vary in length. Some of them are prologues to new series, which I am dying for. So, with all that being said, let’s dive in, shall we?

Addison Cain-Cathedral

If you remember When the Darkness Wins, you might remember Pearl and Catacombs. Addison also released it as a standalone. Well, Cathedral is about Jade, Darius and Pearl’s daughter. I feel sorry for Jade. Having Darius as a father can’t have been easy at all. She’s nothing but a pawn in the hands of her father.

I was really excited to see this one come out, because I’ve been dying for more of that story and that world since I read Catacombs a million years ago. Or at least a few months back, whatever. Of course, Addison being the tease she is, there’s more to the story that we don’t know yet. But I’m sure we will, sooooooon. 

Zoe Blake-Till the End of Time

Zoe went back to the 1400s, and the most well-known vampire, Vlad Tepes, Voivode of Wallachia, Son of Dracul, aka Dracula. Only this origin story doesn’t start with the Impaler. It starts with his wife, Mirella. It also spans a lot of years.

I love how much research that Zoe had to have put into this one to get the true flavor of 1400s Romania. You get a real feel for Mirella and the whole geopolitical situation of the day. A whole lot of historical fact was wound into this story as well as the fiction, and it makes for a really rich story.

Alta Hensley-Master of Ceremonies

You know, I’ve often thought that a traveling carnival is a good place for supernaturals to hide, and apparently Alta did too. Cirque Romani’s MC, Valian, is more than meets the eye, and the Cirque’s audience is perfect to feed all his various hungers. Ada is his mortal assistant who madly loves him.

I really, really, really want more of this story. I mean, like sell my son’s soul for more of this story. I’d offer to sell mine, but that’s assuming that I still have one. There’s so much that happens here, and I want to see how all the events play out.

Myra Danvers-Enthralled

Myra, who is now one of my favorite authors, has given us a prequel to this. I can’t tell you exactly when it’s set, but I’m guessing mid-1800s. Axton is a new vampire, who follows his Dark Queen, his Night Princess, his Dam, Selma.

One of the things that I like about this is Myra’s language. She uses all kinds of euphemisms for various genitalia and sexual acts. It could sound silly in other places, but it really works well in this story. On top of that, I think that Myra also did a really good job of drawing us in and getting us involved in Axton’s feelings.

Eris Adderly-V Is For Vampire

Eris’s story is a prequel too. And being Eris, she gives us a totally different take on vampires. Her vampires in a couple of hundred years in the future. It’s also a genetic thing with them. You either carry the gene or you don’t. If you have the gene, you live in the underground as a vampire. If you don’t, you’re a normal and you live on the surface. November is 22V positive and a gate guard, keeping her people underground and normals aboveground.

I really like the whole futuristic dystopic world that Eris has created. I’m not quite sure that I could call it post-apocalyptic, but maybe post-apocalyptic adjacent? I’m really looking forward to what is going to happen with this, because it looks like there are some major, major changes coming.

Livia Bourne-Blinding Salvation

This is another prequel, and I may have to start counting down the days to this one. Hopefully, Livia hasn’t been taking too many lessons from Addison and won’t be a sadist. Lily was abducted to become food to Armand, a trapped vampire. But, you know, it’s never quite that interesting.

I really like Lily and Armand. Lily is very smart and very canny. I think that she is going to be really good for Armand. I like him too. I want to see more of how his mind works, because I think that he’s good and sneaky, and really creative when it comes to revenge.

Sara Fields-The Devil’s Game

Sara likes to play with us, I think. She gives us the story of Cain and Ruby. They are both strong, in their own ways, doing their own things, but then, they meet up, and sparks fly. They are fantastic together.

I wonder if there is going to be more of this. I hope so, I would really like there to be more. I think that Ruby and Cain play off each other really well. I like the whole premise of the story, and it plays back to some of the old vampire origin myths, which was always fun.

Anita Gray-To My End

Oh, this is definitely an Anita story. There’s probably a mindfuck in there somewhere. We have a Hunter named Sonny who is chasing down the Potentials and has to kill them. Then we have Vi, who doesn’t know exactly how special she is. But she sure knows how sexy new guy in town Sonny is.

You know, when I first read this one, I wanted so much for there to be more. I mean, I still do, don’t get me wrong, but I also think that the way that it ended is actually pretty much perfect. I think more story might ruin that perfectness. Does that mean I won’t read more if Anita gives it to us? Hell no. I will definitely read it. I’m sure that Anita can fix it.

Cassandra Faye-Sweet Ruin

Grace had a sexy, sexy dream. Probably a dream. Maybe a dream. Then she has a hallucination. A sexy, sexy hallucination named Nic who keeps showing up wherever she is. Sometimes he’s even dressed.

Sweet Ruin is probably the lightest story in the book. When you realize it’s a Jennifer Bene story, you might be surprised by that fact, but only if you haven’t read some of her PNR. It fits in pretty well with her books in that genre. It’s a totally different flavor to some of her other books. I loved Grace and Nic, and I think that they are really cute together.

OK, that’s all the stories and how I felt about them all. I’ve always loved a good vampire story and 9 of them is even better. Go check out the book and tell me what you think! Happy reading!

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The 3 Ms-Deliciously Decadent

Maddie, Morganna, and Meredith are back with some Deliciously Decadent stories. I love anything that any of them write on their own, Maddie has shown up here a lot, so you probably know that. None of the stories are co-written, but you are getting a bunch of stories gathered together by the 3 ladies, so it’s all good.

Most of these stories are pretty quick to read, like 10-15 minutes, or at least 10-15 minutes for me. There are a few, like Doctor’s Orders, by Maddie, and Creed’s Joy, by Morganna, that took me a little longer to read them. Not a whole lot longer, but some.

There are some that I would probably more consider a slice of life kind of story, because they are just quick peeks at the lives that the couples in them are living. I would Clarissa’s Stern Daddy and Lucy’s Little Weekend, both by Meredith in this category. We just get a little snippet of a larger story. It’s like someone took an hour or a day of your life and put it on a page. Both of these stories are really sweet and loving, and each shows a happy DD/lg relationship, even if Daddy isn’t necessarily all that happy right that second. There is no drama, no angst, just life.

There is one story that made me bawl my fucking eyes out, and it’s hard to do that in a really short story, and this one is. It’s another Meredith O’Reilly story, and she just wanted to kill me, I think. It’s called A Soldier’s Homecoming. On my Kindle, it runs from 58% to 62%, and took about 7 minutes for me to read. Yes, I went back and checked the percentage and the timing on it. I would tell you the page amount, but I don’t get that on most ARCs. I’m pointing out all those stats so that I can emphasize just how much emotion Meredith packed into this story.

Most of the stories are pretty contemporary, but there are a couple of scifi stories tossed in there, just for fun. You also get a nice pirate story in there as well.

All in all, this book is packed full of stories that you can read when you need a lift, or when you only have a couple of minutes, or you just want to read 3 great authors.

I wanted a picture of something that was delicious and decadent, and I think I succeeded.

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Alta Hensley-Fallen Daughters

 

Alta Hensley has an interesting writing technique. She writes short stories that show up in various box sets, and then she either expands them or puts them in other books, using the box set as a kind of testing laboratory. There are others that she has written that have just sat on her desk. If you are like me and have read most of what Alta has written, then you will recognize most of her Fallen Daughters, either in their original form or in the form they showed up in other books. I recognized all of them, except for Fallen Daughter 3. Did that stop me from rereading all the stories? No way. I love to reread, so this was awesome for me.

Fallen Daughter #1

This one got tested out in Daddy’s Demands, and then found its way into one of the Top Shelf books, the one with Roman and Cheri, to be precise. I loved it in both its forms, and it’s still as fucking hot the second time around. Or third time. However many, it’s still ridiculously hot.

Fallen Daughter #2

This one first showed up in an anthology called The Dark Forest, which is a collection of adult fairy tales. Alta’s was a take on Sleeping Beauty. A very, very dirty version of Sleeping Beauty. I know that it showed up in another book, in parts at least, but my brain fails me right now, so I don’t remember which one it was. I loved the way that our heroine was given her gifts, and how they really did help her in her captivity.

Fallen Daughter #3

This was the only one of the stories that I haven’t read before. I will say that I haven’t read every single thing that Alta has written, so it may be in one of the books that I haven’t read yet. I really liked it though. It was a pretty sweet little story, which kind of makes it not Alta’s usual fare, but it is just a lovely little story, and left me very happy.

Fallen Daughters #4 & #5

There is a reason that I am combining these two. It’s because they were together in a book called No White Knight, and it was one of the first things that I read by Alta. #4 was known as Pallid Slave, and it disturbed me on a couple of levels. Disturbing good, though. OK, I have to get a smidge personal here. I have lost 2 brothers, one 31 years ago, one 16 years ago. There really isn’t a mark of that loss that shows everyone that you have lost someone you loved so much. That can be both a blessing and a curse. You don’t have to worry about anyone giving you sympathy when it’s overwhelming. Then again, you have to tell them that you are grieving when it gets too much, and that can be really hard to do. In Pallid Slave, there really is a very visible outward sign of mourning, which I think is more of a curse than a blessing in this case, but I found it to be a really interesting way to handle it. #5 was called a Hero in Disguise, and frankly, it could be ripped right out of today’s headlines, and that’s what makes it so fucking disturbing to me.

Fallen Daughter #6

This one first showed up in Twisted Sacraments. If you read those stories, you know that there is no happy in any of them, and it’s no different with Alta’s story. Frankly, I’m pretty sure that the world is going to end in a plague, and so any stories that have some kind of plague in them play right into that fear. And then you put the coocoo for cocoa puffs bits in there, and yup. I’m properly worried.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve read these stories in any form before, they are definitely worth a reread.

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Aria Adams-Her Raven Mates

Her Raven Mates appears in the box set Fated Mates. Full disclosure, this is the only one of the stories in the set that I’ve read so far, but since I now own the book, I’ll be getting to the rest of the stories at some point, I’m sure. There are a lot of them, and they will be a welcome change when I need something quick and easy to read.

Eileen is living under a curse. She has been cursed to be a swan 23.5 hours a day. And that 30 minutes when she gets to be human aren’t at the same time from day to day, so she can’t even plan to have any kind of life. Her mother tells her that this is the only way to keep her safe.

Vir, Bran, and Morwain are brothers. They are also raven shifters who are currently cursed. They are ravens by day and men by night. They are trying to track down the evil warlock who cast this curse on them so that they can get back to their normal lives of being private investigators. But it’s not easy, and their enemy keeps finding them.

I will have to admit that as soon as I found out that the heroine’s name was Eileen, I was hoping for just one Come On, Eileen moment. What can I say, I’m a child of the 80s, and I remember so much 80s music. And Aria didn’t disappoint me. There is a spot when one of the guys says it, and it made me happy.

The novella is pretty short and a nice quick read. Overall, I really enjoyed it. Because it’s short, you get a lot of insta-everything and not a lot of background, but that’s just fine, Aria makes it work really well.

I love that the guys all have Celtic-ish name and are ravens, mostly because there are raven stories in Celtic mythology. Frankly, I think ravens show up in most mythology somewhere, somehow. They are gorgeous birds and wicked smart. Why wouldn’t you put them in your mythology?

Anyway, go check out the entire set, especially if you are into fated mate romances. No spoilers today, it’s too short a story.

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Anthology-Twisted Sacrament

These stories are dark, dark, dark, dark, and even darker than that. There are no happy anythings here, there’s no light. There’s nothing that will bring you any kind of hope. I’d say abandon all hope, but even just abandoning it isn’t enough. You have to completely scour any kind of hope from your soul. You have to erase the word hope from your memory. Then you might, just possibly might, be ready to read Twisted Sacrament. Consider yourself warned.

The anthology consists of 7 authors who write dark anyway, but then they got let off the leash. Not only that, they were given the brief of writing the most sacrilegious and blasphemous story possible. And let me tell you, SJ Cole, Zoe Blake, Addison Cain, Jennifer Bene, Celia Aaron, Ashleigh Giannoccaro, and Alta Hensley fucking delivered. These 7 stories are depraved, twisted, desolate, full of mindfucks, horrifying, and darker than fuck. They are disturbing. And yet. And yet, I couldn’t stop reading them. I couldn’t get enough of them. I loved everyone one of them, even the ones that left me shaking at the end. (I’m looking right at you, Jennifer.)

They are all short stories, none of them much longer than 30 minutes to read. I wouldn’t recommend reading them at night before bed though. You might not sleep well. But because they are short, you’re only going to get my reactions, as is my usual practice in this situation. I got ARCs for 4 of them, but like I said, they are short, so I had no problems reading the rest of them.

Addison Cain-She Came Before God

There is a period of Catholic and Italian history where the high ranking clergy weren’t as… celibate as they should’ve been. During that time, Rodrigo Borgia became Pope. There are all kinds of rumors about orgies in the Papal palace while he was there, and it is historical fact that he had children, born when he was a cardinal. You know, when he wasn’t supposed to be dicking around. Lucrezia Borgia, who you may have heard about as a poisoner, was one of his children. So, what does this have to do with Addison’s story? Well, her story involves a pope and some fucking.

Addison’s story really just was straight up horrifying. Our poor little heroine learns that she’s part of a horrible family tradition, and everything that she thought was true isn’t. This story stuck with me. I mean, I dreamt about it. Even days later, I’m still trying to get a total handle on certain things. I really wanted to scream at the end of it, and maybe sit and cry in despair.

Zoe Blake-Lilith’s Revenge

Lilith comes out of Jewish mythology. She’s generally considered to be Adam’s first wife, but when she wouldn’t behave the way that they wanted, she was kicked out of Eden and Eve came in in her place. Lilith then went on to become the mother of demons. In her demon partying and fucking days, she fucked everyone she wanted to, including some angels.

In Zoe’s story, she is back in her demon party girl aspect, tempting a priest. Now, here’s the thing. She and her priest get it on in all kinds of ways and do all kinds of depraved things, but… The question is, is what they are doing real, or is the priestly part real, or is anything real? Zoe has written an incredibly mindfuck and my mind is still fucked from it. I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t and what was going on in the story. I have theories as to what’s going on, but they vary from minute to minute.

I recommend following Zoe’s instructions when it comes to her story.

Alta Hensley-Last Rites

I personally think that the end of the world is going to be some kind of plague. In this jet-setting world, it’s going to be too easy for something to be across the world before anyone gets diagnosed with it in the first place. Why do I mention this? Because Alta destroys the world with The Itch, an illness that makes people want to scratch their skin off, makes their blood foam, and makes them pretty fucking crazy. There are rumors of a safe place for women to go (and only women), where they won’t be exposed to The Itch.

This is so disturbing. It’s short, it’s brutal, and it’s dark as fuck. I kind of wanted to take a very, very hot shower after reading this one. And maybe scrub for about 30 hours.

Jennifer Bene-Baptism in Eden

If you look at my GR/Zon review, it says “Oh my fucking god. That is all.” Yeah, that’s about all I could say about this one on there. Jennifer writes dark at the best of times, but let her off the leash, she’s simply dazzling. And dazzle she does.

You may think of Eden as paradise, but Jennifer’s Eden is as far away from paradise as you can possibly get. It’s so dark and so twisted. I know I’m saying that a lot, but there aren’t words in the English language to describe it. But the fact remains that this story is Stygian. It’s also a very Jennifer Bene story. If I were given all the stories in this book and asked to pick out which one Jennifer had written, this would be the one that I choose. When I was done reading it, I was literally sitting on the couch and shaking. I had to go read something else to calm down. I may be traumatized.

Celia Aaron-Communion

I know that I’ve raved about Celia on here before. She totally deserves every good thing I have ever said about her.

I loved this story. It wasn’t quite as dark as some of the others, but it’s by no means light. I love the byplay between Cate and Ted. It is very interesting to see how Ted talks to her and what goes on. I feel like this is very topical too. I have to wonder how much Celia was influenced by what’s going on in the world right now, because it really feels like there was some serious influencing going on. Frankly, I think it makes it better.

Ashleigh Giannoccaro-Say Yes

I’ve only read one other Ashleigh Giannoccaro book, but I own a couple of more. My TBR is totes ridic and one day I’ll get to them.

Ashleigh takes us for a tour through a cult. A very, very creepy cult. A very creepy cult that says men have to have 2 wives or they can’t get into Heaven. OK, I grew up Mormon, and there has always been the whole polygamy thing surrounding the church, and then the FLDS church around, which are a polygamous cult, so this one felt really close to home, if you know what I mean. I don’t know how much Ashleigh took from there, how much came from other cults, and how much came straight out of her head, but it was a fascinating read. It also looks like it’s setting up for a new series, so I’ll be all over that one.

SJ Cole-I’m Better Than You

SJ Cole is Stevie J. Cole writing under a new name. And OMG, her heroine is totally cuckoo for coco puffs. I mean, the cheese not only done slipped her cracker, it left the room, the house, the zip code, the state, and the country. Then it changed its name, cut its hair, and got plastic surgery. The cheese wants to have absolutely nothing to do with Violet anymore, and I don’t blame it. I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with her either. I can totally get why she’s upset, but damn, girl takes it to another level. She’s creepy as fuck. She’s crazy as fuck. SJ says there’s more to the story, and I’m going to have to read it. Can’t fucking wait. I like creepy and crazy.

OK, there are my reactions to each of these 7 stories. I loved this book. But, trust me, don’t look for light. Don’t look for happy. Don’t look for hope. Don’t look for this book to last long. I recommend you go buy it soon if anything I talked about sounded good, because anthologies don’t tend to last very long and then the rights revert back to the authors.

No spoilers, but a picture I thought was great for this.

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