Tag: Zoe Blake

Zoe Blake-Savage Vow

It’s been a minute since I had a Zoe story on here, and Savage Vow is definitely the one to put up here, because daaaammmmnnnn. This is really hot, incredibly filthy, and just intense.

So, we start with Samara at 18. She’s just two weeks shy of graduating from high school, and she’s looking forward to go to art school, at least, she’s planning on going to art school. On this particular night, she’s at her friend Nadia’s house for a party, and she and her boyfriend are trying to sneak away for a few private minutes. They find an unlocked room, but when they get in there, Samara tells the guy that they have to leave right now. She recognizes it as Gregor’s room, and they need to be out of there. He doesn’t want to leave and doesn’t take no for an answer, which was all kinds of wrong on his part, because in comes Gregor. And he’s pissed. Turns out that Gregor has basically just bought Samara’s hand in marriage and he’s mad that anyone is touching what’s his.

Samara goes home, finds out that her broke and owes some very bad people a whole lot of money. He offered her in marriage to a lot of people, and Gregor was the one to buy it. And Samara is not happy. She meets with her friend Nadia (who happens to be Nadia’s older brother) and their other friend Yelena, and they make a plan for Yelena and Samara to run away.

Fast forward 3 years, Samara is now in Chicago. She figures that now that has been so long she’s safe. She’s still not going out under her own name, but she’s at least working in art and painting at home. One day, she’s got an appointment set up to show some art, and guess who walks in? Yeah, Gregor.

Gregor has been searching for Samara for 3 years now. It was embarrassing that she ran away from him, and he needs to find her because she’s his, and he needs to show everyone that he has things under control. So, the first thing he does when he finds her, after spanking her, is to dress her up and take her to a museum gala.

Oh, I really, really, really was set to hate Gregor. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t like him all that much a lot of the time. Buuuuutttt…. He makes it kind of hard to hate him all the time. He’s an asshole, yes, a huge asshole, even, but he also is super protective of Samara and he knows so much about her. It could almost be called stalkerish, but I’m not 100% it crosses that line. But Gregor really does know Samara and he really does want to make sure she has what she needs. Not necessarily what she wants, but what she needs.

I do like Samara. I think that she is smart, creative, and pretty strong. I also think that there are times when she doesn’t quite see the whole picture and she’s a little naive. I mean, I don’t think that she’s naive all the time, after all, she did stay hidden from a Russian mob boss for 3 years. I understand the way that she feels about Gregor a lot of the time, and I think I would feel the same way about him.

OK, nothing under the picture today. Go check it out! Happy reading!

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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Zoe Blake-Bad Babygirls

Zoe is giving us a set of dark and dirty Daddies. The Bad Babygirls are a set of three stories, The Con Artist, The Thief, and The Expert. There is also a prologue called The Hacker. That story originally appeared in the anthology Daddy’s Demands as Daughter #13.

The only one of these books that’s a standalone is The Hacker. The other three are more or less a serial and must be read in order. If you don’t, you aren’t going to understand what’s going on. There’s an overarching storyline that runs through the three of them. Each book does focus on a different couple, but the other people show up in the other books.

I’m basically going to treat the 3 books as one large book for this review, just because it’s going to be easier for me, I think.

So, Piper is the con artist, Lyla is the thief, and the expert is Quinn, whose particular expertise lies in customizing guns. They are old friends who have gotten up to some very, very bad things. They all met in high school, and hung around with Quinn’s sister Julie, and another friend named Mary. However, things happened with Julie, and Mary fell away from them. But the three of them are thick as thieves.

Our couples are Piper and Ethan, Lyla and Roman, and Quinn and Ryder. Ethan and Roman are partners in a huge construction company, as well as huge crimelords. Ryder is the top assassin in the world.

Ethan and Roman have a problem, and they need Piper to fix it. She’s not only a top con artist, she’s also an excellent forger of art. So, Ethan manages to drag her into it, and then ends up being her Daddy. When something happens, Lyla has information that Ethan needs, so Roman says that he will go get it out of her. That turns out to be so awesome, mostly because she stabs him and then smacks him in the head with a brick. More things happen, and Roman and Ethan make a stupid mistake, which causes Ryder to grab Quinn, and sort of threaten our boys. Which, frankly, I would’ve done too.

Love my synopsis? I think it’s kind of perfect. Or, at least, sort of mostly. Really, I’m not giving anything away, because we all know that things are going to happen, lol.

I like Piper, Quinn, and Lyla. I think that Lyla is my favorite. I’m not a fashionista like she is, by any way, shape, or means, but she’s totally kickass. I mean, all the ladies are pretty much kickass, but seriously, Lyla beats Roman up. Of course, he spanks her for it, but she still hit him in the head with a fucking brick. She is also one of the reasons that The Hacker is tied into these books. I’ll get into that in another minute.

I liked Quinn. When you look at her or talk to her, you don’t get the whole kind of mad genius vibe she has going on, but she really does have that happening, and it’s kind of interesting. I think she might be one of those people who wants to go out and try something just to see if she can create it. I do think that Ryder is perfect for her though. And for more than the fact that they can have lively discussions about ammo and weapons.

For me, Piper was the weakest of the bunch. I liked her, but not as much as I liked Lyla and Quinn. I don’t know why or what it is about her, but there it is.

As for the guys, I never really warmed up to Ethan. I mean, like not at all. In fact, at the beginning I downright disliked him. As the books progressed, I stopped disliking him as much, but I never really liked him. And as to why I like Ryder and Roman and not Ethan? I dunno. There’s just that chemistry, you know? You either do or you don’t. Ethan also made me madder than the other two did at times. And it’s not like he did really did anything different to what Ryder and Roman did, or anything. In fact, Ryder could be said to have been stricter or harder, and definitely more stalkery, than Ethan, but you know what, there you are. Of all the guys, I think that Ryder is my favorite.

OK, for The Hacker, here’s how it ties in. Devon, the hacker and #13, and Reid, her Daddy, and the Father of the Compound, where she was trained, and BTW, so was Lyla. They get pulled into the job that Ethan and Piper are doing. They are also there at the end of the series.

That’s all for today. No spoilers today. Go check out all 4 of these great books, especially if you like the dark Daddies that Zoe writes. Happy reading!

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Zoe Blake-Damaged Doll

Oh, my sweet summer children, what a dark and chilling tale we have today. Zoe decided that Broken Doll, formerly My Name Is Jane from When the Darkness Wins, needed to have a sequel, and thus, Damaged Doll was born.

Warning, this is not a standalone. You have to have read Broken Doll in order to know what’s going on. You will be well and truly lost. Warning the second, this is not a pretty tale. This is not a light tale. This is dark. This is chilling. This may even be horrific. This is also a wonderful read, albeit one that’s going to totally fuck with your head, because, well, Zoe thinks it’s fun to do that. And since I apparently think it’s fun to read it, I don’t get to complain all that much when my head is completely done in. And really, I don’t complain all that much, because I really do like to read the mindfuckery stuff.

This picks up right where BD leaves off, which means I’m not going to tell you all that much about it, because I don’t want to spoil Broken Doll if you haven’t read it yet, and if you like dark and twisted, I’m telling you, you really should. We still get all Jane’s inner monologue, but now we’re also getting flashbacks of Jane’s life before everything happened. It’s really interesting to find out more about Jane.

Like I said when I reviewed WtDW, this plays into a very particular fear of mine, which makes it both chilling and fascinating to read. It’s like when you know that the horror movie is going to scare the pants off you, but you can’t walk away from it because you want to watch it so much? Yeah, that’s what’s happening here. I know that this feeds that fear, but I know that the story is just so good. It gives me the shivers in just the right way, if that makes sense.

There aren’t any spoilers down there, because it is a short read and any kind of spoiler will spoil everything. So, go read it. Happy reading!

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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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When the Dark Wins

I’ve been writing this blog and bringing you books for close to a year now. Some of you have been following me for that long, some of you are new. But, if you look at my posts, you will see that there is one pretty overwhelming theme. I love the dark. I play in it, I revel in it, I go out and search it out. The darker the better. Things that might disturb other people? I was thrilled to read them. So, I figured that I was going to be fine with this one. After all, I’ve read all of these authors before. They’ve written some dark stuff that I love. Addison Cain’s Alice in Wonderland story, anatomy by Yolanda Olson, Imperfect Monster and Destruction by Jennifer Bene. Well, you get the idea, right? Well, those stories are actually pretty light compared to what we’ve been given here. Except for maybe anatomy. That one’s pretty fucked up.

I walked into When the Dark Wins thinking I was ready. I was wrong. The whole point behind this book is that 8 authors are giving us stories where there is no happy ending, no light, just evil and darkness and more evil and more darkness. There are mindfucks galore. Hell, even the mindfucks get mindfucked. It’s awesome.

So, I’m giving absolutely no spoilers at all. I’m just going to give you my impressions of the stories.

Addison Cain-Catacombs

This story is the single most disturbing thing I have ever read in my entire life. Straight out, no lie, the most disturbing thing ever. The last story I said that about was Addison’s Alice story, so well done Addison, topping yourself. I can’t wait to see what you do next. When I finished Catacombs, I looked over at my husband and said holy fuck. When he asked what I was holy fucking about, I told him there was no way to explain it. I could’ve tried, but he wouldn’t’ve gotten it. Totally fucked up Totally awesome. I had to pet my cat and play a game for a while after reading this.

Zoe Blake-My Name Is Jane

I literally put the whole book down and walked away from it for a night after I finished this. This story plays into a personal nightmare of mine. OK, I don’t mean this exact scenario, but how Jane feels plays into that nightmare. I’ve literally woken up in cold sweats because of it. So, yeah. It wasn’t the most disturbing story in the book, but it was the one that chilled me the most.

Eris Adderly-A Sinner in Virtue

Having read the story, I love the title. I think it’s completely awesome. It’s the start of a new series, and I’m so eager to get to the series. It’s not as dark as some of the other stories are, but it’s still dark. Hypocrisy at its absolute finest. Can’t wait.

Dani Rene-Severed

I may have mentioned that I have the mad Dani Rene love before. This story did nothing to change it. I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. It was a very, very wrong scenario. I can’t even say that it was in a very, very right way, because there is no right way here. I mean, yeah.

Jennifer Bene-Breaking Beth

Can I just say fucking finally? Thank you, Jennifer! I’ve been waiting to find out what happened to Beth ever since I read the first Thalia story. She keeps getting brought up in the book, so I needed to know Beth’s story. It isn’t pretty, not at all. And I’m even gladder that those guys got what was coming to them. I think Beth is awesome, strong and stubborn. Maybe a little too much so for her own good. I mean, the title is Breaking Beth.

Cari Silverwood-Used

I think that Cari’s Mesmer books were the first of hers I read. They definitely made me fall in love with her and her words. Used takes place in that world. The characters aren’t main characters in the books, but I’m fine with that because it doesn’t mess with continuity or anything. I think that Isak is creepier than the other mesmers though, and that’s saying something. I need to spend this weekend rereading the books I think. I did wonder how far ahead he planned when it came to certain things. And the ending was…

Michelle Brown-The Hunted

When it comes to authors in this book, Michelle is a baby. However, that doesn’t mean that baby can’t write. Her story is… Yeah. It’s the shortest story in the book, but it’s definitely one that stayed with me for awhile, especially the end. The end was a mindfuck moment. It just fucked me up.

Yolanda Olson-What Lies Beneath

Mind.fuck. Yeah, I know I’ve said that about most of these stories, but really, this one was the biggest mindfuck of them all, from start to finish. Really. Just WTF from the first word to the last word. I love Yolanda Olson and her work. I do think that her process goes along the lines of asking herself what would fuck her readers up the most. Good job, Yolanda. You succeeded.

OK, that’s my review of When the Dark Wins. No spoilers. If you think you are ready to let the darkness embrace you, then go check it out. Eight stories which will make you glad that you don’t live in these authors’ minds? I’m so down for that.

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Alta Hensley & Zoe Blake-Queen and the Kingsmen

Alta and Zoe have given us their third filthy fairy tale. And oh, my kittens, when I say filthy, I mean fillllllttthhhhy. Forget having to be over 18 to read this, you may have to be over 25 to read this one. It was definitely the dirtiest of the group. I think it was also the most playful.  So, on to Queen and the Kingsmen.

Alright, so this is somewhat based around the evil fairy from Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent. Not enough that you can point and say oh, that’s straight from X, but enough that it gives you the flavor. And that’s perfectly fine with me. I think it’s awesome, and it’s nice to see newer fairy tales being used.

So, our evil Queen Zelladine is taunting the piddling little mortal king and tells him that she’s never going to give him back the body of his dead daughter, Briar, and oh yeah, she curses the hell out of him. Well, King Dickbag isn’t about to let that stand, he’s going to do something about it. While Zelladine has gone home to make sure that all her people are safe, mostly done by sending them away to safety, he decides he’s going to put out his big guns, the Kingsmen. No one really knows who they are or much about them. Zelladine isn’t all that worried, she’s never met an impressive mortal man. Then again, she’d never met the Kingsmen.

The Kingsmen, Gripir, Sigmun, Troylus, and Regin, are tasked with finding Queen Zelladine and making her give Briar’s body back so her father can bury her. The thing is, that Zelladine is just as determined to not give them that information. She’s going to keep her mouth shut on that matter for as long as possible. The Kingsmen capture her and keep her in a tower where her magic was neutralized. They punish her in several different ways, but they still can’t break her. In fact, she likes what they are doing, and sees it as a game.

OK, the interactions between the Kingsmen and Zelladine are awesome. She is strong and stubborn and isn’t about to let the guys roll over her. She enjoys all the sex, she enjoys exasperating them, and she enjoys what they are doing to her. The guys get rather frustrated with her, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t enjoying themselves as well. This is an awesome story and it does have appearances of characters from the other stories. It’s a short, hot, filthy read, and fabulous.

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Oh, I love the game of hide and seek at the end of the book. I also like how many times Zella manages to trick the guys. She was really three or four steps ahead of him most of the time, wasn’t she? It was lovely.

OK, that’s all I have to say for this one, so go read it. You’ll love it.

Alta Hensley & Zoe Blake-Red & the Wolves

Alta and Zoe have released Red and the Wolves, the second book of their 3 RH dark romance fairy tales. These are not fairy tales to read to your children. In fact, you might not even want to read them around your children. The steam rising off your Kindle might cause them some concern.

So, are you can probably guess, Red is the reimaging of Little Red Riding Hood. Only when the Big Bad Wolf wants to eat Red, he’s not thinking about dinner. And it’s more like Big Bad Wolves, 5 of them, and they all have designs on Red.

The village where Red is born and grows up is surrounded by a tall wall and thick forest. In that forest, there are 5 magical wolves. Back in the day, 500 years ago, the village elders used magic to create the wolves from some of the villagers. They were needed so that they could fight the darkness that threatened everyone. Every so often, the Blood Moon rises, and when the Blood Moon rises, the village sacrifices a villager to the wolves.

Red’s grandmother is a village elder. Too bad it had never been any kind of bonus for her. Her grandmother, the evil old hag, hated Red’s father and since her mother died at birth, it fell on the hag to raise Red. She made sure that not only did Red know how worthless to everyone she is, she also made sure that the village made her an outcast. It doesn’t help that Red stands out because of her very red hair either.

When the Blood Moon rises, the elders say that it’s time for a sacrifice. All the other sacrifices have been chosen from the oldest unmarried males in each household. This time, the hag manages to push through a change, it’s the oldest unmarried person from each household. In this case, Red would be in the group and is the only woman there. And we can guess what’s going to happen, otherwise, this would’ve been a really short book.

Red gets turned out of the village and is left to the tender mercies of the wolves, named Canis, Beo, Grimm, Rood, and Helm. Or, are they men?

OK, it’s time. I love, love, love the names of the guys. I picked up some of the references with the names, but I don’t know if all of them have some kind of significance. I love the books that do that. I love the books that don’t. I love the books. I just think it adds in an extra layer of fun to have various names of characters referring back to other things. Red is a very strong character and is willing to stand up for what she believes in, in my opinion. She doesn’t always listen well, but that’s part of the fun, isn’t it? The guys are very strict and very intense. There is some heavy dubcon going on here, IMO, at least at first. The book is swelteringly hot, with all the good stuff going on. Each of the guys has a distinct personality, and it’s interesting to get to know them. We also get a peek at Snow White and her guys.

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I love that Red wants to let the people of her village know the truth. The guys deserve to have the truth known. After all, theirs was the true sacrifice.

I wonder if they were to have babies, would they be able to shift back and forth from human to wolf? That would be such an awesome start to a werewolf legend.

OK, go check this one out. Happy reading!

Alta Hensley & Zoe Blake-Snow and the Seven Huntsmen

Alta and Zoe both write books that I enjoy reading. I’ve reviewed several of them here, and reviewed others on my GR and Zon page. The stories that they write on their own are dark, sexy, and hot. This one? This one raises the bar. Putting Alta and Zoe together means that we ended up with something hot, filthy, obscene, dark, and so sizzling hot, my Kindle burnt my fingers while I was reading it. I loved every single dirty word of it.

As you can guess, Snow and the Seven Huntsmen is a new take on Snow White. Only, there are no dwarves here. Instead, our dear Snow has 7 large and dominant alpha huntsmen that she has to deal with. Seven very, very large huntsmen with appropriately large spears. I mean, they can’t fight off the bad guys if their spears aren’t large enough, right?

So, the evil queen has locked Snow away in the dungeon after the death of her father. Snow has had no human contact for years and years. Her food gets shoved in through the door so she sees no one and no one sees her. No one talks to her, nothing. So when she hears voices one day, she knows that they are coming to kill her. She decides that she will escape out her window because there is nowhere else that she can go. However, that doesn’t stop these huge men from grabbing her and taking her away with them.

Snow is convinced that they are going to kill her, especially when they talk about having to have the heart in a box to send to the queen. Turns out that they are going to take the heart of a boar and put it in the box and tell the queen that it’s Snow’s heart. They have other plans for Snow, and they involve her very much alive and very much naked. When she tries to run away, the huntsmen find her and tell her that there’s no way she can escape from them, after all, they are huntsmen.

The huntsmen, Dagr, Odin, Jerrik, Magni, Tore, Steen, and Freyr, want to keep Snow and do terrible, horrible, sexy, hot, and perverse things to her, including punishing her. That both terrifies and arouses her. And holy fuck, there are some really, really sexy punishments going on in here. Let me just say that antlers have taken on a whole new meaning for me, and I’m wondering if I can get an antler chandelier for my house.

OK, it’s that time. It may sound like the guys are only hard on Snow, and they do use her hard, but they also take good care of her. They are very caring, in their own ways. They are nice guys, and I really like them from the start. Sometimes I have to warn up to the Alpha types, since they are all oh, I know better than you, and yeah, these guys were like that, but it didn’t get on my last nerve the way it sometimes does. I think it was because of their personalities. They are very much barely civilized and that alpha ‘tude fits. If you don’t like dark and really sexy, and a large amount of dick being swung around, then avoid this one. Me? I’m wondering how soon I can go back and read it.

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These guys will do just about anything for Snow. I like that they take care of her, because yeah, it sounds like they are only rough, gruff men, but they truly value her and have her best interests at heart. They want to make sure that she is safe and sound. They even teach her how to use weapons.

I really like how Snow has a relationship with each of the guys and how each of them is so different, and they all meet some need in Snow, not necessarily sexual, but emotional. Just having someone who wants to be with her has to be a change from spending so many years locked away from all human contact.

Anyway, that’s it for today. Go over to the almighty Zon and check it out. Happy reading!

Zoe Blake-Defying Him

I am always down for Zoe Blake and her particular flavors of darkness. She always brings us a fun treat to read, one where we can enjoy the story and enjoy the sex. She’s done it again with Defying Him.

Unlike her last couple books, we aren’t getting a dark Daddy Dom. This time we get a hot man in a Marine uniform. Which, yes please. Have you ever seen those boys in the full get up? OMG, lick them like a lollipop. OK, where were we?

So, Phoebe is an investigative journalist. She specializes in going undercover and getting her story. She’s damn good at it. When she gets to work, her boss tells her that he has a new job for her. There are have been some strange murders at a military acadmy, and she is the perfect person to go in and find out what’s going on. Her boss thinks that the Navy may be hiding something, and he wants to know for sure. He sets her up an ID as an associate professor in English and sends her in.

Michael is the new commandant of the academy. It’s his job to find out what is going on at the school. No one else has been able to pin down the murderer and he’s going to improve the security. When his secretary, who doesn’t really approve of him, sends in the new English professor, Michael immediately tries to send her home. He’s trying to scare her off because she looks just like the other women who were murdered, sadly, Phoebe is not the type to be intimidated easily.

The first chapter of this book is awesomely creepy as fuck. How many of you remember the 1, 2, Freddy’s Coming For You chant that came out of Nightmare of Elm Street? Yeah, that scared the piss out of me when I was young, but it really set the atmosphere. That’s what this chapter does. It totally sets the scene of the entire book. This is a suspense/murder mystery/thriller/erotic romance kind of thing. And it’s really good. It isn’t a real instlove, so much as instalust that builds quick.

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The killer was creepy. The reasoning behind it was just creepier.

I got a little mad at Phoebe’s boss for sending her into a situation that was very dangerous, since she looked just like the other victims. However, she probably would’ve have done it even if she hadn’t waited until she got there to see the victims’ pix. She’s stubborn that way.

OK, that’s all for this one. Happy reading!

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