Helpful Score: 4
Taming Kate by Jeanie Cesarini:
When Kathryn Roman inherits a legal brothel, she refuses to trade her high-powered career in Manhattan for a life in the wild, wild west. Little does this city girl know that the town of Love, Nevada wants her to be their new madam so they've charged Trey Holliday, one very dominant cowboy, with Taming Kate.
A so-so story. The whole cowboy/pretty lady thing got old pretty fast. I can't say I disliked it totally though, only that there was a bit too much romance for my liking.
Rating: 4 stars
Jared's Wolf by MaryJanice Davidson:
Jared Rocke will do anything to avenge his sister's death, even believe in werewolves. What he doesn't believe is that he's attracted to Moira Wolfbauer, the she-wolf sworn to protect her pack. In Jared's Wolf, two enemies must join forces to stop a killer while learning that love defies all boundarieseven those between species.
Much better than the first story, which to me read much more like a pure romance novel, a genre I don't particularly care for.
These are the first 2 Wyndham Werewolves stories written by MJD's. And I specifically put off reading Derik's Bane, Dead and Loving It, and even Undead and Unpopular until I read these two short stories, "Love's Prisoner" from Secrets 6, and this one from Secrets 8. I'm now more looking forward to reading Derik's Bane since I should feel like I'm coming back to familiar friends.
Rating: 8 stars
My Champion, My Love by Alice Gaines:
My Champion, My Love tells the tale of Celeste Broder, a woman committed for a sexy appetite that is tolerated in the men, but not the women of her time. She desperately needs a champion, and finds one in mayor Robert Albright. If she can convince him her freedom will mean a chance to indulge their appetites together.
Bah, this story was so boring I don't even know how or why I finished it! I guess I can only blame it on my OCD, my need to complete things I start, and particularly since I liked the stories in Secrets 6 so much better.
One of my main problems with this story is due to the fact that this story takes place back in 1888, when things were extremely uptight and Puritan sexually. And that alone is a huge pet peeve of mine! I hate the sexual repression we live with even today, and since the basis of this story was the fact that Celeste was put into an insane asylum because of her strong sexual nature and the books she read had me screaming with indignation on her behalf. And I guess because I don't really like romances just for the sake of romance, without any danger or other stuff in the story. And this story just did not have enough "other stuff" for me, and not nearly enough erotica. *sigh*
Rating: 3 stars
Kiss or Kill by Liz Maverick:
In this post apocalyptic world, Camille Kazinsky's military career rides on her ability to make a choicewhether the robo called Meat should live or die. Meat's future depends on proving he's human enough to live, man enough... Should Camille Kiss or Kill this man/machine that makes her feel like a woman?
I really liked this story a lot and was surprised to read that the short story appearing here in Secrets 8 was her first published work. I have a couple of her books from the Crimson City series, including the first one aptly named Crimson City, waiting on Mt. TBR so now I'm more looking forward to reading that.
Unlike the Cesarini and Gaines stories in this anthology, this was a lot more erotic and thus was more to my liking. And for the romance portion, I didn't have to deal with a swooning female and a bunch of "mushy gushy". LOL The sex scenes weren't really long, but were explicit enough to get me hot! ;-)
Rating: 7 stars
Overall, I'm rating this book a 6 when I average out the 4 individual ratings (which actually come to 5.5). The stories from Davidson and Maverick definitely made this anthology worth reading. The other two I wouldn't recommend for anyone who's not a die-hard romance fan.
When Kathryn Roman inherits a legal brothel, she refuses to trade her high-powered career in Manhattan for a life in the wild, wild west. Little does this city girl know that the town of Love, Nevada wants her to be their new madam so they've charged Trey Holliday, one very dominant cowboy, with Taming Kate.
A so-so story. The whole cowboy/pretty lady thing got old pretty fast. I can't say I disliked it totally though, only that there was a bit too much romance for my liking.
Rating: 4 stars
Jared's Wolf by MaryJanice Davidson:
Jared Rocke will do anything to avenge his sister's death, even believe in werewolves. What he doesn't believe is that he's attracted to Moira Wolfbauer, the she-wolf sworn to protect her pack. In Jared's Wolf, two enemies must join forces to stop a killer while learning that love defies all boundarieseven those between species.
Much better than the first story, which to me read much more like a pure romance novel, a genre I don't particularly care for.
These are the first 2 Wyndham Werewolves stories written by MJD's. And I specifically put off reading Derik's Bane, Dead and Loving It, and even Undead and Unpopular until I read these two short stories, "Love's Prisoner" from Secrets 6, and this one from Secrets 8. I'm now more looking forward to reading Derik's Bane since I should feel like I'm coming back to familiar friends.
Rating: 8 stars
My Champion, My Love by Alice Gaines:
My Champion, My Love tells the tale of Celeste Broder, a woman committed for a sexy appetite that is tolerated in the men, but not the women of her time. She desperately needs a champion, and finds one in mayor Robert Albright. If she can convince him her freedom will mean a chance to indulge their appetites together.
Bah, this story was so boring I don't even know how or why I finished it! I guess I can only blame it on my OCD, my need to complete things I start, and particularly since I liked the stories in Secrets 6 so much better.
One of my main problems with this story is due to the fact that this story takes place back in 1888, when things were extremely uptight and Puritan sexually. And that alone is a huge pet peeve of mine! I hate the sexual repression we live with even today, and since the basis of this story was the fact that Celeste was put into an insane asylum because of her strong sexual nature and the books she read had me screaming with indignation on her behalf. And I guess because I don't really like romances just for the sake of romance, without any danger or other stuff in the story. And this story just did not have enough "other stuff" for me, and not nearly enough erotica. *sigh*
Rating: 3 stars
Kiss or Kill by Liz Maverick:
In this post apocalyptic world, Camille Kazinsky's military career rides on her ability to make a choicewhether the robo called Meat should live or die. Meat's future depends on proving he's human enough to live, man enough... Should Camille Kiss or Kill this man/machine that makes her feel like a woman?
I really liked this story a lot and was surprised to read that the short story appearing here in Secrets 8 was her first published work. I have a couple of her books from the Crimson City series, including the first one aptly named Crimson City, waiting on Mt. TBR so now I'm more looking forward to reading that.
Unlike the Cesarini and Gaines stories in this anthology, this was a lot more erotic and thus was more to my liking. And for the romance portion, I didn't have to deal with a swooning female and a bunch of "mushy gushy". LOL The sex scenes weren't really long, but were explicit enough to get me hot! ;-)
Rating: 7 stars
Overall, I'm rating this book a 6 when I average out the 4 individual ratings (which actually come to 5.5). The stories from Davidson and Maverick definitely made this anthology worth reading. The other two I wouldn't recommend for anyone who's not a die-hard romance fan.
Helpful Score: 3
I bought this book only for the Davidson werewolf story..which was great, but was rewarded by the other stories. Especially Kiss or Kill...this was really good.
Helpful Score: 2
Not my favorite Secrets book, but the MaryJanice Davidson story is good.
Helpful Score: 2
Fast reads. 4 good stories.
Another set of great hot reads.
Taming Kate
While the premise for this story was kind of neat, it just didn't grab me because of it's whole cowboy and western theme as I'm not a big fan of either. I'm not bothered by the legalized prostitution in it, but I found it kind of pathetic that Kate was guilted and trapped (via a situation that would definitely break all kinds of sexual harassment laws) into managing a brothel she'd inherited. It was just too weird. And after weird, it just got stupid. Even though Kate may have been a Manhattan career woman, she sure doesn't seem to understand business law very well, because if she really wanted to get out of becoming a madam, it wouldn't have been as hard as this story made it appear to be. This was just one of many plot holes in the story that appeared early on, and I wasn't even able to finish it. I have no plans on looking for stories by this author in the future.
Jared's Wolf
This story was definitely one of MJD's better ones. It seems that her earlier published ones were always more enjoyable that her newer, burned-out ones. I also think I prefer MJD's werewolf tales because their more interesting overall. Sure, her lead characters all tend to have the same personality (it's a wonder how they all still manage to get along), but the story is fun, sexy and a great read.
I happened to think that this story was really good. It was well-written, had a believable plot, and the characters were done very well. (Nothing makes erotica worse than tacky writing skills!) This is definitely an author who I'd like to try to read more of because her characters really feel more dimensional than the average writer's.
Kiss or Kill
This story immediately started out both interesting and steamy. The sci-fi plot was great and made it stand out from the average romance/erotica tale. Some of the dialogue got a little corny at times, but it was really negligible. The only other thing I can remember reading, off hand, by this author was in the 2010 series and I thought it was really good as well.
While the premise for this story was kind of neat, it just didn't grab me because of it's whole cowboy and western theme as I'm not a big fan of either. I'm not bothered by the legalized prostitution in it, but I found it kind of pathetic that Kate was guilted and trapped (via a situation that would definitely break all kinds of sexual harassment laws) into managing a brothel she'd inherited. It was just too weird. And after weird, it just got stupid. Even though Kate may have been a Manhattan career woman, she sure doesn't seem to understand business law very well, because if she really wanted to get out of becoming a madam, it wouldn't have been as hard as this story made it appear to be. This was just one of many plot holes in the story that appeared early on, and I wasn't even able to finish it. I have no plans on looking for stories by this author in the future.
Jared's Wolf
This story was definitely one of MJD's better ones. It seems that her earlier published ones were always more enjoyable that her newer, burned-out ones. I also think I prefer MJD's werewolf tales because their more interesting overall. Sure, her lead characters all tend to have the same personality (it's a wonder how they all still manage to get along), but the story is fun, sexy and a great read.
I happened to think that this story was really good. It was well-written, had a believable plot, and the characters were done very well. (Nothing makes erotica worse than tacky writing skills!) This is definitely an author who I'd like to try to read more of because her characters really feel more dimensional than the average writer's.
Kiss or Kill
This story immediately started out both interesting and steamy. The sci-fi plot was great and made it stand out from the average romance/erotica tale. Some of the dialogue got a little corny at times, but it was really negligible. The only other thing I can remember reading, off hand, by this author was in the 2010 series and I thought it was really good as well.
I didn't love any of these short stories as much as Secrets Volume 6. I bought mainly for the Mary Janice Davidson story which was SO HOT in Volume 6 I'd hoped for more of same in this book. It was OK but not terribly memorable and the other stories were silly.
I guess it's probably worth a read but not a keeper.
I guess it's probably worth a read but not a keeper.
Only made it through Taming Kate and Jareds Wolf
good book. did not like alice gaines' story too boring, not enough imagination. the other stories were good. on to the next victim!
The best in women's sensual fiction...includes short story by New York Times bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson.
New condition, unread.
