Tag: romance

Wrong Side of Hell

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews

Wrong Side of Hell by Juliana Stone is a teaser novella for her new League of Guardians series. If you are one of the readers who is duly teased by this link between Stone’s Jaguar Warrior series and this one, don’t worry, you won’t have a long wait. The first League book, Wicked Road to Hell, will be released on April 24.

I was definitely teased. This was a terrific introduction to a new series!

Logan Winters is one of the baddest of all “bad boys”. He’s a hellhound. His job on Earth is to pick up souls marked for damnation, and escort them to their proper place in Hell. If Logan is sent to get you, you’ve earned yourself a spot in District 3. This means you were a very, very wicked person during your life.

Nothing about contract signing or selling yourself to the Devil. That’s not Logan’s end of the business. He handles pickup and delivery. If there is someone handling “sales”, we don’t see that part of the process. And this doesn’t seem like that kind of worldbuilding.

The person we do see is Askelon, except he’d rather be called “Bill”. He cloaks himself in glamour to appear as a short, round middle-aged man, but “Bill” is really one of the most powerful beings in any of the dimensions. And “Bill” bats for the opposite team from Logan’s. I don’t mean sexually, I mean metaphysically.

Logan is a hellhound. Askelon is a being of the heavenly dimension. And one pretty high in the hierarchy at that. Seraphim generally are.

Askelon blackmails Logan into doing him a very, very big favor. Which doesn’t sound all that angelic. He demands that Logan go into purgatory and rescue the soul of a young woman that Logan already returned once from death.

The first time Logan rescued Kira Dove, he spent millenia in The Pit for his crime. (Time passes differently in the infernal dimensions). And he did it because Askelon blackmailed him then, too. Also because the Seraphim convinced him it was the right thing to do.

The same thing is happening again. Neither heaven nor hell should be interfering in one human’s life this much. The Seraphim is convinced that too many fates depend on this one young woman’s survival, and not just human fates either.

Logan tries to convince himself that none of that matters to him. He owes the Seraphim, so he’ll take care of what he has to. But he still remembers that girl, after all those centuries in The Pit.

The difference is, Kira Dove is a woman now. When Logan Winters saved her the first time, she believed in him. She continued to believe in him, and everything she saw when she died that first time and Logan brought her back.

Even though everyone said she was crazy. And committed her for it. Experimented on her. Abused her. She still believed in what she saw, who she saw.

Kira Dove was dead again, but all she knew for certain was that everything she remembered was true. And Logan came to rescue her. Again. But this time, she could fight beside him.

But would he let her?

Escape Rating B+: As an introduction to a new series, this story really whetted my appetite for the first full-length novel. This particular story, although it seems like it resolved to an HEA, also feels like it sets up the series as a whole. I think there are a lot of trials and tribulations ahead for Kira and Logan, even as the focus of the series moves to other members of the League.

Kira reminds me a little of Sarah Connor from Terminator 2, at the beginning when Sarah is in the State Hospital. She has that vibe of “I know I’m not crazy and I have to keep myself strong for the day I’ll need to fight my way out”, but with a hint of vulnerability that Sarah didn’t have or need.

This is intended as a bridge story between Stone’s Jaguar Shifters series and this new series, as Logan appeared as a side-character in the earlier series. But if there are details that I missed, they didn’t hamper my overall enjoyment of the story.

 

Donovan’s Bed

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> book reviews

Donovan’s Bed by Debra Mullins turned out to be the best kind of surprise. All I expected was to get my curiosity sated about Samhain’s Retro Romances. What I discovered was a guilty pleasure of a book.

Sarah Calhoun made one mistake, and the small-minded small-town gossips are never going to let her forget. Admittedly, it was a pretty big mistake. And the entire town knows that Sarah isn’t going to go to her marriage bed (if any man is ever willing to overlook her past, that is) a blushing virgin.

So Sarah has spent the last two years living down her terrible sin, and throwing herself into running her father’s newspaper. The newspaper is all she has left of him. Being a good businesswoman, instead of just a woman, barely keeps the busybodies out of her life.

But of course there is a man. His name is Jack Donovan. She’s been pursuing him as part of her work. He’s new in town, and he’s bought the biggest ranch for miles around. But…no one knows who he is or where he came from. Donovan just showed up in Burr one day with a fistful of cash and bought himself a lot of respectability. Sarah knows he must have a dark secret buried someplace deep.

Jack Donovan does have a secret, and he doesn’t want Sarah to find it. So whenever she tries to interview him, he tries to get her temper riled up. Not true anger, just to deflect her a little. And because the sexual tension between them makes the sparks fly.

But when Donovan has an ornate four-poster bed shipped to Burr from “Back East”, all the mock-flirtation comes to a boil. Sarah wants to know why a single rancher, however wealthy, lavished so much money on such an ostentatious piece of furniture.

Donovan tell her that he’s decided to settle down and find a wife. Then has the gall to tell Sarah that she isn’t on the list. Even worse, he tells that she’d be just fine for a passionate affair, but that she’s not a woman to marry.

Not having lost his entire mind, he doesn’t tell her that the reason he won’t consider marrying her is that he wants a full-time rancher’s wife, and he knows she won’t give up her newspaper. And that it is unfair of him to expect it of her. And there’s that other little problem–he won’t tell her his secrets, and she won’t rest until she finds out.

But Sarah is incensed. Telling a newspaperwoman that she isn’t good enough to marry you is not the way for a man to lead a quiet and respectable life in a small town. Sarah prints Donovan’s wife hunt as front page news the very next day, complete with his stated list of qualifications.

The poor man finds himself besieged, even in his own home!

But the more women who throw themselves at him, the more he realizes that Sarah, the one he believed was totally unsuitable, is the only woman he could possibly spend the rest of his life with.

But first they have to deal with a few pesky little problems. Like his past. And her past. And whether or not they are both willing to make serious compromises in their expectations.

Sarah was right all along. Jack Donovan  really did have a deep, dark secret buried in his past. Jack wanted it to stay buried forever. Until his worst self turns out to be the only one who can save Sarah’s life.

Escape Rating B+: If you have a fondness for Western romances in small frontier towns, this is a good one. I’d forgotten how much fun these stories are. It probably helps a lot that this particular “Retro Romance” isn’t all that retro–Donovan’s Bed was originally published in 2000.

I’m even considering reading the rest of the Calhoun Sisters series, just for fun.

Do not judge this book by its cover. Donovan is probably even more alpha than the picture, but Sarah is making her way as a businesswoman in a man’s world, she’s no sweet, submissive little miss. The original paperback cover may be more lurid, but more accurate.

 

What’s on my (mostly virtual) nightstand? 3-4-12

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Virtual Nightstand

I heard something on NPR today about a computer algorithm that can reasonably identify anonymous authors by their choices of words and phrases. Then I thought about how many times I used the phrase “on the one hand…”

On the one hand, March 7-11 is the Book Bloggers and Publishers Online Conference. I have to wonder how many book bloggers are going to be too wrapped up in the conference to post! I’ve heard it’s absolutely awesome and I’m really looking forward to it.

On the other hand, I signed up for NaBloPoMo again over at BlogHer. So I’ve committed to posting something every day again in March. The prompt this month is “Whether”. For the days of the BBPOC, that would be whether or not I spend my whole day glued to the conference I still have to post something. I’m planning to queue up some reviews.

Speaking of queuing up reviews, I’m going to say this now because I absolutely cannot believe it. I read everything from last week’s Nightstand. Well, not quite everything. I’m in the middle of Nicci French’s Blue Monday right now. But this is the closest I’ve ever come to finishing all the books on the stand, ever.

Of course, that doesn’t account for all the previous nightstands, but we have to take our little victories where we can find them. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Let’s talk about next week’s pristine, new nightstand. So empty, so bright and shiny and waiting to be filled.

There is a treat on it. One of my most fun author discoveries was Cindy Spencer Pape. I absolutely adored both her steampunk series Steam and Sorcery and her urban fantasy Urban Arcana series. I’ve been waiting for the next book in her Urban Arcana series and Motor City Mage is finally here. If it is anything like her previous books, this is going to be a “read in one gulp” book. Yummy.

I picked Gentlemen Prefer Nerds by Joan Kilby by the title. I’m a geek girl, and this story of a jewel thief chasing the nerd girl tickled me for it’s concept. The recent trend in romances has been for the nerd to be the guy. But when the description mentioned espionage, I got a whiff of Scarecrow and Mrs. King. I loved that show. I’m a sucker for stories that use that trope.

Katee Robert’s science fiction romance Queen of Swords has been perplexing me just a bit. Goodreads lists it as book 2 of her new Sanctify series, with The High Priestess, the prequel novella as book 1. The only problem for this compulsive completist is that The High Priestess doesn’t seem to be available anywhere. ARGH!

As a complete change of pace, I have The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose. It’s subtitled a novel of suspense, but it sounds like a historic thriller to me. Or, at least I hope so. The read-alike listed in Amazon, at least for me, is C.S. Harris’ When Maidens Mourn, due out March 6. I love the C.S. Harris St. Cyr series and have the book pre-ordered. If Lost Fragances is anything like St. Cyr, I’ll be enthralled. The proof will be in the reading.

My last and final book this week is The House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine Howe. This is another historical, but this author isn’t new to me. Katherine Howe also wrote The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, a debut novel about the Salem Witches that was absolutely compelling. Her new novel looks equally compelling, but concerns a young woman who loses herself after her closest family dies in the Titanic disaster. I received a print galley for review through Book Browse First Impressions in return for an honest review.

My poor Nightstand is full again. C’est la vie. And there are supposed to be lovely ebook giveaways from the BBPOC, too. So many books, so little time.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for Ebook Review Central. It’s time for the four-in-one ERC with Amber Quill, Astraea Press, Liquid Silver Books and Riptide Publishing. Tune in to see who the featured titles are!

 

Under Her Brass Corset

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | book reviews> C Reviews

Under Her Brass Corset by Brenda Williamson looked like steampunk when I picked it up from NetGalley. I mean, really, “brass corset”? What would you think?

Instead, think of it as the counterweight to Leslie Dicken’s The Iron Heart, which is steampunk but doesn’t explicitly say it’s steampunk. Under Her Brass Corset has a title that practically screams steampunk, but is more of a historic romance with fantasy and steampunk elements. Any time immortality and Avalon get mentioned, I call fantasy.

The hero has installed steam power on his ship, it does fly, and this is Victorian England, but he hides the steam power from anyone who is not in on his big secret, his immortality. (I’m not calling this a spoiler because it’s revealed to the reader very, very early in the story)

Abigail Thatch begins the story pretty much at the end of her rope. Her father was murdered only two months previously foiling a break-in of their home, and since then, her finances have been going steadily downhill. Her museum job isn’t enough to pay the bills, and the bank is threatening foreclosure.

In walks Jasper Blackthorne. Abigail doesn’t remember Captain Blackthorne, but he remembers her all too well. In between sea voyages, Blackthorne has watched over her all her life, just as he guarded her parents before her. Blackthorne is immortal, having drunk from the waters of Avalon over 400 years previously. He feels responsible for Abigail’s family, because he gave her grandfather a sip from the waters himself. Unfortunately not a big enough sip…her grandfather is immortal but rather absent-minded. He forgets all the children he has created over his very long life.

History records Abigail’s grandfather as Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard the notorious pirate.

Jasper hid something in Abigail’s house before his last voyage: a clockworks compass that points to sources of the healing waters of Avalon, the waters that are sometimes called the “fountain of youth”. Jasper needs to get the compass back. He fears that Abigail’s father was murdered in an attempt to find it. Murdered by Abigail’s cousin, Eric Teach.

But Jasper has another reason for coming to see Abigail. He’s been watching over her from a distance all these years, and he’s seen her grow from child to girl to woman. As a child she was a delightful little sprite, but as a woman, she’s captured his heart and soul. And it tears him apart. Jasper loved a mortal woman once, 150 years before. She refused the gift of immortality, and he has never loved again.

But Abigail challenges him, body and spirit. She wants him, and the adventure he represents. She also knows that there is a treasure to be found with that clockworks compass; she simply doesn’t believe in his tales of immortality. Abigail needs a rich prize to rescue her home from the bank.

Abigail finds herself falling for Jasper, even though she thinks that everything he says might be a con. She doesn’t remember him from her childhood, but she instinctively trusts him, though her mind says she shouldn’t.

The journey they embark upon is filled with wonders. But also with great perils and dangerous sea monsters. But none more dangerous than Abigail’s long-lost family.

Escape Rating C+: I was expecting much more steampunk than this turned out to be. I like fantasy romance, but I wasn’t expecting one. There are definitely steampunk elements, but they arise because Jasper’s been inventing stuff for himself to keep people away. I tend to think of steampunk being more pervasive to the society-at-large.

The romance itself worked pretty well. I liked Jasper and Abigail, and could understand why they fell for each other. I also definitely got why she didn’t believe his story. From a rational standpoint, it was pretty far-fetched. On the other hand, since she didn’t believe him, she should have needed a LOT more convincing in order to go with him on that trans-Atlantic voyage.

For my willing suspension of disbelief, or the throwing out the window of it, there were one or more too many borrowed elements from other stories. Morgan le Fay and the Lady of the Lake and Avalon and Blackbeard the Pirate and Ponce de León! For this reader, it was a little over the top. Your mileage may vary.

 

A Rogue by Any Other Name

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews

A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean is the first book in MacLean’s new pre-Victorian romance series, The First Rule of Scoundrels. It is also a delicious tale about a former tomboy who tells a bald-faced lie that her sudden marriage is a love match between herself and her former childhood sweetheart. There’s a problem with telling whopping lies like that one–fate is so tempted to make them real.

But the story is in why Lady Penelope Marbury and Michael, Marquess of Bourne are in the position to be telling such a whopper in the first place.

You see, there was a bit of a scandal. Actually, there were two. Make that three.

When Michael turned 21, when he reached his age of majority, he lost his entire estate over a hand of cards. Over just one hand. He was maneuvered into it. And the other man cheated. But Michael played, and he bet. And he bet everything that wasn’t tied up in the entail. And he lost it all.

To the man who had been his guardian after his parents’ death, Lord Langford. The man who had taken Falconhurst, an estate that was barely scraping by, and had built it up into something worth having…and who was unwilling to turn it over to a mere boy, even if that boy was the rightful heir. So Langford manipulated, maneuvered, cheated, and won. and gloated over his triumph.

Michael was disgraced. He never placed another bet. But he never lost the taste for it. Gamblers never do. Instead he ran games where other men lost their money, and their livelihoods. And eventually their inheritances. Ten years after Langford broke him, Michael, Marquess of Bourne was one of the four owners of The Fallen Angel, the most exclusive gaming hell in London.

Lady Penelope Marbury was the oldest daughter of the Marquess of Needham and Dolby. Growing up, Michael had been her best friend, along with Tommy Alles, the son of Lord Langford. At least, they’d all been friends until Michael’s scandal. Penelope had written letters to Michael for years, never receiving any in return.

But Penelope had suffered her own scandal. During her first season, she had become engaged. To a Duke, no less. It had all been perfect. Not perfect love, but perfectly arranged. The Duke of Leighton had been slightly boring, but her marriage to him would have made life so much easier for all of her younger sisters.

Instead, the engagement was broken and a week later the Duke married someone else. Infamously, it was an obvious love-match. and Penelope became a laughingtock for not being able to hold on to him. Six years later the ton was still tittering about it. Penelope was secretly relieved. Penelope wanted more than a dull, society marriage to a man she didn’t know or care for.

But her scandal affected all of her sisters’ prospects. Her father won Falconhurst from Langford, fittingly enough in a card game, and attached Bourne’s estate to Penelope’s dowry.

Penelope’s father was nobody’s fool. He knew what Michael thought he wanted–revenge against Langford. The older man wanted his daughter married and settled, and figured that Michael was what she wanted, no matter how he had to maneuver to get it.

Penelope wanted her sisters’ happiness, and was willing to bargain with her own to get it. Everyone in this story is gambling, but the stakes are much higher than your average card game.

Michael has been living for his revenge for ten years, and thanks to Penelope’s father, it is now within his grasp. But revenge, as the saying goes, is a dish best served cold. With Penelope back in his life, the only thing he can think of is the heat they generate together.

Which will win?

Escape Rating A-: I kept reading to see what would happen next! This was a story with a lot of twists and turns, and it also sets up the rest of the series quite nicely.

The glimpse into the past through Penelope’s letters to Michael is terrific! We don’t just see them growing up, we see Penelope changing over the years after Michael left, her transformation from tomboy to the “proper” woman at the beginning of the book. She used to be adventurous, and that’s all still inside her, but it’s been locked away because she has no outlet, and then Michael comes back and it all comes flowing, and sometimes raging, out of her again.

Michael is almost an enigma. He is beset by demons. His revenge has nearly consumed him, but not quite. He doesn’t gamble for money, but he so obviously gambles in so many other ways. He needs the adrenaline.

Penelope’s father is quite the schemer. He sets the whole thing up. Excellently well played!

Reviewers note: I received this egalley from Edelweiss in return for an honest review.

 

Ebook Review Central, Samhain Publishing, January 2012

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Ebook Review Central> ebooks

It’s time to warm up a cold winter’s night by taking a look at the titles released by Samhain Publishing during the month of January 2012.

And the reason I said warm up is because all of the featured titles for this month’s issue carry Samhain’s “Red Hots!!!” label. The stories favored by the reviewers for this month were all steamy enough to heat up the coldest winter night.

The other thing that this month’s hits all have in common is that they were all series entries.

The first featured entry this week, is Devon’s Pair, by Jayne Rylon. This is the fourth book in her Powertools series, and the “warning” in the description calls it the first “m/f/m/f/m/f/m/m/f” they think. Call this a ménage with a fairly big crew. Which is part of the point of the story. The Powertools series is about a crew of home renovators that seem to share everything, their tools, their company, and their spouses. By the time this fourth book in the series comes around, every relationship between ever possible combination of partners, triples, etc. is up for exploration in hot and loving detail. And based on the reviews, readers keep eating each new addition to the mix.

Hidden Fire by Jess Dee is part of the Red Hot Weekend series. It is also the sequel to Winter Fire, a novella in the same series from January 2011. In Winter Fire, Rachel Ashberg and Garreth Halt spend one night together, as he indulges her fantasy of being with a man she can never have.  Two years later, it is Garreth’s story, and he is trapped for the weekend with Janna Brooks, the woman he loves but who has always been out of reach. Reviewers must have begged for Garreth’s story, and been thrilled when they finally got it!

Vivian Arend’s Rocky Mountain Heat was a November featured title, and she has continued to heat up the mountains with her Six Pack Ranch Series. Book two at the Six Pack Ranch, Rocky Mountain Haven, captured the reviewers hearts this month. Haven not only contains Arend’s signature wit and heated love scenes, but also captures a complicated second-chance-at-love story between an intelligent and interesting characters. The reviews make this sound like a strong entry in what is shaping up to be a very interesting romantic and erotic series.

Next week will be the January 4-in-1 post, so we’ll look at Amber Quill Press, Astraea Publishing, Liquid Silver Books and Riptide Publishing.

What’s on my (mostly virtual) nightstand? 2-26-12

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Virtual Nightstand

In the cool beans category, I found a neat new organizational tool, Better Google Tasks, from Bit51. I’ve been tracking the books I’m supposed to read, along with all my other stuff, in Google Tasks. Google Tasks works, but feature-rich, it ain’t. Better Google Tasks has one feature I’ve been dying for. It let’s me move stuff down the list (to a later date) without having to open every entry. For when my calendar, ahem, slips.

Moving right along…

Is anyone else having a difficult time grasping the concept that March begins next week. On the one hand, this is a Leap Year, so there are 29 days in February. And on the other hand, another month bites the dust. March 1 is Thursday. Time keeps on slipping into the future.

March 1st brings new books to be reviewed.

The first book is, fittingly enough, the first in a new series by Nicci French. The title is Blue Monday, and this is a murder mystery thriller. I requested it from NetGalley because I wanted to get some more mysteries, and when I didn’t get it, I also requested it from Edelweiss. Of course, I eventually received permission from both places!

There was a title from the Carina Press catalog that grabbed my attention for early next week. I’ve been on a steampunk kick, and Heart of Perdition by Selah March definitely falls into that category. A love story about a cursed woman and a man doomed to die with the end of the century sounds like not only steampunk, but also a “three-hankie special” unless the author pulls a happy ending out of her hat along with her hatpin.

My paranormal tastebuds will be indulged by a foray into Juliana Stone’s new series, The League of Guardians. The teaser novella, Wrong Side of Hell, is on my list for March 5 from NetGalley. And yes, the novel it is a teaser for, Wicked Road to Hell, was also available from NetGalley, and it’s on my list for a little later (if I can resist temptation after I read the prequel).

Last up, my curiosity is being sated. I have a copy of one of Samhain’s new/old Retro Romances to review for Library Journal. Donovan’s Bed by Debra Mullins is part of their Retro Historical line, and I fully admit I’ve been terribly curious to see how these Retro titles hold up. I’ve read a few reviews at Get Yer Bodices Ripped Here, and their reviews are side-splittingly funny. The older the book, the more hilarious the review. I know the intent of the Retro line is to re-publish romances from an era when the sex was toned down a bit. The problem is that attitudes about a lot of other things have changed since then. This is going to be really interesting, but maybe for the book, and maybe not.

Looking back at last week’s list, I didn’t do so bad. Well, for certain select definitions of bad.  50/50. Reviews for Synthetic Dreams and A Rogue by Any Other Name are both queued up and ready to run this week. I’m about 2/3rds of the way through Arctic Dreams, so I’m well past the point of no return. I really need to find out how it’s going to end.

I sent my editor my first review for the print Library Journal. But because of the very long lead time, my review of Dark Magic by James Swain won’t appear here for months. I will say that I really, really liked the book. A lot. As in I finished it all in one sitting. If you like dark fantasy, it’s well worth putting in your TBR list.

I also finished Humanotica: Silver for Book Lovers Inc. I’m struggling with writing it up. I swallowed the book whole, it was a fascinating world. But some things in the characters and the world bothered me, and it’s making the writing difficult. This is a case where the BLI format of “My Thoughts” may work better than the usual review.

And oh yes did I ever read Celebrity in Death. Not quite New York to Dallas, but yes, yes, yes. This may tell you how much I liked Dark Magic. I was in the middle of Dark Magic at midnight when Celebrity in Death came out, and I couldn’t put the book down to get Celebrity in Death. I had to finish Dark Magic first.

I’ve probably teased you enough about a book that won’t be out until May.

Remember, Ebook Review Central tomorrow with Samhain!

 

Merrick’s Destiny

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews

Merrick’s Destiny (exclusively available at All Romance Ebooks) by Moira Rogers is book 1.5 in her Bloodhounds series. It’s a very short and extremely steamy story that takes place between Wilder’s Mate and Hunter’s Prey. It stands alone well enough to serve as an introduction to this series, but it works even better if you’ve already read Wilder’s Mate!

Merrick Wood returns to consciousness in either the best of all possible worlds, or the worst. There’s a pretty woman straddling him, and he knows she’s his mate. On the other hand, there’s a crashed airship on fire about a hundred yards away.

That blazing inferno will act like a beacon to vampires for miles around. And there are plenty of vamps, since the ship crashed in the middle of the Deadlands. Merrick just has to get himself and his mate to safety before the new moon compulsion drives him out of his mind for three days.

Of course, if the lady is willing, it could be a very enjoyable three days–if the vampires don’t find them first.

Paralee Colton is an airship pilot. She’s always loved her freedom more than anything else in the world. Merrick just might make her rethink a few things if he can convince her that he wants her for herself, and not just a convenient female to spend his moon madness with.

Merrick needs to remember how or when or why she became his mate. Then he needs to convince her that she’s his destiny.

Escape Rating A-: This is a very fun, hot, short read. That being said, for a short story, it really does wrap up all the loose ends. One of the things that usually drives me crazy about short stories is that either the loose ends aren’t all tied up, or that I don’t find out enough backstory to understand how things got the way they are. Rogers ties everything up very well, and because this is book 1.5 in the series, it builds on some material established in Wilder’s Mate.

I picked Merrick’s Destiny initially because the cover absolutely floored me. The model, whoever it is, is dead-ringer for Jonathan Frakes from his days as Commander Riker in Star Trek Next Gen. The picture at the right is from the movie Generations, and the Enterprise-D is about to crash into a planet. But the resemblance to Merrick is startling to say the least.

Wilder’s Mate

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> book reviews

Wilder’s Mate by Moira Rogers turned out to be the perfect story for reading on a chilly winter’s night. Not only is this first entry in Rogers’ Bloodhound series a terrific blend of romance, steampunk, and steamy sex, but the hero is even described as having a higher than normal body temperature!

But the story of Wilder’s Mate starts with the “mate” in question. Her name is Satira, and she’s the apprentice to a Guild inventor named Nathaniel. The only problem is that Nathaniel’s just been kidnapped. Satira wants to assist whichever Bloodhound the Guild sends to recover him. One tiny detail: she’s trapped in the elevator.

Nathaniel’s inventions, including the steam-powered elevator that was currently vexing Satira, were the reason he was kidnapped by the vampires inexorably taking control of the very wild West in this steampunk version of the post-Civil War United States.

The vampires represent the lawless, and the Guild represents the law. In order to combat the powerful vamps the Guild has created a weapon of their own, creatures known as Bloodhounds. The Hounds used to be mere men, but alchemy has transformed them into powerful beings that can hunt and kill vampires with terrible speed, as well as claws and fangs. Bloodhounds are werewolves, the traditional enemy of the vampire.

These Hounds have a weakness. Not the traditional one. They don’t change into wolves at the full moon. They change into wolves at will. But at the new moon, they must have sex. A lot of it. For three days and nights. The Guild pays a network of brothels to be available for the Bloodhounds, and they pay well for the service.

The Bloodhounds also have a secret. Like wolves, they mate for life. If a Hound finds his mate, he has to protect her at all costs. If she dies, he follows within months. The alchemy that created the Hounds was not intended to pull this particular rabbit out of its hat, but there is no denying the fact that it has. The Guild doesn’t want the Hounds to find their mates, but when it happens, there’s nothing they can do.

Satira knows a lot about Hounds. Her mother lived with an old Bloodhound named Levi for about a dozen years. Levi helped to raise Satira, and Levi found her the place with Nathaniel before he died. Satira never knew that her mother was Levi’s mate. Her mother probably didn’t know either. But when her mother died, so did Levi.

Satira also enjoys the heat, the adventure, the roughness of sex with a Hound. She just doesn’t understand why none of the Hounds who have ever shared her bed have never come back. She thinks there’s something wrong with her.

But the Hound who pulls her out of that busted elevator knows exactly why none of those other Hounds have ever stayed, because it’s taking every ounce of restraint he has not to take her the moment he sees her. And Wilder Harding isn’t ready to do that until Satira understands exactly what’s at stake for both of them.

Because Satira is his mate.

Escape Rating A-: Wilder’s Mate is one of those stories where you just buckle up and hang on for the ride. This was an absolute blast from beginning to end. The story is very, very steamy, but there is a story and there is a romance and a happily-ever-after.

The story elements reminded me of several bits I’ve read before, but since those were all things I’ve liked, I didn’t mind. Satira’s situation is similar to Jaines Cord in Shona Husk’s Dark Vow, the woman apprentice to a steampunk-type gunsmith because women aren’t allowed to be master gunsmiths. The Bloodhounds mating-for-life compulsion being an unexpected side-effect of their change has some eerie similarities to the Breeds in Lora Leigh’s series. But it definitely works in both series!

For a short book, Wilder’s Mate wrapped all its loose ends very nicely. Great story and fantastic beginning to a series. I’m definitely looking forward to more!