05

At Any Price (Gaming the System)Title: At Any Price (Gaming the System)
Author: Brenna Aubrey
Publisher: Silver Griffon Associates (13 January 2014)
ISBN: 9781940951010
Reviewer: Jane

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I used to work in the videogame industry. I won’t go into detail, but suffice to say, when At Any Price (Gaming the System) came to my attention earlier in the week via a link in this post by Skye Warren, I was immediately intrigued. My mind began to whir. Was the heroine going to get ‘serviced’ next to the servers? Would the hero decide to ‘review her build’ during the daily Scrum meeting? In my experience, game dev. is a whole load of (stressful) fun, but calling it sexy would be … a stretch, to say the least. Unless you count listening to hundreds of emote .wav files to make sure they don’t sound unintentionally orgasmic, getting shot (repeatedly) with Nerf guns when you tell the dev. team they need to fix a bug the night before manufacturer submission, asking the rigger to make a character’s boobs smaller, and informing the lead artist that the creature he’s spent the last few days concepting needs to look ‘less penis-like’.

However, it turns out that the videogame backdrop for At Any Price (the first in a series of three books by author Brenna Aubrey) is more peripheral than integral, despite the references to patches, servers and avatars. It’s true that Adam, the hero, can code like a god (apparently, he’s the Zeus of C++) but it’s his addiction to his mobile and laptop, rather than his association with MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing) game development, that ultimately define him in Ms Aubrey’s story. Continue reading

21

Title: The Compound
Author: Claire Thompson
Publisher: Romance Unbound Publishing (30 Jan 2013)
ISBN: 978-1482302493
Reviewer(s): Michael & Jane

 

Bondage! BDSM! The Beatles! And, no, that last one’s not a typo. In this joint review of The CompoundMichael and I get a bit rock ‘n’ roll. (I know, I know, I know. Just go with it.)

*Proceed with caution: spoilers ahoy-hoy

 

JANE’S TAKE …

 

 

Completely confused by the presence of the Fab Four in this review? Don’t worry, all will become clear as mud, I promise. Continue reading

28

Rush - Maya BanksTitle: Rush
Author: Maya Banks
Publisher: Berkley Trade (05 February 2013)
ISBN: 978-0425267042
Reviewer(s): Michael and Jane

Prepare yourselves. Michael and I decided to read and review Rush in tandem. And let’s just say that we had, er, pretty strong reactions to it. Warning: it’s a general winter of discontent below the fold and we only just refrained from using SHOUTY CAPITALS in our respective reviews. Buckle up.

 

MICHAEL’S TAKE …

First off, let me say this. Maya Banks has been doing this for a while now. I don’t really think this is her version of Fifty Shades of Grey despite the fact that it did sort of feel that way. (Oh, and if you don’t want spoilers, don’t read this because this is a fully-fledged rant.) Having said that, she has accomplished something I wouldn’t have thought possible: created a male lead in Gabe Hamilton that makes Christian Grey and Gideon Cross (Bared to You) look like normal, well-adjusted, thoughtful young men. Continue reading

13

Spanktastic - Sadey QuinnTitle: Spanktastic
Author: Sadey Quinn
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (20 June 2012)
ISBN: 978-1475054675
Reviewer: Jane

You know how you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover? Well, I took one look at Spanktastic and totally (totally) did.

Oh, my, is it hot.

But do you know what’s even better? The inside. Because does Spanktastic ever live up to its super-seductive exterior. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it surpasses it – and a barebottomed red-head draped over a velvet chair is pretty hard to top, in my opinion!

This book is an absolute feast for spanking gluttons. Twenty-two luscious stories, in which different women have their bottoms turned a delightful shade of pink by the various inhabitants of fictional town, Rock Creek – a BDSM-friendly community whose residents are free to indulge their fetishes behind closed doors or in front of them. (I should point out here that whilst Spanktastic is a collection of shorts, they’re all linked together by this common setting and, thus, intertwine to create an anthology with a ‘novelesque’ feel. So even if you’re not generally keen on short-form erotica, Spanktastic may just appeal to you.) Continue reading

08

As a confirmed reading addict, it should come as no surprise that I belong to a number of book-loving community groups. One of them has a particularly good ‘free books’ thread, which lists – pretty much on a daily basis – erotica titles that are being given away online by their authors or publishers. (It’s a very effective way of feeding the need to read with a view to avoiding certain bankruptcy.)

One of the outstanding contributors to this noticeboard is Becca, who does an amazing job of letting all the group members know what’s just popped up and where we can find it. And the other day, she unearthed what can only be described as the most hilarious sounding erotica ever, Flight to Oblivion by one Captain Chris Felton. Per the blurb on Amazon (and, yes, all the following typos are actually in the product description):

 

‘Kester Wylie is invited to fly on an inaugural flight for a friends new airline. Seven hours into the 4 hour flight they find things are not wuite right. Kester has to break into the planes anti hijack cockpit and try to land the jet. He alters the auto pilot settings and lowers the plane, where he crash landed it on a desert island as they were almost out of fuel. There follows a struggle with the survivors, and he befriends two females and a Japanese team of cheer leaders. He takes them under his wing and eventually they are rescued he finds that the cheerleaders and their manager are all pregnant. He discovers the plane was brought down by a sophisticated missile system. Build in Shanghai by a Chinese his tech military contractor. He gets involved in an intreaguing plot to kill him. Along the way he encounters many beautiful females whom he seduces and they end up living with him, a tale of adventure and enigma and highly charged erotic situations.’

 

Holy cr*p! Executive Decision meets Bring it On meets Castaway meets Never Say Never AgainDanger! Disaster! Steven Seagal! (Okay, maybe I’m making that last one up, but it feels like he should be in this book!) It’s an erotic mash-up of epic proportions. One that I feel requires some supplementary visual diagrams.

Yep, you guessed it. The stick figures are back with a world first: Book Blurb by Pictures. (The Amazon product description team are going to be beating down my door …) Continue reading

07

Title: Confessions Collection Vol. 1 (London Brown)
Author: Leila DeSint
Publisher: New Dawning International Bookfair (11 November 2012)
ISBN: 9781301363438
Reviewer: Michael

Confessions Collection Vol. 1 was one of those books that took me a bit longer to read than usual because I had a hard time figuring out what was going on at first.

London Brown, Caden Jacob Carrington the Fifth, Rhys Christos Edward Stowell, and Desniah Williams. From an outsider perspective, these are four of the youngest and most powerful people in British society. But the insider perspective is very different.

When Desniah is discovered as little girl, she can only say one word: London. Eventually, she’s adopted, but at the age of nine, something happens that turns her world upside down yet again.

The main thing I didn’t understand was the relationship between Desniah and London. I didn’t think they actually had one. I thought London was just the name that Desniah used when she was working as a call girl. But that isn’t true at all. Desniah and London are two entirely separate people. London is aware of everything that happens to them both but Desniah is not. In many ways, London does look out for her ‘other’ personality – but not in all ways. Continue reading

24

Sam's Creed - Sarah McCartyI’ll rephrase that. Anal sex on horseback – is it possible while escaping men with guns, not falling off said steed and/or giving yourself a serious rectal injury?

Let me assure you, this is no idle thought. I’ve recently been reading Sarah McCarty’s erotic romance Sam’s Creed, and have spent waaaay too much time trying to get my head around the logistics of the sexquestrianism described in this book.

Yes, yes, I know it’s an erotic romance and therefore a work of fantasy, but when you actually have to stop mid-sentence and draw a diagram to help you work out what the hell the characters are doing to each other, then you know you’ve got issues. (Well, either I do or the book does – I can’t quite decide which.) Continue reading

21

Safeword: QuinacridoneTitle: Safeword: Quinacridone
Author: Candace Blevins
Publisher: Excessica (28 December 2012)
ISBN: 781609827007
Reviewer: Jane

I’m such a geek. First thing I did upon hearing about this book? Googled quinacridone. (It’s a red pigment that’s often used in paints, in case you’re wondering.)

Taking it at face value, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the title, Safeword: Quinacridone seems kind of random – light-hearted and playful in its obscurity, even – and that you’re in for the standard BDSM erotica romp.

Boy would you be wrong.

This is a tale of two people, Cara and Travis, bringing together their respective kinks – objectification and sadism – and, at the same time, creating a functional, romantic relationship. Continue reading

16

Board Resolution - Joey W. HillTitle: Board Resolution (Knights of the Boardroom
Author: Joey W. Hill
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave (20 January 2010)
ISBN: 9781419925771
Reviewer: Michael

What do you call a tale where a woman shows up for a business meeting only to be assaulted, manhandled, stripped naked, rendered immobile by being bound to a specially designed piece of furniture, blindfolded, gagged and forced to submit to her captor and, possibly, his stalwart management team?

Aw, you guessed it – it’s a love story.

Geoffrey Tennyson wasn’t one of those men who felt sorry for himself because he had a daughter and not a son. He just played the hand life dealt – and spent every moment from the day she was born until the day he died instilling in her his own version of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition. There simply wouldn’t be a situation that would come up in any business negotiation that Savannah wouldn’t be prepared for.

But then Matthew Kensington enters the equation. Continue reading

09

Special Forces: Soldiers (Director's Cut)Title: Special Forces: Soldiers (Director’s Cut)
Author: Aleksandr Voinov
Publisher: Aleksandr Voinov (online only)
URL: http://www.aleksandrvoinov.com/special-forces.html
Reviewer: Jane

I’m not even sure how to begin describing this book, except to say that it is brutal. You pick it up, you’re entering a warzone – both literally and figuratively.

It’s the 80s and the Cold War is still in full swing. The Russians are in Afghanistan. The Brits are there, too. Unofficially. An August night in Kabul and an SAS solider is raped by a member of the Red Army. This single violent and awful act sets in motion a story of revenge, friendship and love between two men that spans, in this particular instalment of Voinov’s Special Forces saga, nearly a decade.

Special Forces: Soldiers came to my attention through the BDSM Buddy Read feature on Goodreads. From the comments of those who had already started it, I knew it was going to be full-on but I have to admit I was totally unprepared for the level of intensity I encountered. Just a few pages in and I was at once shocked, appalled, and totally hooked, as evidenced by my Soldiers Buddy Read ‘in progress’ status update: Continue reading