Reviews of some erotica

Since we're talking about erotica here, I'm going to do a quick and dirty lowdown. The ratings below mainly reflect degree of eroticism. Much erotica delves into a paranormal realm just like the following four.

Secret Thirst, by Evangeline Anderson (*****)

This one is extremely hot and more often than not, it's the words the characters say that make it so erotic, not necessarily the action. I hear Anderson primarily scripts stories of surrender in some fashion. This one is hot without avid descriptions of perfect (and huge) male anatomy, which is rare. Our heroine Lauren's immunity to vampire "mind tricks" and other vampire powers places her in grave danger. The tortured vampire Kris abducts Lauren for her protection and she must play his concubine at a pleasure house. I thought a love resonated from the intensity of the sex scenes and the way Kris loves and cherishes Lauren. The writing never meanders too far away from its erotic intent -- it's hot for gals and guys alike.

Oath of Seduction Seducing Sharon, by Marly Chance (*)

I started reading this one after SECRET THIRST, and it just didn't hold a candle to Anderson's SECRET THIRST. Too many things to dislike, especially from a guy's perspective. One, Earth guys have long since failed to satiate their women, and the women must turn to another planet where there's plenty of men but a shortage of women. When a woman turns to this other planet for pleasure (or a "mating" as the alien man would describe it to make it appear like love), she has one of three choices: seduction, challenge and a third oath which I'm forgetting. Sharon chooses seduction and her hunky 8-inch cock-man is Liken. Our heroine, in the throws of passion, pauses to accurately note the exact length of the cartoon pimp's engorged cock. Liken, Sharon and a future hero (Tair) share a sexual experience in the same room to conclude the story. Nothing like two cocks to double your pleasure! This one too attempts to mix in shades of a "love" between Sharon and Liken, but the entire read seemed too much like the pimp servicing the sexual appetites of our librarian heroine Sharon. The carnal scenes were pretty boring actually. This story is strictly for women, if for anyone at all. Other than the language and the ending featuring a semi- menage a trois, I found the story's love scenes fairly tame.

Slave to Sensation, by Nalini Singh (*)

This one has more to do with shape-shifting. I found Singh's attempt to build her world of telekinetic beings, shape shifters and regular humans a very anemic affair. I thought the story loses focus and aimlessly spurts in sundry directions. The characters are unique though. We have our honey-skinned heroine Sascha Duncan, a powerful Psy trained to feel no emotion. Our shapeshifter hero Lucas is on the other end of the emotional spectrum. He's the "alpha" leader of his pack of panther shapeshifters (they call pack leaders alphas). The plotting wants to go beyond the common, get-it-on erotica but I thought it failed miserably. For an erotica, the book abstains from explicit language (the only story that can make this claim from this lot). Sascha and Lucas must work together on a architectural building project which represents a cooperative effort between the DarkRiver (panther) Changelings and Psy. Meanwhile, many Changeling packs hold the Psy responsible for the disappearance and consequent murder of many Changeling females. There really aren't that many scenes of passion in this. Again, a weak effort overall.

Kiss of the Night, by Sylvia Day (***)

Like SECRET THIRST, the carnal scenes and explicit language pervade the reading experience. It's basically a bodyguard story with avid descriptions of both the monster-cock guy and hot, blond woman. Like Sylvia Day's ASK FOR IT (**), the carnal scenes are definitely hot here, but the chemistry and connection didn't live up to ASK FOR IT, much less Anderson's SECRET THIRST.