[Ed. Note: This is fourth from the last of Annie’s reviews. *sad face* Enjoy it!]

Grade: B-

Payback Is A Bitch
by LA Banks

This story opens with a bang. Two sexy sluts are going at it with some dude, and my first reaction, “Woohoo! Finally, a threeway that doesn’t involve two dicks.” Then I read on to discover that this dude is, in fact, the villain of the story, and I hate shit written from the villain’s point of view. It almost always come across as so evil it’s just a caricature, and doesn’t enrich the story. This scene is no exception because they’re licking drugs off each other’s body parts, and while he’s fucking these fine ladies, Douglass is thinking about how he’s getting even with his frigid wife by being such a manwhore. That’s a helluva handicap to overcome. I woulda cut that scene so fast it’d make your head spin.

Nonetheless, I read on, hoping the story would improve. Lemme set up the plot a bit for you. Sidney Coleburn-West is married to a dickhead named Douglass. He’s doing his best to catch the clap all over town, but he’s refusing to give her a divorce because he wants her money. She’s fed up with his mess and hires an enforcer named Mitchell Brickland, Brick to his friends, probably named for the giant man-tool he keeps in his BVDs. Sid is willing to pay a cool 20K to him in exchange for him getting the dirty info on Douglass so she can wash that man right out of her hair.

All that’s well and good, and I’m kinda thinking I might like this story. Until Brick goes up a tree and watches Sidney masturbate because he’s “worried” and wants to check on her. Dude, that shit will get you arrested! If you’re worried about somebody, you go back and ring the door and say, “Are you okay?” You don’t climb a beech tree and sit there with a huge boner watching some chick you just met go at her pussy like it’s on fire.

I also couldn’t figure out why he returned her money because he played Peeping Tom while she gave herself some love. WTF? He tells her, “I’m involved now, I can’t take your money.” Involved HOW? You’re saying watch someone have a private wank constitutes an emotional bond. Huh, I never knew that.

Then, of course, there’s the fact that he’s a were, and when he finally does go ring her bell like a normal person, he’s all, ‘I can smell her musky juices.’ Maybe he can, but that’s so NOT hot. I took a mental detour to that stupid video posted where the woman walks into the copy room and says, “It smells like fresh vagina in here.” By the time I stop laughing over that, the story is done.

The Heat of the Night
by Donna Hill

This story rocks. Christine is a lesbian with a huge crush on her best friend, who is clueless. But Chris starts dreaming about a monster dick that shakes her bed, morning, noon, and night. Suddenly, nothing else seems to matter. I’m not even gonna write anymore because this shit is straight wicked. The ending will just make you step back and go, “Daaaaaaaamn,” because I really didn’t think the author would go there. I never even entertained the possibility. The pacing is good in this, the narrator is engaging, and I enjoyed the writing.

Vamped
by Monica Jackson

In this story, Joy has found the ideal man in Andre. Only thing is, he doesn’t want to leave the house apart from going to work. She decides she’s had enough of this and drags him out for a night on the town with her. They go to a club called The Black Hole, where things get scary.

Turns out Andre has some secrets, and then Joy has one HUGE one of her own. I don’t want to give away too much here because the secrets equal spoilers. This story seems a little rushed, like maybe she could’ve done more with it in about fifty extra pages. But it’s still very readable with graphic sex, including one lesbian scene, which is nice for those of us who are tired of the proliferation of penises in erotic fiction.

Balancing the Scales
by JM Jeffries

This is my least favorite story of the bunch. As a heroine, Paloma is dumb as a brick. Her husband, Keith, is cheating on her, and her accountant has been stealing from her for years. She comes home to find her husband shagging some strumpet and instead of hitting him with a lamp, she watches the action for a while.

There’s no real romance to be found here, and the story lacks the macabrely wicked twist that Donna Hill offered in lieu of romance. The sex in this story is ugly and raw, not something I enjoyed reading at all. It may have helped if I liked Paloma or cared about her problems, but I really didn’t.

Avenging Angel
by Janice Sims

I enjoyed this one a lot, second favorite after Donna Hill’s story. Sarai is a detective who hunts down criminals for a living, but what her husband Daniel doesn’t know is: she’s actually an angel. Ms. Sims does a top-notch job with her world-building here, and the story books along at a fast clip. My main complaint with this one is that it was over too soon. I would happily read a single-title novel about Sarai, or other angels in this world. I like what she did with the Nephilim mythos as well.

I’m not gonna grade each story individually, but overall, I give this antho a B-. Two stories I liked a lot, two I disliked a lot, and one was middle of the road. However, even the stories I didn’t like made me laugh in a couple places (not sure if I was supposed to) so I can’t say they were a total wash. The best thing about this Creepin’ is that it’s not afraid to get down and dirty, doesn’t hesitate to break some rules, or hell, throw them out the window. I just hope Brick doesn’t get hit if he’s parked in the tree outside.

Please buy this book here.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 3rd, 2007 at 1:39 pm and is filed under Books, Grade: B, Romance: Paranormal, Romance: Anthology, Reviews by Annie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.