[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.

(more…)

Grade: A-

Here’s an anthology that totally made me squee like I was a teenage girl creaming myself all over the new Ben Jelen CD or something (Ben Jelen, btw? SUPER-HOT). Meg Cabot, Michele Jaffe, Kim Harrison, and Stephanie Meyer IN ONE BOOK? OMG!!!!!!! And all of these stories were sooooooo good! I even liked the one by the girl whose name I’ve never heard of (her last name is Myracle? *scoff*). My favorite? Stephanie Meyer’s, of course! She’s got a delicious good boy hero (very, very, very good) and a very, very bad girl heroine (very, very, very bad). And it worked! The rest of the stories… well, I can’t pick the second best, either! But if I had to definitely pick the one I liked the least… I’d have to say… Meg Cabot’s. While the story itself was good, I’m so not a fan of dueling first-person narratives and I had to get past that to be able to enjoy it. On the other hand, Myracle’s is creepy, yet oddly poignant; Jaffe’s is hilarious and clever; and Kim Harrison’s is suspenseful, scary, and sexy. And the theme that pulls them all together? THE PROM, of course! If you’re a fan of 80’s American teen flicks, you know how important the prom is! Everything gets resolved at the prom! Damn, I can’t quite remember my own, but if it’s anything like these prom stories, maybe I shouldn’t remember. Heh.

Meg Cabot’s The Exterminator’s Daughter is about a teenage vampire slayer named Mary stalking the mysterious, ridiculously handsome new boy hanging around her best friend Lila with a crossbow in her hand. There is a reason for this. Sebastian Drake, according to Mary, is a vampire. And Mary should know. She comes from a long line of vampire slayers and was trained by her mother who was recently incapacitated and is currently not in the game. Because of this, it is now up to Mary to stop this vampire on her own. Too bad Lila is not at all worried about her new boyfriend being a vampire and wants to become a vampire herself. Enter Adam, the cute best friend of Ted, the boy Lila dumped for Sebastian. When Adam saves Mary from being torn in half by Sebastian, Mary is forced to tell him about her vampire-huntin’ activities. And why she’s got personal beef with Sebastian Drake. Yes, it’s personal. Naturally, Lila wants to take Sebastian to the prom and Mary figures she should go to the prom too… only to watch over Lila, of course. And if Adam wants to take her…
(more…)

Grade: F

Bam,

I am officially saying goodbye to Kensington’s Aphrodisia line. I have switched my subscription to Brava, already received my first books and DAMN, I’m so happy. But I couldn’t leave Aphrodisia without giving you a taste of what I read. Of course, you may want to light my hair on fire and put it out with a hammer after offering this up for your palette.

My last book from Aphrodisia was Give Me More by P.J. Mellor. Note that I didn’t choose this book… Aphrodisia had a super-fucktastic mix up and I didn’t select the last four books that were sent to me. Of the four books, the first was an anthology which was resold without being cracked due to one author being on my AVOID AT ALL COSTS list, the second was okay but I hated the previous book in the series and the third was such a waste of paper that I though of putting it through the shredder. Which brings me to the fourth:

(more…)

[Warning: a tiny rant ahead]

Grade: A-
Here’s an anthology that I enjoyed immensely. Usually I would like one or two stories, then wish I could tear out the rest in a fit of frenzy and set the pages on fire, but this one… well, I just happened to like them all. My favorite story is the one by Kimberly Dean… it’s original, hot as hell, and honestly, I’ve never read of a thermometer being used in that manner. There’s also a very hot scene involving being naked in the snow at three o’clock in the morning. Good stuff. Very inventive. Summer Devon’s contribution to this anthology is also a lot of fun, mostly because it seems very sincere and involves… well, regular people. A waitress and a construction worker, for God’s sake. I really, really liked the characters. My least favorite story in this anthology is Michelle Pillow’s. While it’s still pretty readable and sexy, I didn’t really get a sense of the connection between the two leads like I did with Devon’s and Dean’s stories. Plus there was that seemingly obligatory group sex scene in the end that’s almost a requirement for erotic romances nowadays and it’s really starting to cheese me off. I wish Sister Jane would write a rant about it already!
(more…)

Grade: D+

Dear Bam,

So… I read A Witch in Time, and the only reason I don’t regret it is ‘cause I got to read something of Darragha’s, and…color me surprised, I actually liked it! I’m sure everyone’s read your review so I’ll cut to the chase: I can’t figure out what the other two stories were doing in this antho. I know the first is supposed to be a historical witch story and the last should be a futuristic witch story. Say that again? This whole shmegeggie gets a D+. Wow, that’s bad.
(more…)