We see the words “fairy tale,” and we automatically think of frivolous, fluffy stories with no real significance. Scratch the surface, however, and you find that fairy tales are full of all the stuff of dreams and nightmares, the stuff of life: birth, death, courage and cowardice, anxiety, starvation, love and lust, humiliation, redemption. Like our most cherished religious myths, fairy tales tell us who we are at our very core and give us hints at what we might need…and our most secret desires. Far from child’s play, fairy tales have earned the right to transition to our adulthood bedtime stories.
Cleis Press seems to be especially good at the adult fairy tale genre. First Cleis published Mitzi Szereto’s gleefully erotic tales of long, long ago in a faraway land, In Sleeping Beauty’s Bed. This time. Cleis Press has published Fairy Tale Lust: Erotic Fantasies For Women, edited by Kristina Wright and featuring a talented stable of erotic writers. Along with tales of long, long ago and far away there are stories so contemporary and realistically told, they could be happening next door, right now.
It’s a charming amalgam. “How the Little Mermaid Got Her Tail Back” (in a sushi restaurant!) is as beguiling as a siren. “The Return” is eerily seductive. “Three Times” is breathtaking. Jeremy Edwards’ reworking of “Goldielocks and the Three Bears” is cute, but so often in these tales, cute is a mere cover for the deep, dark well of human desires. “In the Dark Woods” by editor Kristina Wright is a modern-day morality play of good and evil, playing out on a mattress. They’re all so charming, it’s nearly impossible to choose a favorite.
Perhaps it’s because I’ve waited so long for my next Sookie Stackhouse fix (I always hold out for the paperbacK), but I liked this book much better than the previous book in the series, ‘From Dead to Worse.’ My chief complaint about FDtW was that lots of things happened, but they seemed more like a laundry list than a coherent storyline.
It’s true that good news is few and far between in ‘Dead and Gone,’ but this one flows so nicely, I read pages 73 to 289 in one big gulp. There are a number of gruesome deaths in this book. I won’t spoil them for the reader. I will say this: the Weres come out to the world the same way the vampires did, while a separate and much more secretive group of supernaturals fights a war amongst themselves.
Sookie Stackhouse lightens up a bit compared to her rather bitter turn in the last book. As always, she finds herself in a heap of trouble. Unlike other vampire novel heroines, she holds her own. Would Bella Swan stab a fairy with an iron trowel? I don’t think so. Would ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Elena even be able to form a thought like, “I’m in a heap of trouble, perhaps I should seek protection?” Not likely.
Still, Sookie just wouldn’t be Sookie without a romantic wrinkle or two. This time, she has romantic wrinkles in spades with blond hottie and Viking vampire Eric. Of course, Bill Compton is never far from her thoughts, and it seems the Sook may actually have forgiven Bill this time. Whether you’re a member of Team Eric or Team Bill, you’ll be relieved to know were tiger Quinn is dismissed, and Sookie’s romantic life has returned to a battle of the vamps. Despite an unfortunate loss in the last few pages, this is a very satisfying volume in the Sookie Stackhouse saga.
FaceBook:http://www.facebook.com/#/erin.oriordan?ref=name Mini-Bio:Erin O’Riordan is the author of the 12-part Pagan Spirits series of urban (Milwaukee) erotic romance novels with a dash of paranormal magic.
Rating: 4 stars
Kamillia, the heroine of Kiki Howell’s A Modern Day Witch Hunt (eXcessica Publishing, 2009), is like a female version of Harry Potter, mixed with Sookie Stackhouse and Sarah Connor. (more…)
Title: The Sin Eater’s Prince Author: Keta Diablo ISBN: Unknown; the book is pre-release Reviewer: Erin O’Riordan Reviewer’s E-mail:erinoriordan@sbcglobal.net Reviewer’s website:Link Reviewer’s Twitter:Erin O’Riordan Reviewer’s FaceBook:Erin O’Riordan Reviewer’s Bio:Erin O’Riordan is the author of the 12-part Pagan Spirits series of urban (Milwaukee) erotic romance novels with a dash of paranormal magic. Rating: 4 stars
Review:
Sin eater: One gifted with magic, able to absorb the sins of a dying person so that person’s soul is free to go unencumbered to heaven. In Keta Diablo’s paranormal erotic romance The Sin Eater’s Prince, the sin eater is Owen Rhys, a pariah in his small village in Wales. Since his father died, Owen’s only friend is Carys, the physician’s assistant. Owen harbors a secret longing for Carys’s employer, the unbelievable beautiful healer Andras Maddock. Andras has his own magical secret: he’s a long tooth, a vampire. Their undeniable attraction puts Owen in grave danger.
There is much to love in this lush novel from Ravenous Romance; here are my five favorites.
1. The hypnotic cover. From under a gray hood, the vampire stares at us. His eyes are icy blue, his hair and long eyelashes black, his gaze both beautiful and terrifying. This is Dagan, a nast–but gorgeous–vamp who threatens to put a serious damper on Owen and Andras’s relationship. The cover perfectly captures what Owen feels: attraction and revulsion at once toward this terrible being.
2. The Welsh language and lore. The native, Celtic language of Wales is notoriously difficult (and un-phonetic) for English speakers. They spell Wales “Cymru,” for crying out loud! Keta Diablo’s story is laced with strange Welsh folklore, history, and myth, as well as those lovely Celtic words. Lest the reader be unable to keep up, though, there is a glossary of Welsh terms, from Annwyn to Uffern.
3. The vampire’s prayer. Dagan offers an eerily beautiful but chilling prayer to his Dark Lord, the devil. For readers who like their vamps scary and dangerous, the vampire’s prayer delivers just the right touch of evil. An excerpt:
“Whatever flows through your body, flows through mine. I am in your likeness, he who feeds on the warm, red elixir of life. I am the dreaded vampire, a blessed composition of your energy, lust and desire. My day is the mortal’s night, my sustenance their blood. When earth has witnessed its last day, I shall rise again and serve you for all eternity. “
4. The kisses. In this very sensual novel, Owen and Andras crave one another’s touch. No parts of their heavenly bodies go unexplored as they make love desperately, ecstatically. Each encounter begins when Andras looks into Owen’s beautiful green eyes…and then they kiss. Keta Diablo is skilled in the art of taut sexual tension, turning up the heat until it boils over with every steamy kiss in passages like this:
“Owen’s touch on his arm, the taste of his lips melding with his, sent a jolt of unbearable pleasure rushing through him. The sin eater’s fingers wound their way into the hair at the back of his neck and Owen drew him deeper into the kiss. Andras parted his lips with his tongue, evoking a breathless moan and a defenseless surrender of his body against Owen’s. “
5. Carys. Even a boy-meets-boy romance can use a female character to root for; in The Sin Eater’s Prince, that woman is Carys. Loyal, determined, and clear-headed (despite her tendency to believe in Welsh superstitions), she is a true friend to both Owen and Andras. Carys is less damsel in distress and more Celtic warrior woman.
Lovers of paranormal erotic fiction will find The Sin Eater’s Prince irresistible for these, and many other, reasons. It contains a well-crafted world of British Isles magic, wonder, and romance.
"Urban fantasy describes a work that is set primarily in a city and contains aspects of fantasy. These matters may involve the arrivals of alien races, the discovery of earthbound mythological creatures, coexistence between humans and paranormal beings, conflicts between humans and malicious paranormals, and subsequent changes in city management" -Wikipedia
