Private Midnight by Kris Saknussemm

 

Inside all of us is something wanting to break free.

No one knows this better than Detective Birch Ritter. He is a man on the edge of himself and he doesn’t know if he can keep himself from falling. Divorced and alone, he lives for his job. His job is his life. The long hours keep him from thinking of what could be.

And especially what was.

While investigating a case where a business man was chained to the inside of his car and the car set aflame, he receives a visit from an old police buddy, someone he never thought he would see again. Someone who knew his secrets.

Saying nothing, the man leaves Ritter only a business card with an address written on the card in what looks like scarves. The words move and shift; Ritter knows this must be a trick of the light, or his mind playing tricks on him. The past can haunt you in many ways.

Knowing that he should just ignore the business card, something pulls at him to go. He knows that going to an address written on a mysterious card left by someone who knows his past could be dangerous.

But something compels him to go.

When he arrives, he meets Genevieve. A curvy red head with looks that won’t quit, he follows her inside her house, still not sure what he is doing there or why he came. He is entranced by her, almost hypnotized. Shocked by her beauty and what she wants him to do.

Genevieve introduces Ritter to the world of bondage. Shock collars and blindfolds, submission and darkness. She knows things she could not possibly know, knows secrets from his past that he has told no one about. Though he is frightened of her, he cannot stay away.

The deeper he follows her into the darkness, the more of his past confronts him until all he is left with is a choice: cling to his safe, boring, lonely life? Or embrace the midnight darkness that waits inside of him? As Genevieve strips Ritter physically, emotionally and physiologically, he knows that he has no choice.

He must submit and change his life forever…

My meagre plot description doesn’t even come close to describing how great this book is. Its part gumshoe detective story, part noir thriller, part erotica and part something else altogether. Combined, all these elements make one of the best and most frightening novels I have ever read. Indeed, Private Midnight is one of the best books of 2009 so far.

Private Midnight defies genre. There is absolutely no way to categorize this book. It is not simple fiction. Instead it is an incredible tour-de-force that defies all genres, transcends them all and becomes something all its own.

For me, reading Private Midnight was like being inside a train that was destined to crash. It was like watching a car wreck in slow motion; I knew what would come would challenge my ideals of what is normal and acceptable, that it would make me uncomfortable and leave me haunted. But I welcomed every blood soaked word.

Not only is Private Midnight an incredible mystery, it is also the ultimate study in human nature. What makes us tick? What are our desires? What frightens us? What happens when fear, pleasure and desire are mixed together? What drives us to stay away from the darkness or give into it and swim in its depths?

While reading Private Midnight I was shocked, uncomfortable, thrilled and frightened. Rarely has a book affected me in so many different ways. Many authors would not be able to write a book that transcends genre and make it good. Saknussemm does this and more and the result is a heady, incredible thriller that is seedy, sexy, thrilling and tantalizing.

If you read one good book this Spring, make sure its Private Midnight.

And discover the darkness inside of you…

Fury Calls by Caridad Pineiro

 

 

Blake Richards is a vampire haunted by the past.

Four years ago, he was forced to either sire Meghan Thomas, making her a vampire, or risk having her die. So he did the only thing he could do and turned her…and lost the only woman he had ever loved.

Though he is still tortured by his love for her, Blake knows that he will have to make it up to her, somehow. And maybe then, she can forgive him…

Angry at having her life taken away from her, Meghan doesn´t want anything to do with Blake. She misses her former life, misses what she once was. She is fueled by anger at having her life taken from her, at having the decision made for her.

Meghan is also haunted by the past and can´t forget the attraction she felt for Blake, the attraction she still feels for him. Fury fills her every time she thinks of him and yet, she can´t stop herself thinking of Blake and the passion they shared.

Both of them must put aside their fury and anger when something threatens the vampire community. Bodies of vampires are found, ravaged beyond recognition.

Blake and Meghan come together to try and find out what is killing others of their kind. During the investigation, the attraction that they feel for each other starts to grow stronger until neither of them can ignore it.

But they are in a race against time. Though no one knows who has been killing the vampires, there are suspicions. And those suspicions begin to fall on Blake.

Meghan must put aside her fury and make a choice: Is Blake the man she could love? Or is he a killer?

If you haven´t read the other novels, there is no need to. Pineiro manages to make each novel stand alone as a complete and wonderful story.

The newest book in Caridad Pineiro´s amazing The Calling series is the best yet and is one of the best romances I have ever read. It has everything you could possibly want in a romance novel: a thrilling plot, amazing characters, and an incredible dark storyline.

But Fury Calls is so much more than that.

In Fury Calls, Piniero has given us a story of true, bittersweet emotion. She has given us a novel where the characters on the page are so alive, they seem to live and breathe off of the pages. She has given us the ultimate love story that pulls at your heart and your emotions. Not an easy feat to manage, but Pineiro pulls this off with style and grace.

Though this is the seventh full novel in The Calling Series, Pineiro manages to keep things fresh by giving us a hero and a heroine that we care about, that we become emotionally involved with. She also manages to keep the mythology of the vampire new and fresh by introducing different elements never before seen.

Fury Calls is also her darkest offering yet in The Calling series. There were several uncomfortable moments in Fury Calls, but Pineiro handled them with ease. Unafraid of taking the series to new, darker places, she forces the reader to confront the darkness within themselves and the world around them.

The Calling Series, though about vampires, is really the ultimate study in human nature. What drives someone to love, to hate, to kill? And though the characters that populate the series are vampires, Pineiro still manages to make them incredibly vulnerable, incredibly human. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Fury Calls.

Fury Calls is a dark, incredible ride and I didn´t want it to end. It´s a wonderful story of love, lust, murder and redemption that leaves the reader wanting more. It´s one of the most amazing romances that I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

Do yourself a favor and read Fury Calls and experience true, exquisite passion.

Honor Calls by Caridad Pineiro

 

Michaela Ramirez has always fought what she was. Literally.

A half vampire, she is a huntress in the night as she finds and then kills vampires who have no regard or respect for humanity. She is called by honor to defend others, driven by her past and by what she is to do the right thing.

Even if it means putting herself in the line of fire.

FBI Assistant Director, Jesus Hernandez, has always believed in what he can see and touch. He has seen a fair share of crime in his lifetime. He knows that evil lurks on the streets of Manhattan and that it is his job to protect its citizens.

Despite the darkness that Jesus has seen, his current case worries him. It feels different. Bodies left out in the open, their throats ravaged to a bloody mess.

Knowing that the killer may have left a trail, Jesus decides to stop by The Blood Bank, a popular Goth hang out, for clues. He knows that The Blood Bank caters to those who favor the darkness, who like the darker things in life.

Though he knows there are those who whisper of things going bump in the night, the rumors hold no credence for him. He is a man who needs truth, who is called by honor to uphold the truth and the law.

All that is challenged when he arrives at The Blood Bank. In an alleyway, he spies Michaela attacking what he thinks is a man. Then Jesus sees the glowing eyes of the beast and knows that the attacker is something different. Something not human.

Though his honor demands he uphold the law, he is drawn to Michaela by an incredible attraction. And though her honor is put to the test, something in Jesus pulls at Michaela´s heart, something dangerous.

As the attraction between them grows, both of them know that, in the end, they must heed the call of their honor; despite what it may cost them…

Honor Calls is one of the best romances I have ever read. Caridad Pineiro is well known for creating a thrilling story with great characters and a moving plot but she has outdone herself this time. Not only do we get thrilling danger and searing love, but her characters are beautifully flawed.

Jesus is so bound by what he can see and touch that, when he is confronted with something other than the ordinary, he struggles inwardly. Michaela is so bound by revenge that, when she has to stop and contemplate the attraction she feels for Jesus, the fear she feels if he should run for her, the worry is palpable.

Though a short read, what Pineiro has given us is really a study in human, and un-human nature. She has taken something that all of us deal with and given it a supernatural twist.

How many times have all of us struggled with something we wanted, though we knew that it might be bad for us? How many times has we denied ourselves pleasure, though our hearts and minds have called out for it?

Honor Calls is an incredible, wonderful read that will help you chase away an afternoon and leaving you craving more. Do yourself a favor and read Honor Calls.

Heed the Call and fall prey to passion…you won’t regret it.

You Can Leave Your Mask On by P. Andrews

 

 

Grasshopper is having a rough night.

Grasshopper is a superhero who, in case you haven’t guessed it, can leap high into the air to land on the tops of buildings and run at incredible speeds. She loves the feel of the air caressing her skin, loves the feel of power, the arousal.

Having the powers of a grasshopper can be very cool. Able to leap, to jump, to soar through the air; it was all in a days work to keep her city safe.

After having been caught spying on a couple having incredible sex, she’s all revved up with no place to go. Scouring the night, she looks for something, or someone, to take away her itch.

Grasshopper gets her wish when she witnesses a large explosion. As she watches, she sees bolts of electricity flickering through the air. She knows at once that the villain is Circuit-Breaker.

Hopping down in front of the destroyed building, she finds Circuit-Breaker stealing a vase. Planning to take him down and take him in, Grasshopper has no idea that she is about to have the most incredible sex of her life….

Though short, You Can Keep Your Mask On packs one hell of a punch. It’s light, funny and flat out hilarious. It also has some of the most inventive sex I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

You might think at first that an erotic encounter between superhero’s is cause for derisive laughter. But that is not the case here. Though the superhero and the villain both wear clingy tight outfits, these are not the masked crusaders of years gone by.

Grasshopper is a superhero to rival the X Men. And, she’s a hell of a lot sexier. What made You Can Keep Your Mask On so enjoyable was that, even though you’re reading about superhero’s and evil villains, all the action felt real.

P. Andres had injected his story with so much energy, so much vibrancy that the characters leap off the page. You can almost imagine that Grasshopper is protecting your city, your home.

Writing a erotic romance around superhero’s could have been tacky, disastrous and just plain wrong. But P. Andrews pulls it off with panache and aplomb. Not only are the hero and villain believable, the sex just crackles off the page. You aren’t just reading the story, you’re there.

I can only hope that P. Andrews revisits Grasshopper in another tale (so we can learn how she got her powers perhaps?) but until then I will have to read You Can Keep Your Mask On for a fifth time.

It’s fun, fantastic writing with a touch of humor and incredible sex. It’s also one of the most enjoyable erotic romances I’ve read in ages. If you’re looking for a hot time, why not try You Can Keep Your Mask On?

You might just with that you could be a superhero too.

Incognito Volume One by Anna Leigh Keaton and Madison Layle

 

 

 What would happen if you gave into your deepest desires? What would happen if you let yourself go and gave in to what you always wanted and more?

That is exactly what happens to two women in Incognito Volume One by Anna Leigh Keaton and Madison Layle. Incognito Volume One actually consists of two novels, Seducing Olivia and Owning Rachel.

In Seducing Olivia, we meet Olivia Chandler finds her future husband cheating on her in a hotel room. Crushed and heart broken, she runs into the arms of Dylan Montgomery. He tries to heal her wounds by introducing her to the delights of submission.

Not willing to open her heart to another man, Olivia leaves only to search for Dylan two years later. She can’t get that one night out of her head and wants to know if it was a fluke or if the passion she felt was real.

When she does track Dylan down, she ends up sleeping with his gorgeous twin brother Ryan. The two invite Olivia to experience submission, with them as her masters, for two whole weeks. Can Olivia do it? And what if she loses her heart in the process?

In Owning Rachel, Rachel Morrissey is having nightmares. Incredibly erotic nightmares that fill her mind with images of lust she has never before considered. While at first she is slightly shaken by her dreams, later she becomes aroused.

Unsure of how to control her dreams, or stop them all together, she begins to see a professional sex therapist by the name of Jonathon Sinclair. But Jonathon is more than just a sex therapist. He is also a dominant, a master, at the club Incognito, with his brother Jackson.

Never before has he let the two lives cross or bleed into one another. Never before has he wanted to reveal his darker side. But something about Rachel’s dreams arouses something hot inside of him and he breaks his own rules to find out more.

When Jonathon suggest living out the dreams, acting out her submissive fantasies in real life, Rachel jumps at the chance. She will do anything to make the dreams stop. But she cannot hope to prepare herself for what happens when her fantasies become reality…

I have to say this is one of the best erotica books I have ever read.

Incognito Volume One gives you two hot novellas: Seducing Oliva and Owning Rachel. They are the first two volumes in what is one of the best erotica series ever written.

I have to admit that I was a little hesitant to read the book at first. Not being into BDSM, I wondered whether or not I would even like the book. But, always trying to expand my reading horizons, I decided to give it a try.

Am I ever glad I did! I finished the book off in just under two days. Once I started, I couldn’t put it down. The characters are real people, so real you feel as if you know them when you finish the book and you’re sorry to see them go.

The passion also leaps off the page. Incognito is filled with such amazing love scenes that the pages heat up while you’re reading it. There is so much passion in this book that it will spill off the pages and filter into your fantasies.

The best thing about Incognito is that, even though the book concerns BDSM, I never felt uncomfortable once. Anna Leigh Keaton and Madison Layle have painted such a beautiful, true picture of what BDSM is that you can’t help but fall under their spell.

This is hands down one of the best books I have read all year and I can’t wait to read the rest of the books in the series. I’m already reading Incognito: Volume One for a second time and it’s just as good, if not better, the second time around.

If you read one book this summer, make it this one. It’ll make your summer hotter than ever!

A Collection of Love, Pleasure and Pain by Corlis

 

 

Everyone wants love.

 

People crave love, desire love, need love. Some obsess over it; some dream of it. Some are even consumed by it. There are all kids of love in the world and with love, there is always pleasure.

 

But pleasure can bring you something else. Something darker that speaks to you in the shadows. Corlis knows what speaks there, what whispers to us as our pleasure crosses that very thin line and becomes something else altogether.

 

The sweet kiss of pain.

 

In A Collection of Love, Pleasure and Pain, Corlis Martin has crafted five glorious stories, each more different and shocking than the last. Each use love, pleasure and pain as a theme within the story. Pressed together, crammed within one hundred and seventy pages, the passion seems frantic and hot. Inviting but dangerous.

 

In the title story, Love Pleasure and Pain, we are shown just how far Christine will go to get revenge on the boyfriend who raped her. And what happens when she gives into her passion as she flees to another city aboard a rocking, rollicking train?

 

In The Absence of Pleasure, Jon Paul has left his lover Bradley after twelve years. Not able to admit his homosexuality to himself or to the world, Jon Paul leaves Bradley never knowing what consequences his actions will have.

 

In When Only Love Remains, Monique catches Mark, her husband to be, in bed with another woman. She has a hot night of passion with him, her jealousy inflamed, but realizes she must make a choice. Can she live without the man she loves more than anything in the world?

 

Corlis has written a patchwork quilt of lust, sex and violence. I will freely admit that I was made uncomfortable by almost all the stories in this gripping collection. At first I was really put off by this but then, something occurred to me: what is comfort but an absence of pain?

 

After that, I was able to read the stories in a new way, one that let me see into a world where pain and pleasure mix and swirl like a good red wine with a smoky aroma. Though I was uncomfortable, I needed to read more. The stories got into my blood and wouldn’t let go.

 

Though A Collection of Love, Pleasure and Pain isn’t for everyone, it is a gripping read. My only major complaint was that it could have done with some basic editing. But don’t let that stop you from reading what is sure to be the most engaging, sensual, disturbingly erotic book that I have read in years.

 

Pick it up and read it. You might just have to examine where you draw your own lines between pleasure and pain but you’ll enjoy every minute.