2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent vampire erotica, June 26, 2010
This review is from: Blood Desires (Paperback)
Though I'm not usually a fan of short story anthologies, I love Laura Baumbach's gay erotica. In particular, "Demonspawn: Tales from Demon Under Glass" had an interesting take on vampires so I wanted to see what else she would do with them. Overall, I think this is an excellent collection, with different approaches on vampires for each story. Four novellas are included:
"Walk Through Fire" - this one surprised me because it it had a lot of emotional content, and the trademark explicit sex was saved for the very end. When Caleb's lover was taken by a witch to be sacrificed, he killed her. He didn't know she was the favorite of a Demon Lord of Hell. Each Halloween, Caleb is given the chance to reclaim his love by fighting one of the demon's champions. 157 times he has tried, and failed. Even if he wins this time, after suffering so long will Drew even be sane? Enough exposition of the characters for readers to become invested; action-packed with a very satisfying ending.
"Dark Side of the Moon" - Harley is a vampire prostitute. When a john attempts to murder him, Harley somehow survives a gunshot wound to the head. But it changes him, and other vampires see him as something damaged that must be destroyed. On the run, he finds unlikely salvation, and love, with the mortal enemy of his kind - a werewolf. This was my favorite story, and I would love to see the author do a sequel, or expand it into a novel. I found both characters, but especially Harley, to be completely engaging and the sex was simply scorching!
"Enthralled" - another solid entry. Rowland is the ultimate predator, seeing humans as food and not much more. Colin is a hemophiliac who has been sheltered his entire life, and feels he has nothing left to live for. Braced to jump off a balcony and kill himself, he is saved when Rowland falls from the sky after being shot by a vampire hunter. Colin raises emotions in Rowland that he has not felt in a thousand years. Rowland, practically death himself, gives Colin a reason to live. An unlikely pairing that works on many levels.
"Addicted' - this was the weakest story in the book. Gideon is a predator, who finds himself dealing with unexpected, heightened emotions after feeding on a woman who's high on drugs. He returns to sate his lust with his human lover Tanner. My problem here is that the story is essentially Tanner trying to fight off a rape from his out-of-control, and incredibly dangerous lover. There is no steamy sex scene, the characters have no development and the story just kinda ends. Disappointing, and the reason I gave four stars instead of five.
Overall, three fantastic stories out of four is better than I expected. The stories were very erotic, with surprising emotional depth and sexy bloodsuckers. I enjoyed it enough I purchased MLR Press's other vampire anthology,
Blood Claim. I can only hope it is as good as this one.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blood Desires, March 14, 2008
This review is from: Blood Desires (Paperback)
Walk Through Fire
Every year for the last one hundred and fifty seven years Vampire Caleb Archer has had to fight Astaroth, the Duke of Hell's demons trying to save his lover Drew. Will tonight be the night he finally succeeds in setting him free?
Walk Through Fire is a story filled with dark imagery. It's edgy, exciting, and romantic. It's excellent!
Dark Side Of The Moon
Hustler and vampire Harley Scott is on the run. Harley goes from town to town trying to out run the Eliminators. He gets some unexpected help when he's taken to Matt. Matt intends to keep Harley, whether he likes it or not.
Dark side Of the Moon is a good story, it's very entertaining, but Harley is nasty to Matt and then the story ends In the middle of a fight.
Enthralled
Colin Dobson is trying to kill himself and Rowland Campbell is trying to save himself. They end up saving each other.
Enthralled is a romantic story. Rowland is a typical vampire; he's got a blackened heart, but he still has the ability to love. Colin is sweet, and together they create and interesting scenario.
Addicted
Tanner's lover is a vampire. When Gideon feeds from someone with tainted blood, he changes and Tanner becomes afraid of him for the first time.
Addicted starts off on the darker note but becomes rather sweet and romantic. It is a good story.
Blood Desires is comprised of four very well written vampire stories. It's a bit dark, often romantic and very hot.
Nannette
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Blood Desires, September 28, 2008
This review is from: Blood Desires (Paperback)
I found Blood Desires to be too short on information, a lot of guessing of information they don't tell you and not very interesting.
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