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5.0 out of 5 stars
Carnal Desires, June 2, 2009
Crystal Jordan has released three of her Wereplanet novellas in one book called Carnal Desires. Fans of her work will shout for joy!
"In Heat"
Recently returned from a trip, Varad Mohan walks into the ballroom of his palace and immediately smells his wife. She is in heat and Varad knows that once she sees him, nothing will do but for them to mate, no matter that their passion has seemed to have dimmed with the death of their child. Varad knows that his queen will never turn him down but getting her to admit that she loves him once more is another thing and Varad won't settle for less.
Mahlia sees her husband, King Varad across the crowded room. Her senses kick in and the only thing she knows to do is run. She runs because she can't stomach the thought of delivering another child with the possibility of losing it like she lost her infant son. Her plans go awry when Varad catches her and proceeds to show her how the king of all weretigers makes love to his mate.
"In Heat" was out of this world hot. I love the concept of mating heat and uncontrollable desire. Varad loves his queen but in his inability to deal directly with his child's death, he hurt her and while he realizes this almost too late, I thought him quite honorable to admit his feelings to her and show weakness when he was supposed to always be strong. Mahlia's character was a bit dearer to my heart because of her sadness and total devastation at the loss of her son. My heart ached for her.
"In Smoke"
Weredragon Lady Katryn has been living with weretigers on the planet of Vesperi for her entire life. Pretty much ignored by her ambassador father, she is now required to head back to Harena, the planet of her birth in order to mate with her own kind and become part of a harim. Totally ignorant in the ways of dragons, Katryn is not sure she will be happy living in a new place. The emissary sent by her affianced mate to transport her to the capital city, Tarkesh makes Katryn yearn for something she can't have: him.
Lord Tarkesh and Lord Nadir are a mated couple. Required by their matriarchal planet to mate with a female in order to breed, they know that their love for each other is strong. However, they want to cherish and love their female mate as well. Since Nadir is the more dominating of the two dragons, he sends Tarkesh to meet Katryn so that she won't be scared. Things backfire when Tarkesh and Katryn hit it off more than Tarkesh thinks they should and he feels like he has betrayed Nadir. Only time will tell once Tarkesh and Katryn arrive and go through with the bonding ceremony.
I love a good ménage story in which the characters are all bonded and in love with each other. "In Smoke" was that type of ménage. Tarkesh and Nadir were combustible enough as lovers without Katryn but add her into the equation and the entire trio was simply flammable.
"In Mist"
Sera Gibbons has spent the last five hundred years in a cryogenic freeze. As one of only two survivors of the spaceship she was traveling on, she survived the crash landing on the werebear world of Alysius. Her friend Jain chose to remain on the planet with her newly found mate and Sera chose to stay with Brettan, a merman ambassador. After nearly a year of being with him, Sera has fallen in love but she is no nearer to finding out his feelings for her than she was months ago. One minute Bretton is aloof and the next he is sensual. No matter how many times they come together in sexual ecstasy, Sera always feels as if Bretton only comes to her when he has no other choice. She is so very wrong.
Give me a merman right now! I want one and am willing to do what it takes. Bretton was drop dead gorgeous from the tip of his toes to his waist length black hair. His overt sexuality kept me and Sera well entertained. His emotions were hard to read; defense mechanisms he used very well. I think "In Mist" is my favorite of the three novellas in Carnal Desires for this reason alone.
Crystal Jordan entrances and intrigues with Carnal Desires, a series of three intertwined novellas about a sensuous world of shape shifters and the mates that love them. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the world that is the Wereplanets.
Talia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A Happy Surprise!, January 11, 2009
Okay I fully admit it, I bought this one because of the cover (it's hot!), and not knowing too much about it other than I knew it was in the Paranormal romance/erotica line, which are my favorite romances right now.
The premise of the book is three stories all loosely tied together. So in that way it's sort of like an antho by the same author. Only it's not- because the stories occur consecutively, or close to it time wise and in most anthos, they are completely different worlds and settings. And, these stories sort of build on each other, though there are different characters and happily ever afters!
The first story, In Heat, you'd think would be my favorite. It's about two feline shifters mated, but grown apart emotionally and physically. A year ago they lost their son to a genetic disease and neither has recovered from it. Problem? Mahlia, the female snow tiger shifter, is coming into heat and only Varad, her mate, can satisfy the urges.
This one is as real as fantasy reading gets emotionally, people really do suffer through losses with misunderstandings and miscommunications. But being fantasy, something has to kick in to bring them to an HEA and the heat is an interesting way of doing it.
Like I said this was my least favorite story of the three. I think it was because it was the shortest and I couldn't see things being tied up so neatly so fast but the format had more to do with that than the story telling I suppose.
Still I'm giving this one a 3 out of 5 because it almost made me give up on the book.
Then I came to In Smoke. This one TOTALLY surprised me. The Heroine of the story, Katryn, we met inIn Heat. She is a dragon shifter raised on the feline planet. When she is called back to her home planet, it is the last place she wants to go because she's being called back to fulfill an arranged marriage.
And worse, she will be only one of many, for the dragon shifters have something called "harims".
Due to the dragonshifter's secret societal ways, and she being raised on a vastly different planet cultural wise, Katryn has no idea that she is not betrothed to just one man, but two. Point of fact, a harim is not a covey of women waiting around to give pleasure to one man, but a bond mating that usually involves three partners and no more.
This story opens with the two males anxiously awaiting Katryn's arrival, and to them having one last time of togetherness with just the two. Tarkesh and Nadir love each other- often- but Tarkesh, the sensitive one, is worried about the third member about to be added to the mix. What if she upsets the balance and Nadir loves her more than him? Nadir, an alpha male who is ready to accept the girl out of duty alone, has no doubt of his love for Tark, so, to reassure his skittish mate, he sends Tark on ahead to meet Katryn.
When Tarkesh sets eyes on Katryn, of course, all fears are eased, because there is in instant attraction between the two. Satisfied with Katryn, Tark knows she is the right one to complete his and Nadir's bond.
When he discovers Katryn's thinks she's only mating Nadir, things move too quickly for Tarkesh to explain exactly what a Harim is. All too soon, they find themselves back at the city preparing for marriage.
During the preparations, Katryn is told she is in fact mating two men, not just one... and she's furious Tarkesh never told her!
But when Nadir takes it upon himself to assuage her fears, sparks fly- along with their clothes! Of course, she's attracted to him too, he's the opposite side of Tark- who wouldn't be attracted to both men? And when the three of them finally get together- hooo boy, it is scorching!
Still, Katryn is not happy with the way things are run on her home planet politically, and the boys, knowing she is unhappy, make an offer to leave the planet as ambassadors which take us neatly to the next story.
Usually I have difficulties with m/m or menage erotic stories. I was surprised to find one in this book because I had no idea it was in it! Imagine my bigger surprise, when it actually worked for me.
Trying to put my finger on why it worked- I think it's because it made sense to me.
The men were two halves of one coin and they're characters and lust for each other believable enough for me. (Especially Nadir- deliciously alpha! Tarkesh was more feminine I suppose but not so much I felt his reactions were more female.)
Plus, given the fantasy setting in Carnal Desires, I was able to suspend belief. In other menage stories I've tried, I couldn't get past the ridiculous reason for the threesome hooking up. If I'm not buying the reason the characters are into each other, the sex just makes me wince and feels like porn.
Somehow this author managed to do it right. Again it must be the fantasy setting and set up, because it certainly was a sexy read! :D
4.5 out of 5 from me!
In Mist is all about Merpeople. Here's another fantasy setting that hasn't always worked for me in the past, but managed to work just fine in this book!
Sera, a human earthling crash landed in the future, and Bretton, a merman/shifter and ambassador for his home planet Aquatilis, can't keep their hands off each other ... when they're alone. But, much to Sera's frustration, Bretton is a cold fish when out in public. You see Sera is an oddity in Aquatilis, and there is nothing the people of that planet look down upon more than oddities.
But she's loved the handsome, sexy, Bretton since she first laid eyes on him and whenever she's around him, she feels an intense sexual hunger for only him.
Bretton feels it too and despite his better judgment takes her to his bed over and over.
Until Sera walks away.
Unable to handle the emotional roller coaster anymore, Sera makes the decision to leave with the other ambassadors visiting Aquatilis and leave Bretton behind.
Will he finally stand up and fight for her or will he follow along with what society demands of him? You'll have to read to find out!
This one worked for me too. Fraught with sexual tension, the character development the author manages to develop in In Mist is something I rarely find in a short story format.
Plus the world building is awesome too, considering. (Actually, I can say that in all the stories.)
I think the fact that these stories are set in the same universe, helps in that regard. The author is able to use the world building she placed in the other stories without having to go into alot of detail in each one. (And In Mist needed the backstory more than the other two because it is Aquatilis's society that is keeping them apart rather than internal situations, like the other two!)
I love star crossed lover stories and this one is no exception.
It also gets a 4.5 from me.
So there you have it. Full of surprises, this book is a fun, sweaty, read! I'm looking forward to more from this author!
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
hidden gem that is not to be missed , March 30, 2009
This book will knock your socks off! I bought this book because I was intrigued by the stories (I love futuristics and shifter novels.) and am I sooo glad I did. Thank you, Crystal Jordan for writing this wonderful novel! IT is on my keeper shelf for life!
This book has 3 short stories and they are FABULOUS! Do I need to say more?! In this anthology Crystal Jordan shines. All of her stories are complete reads that displayed remarkable story telling. She seamlessly writes stories that got me involved and teary-eyed. The amazing thing is that each story is rather short. I don't know how she was able to convey such feeling and emotions within each character to the extent that I wanted to be in the world she had created. Plus she satisfied my always demanding need to know more about the world and culture the author envisions. A lot of authors elude to certain rituals, ways of living etc and never follow up on why or how this different culture shapes the characters. She takes the time to really get you to care for her characters but also be mesmerized by the deep love and STEAMY sex scenes. I could feel how much each of the male heroes wanted and needed their 'mates.' And... Oh! Did I love it.
In Heat is the first story and goes over the tiger king and the mates he desires. How he claims her is too delicious for words.
In Smoke we meet the Lady Katryn who has been bartered into a weredragon alliance. Although she is also a weredragon she has never lived in this society and when she finds that her intended mate has a male lover who is also attracted to her, and both men intend to share her, well things really start to get very interesting.
The last story In Mist is my fav . I loved how Crystal Jordan took the time to give me a really feeling of the Aquatilis life and how the main hero Bretton has been shaped by it. I think I fell in love with him myself! This story really had me balling as I could feel the internal struggle he has for the heroine and how he is always distressed that he looses control around her. (hot sex scenes!!) I think I immediately re-read this story 2 times after the first reading and paid for it the next day at work. :(
I cannot express how happy I was to 'find' this author and am determined to purchase her upcoming book this April as soon as it hits the shelf. This is a hidden gem that is not to be missed and I hope you give her a try. I really don't think you can be disappointed. The only thing better would be more characters from this world...please?!
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