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Carnal Desires

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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

I love this world, love the characters, great read! Ms Jordan can write delicious erotic scenes, but more than that, her worldbuilding always fascinates me. More!

Wow, what a disappointment! I spent so much money for three very, very short stories. The characters weren't well developed at all. If you want something good to read...and worth your money...try R.G. Alexander, Children of the Goddess books, Kresley Cole, A Hunger Like No Other (Great!) or Michelle Pillow, the first Dragon Lord book.

Crystal Jordan has done it again. She is so good at creating a world and the characters in it are outstanding.

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?!

"In Heat". Although he grieves too, Iger King Vesperi wants his soul mate at his side; however he knows to achieve this he must help his Queen Mahalia the snow tigress to move past the death of their child.

"In Smoke". Mahalia's friend Lady Katryn returns home to join the harem of Lord Nadir as his mate, but she must adjust to his were-dragon culture that looks at relationships differently than hers; her new mate and his other mate Lord Tarkesh welcome her with open arms and wings.

"In Mist.". Dr. Sera Gibbons is part of a near extinct species, purebred humans as she is one of the last two survivors having been cryogenically frozen five centuries ago and only recently revived. Merman Bretton Hahn saved her life, but as they fall in love his Mer culture rejects a mating between one of them and one of those inferior land dwellers.

This futuristic heated science fiction romance anthology is engagingly refreshing as humanity has genetically engineered the species into several differing genus, which leads to creative sexual encounters in a racist world. Although the novella format leaves the plots thin, fans will want crystallized full length sagas of bi-species star-crossed love tales in the Jordanian future earth.

Harriet Klausner