Customer Reviews

Ellora's Cavemen: Dreams of the Oasis Volume 4

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GETTING SLAYED by Anya Bast
Princess Jeweline is fed up with being a virgin and her chaffing chastity belt. The simple fact that she's still untouched is because of the fire breathing-dragon who's charbroiled all seven of her fiances. Obviously if she's ever going to have sex she'll have to take care of the dragon herself. What will Jeweline do when she actually meets up with the dragon and discovers he's not what he seems? Or when dragonslayers begin arriving hoping to win her hand in marriage by killing the dragon named Marcus?

Anya Bast does a fabulous job with this tale! You get a headstrong princess with a dragon that runs amok destroying any chance Jeweline has of ever having sex. This story is both comical and endearing.


STING OF THE WIND by Charlotte Boyett-Compo
Shannon O'Rourke is one of the privileged few humans to work among the supernatural beings at Durbin Enterprises. She takes great pride in the strides the company has made in medical research on blood diseases and the blood bank that aids both human and otherworldly creatures. As Shae Durbin's special personal assistant, she gets the benefit of his expertise and loving which he's perfected over the past five hundred years.

I've often jokingly said that hospitals and blood banks have vampires in the basement so I got a real kick out of this whole storyline. Charlotte Boyett-Compo has contributed a fun storyline with truly likeable characters.


TEMPERATURE RISING by Lena Matthews
Brenna Cole has had a huge crush on her brother's best friend and neighbor Danner Austin for as long as she can remember. Since her brother has asked her to house-sit, she fully intends to seize the opportunity to show him just how much she's grown up. She doesn't count on the extreme heat wave or rolling blackouts. Things are definitely going to heat up when the electricity goes out.

I've always loved Lena Matthews gutsy take-charge characters and homey realistic situations. This is a very fun story to visualize especially when Brenna's brother returns home earlier than expected.


VIRTUOSITY by Kris Starr
Commander Dillon Walker has spent the past three years reeling from the wrongful death of her husband during a mission to an alien planet. After visiting with some of her fellow crew members and hearing of their experiences in the HoloSuite, Dillon figures a virtual lover, Aiden, would satisfy her physical needs without risking her heart. Or could Aiden be more real than she thought?

I found Kris Starr's VIRTUOSITY to be poignantly heart touching. If you've ever suffered the loss of a loved one then you'd know just how hard it is to go on with life and I admire Dillon for her courage even if it is only with a virtual lover.


SHADOWS STIR by N.J. Walters
The fate of the Warriors of the Shadow Realm lies in the hands of a mortal woman. The Shadow Lord will do whatever he has to in order to save his kind and so he sends one of his Ryders, Gideon, to protect her. Jo Harris is determined to find her sister and in doing so is putting herself in danger. Gideon and Jo's attraction is too strong to deny but will they be able to save themselves from the shadows?

N.J. Walters brings this tale into the light beautifully! Right from the beginning I was drawn into the storyline and didn't want it to end. I am fascinated by the Warriors of the Shadow Realm and their plight and would love to see more books about them in the future.


PASSIONFLOWER by Ravyn Wilde
Nancy only wants to bring a little social interaction into her lonely life. The last thing she expects is a gorgeous foreign man who seems to be having a bit of trouble with the English language to take an interest in her or the extreme desire she feels for him. It couldn't be because of the Passionflower wine that he's shared with her, could it? The whole experience is just out of this world - literally.

Ravyn Wilde's PASSIONFLOWER is an awesome tale that will quickly capture and hold readers' interest. This is a fun intergalactic romp full of unexpected events, humorous conversation, and a far off planet. I'm intrigued by M'ike's home planet and would love to read more about it in future books.

The Cavemen are back and better then ever in this newest anthology, ELLORA'S CAVEMEN: DREAMS OF THE OASIS IV. As always, there are multiple genres represented so that readers can experience old favorites and try out something new as well. As a longtime reader of the Cavemen books I am extremely impressed with this one. There isn't a single story in this book that I didn't absolutely love and in several cases I even visited the author's web sites to find out if there would be other books involving characters or themes that I'd like to read more about. Congratulations to all of the authors! You truly outdid yourselves on this one.

Chrissy Dionne (courtesy of Romance Junkies)

I bought this anthology as a fan of 3 of the authors already, so it's tough when some of the work just isn't that good. Most of the ideas in this have been done to death, so it just leaves the execution to make the stories stand out. Not all of them do.

The first story in the mix is "Getting Slayed" by Anya Bast. Jeweline is a spoiled princess stuck in a chastity belt until someone slays the dragon and wins her hand. Tired of being a virgin, she decides to take matters into her own hands and kill the dragon herself, only to discover he's really a gorgeous guy under a curse. Jeweline is far from saccharine and the set-up is fun and hot. Bast serves the story well, and this one is by far my favorite of the bunch.

Story #2 is Charlotte Boyett-Compo's "Sting of the Wind." I'll admit upfront I'm not a fan of this particular author. I've read other work by her and found it melodramatic and overwrought. This was just more of the same, about a woman who's the human assistant to a vampire and his do-gooding corporation. Not my style.

Lena Matthews' "Temperature Rising" is an interracial romance between Danner and his best friend's little sister. It's typical Matthews' style, with little actual plot but plenty of steamy action. It delivers exactly what it promises.

My surprise read of the bunch was "Virtuosity" by Kris Starr. This was one of the authors I'd never read before, and I was surprised to find a slightly melancholy story of loss as a widow struggles to move on from her husband's death. It's set in the future, and the widow in question is a skilled starship captain, but even as she begins to explore her options by trying out the pleasure programs on the Holosuite, there's a sense of universality about her characters emotions that makes it not only relatable but a poignant read.

The story that disappointed me the most was "Shadows Stir" by NJ Walters. I'm a huge fan of the author, but the more I read of her, the more I think I'm more a fan of her contemporary work than her paranormal. This is a story of love at first sight/know your true mate without any logical reason/save the future of a dying race through magic children kind of story. It's not my thing, and unfortunately, not even an author I love could sell it to me.

The anthology doesn't end well with Ravyn Wilde's "Passionflower." This scifi is about a woman who gets kidnapped by an alien for mating purposes, chosen *specifically* because she's plus-sized and can thus accommodate his larger size and greater strength. Turns out, he also has extra endowments, which push the story so far into the realm of the absurd that I can only laugh at any attempt to take this story seriously. Oh, and the alien's name is M'ike. Because, of course, an apostrophe automatically makes a name exotic.

Not a keeper for me, not even for the stories I did enjoy.