10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic, June 21, 2009
Fasten your metaphorical seatbelts, readers, when you pick up DARK ENCHANTMENT you are in for a bumpy ride! I am a voracious reader, but this collection of short stories by Janine Ashbless took me a couple of weeks to read. That's because I could only handle one story per night. Why? Because each is a unique, finely crafted, sexy, kinky piece that demands to be savoured. This is a collection that should not be rushed.
DARK ENCHANTMENT is a collection of paranormal stories. Within the genre, Ms. Ashbless has explored the future, the past, the present, the imagined future, the mythical past, the mythical present (!) the fantastical past...well, she has truly explored the genre of `Paranormal' excepting werewolves and vampires. Imagine that, if you will.
The stories:
Dishonour - Raihn is third concubine to Lord General Mershen. "This is a story about Lord Mershen. I want you to hear it."
Pique Dame - A ghost story that takes place at the opera, as the stars of the show fight their desire for each other.
And Their Flying Machines - Futuristic tale about a female ornithopter pilot and the gruff but sexy Chief Engineer McGregor. This could be the story that gets Janine accused of writing rape fantasies, although it's only fair to add that it's actually a love story.
Ruby Seeds - The retelling of a myth in all its original sexiness. More almost rape, although again it's only fair to add that in the original myth it IS rape. This one is also a love story.
Cold Hands: Warm Heart - Your classic ghost story, only sexed up to the max.
The Scent of Hawthorn - A Knight meets his match in the form of a Dryad.
Chimaera - Honeymooners acquire a third, whether they like it or not, who demands satisfaction before he will depart.
Scratch - Even God can't protect her from her past forever, nor can her husband. When her previous master visits, all hell breaks out.
The Red Thread - She's the only one brave enough to face the monster in the basement, until the Prince of Athens appears.
Janissaries - Eight robust warriors and one abject slave girl. Can she satisfy them all? She'd better...
Darkling I Listen - A girl passes the time by telling a ghoul an X-rated fairy tale.
Every one of these stories is elegantly written. This is the latest book for Janine, and it showcases her imagination and her talent as a writer. She's in top form.
My favourites in the collection are: 'Chimaera', for the writing, 'Cold Hands: Warm Heart', because it was so scary it made me shudder even while it turned me on, and, again, for the writing, 'Scratch', for the filthy sex in a Godly home, 'The Red Thread', for the filthy sex and imaginative prose, and 'Janissaries', which does something I've always wanted to do but didn't know how - rivals the chapter in THE STORY OF O that deals with O's first night at Roissy.
The sex in all the stories is explicit, exotic and exciting. A lot of it is rough, most of it is kinky, there's a goodly amount of m/f/m tossed in with your m/f, and plenty of voyeurism. Each story, need I add, reaches a wholly satisfying bone-melting climax. Also, many of the stories are romantic and the women in all of them know what they want and how to get it. These are, by and large, feminist fantasies.
As a writer of erotica, I admire Janine's work to the point of envy. So I must switch gears and consider her stories from the perspective of, as author Alice Munro puts it, `the careful reader.' As a careful reader, I strongly recommend
Dark Enchantment (Paranormal Erotic Romance).
Ms Ashbless is at the peak of her powers. This anthology is dark, absolutely. It is also truly enchanting.
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