Customer Reviews

Strictly Taboo

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Three short stories make up the content of this rather average read by one of today's hottest romance authors.

In the story "Barbarian" Lady Elen of Godeuart has been taken captive by Ivar. At one time these two were betrothed but Elen is not aware of this and when Ivar makes a claim to her she thinks he is out of his mind. But what happens when Elen starts to feel something for her Viking master?

In the story "Nemesis" Diane needs to rethink her plans regarding her decision to take a cruise on the Rhine as waitress in the buff especially when her high school nemesis boards the ship. Now Diane needs to deal with Garek Ennis and the feelings he makes her feel.

In the story "Naught Nancy" Nancy Lombardo dresses up as Xena for a Halloween party but this is not just any kind of party. She is about to be swept off her feet by a witch and their destination is a planet that is not earth. And their mutual attraction is out of this world.

Sadly these three stories are only average and not what most readers expect from Ms. Black. There is very little romance and the execution of these stories leaves them stiff and instead of sizzling heat...the heat here fizzles. Ms. Black is capable of much better fare and if you are new to this talented author I encourage you to pick up some of her pervious titles.

Strictly Taboo is composed of three stories set in the past, present, and future.

In Barbarian, Lady Elen of Godeuart is captured, along with her injured brother Lothar, by the Viking, Ivar. Ivar has vowed revenge on Elen after she masterminded an attack against his men. His revenge is to make her his slave and keep her in his bed. He doesn't plan on falling in love.

Nemesis finds Diane Sullivan second-guessing her week-long job on the Carnal Voyage cruise when she spies Garek Ennis, her nemesis from high school, boarding. Garek has long harbored lust for Diane and now he plans to act on that.

And finally in Naughty Nancy, Nancy Lombardo, dressed as Xena for a Halloween party, finds herself whisked away to a faraway planet by a mysterious witch. Mistaken identity has a shape-shifting alien lusting after her. Naughty Nancy is set in Jaid Black's Trek Mi Q'an series universe and was previously released in a now out-of-print ebook anthology.

Unfortunately, as much as these stories sound interesting, they just aren't up to snuff. Barbarian consists of cardboard characters who are little different from every other Viking romance out there. And while the explicit language is consistent with an erotic romance, there's actually little romance or sex. Yes, it's short, but I still expect some sexual tension in an erotic romance. Lady Elen plays the stereotypical virginal heroine and one wonders just what is so different about her that makes Ivar want her and only her. It's certainly not explained in the story.

Nemesis was my favorite and while it's still not as erotic as I expected, it's still an enjoyable short story.

Naughty Nancy is certainly unique. It has a shape-shifting hero who looks like a gargoyle and thinks the heroine is an animal who feeds on ejaculate. And he's only too happy to oblige what he thinks is a starving animal. It's certainly humorous in a campy way, but I didn't really believe in the romance. Too much of it depended on changes she had no control over (don't want to veer too much into spoiler territory).

So, I can't really recommend this one unless you are a die-hard Jaid Black fan. If you're looking for a good erotic romance filled with intensity, sexual tension, romance and well-written sex scenes, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.

To use the publisher's words, this is a "paranormal collection of three sexy, original stories of men who are totally off-limits", a bit misleading as only the third one can be described as paranormal; the first story is set in the past and the second in the present, with no paranormal elements.

In "Barabrian", Lady Elen of Godeuart's home is besieged by Vikings, but her ingeniousness saves it. Ivar Hrolf is incensed by her defensive maneuver (it maimed some Vikings...), the next night he steals into her home and kidnaps her to make her his bed slave. I tell no more of this story, you go read it. Worth it!

As for "Nemesis", well, it is worth it also! Diane Sullivan, after 11 years of unsuccessfully trying to be an actress, has decided to move on to something else with her small daughter. To start this new life on the right foot however, she needs money, so she signs up as a waitress on a cruise ship, for one cruise... which pays so well because she has to be naked for the whole trip. But it's ok: as long as she doesn't have to sleep with anyone she doesn't want to, she's all right. All right that is, until Garek Ennis boards the ship, the Garek Ennis who tormented her in high school, the Garek Ennis she had such a big crush on despite his being so nasty. As for Garek's reaction when he sees her... no, I shall tell no more of it either. Go read it too!

"Naughty Nancy" was my favorite story of this book, mainly because of Vorik F'al Vader, eighteen-years-old and a Khan-Gori newly full-grown, so eager for his first yenni hunt!(yenni=luscious and stupid female animal whose food is male seed...) Although the beginning of the story is awkward and the seventh dimension could use a bit more description, the shape-changing predator who find Nancy there is just too cute/funny!

I first came accross JB in the "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down" and "Palying Easy To Get" anthologies; I bought them for Sherrilyn Kenyon, but it's J. Black stories which ended up being my favorites. Despite sketchy worlds and holey plots, I really ENJOY her writing: her heroines are strong, resourceful and thoughtful; as for her heroes... I want one! They're tender, strong **darn it, is there any way to write this without sounding soppy and cliché?!?** and cute, an excellent counterpart to the heroines. (Better yet, we don't feel they're wasted on them!)

This book includes three stories, all by Jaid Black:

5 stars for NAUGHTY NANCY.
This is part of the Trek Mi Q'an series.
Loved it. There was one scene that had me laughing so hard I almost had tears in my eyes. It was when Vorik first meets Nancy and he is trying to get her to eat.

Story Brief:
Nancy is an attorney who gets transported to the planet Khan-Gor inhabited by kor-tars. Kor-tars shape shift between looking like gargoyles and humans. Vorik initially thinks she is a yenni and later discovers she is human and his blood mate. Vorik is the son of Yorin and Jana whom we met in book 4 titled "No Escape."

Data:
Sexual language: erotic. Number of sex scenes: nine. Setting: current day earth and 6067 Yessat Years planet Khan-Gor. Copyright: 2005. Genre: erotic paranormal science fiction romance.


4 stars for NEMESIS.
Good story. It wasn't her best work, but it was enjoyable. Diane gets a job on a cruise ship for $10,000. She must be naked for one week, as a waitress, masseuse, etc. She is a failed actress and will use the money to leave California and start over in Ohio. Her teenage crush Garek happens to be on the cruise. He is a football star who just retired due to an injury.

The sex scene on page 152 was nominated for the November 2005 Henry Miller award by Nerve magazine for the best literary sex scene written in the English language.

Data:
Sexual language: erotic. Number of sex scenes: three. Setting: present day Germany and Holland. Copyright: 2005. Genre: erotic contemporary romance.


3 stars for BARBARIAN.
Nice story, typical romance novel with hot sex. A Viking warrior attacks English lands. He sees Lady Elen and wants her. He captures her and tells her she will be his slave. I wasn't wowed, but it was nice.

Data:
Sexual language: erotic. Number of sex scenes: seven. Setting: 878 AD England. Copyright: 2005. Genre: erotic historical romance.


OTHER BOOKS:
For a list of my reviews of other Jaid Black books, see my 5 star review of "One Dark Night" posted 4/2/08.

"Naughty Nancy". Nancy Lombardo vows to be the belle of the Halloween party as she has lost weight, shed the spectacles, and will hide her brain behind Xena Warrior Woman. An ancient looking crone comes out of nowhere frightening Nancy predicting a long journey. Something weird occurs and she finds herself lost and naked in the home of Vorik Fa Vader. He expects his yenni "guest" to make love 24/7 gargoyle style.

"Nemesis". For thirteen years Diane Sullivan tried to make it as an actress in Hollywood, but failed. What hurts as much is fellow Buckeye Garek Ennis, a bully, made it big in football. Now that is water under the bridge, her first concern is now her six years old daughter Jenna, whose father rejected her before she was born. For her is why Diane is on the Rhine about to earn money and perhaps have sex on the Carnal Voyage. Garek is on board too feeling self-pity as his career is over. Then he sees Diane.

"Barbarian". In 878, when the Northmen attack their Wessex keep, Lothar Godeuart leads the counter attack but dies in the ensuing battle. His sister Lady Elen loathes the Vikings who are divided over this attack. Warlord Amund prefers settling with is people in Mercia as part of the deal with King Alfred, but agrees to help Ivar get his "love slave" Lady Elen, who he holds culpable for traitorous acts against him. Instead Amund wants Elen at his side as his equal even though she belongs to Ivar who makes her feel like a woman.

These are three torrid tales that are dramatically different from one another, but showcase the vast talent of a wonderful author.

Harriet Klausner

This book was boring and predictable. I was actually annoyed that I bought it.

Dont know why it was rated low but i didn't think it was that bad, thats why i didn't almost get it.

* The first story liked it but took too long to get to the point, its a short story so get to the point.

* The second story liked it but not how it ended it felt like something was missing, liked the concept of the story though.

* Third LOVED IT. It was great reading about Yorin & Jana's son if you haven't read Jaid Trek series then you will be lost understanding the book or might not like it, the series is good would recommend.

This is an anthology of erotic romance, in 3 different sub-genres (sub-sub-genres?), with the connection of the couples being off-limits to each other in some way.

*** "Barbarian". Historical.

Viking Ivar is attacking Lady Elen's castle. Her father's been killed, and all seems lost, until she takes charge and repels the invaders. So Ivar vows revenge on the woman who dares to defy him, and when he does conquer the castle, he takes Lady Elen, planning on making her his bed slave.

Pretty standard stuff, but then about halfway through, it's a different story, and Ivar's only claiming Lady Elen because her father had promised him her hand and Lady Elen refused the match. Huh? No, it's not a paranormal parallel world story--it's just that Ivar's motivation abruptly changes in the middle of the story. Because a novella is so long it needs more than one plot?

**** "Nemesis". Contemporary.

Failed actress Diane has come up with a way to give herself and her child a new start: a week as a nude waitress/whatever on a cruise ship. Just one week, and she'll earn enough money to get them settled back in her home town, and nobody will ever need to know about it.

Except that her high school nemesis, Garek Ennis, now a football star, is on board. (cue dramatic music)

An injury has curtailed Garek's football career, and even womanizing is getting boring--all those naked women leave him cold, except for Diane, who he's always had a thing for, but who snubbed him back in high school.

Lots of contrived (by the characters) situations for them to get intimate, lots of misunderstandings and hurt feelings on both sides.

Cute story, as far as it went, but I had trouble believing the characters and I couldn't really buy the premise. Plus, the cruise ship is in Germany for no good reason, and the hero complains about weak German beer. The American hero. Complained about weak German beer. Uh-huh. **headdesk**


****½ "Naughty Nancy". Paranormal.

This one was just fun. You really have to suspend disbelief for it, though.

Nancy dresses as Xena for a Halloween party, and a witch ends up whisking her into another dimension. She ends up in a nest that's perched reeeeaaaallly high up on a skinny pedestal (no way to get down).

Vorik F'al Vader is a shapeshifter (sort of gargoyle-shaped and human-shaped), and apparently, screaming "help me!" sounds exactly like the cry of a hungry yenni, a not-very-bright creature whose food is the shapershifters' ejaculate. And coincidentally, they look quite a lot like human women, except they have metallic tails (hence the Xena costume, with its sword that in the dim light, he mistakes for a tail--don't quibble, just go with it).

Unsurprisingly, there's quite a lot of oral sex in this one, but it goes on from there. It's a very nice blend of hot sex scenes and laugh-aloud humor. Vorik's confusion and concern for the poor yenni who was so hungry she couldn't eat cracked me up. The romance part worked itself out quite satisfactorily, too, despite the couple's inauspicious beginning.
_____

I thought I'd bought this because I'd read something else by Jaid Black, but nothing on her website looks familiar, so it must have been a recommendation--a pretty strong one, too, since I bought this new. The first two stories didn't do much for me, but I think I may look up one of the Trek Mi Q'an books--any suggestions?

This book was an awesome read!I couldn't put the book down. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Wow, this is quite possibly the worst book I have ever read. I mean, the WORST. I have read a great many books. I do not speak lightly.

The self-proclaimed Jaid Black may well be a computer program, for all I can tell. Injudicious use of a thesaurus would seem to point in the direction of a non-thinking author, at least. Some time in the early writing process, for example, the computer had the 'idea' to substitute "the soonest" for "very soon." This was to make it fit better with medieval England, you see. I might have tolerated it once. Twice, even, I might have forgiven. Instead, it was used throughout!! Also, the construction "came on a" seems to have fascinated our little computer program. We see this over and over (and over and over) in such phrases as: "he came on a roar," and "she came on a sigh," "she came on a scream." This might have been an okay substitute for the more common "with" construction for part of the time, to mix things up a bit, as it were, but as a regular usage, it was irritating.

People who don't know what words mean shouldn't use them in sentences in published work. If a construction is too different, it may be wrong, or at least irritating. The "good parts," so to speak, were formulaic and often just silly. It's just not a good book. Save your money. There's a TON of good erotica out there. Read something else.