Customer Reviews

Wicked Pleasure (The Castle of Dark Dreams Trilogy, Book 2)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Wicked Pleasure is the second novel of a trilogy based on three- well...wicked brothers. (Wicked yummy, that is!)

Set in Galveston, at the Castle of Dark Dreams, where any human fantasy can be fulfilled, this novel is about our hero: Brynn McNair, a demon, and our heroine: Kim Vaughn, a demon-hunter. (Of the famous and lethal demon-hunting Vaughn family.) Conflicts? You bet!

500 years ago Brynn became the victim of a little cosmic mischief making, and ever since he's been (wait for it...) a sex slave. I'm not kidding! If he's with a woman for a certain amount of time he becomes overwhelmed with a compulsion to strip off his clothes and offer himself to her- anyway she wants for however long she wants!

What's wrong with that, you ask? Well, there's a big difference between wanting to make love to a woman and having to make love with all women. For 500 years Brynn's been servicing women who simply see the bod and not the mind and man underneath. He can never be satisfied- only her. We meet him when he's exceptionally skilled, but bitter, raging and helpless to stop this cycle. The compulsion won't allow him to avoid women or turn down any request- even from an 80 year old!

Enter Kim Vaughn. a demon hunter who'd prefer to be an architect; a normal human who simply wants an ordinary life with an ordinary husband and 2.4 kids in a nice, quiet suburban town. Instead, she's stuck with a demon detector- a small camerca cell phone-type thing, which everyone in her hunting family thinks is an unsuccessful prototype. All Kim knows is her machine, named Fo, is almost AI-like, with the curiosity and emotions of a human. Too bad Fo screams "Demon! Kill him!" at everyone Kim meets- even the president of the United States.

As you'd expect, Fo goes on Defcon-5 alert when Kim checks into the Castle of Dark Dreams and encounters demons, vampires, ancient warriors, talking cats, plants that bloom from other people's sexual energy, and oh yes- those crazy cosmic mischief-makers Sparkle Stardust and Ganymede. A small but merry band of paranormal friends.

As the plot twists and turns into ever murkier depths, a portal from Hell opens, spilling out battalions of demons who quickly begin possessing human bodies and taking over Gaveston. The paranormal friends know they can't battle this without the help of Kim's ruthless demon-hunting extended family. But to bring them into the picture is to put Brynn's life in hopeless danger. Their modernistic demon detectors will surely out him as the demon he is.

Will Kim come to terms with Brynn as a demon? Will she get over the fact he's going to have sex with another woman whether he likes to or not? Will Brynn ever see women as anything but loathsome users? And what happens to both of them when Mr. Ordinary, Kim's dream come true, checks into the hotel and asks her out? Will the demons take over Galveston today and the country tomorrow? Do the Vaughn's state-of-art demon detectors capture as much as little Fo does?

I can answer all those questions this way: BUY THIS BOOK!
A fun, quirky, fast read. Nina has a terrific voice, and hot, hot sex scenes.
Not critical to read Wicked Night (the first in the trilogy, 2005) to understand what happens here, but I'd definitely put it on my To-Read-ASAP list if I were you.
Great job, Nina!
Sarah Andre

Nina Bangs is back with her second tale in the Wicked series, and it's wicked fun from start to finish. The premise is three brothers own the Castle of Dark Dreams. Sort of a sexual Fantasy Island in an amusement park, but without the annoying midget screaming, "Da Plane! Da Plane!" This brother, Brynn McNair, must contend with Kim Vaughn. And sparks do fly.

Poor Brynn, for five centuries he's a been a sex slave (pity that). No matter who the woman is, when he's alone with her, he wants to get down to the bare necessities and do the wild thang. The piteous lad has been playing super stud for women who love his sexy body, but don't look beyond, and it's all a tad bit tedious. What is worse, while he pleasures his current lady, he gains no satisfaction. Guess he's been listening to that old Stones tune...."I can't get no...." This makes our lad a wee bit testy, as you can imagine. I mean, five hundred years and not once? Poor chap! Only, while the spirit refuses, the body is able...more than able. Any female, even sagging granny (oooHHH don't go there!!) can have her wicked way with him.

Kim is the black sheep in her family, and has rebelled against the family tradition of being demon-hunters. She's refused to follow in the family trade, and instead has becoming an architect. She worships at the idol of suburban soccer mums. Only, it is hard to lead an ordinary life when you own a demon-detector, basically a cell phone that comes with more than any Verizon blower promises. The family dismissed it as no good, but Kim loved the personality-riddled IA talkie, despite is demon-alert-warning going off at the most inconvenient times. Since Kim has been hired to make additions to Castle of Dark Dreams, you know she is going to run afoul of Brynn and he is going to want to bring her a higher love...uh hun...

Bangs once again pens a side-splitting, sexy tale that dazzles and delights and leaves you hungry for the third installment.

I love Nina Bangs "Really Wicked Brothers trilogy". This second book deals with Byron who is a demon. He is under a curse that has trapped him into sexual enslavement. After 100's of year's of having to have to fulfill women needs, and not having a choice in the matter is a fate worse then death.
Kim has her own curse she was born into a family of demon hunter's. She doesn't agree to the Vaughn motto "kill them all" when it comes to demon's. She knows that all entities with the name "demon" aren't all evil, but her family ignores that. Kim as come to Castle of Dark Dreams, but not to hunt demons as her family believes. She has some dreams of her own.
But the best character so far is Fo. Fo is a demon detector that looks like a camera phone. At one time Kim's family were able to use their sensitivity to find demonic beings, but over time lost that ability. So they created demon detectors. Fo is the first, and her creature died after making her. But Fo is more then just a piece of technology she is one of a kind and Kim is beginning to see this more and more.

Nina Bangs makes it real. Makes it seem possible. And I for one would love to visit Castle of Dark Dreams and see what dreams it holds for me.

Nina Bangs continues to dazzle readers with her splendid blend of paranormal romance and humor!

Kim Vaughn comes from a long line of demon slayers but she wants nothing more than an ordinary life. She arrives at the Castle of Dark Dreams for work as an architect accompanied by Fo, her sentient electronic demon protector. Little does she expect to meet a real demon, Brynn McNair, never mind work with him to prevent Galveston from being overrun by demons!

Brynn has been cursed for many centuries as a demon of desire. After being in a woman's presence for an hour, he is forced to offer his body to the woman. He hasn't desired a woman in all this time- but of course, that is because he hasn't met Kim Vaughn!

WICKED PLEASURE is a spectacular return to the Castle of Dark Dreams. Sparkle Stardust is once again stirring up trouble as she can't resist the lure of matchmaking two more opposing people than a demon and a demon slayer. Nina Bangs is simply a genius with her characters as she manages to keep continuing characters such as Sparkle appear new and entertaining. Sparkle would seem one-dimensional due to her focus on all things sensual but Ms. Bangs has instead developed a multidimensional character that all are sure to love.

Fo steals the show, however! She looks somewhat like a cell phone but has big purple eyes outlined in neon pink. Fo wants to be human and her attempts to learn about human behavior are hilarious. Fo is an exceptional sidekick and it is easy to forget that she is not human as Nina Bangs does a fantastic job of humanizing her.

Readers will thoroughly enjoy Nina Bang's style as WICKED PLEASURE is nothing short of enthralling! This second installment about the three brothers is even better than the first, WICKED NIGHTS, and is guaranteed to garner Ms. Bangs some new fans. The excellent combination of humor, romance, and action make WICKED PLEASURE a wickedly fun read!

What a fun and fast paced read from Nina Bangs! I was eagerly awaiting this second book in the Wicked Brothers Trilogy and I wasn't disappointed. I like the fact that this was a *lighter* paranormal romance full of humor, interesting secondary characters and yummy sex. I can't wait for the last tale about Conall the Immortal Warrior brother.

This is the second book in Bangs' "Wicked" series. Like the other books it involves her two favorite cosmic troublemakers Sparkle Stardust and Ganymede. In short, Brynn McNair is one of the "brothers" in the Castle of Dark Dreams. He is a demon of sexual enslavement. If he is with a woman for an hour he must offer her is body(which he hates). Kim Vaughn is a demon hunter with a cute "demon destroyer" called Fo(who seems all too human). She believes she just wants an ordinary man to live an ordinary life, but she changes her mind after meeting Brynn. Very funny, wery wicked, and very creative!! The only reason I gave this book four stars instead of five was because I couldn't give it four and a half stars. Happy reading!!

Nina is a wonderful author and I love her books, I thought this one was great and the fact that she dedicated this book to her bestfriends husband, as a nice thing to do for what a great guy. I can't wait for Conall's story does he make it with the cat????

Kim Vaughn chose architecture as a means to avoid being part of her family's vocation, demon hunting. Instead she wants a normal lifestyle so she is euphoric when she is chosen to design Castle of Dark Dreams, an adult theme park in Galveston. However, her kin is upset that she will be safe out in the real world without them so to appease them and insure they do not provide escorts and bodyguards she brings with her all propose demon detection- deadly weapon and of course cell phone "Fo".

Demon Brynn McNair detests that most of his five centuries of life is consumed with being a sex toy for women. At the same time that Fo claims that everyone who comes into contact with Kim is a demon, she finds herself attracted to Brynn, who sends Fo's detecting devices off the scale. He feels the same way, but assumes she is just another abuser-user while she wonders if he might just be a sex enticing demon.

WICKED pleasure is another terrific Nina Bangs humorous action-packed paranormal romance showcasing star-crossed lovers whose relationship is taboo by both their species as Kim's family hunts down Brynn's people. As always the storyline is loaded with suspense yet filled with amusement and sex. Readers will enjoy this wicked tale and look forward to the final tale starring the immortal warrior sibling.

Harriet Klausner

This story was interesting. It wasn't the 'page turner'that I had expected. Previous reviews were really great. It wasn't as steamy as other reviews made it out to be. It was too odd for my taste, too. I didn't really enjoy reading about a cosmic trouble maker that owns a candy store, telepathic cats and demon dectectors that have human desires. I'd read this story because there was a Castle of Dark Dreams story in the Men at Work book was really steamy. I had thought that this one would be similar but it didn't live up to my expectations

I found this book lacking depth with regards to the intimacy between the two characters. I found the characters one-dimensional and vapid. Between the plants that only bloom/shrivel depending on the surrounding sexual tension, the talking cats, and the goober-dude uncle who trades his soul to the devil so he can win every fishing tournament ---- this book was super-lame.

I thought this would be a good read because of the Christine Feehan quote on the front of the book that says, "Nina Bangs delivers!". After reading it, I'm wondering what Bangs delivers.

The reason I give this a C- is that you can read through it. It has a plot and there were no major printing or proofreading snafus. As to the content, I think it was lacking significantly. I was seriously annoyed at the mention of designer clothing in every chapter. There was more discussion on Manolo Blahniks than there was character development.

Due to this book, I am avoiding any future books by this author.