L

• Marilyn Lee

  • Bloodlust II: The Taming of Serge Dumont

  • The Tailsman

• Shannon Leigh

  • Immortal Desire

  • More than Prophecy

   

Marilyn Lee

Bloodlust II: The Taming of Serge Dumont 
By Marilyn Lee
Ellora's Cave 
Copyright 2002
ISBN: #1-84360-105-2
SERIES: "Bloodlust" 
Genre: Vampire Romance Erotica
Available in eBook from www.ellorascave.com

Marilyn Lee's BLOODLUST II: TAMING OF SERGE expands on her short story, BLOODLUST I, from the anthology, THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT. 

Once Serge Dumont saw Derri Morgan, no other woman would do for him, he had to have her, for she is his bloodlust, the one woman destined to drive a vampire male made with desire, his perfect mate. Their first meeting does not go well, when she mistakes him for the man stalking her. She then brushed him off, calling him a Frat boy, telling him to acquire some finesse and call her when he grows up. Being rejected is a new experience of Serge, whose devastatingly good looks and huge cock has gotten him his pick of women.

Derri's boss has hired Dumont Security to protect her from the stalker. From the moment Derri is introduced to Mihkal, Serge's older brother, she finds herself very attracted. When her boss suggests that she and Mihkal spend some time at the company's isolated mountain cabin, she readily agrees.

That night Derri has a vivid dream in which she is being pursued by a vampire, who catches her and starts to rape her, when her Frat Boy appears and drives him away. Believing that she is still dreaming, she comes on to Serge, but when she calls him Mikhel, Serge becomes jealous and loses his erection just like the college boy she thinks he is. Still thinking she is dreaming she seduces him and sucks his cock, enjoying her dream. The next morning she learns it wasn't a dream and is very mad.

Serge tries to explain that he loves her, that they are fated because they can hear each others thoughts, but in the end Derri cruelly rejects him. Hurt, Serge leaves. Derri bitterly regrets her words and finds that Mikhal is angry at her for hurt his brother. 

Serge runs home to his family, but following his father's advice returns. Derri and Serge make up with great passion. She finds herself falling in love with Serge. Then something happens to change him, he begins to behave strangely, for having found his bloodlust, he sickens, his personality changes, as he moves from being a half blood to a full blood vampire. The condition, something like the Vulcan Pon Far, that they call the Feast of Indulgence, threatens Serge's life, making him lose control of his mind and body, lusting for sex and blood. He and Derri argue, he cruelly rejects her and leaves her to another Vampire, Alex. How can she ever forgive him? Will Alex claim her as his own? And what about the vampire who is still stalking her? 

I found Marilyn's story complex enough to hold my interest, the sex really hot, and the vampires fascinating. I eagerly look forward to more stories in the series.

Reviewed by Linda Suzane, July 13, 2002

The Talisman is a romance with plenty of eroticism. It is also a fantasy about a couple of magical talismans. 

Cassy Thompson is attracted to Chandler Raven from the first moment she lays eyes on him, when he interviews her for a job with his electronics firm. She finds herself fantasizing about the man, dreaming increasingly erotic dreams, which she blames on the talisman which was given to her by her grandmother. Legend has it, that the talisman, if used properly, will bring a love like no other. Used improperly, it will bring a lifetime of grief. The power of the talisman frightens her, just as much as the apparent aliveness of the small figurine of a couple having anal sex. At times, Cassy can hear them fucking, even see the statues move.

Cassy believes she has no chance of attracting Chandler without using the talisman and yet she is unwilling to do that. She doesn't realize that the attraction is mutual, that Chandler too has been dreaming of her and finds her increasingly in his thoughts. Chandler has his own talisman, an Ebony Venus, that was handed down from his great grandfather, who left behind a Creole lover, when he moved north, and always regretted it.

The power of the two talismans brings them together, and they find themselves expressing the love that belonged to their great grandparents, talking in French, remembering the long distant past. Can they find their own love, or is it merely the spirit of two long dead ancestors, Marie and Philippe. Even more important, can they overcome the taboo of interracial dating and marriage, which was what tore their great grandparents apart, for Cassy is a black woman and Chandler is white.

Marilyn Lee has created an interesting story, with lots of great sex scenes, and she has tackled a couple of tough topics with great understanding. The Talisman is a very different story from what I expected.

Reviewed by Linda Suzane, July 23, 2002

Shannon Leigh

Immortal Desire
By Shannon Leigh
Published by DLSIJ Press
www.dlsijpress.com
http://www.dlsijpress.com/leigh/index.sh...
Copyright 2002
ISBN # 1-928973-55-8
eBook
Genre: Vampire Romance Erotica

I was expecting a Vampire romance, but Shannon Leigh’s IMMORTAL DESIRE is more vampire erotica than romance. It is more the story of the power an abuser has over his victim, even after the victim escapes the abuser, than a love story. It is the story of Elizabeth Debonaie, a young innocent, whose fate takes her into the path of Adrien, who transforms her and becomes bound to her for all eternity.

When Adrien sees Elizabeth, something is awaken in his cold inhuman nature. He pursues her and when she is attacked by two men, he savagely kills her attackers. Seeing him for the monster he is, she flees, but he follows, traps her, seduces her.

Passion flairs in her virginal self as he holds and caresses her. Part of her fears him, part of her longs for him, and it is the longing that wins out, as she offers herself to him. As he drinks her sweet elixir, something happens within Adrien’s cold soul, she touches him as no other. She bites his lip, taking a small drop of blood that he does not even notice. He leaves her to die a quiet death, walking away from her, knowing she would rather have death than his cold existence. He walks away, but soon comes running back, knowing he can’t be without her, but she is gone. Lost to him.

He thinks her dead, and yet he continues to hunt her, for she haunts his days, invading his dreams, and tortures his nights with thoughts of her and passionate longing.

Elizabeth wakens to the horror of what she has becoming. She finds herself a murderer and the captive of the handsome vampire Mikel, Adrien’s arch enemy. Mikel sets out to tame the feisty Elizabeth, to use her as a weapon against Adrien. Though she can’t get the image and passion of Adrien out of her mind, it is Mikel who takes her virginity and introduces her to the world of pleasure.

Mikel has much reason to hate Adrien, for it was Adrien who brought Mikel across. It was Adrien who manipulated Mikel into killing his own wife in the first thirst of blood hunger. But most of all Mikel hates Adrien for the death of LeeAnn, a prostitute that Mikel fell in love with. Even when Elizabeth offers him understanding and tears for his pain, he can’t forgive or love. His hatred has warped and changed him into a monster. He can only use her to hurt Adrien, trying to convince her that she has reason to fear and hate Adrien, who continues to haunt her thoughts even she haunts his.

Mikel is the typical abuser, controlling, manipulative, possessive, alternating between brutal beatings and loving attention. As weeks turn into years, he destroys Elizabeth’s confidence, instilling in her a fear and hatred of not only himself but Adrien. Finally driven to escape, she flees naked, with Mikel chasing her. Luck would have it, Adrien sees her and stops Mikel. They fight and Adrien leaves Mikel badly beaten but alive as he goes off to find his love. Before he can claim the woman that he has hunted for all these years, fate steps in and separates them. Elizabeth is kidnapped and placed aboard a boat bound for America.

Now that Adrien knows Elizabeth is alive, he is determined to find her, no matter how long it takes. For his connection with her has changed him. He is no longer the uncaring monster tortured by his lonely existence. He takes the next boat to America.

Mikel is equally determined to recover what he now considers his possession and follows.

So Elizabeth is pursued relentlessly by both Mikel and Adrien. Who will find her, Mikel or Adrien, and what will happen when they do?

This book certainly didn’t fall into the typical romance storyline. It is definitely more about compulsion and obsession than love, so if you are looking for a sappy romance you are going to be disappointed. But the characters are interesting, with a lot of psychological depth. It is a chilling study of spousal abuse, even if Mikel and Elizabeth aren’t married. There is plenty of sex, and while some if it is loving, much of it borders on sado-masochistic as Mikel keeps Elizabeth captive, trying to break her will. Then there is the relationship between Adrien and Elizabeth. Can it become true love?

I enjoyed IMMORTAL DESIRES for its differences. If I had one complaint was that the setting and time period were too generic. It was supposed to take place in Paris, but there wasn’t any real sense of that city. I had problems with the language sounding too modern for what felt like a mid-18th century story, bustles and corsets, tavern wenches, sailing ships. There were other inconsistencies, like a book of photographic illustrations. When I went back I found a time date at the beginning of the story that I had missed. The story was supposed to take place in 1900, so perhaps the photographs and the language weren’t so out of place, but as I said the setting was rather generic and set up some expectations in my mind that put it much earlier than 1900.

As for the vampires, there was very little different from the run of the mill vampire, blood hunger that usually kills their victims, sensitivity to sun, strength and quick healing, and the warped dark existence. One drop of a vampires blood is enough to transform you into a vampire. No, the interest in these vampires is in their complex psychological make-up.

Reviewed by Linda Suzane, first published Suite101.com November 14, 2002. Check out Suite101.com for Author Interview.

Available in eBook from http://www.dlsijpress.com/leigh/index.shtml

A rather old and trite tale. Someone from our modern world is magically transported to a primitive world. If the person is male, invariably he becomes a great warrior, a champion who saves the world. If a female, she is kidnaped and ravished by an arrogant, virile barbarian warrior, whom she falls desperately in love with despite the overbearing way he treats her.

MORE THAN PROPHECY begins just that way. Cheyenne finds herself on Zander in the hands of a exquisitely handsome, but extremely arrogant barbarian. In a world where women are considered possessions to be fought over, Cheyenne struggles to keep her virginity and her self respect, all the while succumbing to Darian’s irresistible attraction.

If you are one of those lovers of romance where the two characters fall instantly in love, then spend most of the book fighting their attraction and being hurt over silly misunderstandings, then you will find MORE THAN PROPHECY just the kind of book you enjoy, with no surprises. Well, maybe some.

After what I considered an overly typical, albeit romantic beginning, the story takes off as Cheyenne finds herself kidnaped and threatened with rape, more than once, and of course rescued. When she and Darian finally get all those silly misunderstandings out of the way and acknowledge that they love each other, then the story gets interesting. For it has been prophesied that a girl from Earth, bearing a mark (her tattoo), will give birth to a great leader that will end the fighting between the clans. Now every clan leader wants to bed her and sire her child. Can she and Darian somehow manage to make sure that it is the only man that she truly loves who will win her?

Shannon Leigh has done a good job at adding an interesting twist to the old classic storyline. She definitely has enough romance in this book to satisfy the romance lovers, spunky heroine, macho pigheaded males, and gobs of sexual tension. If the fantasy world is a little shop-worn and the reliance on prophecy a little too contrived, it is still a romance novel in all its glory.

Reviewed by Linda Suzane, February 21, 2005

Available from http://www.amberquill.com/MoreThanProphecy.html

Also available from  Amazon.com