Review: 12 erotic tales of older heroes and the younger heroines who can't resist them
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 25, 2013
Overall this was one hot, HOT anthology! Some stories were better than others, but on the whole they were well-written. This anthology isn't your typical collection of shorts that feel like a chapter ripped out of a longer story. Each story was around four to five chapters long, so the majority of the stories had a decent character and plot development. The heroes were powerful men, both in bed and out, well endowed and cunning linguists. The majority of the stories had a few things in common: 1) virgin heroines 2) CEO heroes 3) older heroes and younger heroines. There was definitely something for everyone. A few mistakes here and there slipped through the cracks, but this book is still definitely worth getting. Out of the twelve stories, six of them were stand outs, in my opinion.My rating for each story was derived from my first impression after reading it, the overall comparison to the writing level/content of the other stories and lastly how memorable the story was or whether I would read it again.See my review on Goodreads for an extensive review on each story: [...]#1 The Billionaire's Florist by Stacey Espino - Elements: M/F, older hero, younger heroine - Rating: 3/5Karlee Jones is up to her eyeballs in debt. Getting the job to cater for a wedding is her saving grace, until the man she mistakes for the groom hits on her and shows her pleasures beyond her wildest imagination. Will her prejudice stand in her way of a HEA will the older billionaire?#2 The Proposal by Doris O'Connor - Elements: PNR, shifters, CEO - Rating: 3/5Interior designer Lara Butler is late for a business appointment. She's about to be really late when the smell of the sexy stranger in the elevator makes her salivate and want to jump his bones.#3 Seduced By the Millionaires by Shayla Colt - Elements: Interracial, ménage M/F/M, M/F, foreigners - Rating: 3.5/5Thirty-five year old Dmitry Arsenyev is a cleaner with the Russian mafia. He's tired and lonely. That is until he meets sweet and pure Lila. Twenty-two year old Lila has led a very sheltered life thanks to the preaching of her parents. She fled home to go to college in the big city. She works in the Arsenyev's club to put herself through college. The brothers are instantly drawn to her purity. She's like the light to their darkness, and they want her. An attack sends them into lock down, Lila included. Her life as she new it will never be the same.#4 Slave Driver by Lila Shaw - Elements: M/F, contemporary, friends to lovers, widow, humor - Rating: 4.5/5Thirty-three year old Kristy Kreem let herself go after the death of her husband nine months ago. On doctor's orders to get her health back up, she joins a gym. Not just any gym, but one known for the most grueling workouts at the hands of personal trainer Blake Smith. She's surprised that Blake is really BJ, the notorious bad boy she knew from high school and who stood her up for homecoming. Blake can't believe the goody two-shoes he once had a thing for in high school is in his gym. He never forgot her or the fact that she stood him up at homecoming. Maybe now that they're older they'll have a chance to explore that high school attraction and take things further.#5 A Whisper of Silk by London Saint James - Elements: First person POV, foreigner, M/F, virgin - Rating: 5/5Twenty-nine year old Luci Karins is reliable, predictable and boring. With no social life to speak of, she doesn't protest when her boss gives her a moment's notice to pack and jet off to Rio on a business trip. One night with a sexy stranger named Rafi leaves an impression on her. When she misses her dinner date the next night, she has no way of finding or contacting him. Once back in New York she can't forget the man or what could have been. Will they ever meet again or was their time destined to remain a one time only experience?#6 The Mobster's Promise by Sandra Bunino - Elements: Reunited lovers, M/F - Rating: 4/5Julia Hale is back in New York for an appeal hearing in the case of her father's murder two years ago. The last person she expects to see is Roarke Velasco. She blames him for her father's death, and she's still hurt that he let her go so easily. Now he's her bodyguard and constant shadow. She reluctantly puts up with him, but maybe all isn't as it seems.#7 Angels Incorporated by Katalyn Sage - Elements: M/F, fantasy, PNR, angels, virgin - Rating: 2/5Twenty-one year old Chloe Terranson is a third year college student working on the side as a barista. A regular and strangely persistent customer had been trying to talk her into modeling. She just may be desperate enough to do it now after getting laid off. When she meets the CEO of Angels Incorporated, Malcolm Thane, she feels a bone deep connection she can't explain.#8 Owning Desire by Nikki Prince - Elements: BBW, CEO, older hero, younger heroine, M/F, exhibitionism/voyeurism - Rating: 2.5/5Twenty-six year old Desiree Lawson has always been attracted to older men, especially her boss whom she's had a crush on for years, fourty-four year old Sterling McKenna. When he returns unexpectedly from a business trip and calls her into his office, she knows something is wrong. She nearly cost him a deal, and his brand of reprimand is a double-edged sword. He has a proposal in mind that could either fulfill her secret fantasies or cost her her job.#9 Virgin Territory by Eve Meridian - Elements: M/F, CEO, older hero, younger heroine, virgin - Rating: 4.5/5Twenty-eight year old Sabrina vowed never to end up like her mother - always in debt, always moving. No, she would not get involved with the opposite sex, but she couldn't help but notice her sexy boss. Forty-two year old CEO Drake Norton vowed never to get involved with an employee ever again. Not since his last lover accused him of sexual harassment in retaliation for ending their relationship. Will Sabrina let her guard down long enough to let a man in, and will Drake learn to trust his instincts again and end his loneliness?#10 Virgin Unbound by Persephone Jones - Elements: M/F, foreigner, professor/student relationship, virgin, dark, kink - Rating: 4.5/5Gertrude Tompkins has fallen for her professor, Dr. András Almássy. Of course, a man like him would never notice her, could never be interested in her. For her final exam in Sexuality in Literature, she wrote about one of her darkest fantasies. Not a problem since the essays were to be handed in anonymously. Professor Almássy has been pining for her and designed his entire course around the prospect of seducing her. Her story spurs him on to make his move and make her dark abduction fantasy and deflowering a reality.#11 Firemen on the Move by Giselle Renarde - Elements: M/F, interracial, older hero, younger heroine - Rating: 1/5Twenty-seven year old Bindi is secretly moving out of her parent's house while they're away on vacation. She hires a moving company to help her move her belongings. The movers are retired firemen. Having one of them help her put her bed together might figuratively blow her mind.#12 Running Mate by Jeremy Hosak - Elements: M/F, politician/intern - Rating: 4.5/5Senator Clark Crosby has the potential to not only become the youngest President but also the first single one. Heather Swift is an intern working on her master's degree. When he accidentally elbows her in the eye, he feels bad and they get to talking about his campaign. Impressed by her knowledge and competence, he hires her on as his new campaign manager. Their work relationship eventually evolves into a romantic one, but in true political mud-slinging fashion, the opposition threatens to tear them apart. Can their relationship survive the run for the White House?Overall, I'd give this anthology a 3.5 rounded up to 4, and six authors should be looked at more closely: Sandra Bunino, Lila Shaw, London Saint James, Eve Meridian, Persephone Jones and Jeremy Hosak.Disclaimer: I received a review copy from the author for the purpose of an honest review.