Review: Sexy Seasonal Anthology
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 8, 2012
This is a super-hot smörgsbord of erotica in time for the holiday season.  All three stories are erotic romances, the first being male/male, the second a bit of BDSM lite and the third a soulful erotic romance.As with all novellas, the reader has to hit the ground running and instantly connect with the story and the characters as there's just never enough time to give much background and you have to focus on what is happening here and now.All three stories manage to do this well and all three stories offer something different.  They're completely separate stand alone stories, the only connections they share are Christmas and steamy sex scenes, so I've reviewed them all separately below.Happy Reading!Wish List by K.A. MitchellJonah and Evan have been together for a number of years and, when Jonah is rummaging through Evan's desk to find some sellotape, he finds two tacky wedding rings. Paranoid that Evan is about to propose over New Years Jonah goes into a panic about what he hasn't managed to experience sexually before he settles down - namely bit of kink He makes a bucket list which Evan accidentally finds. As they spend Christmas with Evan's family, Evan attempts to coax Jonah to talk to him without giving away that he has found the list. Evan has experience in BDSM that he's never told Jonah about.This was quite an angsty little read - this is a couple quite clearly perfect for one another but they're not talking to each other and there was a lot of silent sighing and there was a real risk that one of them was going to do something stupid and jeopardise everything that they had. I was really scared that Jonah was going to totally blow it (pun absolutely intended).I have to confess that I found it hard to believe that a couple can be as sexual as Jonah and Evan and yet neither one of them had spotted the dom or sub in the other, especially Jonah as an experienced dom. He really should have been able to spot the signs, for sure. Quite frankly, this is a couple that need to be a lot more honest with each other. Aside from that, this is a sexy little novella with some light D/s.3 sexy seasonal starsI Need You for Christmas by Leah BraemelThis is a sweet story of a couple who indulge in a bit of D/s lite in their own home. Family and career circumstances have led them both to live a long distance from one another, only seeing each other a few times a year. They're very much in love and both decide to surprise the other with for Christmas by resigning and planning to relocate to be with the other one.It's quite a sweet romance, very lovey dovey with some great sex scenes including my absolute favourite, the sex swing and Ryan has immortalised his most vital organ in marble all ready to use on Meg.Breath on Embers by Anne CalhounWow! For a short story, this one certainly packs an intensely emotional punch. It's very much the soulful, thoughtful erotic romance we've come to expect from Anne Calhoun.This is the story of Ronan and Thea. Thea is a widow, having lost her husband in a road accident two years ago. She's a woman completely besieged by grief. She's built herself a fortress whereby she never allows herself to actually feel or allow any emotion to penetrate her outer shell. She's blasting her ears with acid rock constantly with her ipod, throwing herself into work and, now, attempting a totally no strings, purely physical sexual hookupRonan, a ripped and gorgeous firefighter, is at first delighted that this beautiful woman is having casual sex with him but he begins to develop deeper feelings for Thea and wants to break down her defences, to find that light deep inside her that she attempts to keep extinguished and to bring her to life again.There is no fix for this. She has to endure it, and somewhere along the line she has to learn to live again. Surviving isn't the goal. Living is. This is a battle between me and her grief, and I'm going to be the last man standing.While this is a deeply emotional story, a novella was never going to be long enough to tell it. While I felt we got to know and understand Ronan reasonably well, Thea still really remained something of a mystery, She's closed up and locked off and is merely functioning through life, a bit like the Walking Dead. Something inside her has died and it's going to require all of Ronan's skills and determination to reignite the flame in the embers of her soul.Ronan is a great character and not a stranger to loss either but he has learnt to overcome it and something about Thea's pain and distance calls to him and he knows he wants a deeper connection with her than just the physical and pulls out all the stops to win her over with his deeply sensual arsenal. Ronan is a man who knows what he's doing and he and Thea share some pantie-melting, deliciously erotic scenes that have become the hallmark of an Anne Calhoun romance, this time including a very sensual ménage a trois. Thea and two firefighters. All I can say is Lucky Girl!!Short and verrah verrah sexy - 4 stars~0O0~So this is a super steamy, seasonal anthology to get the juices flowing.  The Anne Calhoun story was, as I anticipated, my favourite story but they're all good4 sexy stars