Review

This duo of erotic novellas is a steamy and sensual read, perfect for those who like their romance spicy.

The first novella is Exiled by Maya Banks. This story features the virginal Talia and her four very hunky men. Talia is brought to an exotic island by Prince Xander and finds herself bound in a contract to be submissive to him and his three guards. Though Talia is a virgin upon her arrival on the island, it doesn’t last long and she quickly submits to the men. She is drawn to all four men and finds herself falling for them one by one. I really like the way Talia struggles with her status on the island. She doesn’t immediately think everything is fine and that sleeping with four men at the same time is no big deal. She berates herself for feeling the way she does about the men and struggles to come to terms with their unusual relationship. As soon as she starts to really feel comfortable everything changes and she is tossed away from Xander and the men. Although the relationship is unusual, Ms. Banks writes it in such a way that you know the feelings between Talia and each four men are deep and real like any other monogamous relationship. When Talia is tossed aside and sent back to France, I could feel her pain and her struggle to get back to some normal state of life. The relationship between Talia and Xander is the main relationship in the story, but I found the relationships between her and the other three men more interesting. They each have such different personalities and deal with her differently. The sex scenes are smoking hot and portray a great deal of emotion through them. 

The second novella is Sway by Lauren Dane. I’m a huge Lauren Dane fan and couldn’t wait for this “Delicious” novella. I enjoyed Daisy’s story, but I wish it had been more. There was so much about the characters that I wanted to know. I think because this book is part of a series I felt differently than I would about a normal novella. I wanted to see Daisy more in her element and get to know Levi more. Putting all that aside (since it’s really about me being greedy and wanting more), I loved the older man/younger woman dynamic in Sway. Daisy isn’t bothered by the age difference, but Levi uses it as an excuse to not get close to her. Daisy is the stronger and more together of the two. She knows what she wants and isn’t ashamed or afraid to go after it. Levi is ruled by his past and his family’s opinion letting those things get in the way of his relationship with Daisy. He has to wake up and realize what he really wants and what really matters to him before it is too late. The one thing that I really, really loved about this novella was the groveling at the end. Levi does some major groveling and Daisy doesn’t let him off the hook easily. The sex scenes are kinky (bondage and D/s) and sexy. Ms. Dane definitely knows how to write a love scene.