Book Review: Wild & Steamy

Wild & Steamy

By:  Meljean Brook, Jill Myles, Carolyn Crane

Publisher:  eBook

Publish Date:  August 2011

Format:  eBook

Genre:  Fantasy Romance, Urban Fantasy Romance, Steampunk Romance

Series:  Anthology; Disillustionists 2.5

Recommendation:  If you like hot sexy reads, this is a perfect quick fix!

Book Synopsis:
The Blushing Bounder by Meljean Brook - An Iron Seas novella of 15,000 words: The search for a killer puts Detective Inspector Mina Wentworth's life in danger and her assistant, Constable Newberry, in the line of fire. But Newberry faces a danger of another kind: to his heart, by the woman forced to marry him. What will it take for this prudish bounder to convince his wife to stay?

Vixen by Jill Myles - A shifter novella of 15,000 words: Miko's denied her were-fox nature for far too long and turned her back on her vixen heritage. But when she meets two very sexy cat-shifters, she has to decide if she truly wants to give up on her frisky side, or embrace it. Because the were-fox in her doesn't want to choose between both men...it wants them both.

Kitten-tiger & the Monk by Carolyn Crane - A Disillusionists novella of 20,000 words: Sophia Sidway, Midcity's most dangerous memory revisionist, seeks out the mysterious Monk in the wasteland beneath the Tangle turnpike, hoping for redemption...but it turns out that the Monk is not all that pious, and the turnpike is no turnpike at all.
 
My Thoughts and Summary:
The Blushing Bounder ~ By Meljean Brook
90pgs

Tempest is sick and now living with, whom she feels is, her deceiving husband in London and the reason she had a falling out with her family in the US.  Her husband wishes she would get the infection with the "bug" to cure her illness, but fearing the stories of becoming a zombie after death she refuses.  While in her room one night she witnesses a murder in the alley.  Tempest's husband is the one on the case and is to keep her safe from the guilty man.  Tempest looks closer at her husband and learns a few things, and maybe will save his life and hers.

This was a different story for me.  So much here to this world in this short read.  The bugs to heal people, and potential zombies.  Then we have the steampunk take on the mechanics uses here.  Wonderful the way Meljean mixes all this and creates an amazing world in such a short story.  I really enjoyed the world set-up and the ideas here.

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Vixen ~ By Jill Myles
95pgs

Miko lives in the country to be away from distractions and interruptions...including men.  She's a were-fox and men drive the hormones through the roof as foxes are vixens.  Miko has visitors, 2 men visitors, sent from her mother.  They are sent to protect her from the new specialized hunts.  But the flirting begins, and Miko starts thinking about the one thing she moved to keep from her mind the sting of men and...mating.

Hot and steamy.  Sexy!  Have the fan ready!  Miko and these two delicious men.  But not only is the attraction flowing strong, but there is a story here as well.  The hunters are out and boundaries are crossed.  Oh by far Jill has created a Hot! story here.  The whole idea of the were-fox and her needs.  Wow!  But there is a story here about the hunter issue, but the main focus is on Miko.

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Kitten-Tiger & The Monk ~ by Carolyn Crane
131pgs

Sophia is sick of herself and what she does to others.  She wants rebooted and the only one to do that is The Monk.  She has a hint of where to start to find someone who knows where he is, on her path she learns this person is one from her past.  A past she thought she had moved past but found she never can.  Can she forgive herself and can he forgive her?

This is the story I got this anthology for.  I loved reading the first 2 books of Carolyn Cranes Disillustionist series.  And this one just adds to the list!

We learn more of Sophia and of The Monk.  Oh, I love Robert!  We get to see into the Tangle, the curvy twisting highway mess everyone dreads that is ever present here in the city.  Of this Tangle we see why it's the way it is.  We get just a touch of the stories in the trilogy as well, but it is not needed to have read those to read this.  But you might fall in love with the magic created here to pick up the first two books.  Great side story!


I read this for my own enjoyment.

This read qualifies for the Horror & Urban Fantasy Reading Challenge hosted by Book Chick City.

Who? What? Where? (35)

Who are you with? Where are you at? What's happening?

Share with us just a little bit of what is happening in the book you are reading, right where you are now.

Just a tiny taste of what's happening, remember try to not give spoilers of the book.

(This is a new meme I'm going to try and will tweak as I go. And please don't laugh at my lame attempt at drawing. ;D )

I'm with Mrs.Temperance Newberry in her new home in London with her newly wedded husband.  But she now is not happy with him, wanting nothing to do with him, and very very sick.  He mentioned about taking the infection to heal her and keep her healthy, but she refuses as she doesn't want to live as a zombie after she dies.  But as she is mad and hating him, he seems to deeply care for her...so far.


Yeah, I'm needing more of this world to learn more about this infection and of the mechanical/steampunk-ish feel too.

Wild & Steamy
By:  Meljean Brook

A Disillusionist Novella...

I've just received a newsletter from the author of Carolyn Crane on many items.  What, you don't get her newsletter!?  Well, what are you waiting for?  You get the inside digs for her books and stories in these newsletters.  Okay, okay.  Go to Carolyn's site and sign up for it.  Where?  Geez. ;) Okay, HERE is the link.  The link to sign up for the newsletter is on the right side of the page, just scroll down.  And while you are there, check out all she has going on.

Now on to the meaning of the post...

So, we are all waiting for the third book to come out in the Disillusionist trilogy.  It's coming, just it'll take a little while as it will be out in ebook format first then print format in 2012.  Be nice now, these authors have a lot of shiet to deal with in getting the books published.

But to hold us over just a little bit, Carolyn has a Novella coming out set in this world.  The novella is in a book of three total authors.  Almost kind of like a small anthology, I guess you could say.  Each story is about 15k - 20k words.

Now this novella timeline wise fits between Double Cross and the final book.  But Carolyn says it can be read before or after Mind Games, and before or after Double Cross.  So you should be good to read it any time and not have any part of the series ruined for you. :)  Curious about it now?

Here are the descriptions for you:

Due Out:  June 2011

Kitten-tiger & the Monk by Carolyn Crane - A Disillusionists novella: Sophia Sidway, Midcity's most dangerous memory revisionist, seeks out the mysterious Monk in the wasteland beneath the Tangle turnpike, hoping for redemption...but it turns out that the Monk is not all that pious, and the turnpike is no turnpike at all.

Mina Wentworth and the Blushing Bounder by Meljean Brook - An Iron Seas novella: Detective Inspector Mina Wentworth isn't pleased when she discovers that her new assistant is the prudish Constable Newberry. With a brutal murder to solve, the last thing she needs is to be shadowed by a disapproving bounder. But while the search for the killer puts their lives in danger, Constable Newberry faces a danger of another kind: to his heart, by the woman forced to marry him. What will it take for this prudish bounder to convince his wife to stay?

Vixen by Jill Myles - A Midnight Liaisons novella: Miko's denied her were-fox nature for far too long and turned her back on her vixen heritage. But when she meets two very sexy cat-shifters, she has to decide if she truly wants to give up on her frisky side, or embrace it. Because the were-fox in her doesn't want to choose between both men...it wants them both.