Beyond the Dark | Angela Knight, Emma Holly, ... | 5 stars for one story. 2 and 3 stars for the...

Beyond the Dark | Angela Knight, Emma Holly, ... | Four paranormal stories

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Beyond the Dark

	Beyond the Dark Angela Knight, Emma Holly, ... Berkley Trade, 2007 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A daring collection of never-before-published erotic desire from four of the hottest names in paranormal romance. Four of the most sizzling authors of paranormal romance take readers beyond their wildest fantasies, to a seductive midnight world of erotic suspense, demons, mages, vampires, and knights. A world of queens with devilish secrets, and of demons with secret desires. So dangerous and fun, readers may never want to come back down to earth again...

5 stars for one story. 2 and 3 stars for the other stories.

This book contains the following four stories.

5 stars for DRAGON'S DANCE by Angela Knight.
Creative, new, different, fun. Humans with special powers are called Hypers. Some are good and some are bad. I don't want to give away some of the fun surprises, so I won't tell any more of the story, other than it was well done and worth buying. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: three. Setting: current day Blue Ridge Mountain area in U.S. Genre: paranormal romance.

For a list of my reviews of other Angela Knight books, see my 2 star review of "The Forever Kiss" posted 9/09/08.

3 stars for IN A WOLF'S EMBRACE by Lora Leigh.
Some parts wild, wicked and fun. Other parts a little weak. Too much time was spent in the thoughts of Matthais, thinking and worrying about losing her and his life without her. Too much time was spent with Grace rejecting him and wanting to get away from him after seeing him shoot another man. But otherwise, it was enjoyable. Story brief: Matthais is 1/2 wolf and 1/2 human. His breed has only one mate for life. He meets Grace and knows she is his. He spends time with her. Then she sees him execute a man who had tortured others. Matthais kidnaps Grace and she eventually gives in and falls in love with him. Sexual language: erotic. Number of sex scenes: five, some several pages long. Setting: 2003 New York city and Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. Genre: erotic paranormal romance.

For a listing of my reviews of other Lora Leigh books, see my review of "Tempting the Beast" posted on 6/30/08.

2 stars for CAUGHT BY THE TIDES by Diane Whiteside.
Not entertaining enough. Something was missing. I wasn't emotionally invested in the characters. I was bored with the way the author described the lifestyle, schooling and lack of parenting of mages, as well as the powers of mages and magick of the land. I'm having a hard time describing what was wrong, but overall I was not entertained. Story brief: A British spy, Owen who is a mage, just returned from spying on Napoleon in France. He is injured and Emma heals him. Trevelyn is a spy for France, living in England and is also a mage. He and Owen fight. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: two. Setting: 1803 English coast. Genre: historical, paranormal romance.

For a list of my reviews of other Diane Whiteside books, see my 2.5 star review for The Irish Devil posted 8/31/08.

2 stars for QUEEN OF ALL SHE SURVEYS by Emma Holly.
Something is missing, I'm not sure what. I kind of wanted it to be over. The plot is about having sex, not much else. The king has a large sexual appetite. His son Memnon, does as well, but he chooses one woman per month to be with. An enemy queen has a stable of harem men. She uses several of them every day to service her. Her army captures the king's army and she requests Memnon as the ransom. Memnon goes to her at his father's command. He is so good in bed, or should I say they are so good for each other, that she keeps him and no longer uses her harem of men. Sexual language: erotic. Number of sex scenes: six, some several pages long. Setting: ancient Yama civilization on earth. Genre: erotic paranormal romance.

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Four paranormal stories

This is a collection of four stories by well-known authors of paranormal romance of the more erotic variety.

DRAGON DANCE by Angela Knight
This story started off excellently with our heroine, Arial Dean, trying to negotiate the release of a woman and two children in a hostage situation. Initially the story seems to be an ordinary hostage situation but then we learn that the man who has taken his wife and children hostage is a Hyper, someone who has some extra powers. These powers became apparent in the population five years before and can have devastating effects on the mental states of those who become Hyper. Arial and the other law enforcement officers have to call in Tracker, a Hyper who works for the Feds, to try to deal with the hostage taker. When Tracker arrives he and Arial rescue the family, but with some collateral damage - to Arial. When Arial realises she has become a Hyper and turns to Tracker to help, she is starting a new journey in life where she discovers there is a lot more to the Hypers than previously thought. Arial's personal Hyper skills may be necessary to defeat the evil Kali, a woman who has taken six slaves and wants to get Tracker and Arial too.

This story was interesting and well written although the sex scenes felt rather unnecessary to the plot, at least in the detail in which we were given. The situation of the Hypers was interesting and I would have liked more to be made of it. However it was an enjoyable read and the characters were well drawn and appealing. Four stars.

CAUGHT BY THE TIDES by Diane Whiteside
This story follows Emma Sinclair, a young widow, who sees a man washed ashore near her home in Cornwall and goes to rescue him from the incoming tide. Although he's far too heavy for her to lift she finds that the magickal spells she learned years ago, that never previously worked, seem to help him. She nurses him to health, finding his recovery amazingly fast. This is because Owen Bentham is a King's Mage and messenger and Emma herself has previously unknown magickal abilities - she is a chalice which means she can amplify the power of a mage. Owen's mission of returning from France with the antidote to a spell that Napoleon could use to find safe UK harbours was disrupted by a local mage working with a French mage; that local mage wants to both kill Owen and take over Emma's chalice skills. Owen and Emma have to work against him, utilising the magick stored in Emma's house and some new magic of their own.

This was a charming enough story set in an interesting time (the time of Napoleon) with magickal overtones. The romance side was an instant love-at-first-sight rather than anything more deep and complex but was pleasant enough to read. There were some aspects of the story that didn't quite work for me, such as the Gryphon's occasional appearances, but it was a reasonable read. Four stars.

QUEEN OF ALL SHE SURVEYS by Emma Holly
This story is another set in Emma Holly's Yamish world (also visited in full-length novels 'The Demon's Daughter' and 'Prince Of Ice') and the story has some similarities with 'Prince Of Ice', at least as far as the special mating abilities of the Yamish royals go. However the other background of the Yamish world isn't really featured in this story and it works perfectly well as a stand-alone short story. The hero of this story is Memnon, only son of King Ravna, whose battles in the long-running war with Queen Tou aren't very successful. King Ravna agrees to give his son to Queen Tou as a war tribute in order to have captured soldiers released. Memnon is sent to Tou's city and has to join her harem of men. It soon becomes apparent, however, that there is something special between the two of them; Tou is god-touched and King Ravna had also received the favour of the gods - it seems that Ravna's son and Tou might have a special affinity for each other.

Much of this story is taken up with the sexual antics of Tou and Memnon but there is also an attack on Tou's city which forms a brief part of the plot at the end. The main focus is always the relationship between Tou and Memnon which is described in detail. Like all Emma Holly's books this is a well written story set in an interesting world but the short story form leaves little room for much plot other than the sexual relationship and I would have appreciated more detail about the rest of the situation of Tou and Memnon. Four stars.

IN A WOLF'S EMBRACE by Lora Leigh
This story is apparently part of a series as there are several other characters named whom we don't actually meet. The hero, Matthias Slaughter, is a Wolf Breed, a man who has been genetically engineered with wolf genes and who, along with the other Breed, was experimented upon and tortured for much of his life. He and the other Breed members now work to track down those responsible and bring them to justice - in Matthias' case, often summary justice. Unfortunately when he shoots Dr Benedikt Albrecht in the back of the head in his hotel room, he doesn't realise a young woman was in the room too; not just any young woman but Grace Anderson, the woman he realises is fated to be his mate. He kidnaps her so that she can't turn him in, takes her to her cabin in the country where he can persuade her of the justness of his actions.

Most of this story consists of the conversations between Matthias and Grace where he persuades her that shooting a man in the back of the head without warning is OK, that it is a necessary part of the struggle against those evil people who torture Breed members. His explanations don't seem that convincing to Grace but fortunately the mating bond takes over and she seems to accept it. The story is mostly about their mating bond, with a short escape from danger at the end. There's a reasonable amount of characterisation for Matthias, a man without family who's always been on his own, but Grace was rather more of a cipher. It was a reasonable enough read but nothing special. Three stars.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book, www.curledup.com. © Helen Hancox 2007

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Almost perfect...

I just loved the twist in Angela Knights story. I hope she continues with this world, hothothot.
As usual I loved Lora Leigh's story. It was a great mix of sex and suspence, I love these "breed" stories!
Diane Whiteside her story was filled with magic and love. Not as hot as the other stories but just as stong.
And last and certianly forgettable, Emma Holly. I didn't have a urge to finish this story. Her latest books and novella's have fallen short.

Overall for lovers of hot sex and the paranormal this is a must read.

Go Beyond

Beyond the Dark is a pretty good book if you are into the paranormal romance genre. Fans of Angela Knight and Emma Holly will enjoy these offerings from them, which are the typical high quality we've come to expect from these authors. I also enjoyed Diane Whiteside's offering although I was not familiar with her work. I felt Lora Leigh's novelette was the weakest of the four but it was still worth reading. While this collection is not really a "must read", it does have merit and is worth a look for veteran readers.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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