Product Description

Theirs is a world of ancient desires and forbidden pleasures. They are men of mystery and women of seduction, wild creatures with the power to entrance and enchant, tease and tantalize. Enter their secret world, if you dare...

The Yearning by Hannah Howell

Alpin has lived for centuries with a lust that can never be quenched with mere physical pleasure. And then he meets Sophie whose own search for lasting love binds them together in a cloak of shimmering sensuality...

A Hell of a Time by Jackie Kessler

Jesse's immortal life as a soul-stealing succubus is over. And now that she is human, she longs to tempt her lover with all her persuasive powers of total sexual seduction...

City of Demons by Richelle Mead

Seth cannot resist the intense sexual allure of his demon lover Georgina. Yet their love reaches beyond the physical, into a place of complete untamed surrender...

Bitten by Lynsay Sands

Keeran's existence as a vampire has taught him to accept a life without love...until he saves Emily from certain death. And suddenly he discovers the soul-searing passion he thought he'd lost forever...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #121889 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Customer Reviews

An entertaining read.
I have to start by saying that I am biased against books that are actually a collection of shorter, shallower stories. With that in mind, for what it is, it was entertaining and enjoyable. I have read about a dozen of Hanna Howell's books and most likely will not purchase another. At first I was very drawn to the characters, the historical settings, the obtacles and ancillary characters of her novels... However, now I have become bored. Not only do most of the heros and heroines have almost identical stories, most of them even look alike. It is the same story again and yet again. Additionally, the flow over her books from one to the other constituting what I would find as a series, it very difficult to follow. She has removed the family tree from her books and even then did not identify which one should follow the next. I tried to use the time-line, but that was out of order. In no place in her list of books does she group them by relation to one another. Are they all related? Am I missing a few? At any rate, I found much to my dissapointment that my earlier entheusiasm died as the same story was repeated again and agian and again and again... I would recommend Ms. Howell's books as a good read, but I will never be a "pre-order the next book" die hard fan. Enjoy the book as it is, but don't leap to other books expecting to be intrigued with new and excited circumstances or vividly unique characters.

Enjoyable Short Stories
The stories in this anthology were very interesting and entertaining to read. I really looked forward to it because of Lynsay Sands, and I was not disappointed. Hannah Howell's story was also very good. It should be pointed out, though, that Sands's and Howell's stories were previously published in the anthology "His Immortal Embrace" with two stories different from "Eternal Lover."

Jackie Kessler's and Richelle Mead's stories are both continuations of previous major releases. I never read these previous stories, and I felt that it would have probably helped to read them before reading the short continuations. Kessler's "A Hell of a Time" is the continuation of "Hell's Bells." Mead's "City of Demons" is the continuation of "Succubus Blues." So, I would suggest that you might get more out of these continuations if you read their prequels first and it would have probably made me appreciate the stories more too.

Overall these stories were enjoyable reads, but after finding out that 2 of the 4 stories were previously published I have become curious to read their first anthology for the other stories they were published with.

Four paranormal short stories
This is a collection of four paranormal stories by well-known names in this genre. Two of the stories are standalone, the other two are short continuations from previous stories and thus are less successful for those who haven't read the previous novels.

THE YEARNING by Hannah Howell. In this story a young woman tries to break a curse which has blanketed two families for over four hundred years. The ancestress of Sophie Hay cursed her unborn child whose father, a MacCordy, left her; the curse called for the MacCordy line to never find happiness until they chose love over wealth and social position. Unfortunately for Sophie, the curse rebounded on Mona Galt, her ancestress, and meant that the Galt women's descendents find happiness briefly and then it is snatched away from them. She decides to visit the current MacCordy Laird and try to help him. She finds a morose man, Alpin MacCordy, whose beast inside is almost at the point of mastering him. Can Sophie and Alpin find love and freedom from the curse?

This is a good read with few surprises but some good characterisation and a satisfactory resolution.

A HELL OF A TIME by Jackie Kessler continues the story of Jessie/Jezebel from Hell's Belles. In this story Jessie and Paul decide to go away for a quiet weekend at a cabin in the countryside. Despite Jessie's nature now being human, rather than succubus, she finds herself unwelcome and that some of the entities already at the cabin want to drive her away. Jessie knows that her former life must cause some problems to Paul and she tries to shield him from the supernatural events that are going on, but those working against her are trying harder than she thinks and she and Paul must face up to some of the difficulties she's trying to avoid.

This story felt a little aimless at times, more as if the author was writing it for a chance to include further sex scenes rather than advance any plot; it also relies fairly heavily on the previous book and doesn't give large chunks of backstory for new readers.

CITY OF DEMONS by Richelle Mead apparently continues a previous story, one I haven't read. Georgie is a succubus who is living with Seth Mortensen, a human. Unfortunately this means that she can't touch him at all or she will steal his life which makes for a rather awkward love life. Georgie is sent by Jerome, her boss, to serve on a jury in a trial of three demons, one of whom is believed to have destroyed another demon. Georgie soon finds that she's the only juror interested in proceedings and, more worryingly, that Seth seems to be finding a close friendship with a waitress at a cafe. Can Georgie keep her honesty despite bribery from the accused in the trial and can she keep her man despite her inability to touch him.

This story was really good fun in terms of the setting of the trial, the different bribery methods and the demon/succubus world. It was less successful in the relationship between Georgie and Seth and ended, I felt, at a rather loose end. I enjoyed the trial sections, even if I did spot the twist coming, but felt that the love interest part was far less well developed.

BITTEN by Lynsay Sands was a light and fun final story in this book. It's a standalone story unrelated to her Argeneau vampire series, despite having a vampire hero. Keeran was turned by an evil female vampire and has lived a recluse for 200 years. When he rescues Emily Wentworth Collins from a sinking ship he finds that he's brought a lively and helpful woman into his castle, one who is trying to avoid an unwanted marriage and whose light and life seem to be spreading around the village. But a man who loathes his new nature and who tries to keep away from everyone may not be able to withstand a forceful character like Emily.

Lynsay Sands writes the brooding vampire character very effectively and some of the side characters, such as the housekeeper, are also very well written. This was an enjoyable story and finished off the book on a very positive note.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008