Tagged: Julia Talbot

Cereus : Opening by Sean Michael, Julia Talbot, and BS Tortuga

http://www.amazon.com/Cereus-Opening-ebook/dp/B009DMLR7Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360680830&sr=1-1&keywords=cereus+opening

ASIN B009DMLR7Q

Story Rating: 3 out of 5 paddles

Sting Factor (kink): 2 out of 5

Review:

If, like me, you haven’t read the first collection of stories in this series, it seems to boil down to this: A dragon, a vampire and a werewolf walk into a bar… or whatever, and decide to open a resort for all the things that go bump in the night; sort of a Club Med for the fanged and furry. The first book contained stories covering the building of Cereus, and now this collection recounts three tales from the opening. Each of the short stories focuses on a different set of characters, although there are also common players that appear in all the tales.

In the first story, “Pack Rules” by BA Tortuga and Julia Talbot, werewolf security chief “Van” Donovan has to come to terms with his former lover Mik, a vampire. The two fell out some years ago over Van’s need to serve his pack, but the two have never really gotten over each other, and now they’re forced to work together. Van is determined not to let his ‘mate’ get away from him again, just as Mik is trying to avoid getting hurt by what he saw as a betrayal. He tries to keep away from Van, but the wolf enjoys a chase, just as he enjoys domination. And while vampires may be known as tops, in truth Mik likes being dominated, and even needs a little discipline from time to time.

Coming Out Wolf
Julia Talbot
Torquere Books [link to buy]

Rating: 2 out of 5 paddles

Rick and Steve are roomies. They’re both gay and Steve wants to be with Rick but he isn’t sure how to tell him. While trying the old “I’m going to go out with other men and get him jealous” tactic, Steve gets bitten by a werewolf. So, it’s a great coincidence that Rick already is one. Steve tries a couple different not so subtle ways to get Rick to be his mate before he succeeds and they end up hot and heavy on their apartment floor.

I feel I should explain that this is a really short story at only thirteen pages total. The plot is pretty basic and right to the point. It’s easy to read, but I felt like it was just too short. I didn’t feel any emotional connection to the characters though I would have liked to. So because of the length of the story and the depth of the plot I feel I can only give this a 2 out of 5 paddle rating. I would like to read something else by this author that is a bit longer in the future. This was just too short for me.

Reviewed by Elizabeth

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