Mystique Books

Captain Corsair, steel-hearted leader of the airship Lady Corsair, has met her match.  Or has she?

When we last saw Archimedes Fox, he was back-stroking though a Viennese canal in a quest to avoid deadly and dangerous zombies.  Why?  Well, he'd done the unforgivable.  He'd come aboard the Lady Corsair and waved a gun around, trying to commandeer the ship and crew.  Dork.  And with a pistol full of wet powder too!  Well, what's a captain to do but toss the moron overboard?  So, Yasmeen did, and set off to friendlier ports...well, friendlier ports for folks like Yasmeen.  Pirates.  Privateers.  Yeah, those folks.  Imagine her surprise when later a very much alive Archimedes Fox takes her prisoner.  Fur is ready to fly then, to be sure!

And fly it does.  HEART OF STEEL is a hot ride down the Steampunk universe of Brook's recent creation.  Haven't been there?  You're missing out!  In this story, however, we are introduced to Yasmeen's unique genetics, and how they matter to the rulership of The Hoard.  Awe-some!!!  Seat of your pants stuff!  From an assassination attempt, during salvage operations in zombie infested ruins, to a coup in the Middle East, Meljean Brook doesn't let up.  I couldn't put it down!

One grump, however, from me--and it doesn't take away from the strength of the book.  Yasmeen is quite the femdom, no matter how hard author Brook tries to soften her up.  She's a ball-buster and Archimedes is the Beta Male, content to back her up.  Not my favorite flavor, but none the less a delicious read!  

Don't miss out in The Iron Seas books!  You'll regret it!

Five Mystique Moons
Class Three Sensuality

Brenda Thatcher, Co-Owner
Mystiquebooks@gmx.com

Divorcee Eleanore comes to know her hot hot hot neighbor Mick in a whole new light.  This collection of scenes between the two was an interesting read.  First off: yes, I liked it.  Second: yes, I have a few nits to pick.

EDITED - I had to edit this because I sent out a question and it was answered.  Yes, the story was written for a specific market that was not romance; and yes, there was a forceful reason for its brevity.  In short: contracted word count.  As such, I am thus judging this story, or the snippets of stories that have come together as a book, on the basis of its creation.  (To do otherwise would be similar to judging a basset hound badly for not being as fast as a greyhound.  Does that make sense?)

Anyway, due to the constraints of limited word count, the story snippets are brief and not as fully fleshed as I would have liked to read.  However, that doesn't make them incorrect or flawed.  It takes a deft hand to keep a short story moving even during such shortness.  I.G. Frederick keeps the ball rolling and the interaction hot, hot, hot!  Give it a go.  Not every book needs to be read at leisure.  Some, can be as entertaining as an afternoon quickie!

ELEANOR AND MICK is a lovely, light and fun read.  It's as frothy and lighthearted as some of those fancy coffee drinks down at the local bistro.  Good for the immediate enjoyment but don't expect a lot of weight to it.

Four Mystique Moons
Class Five Sexuality (Raging Carnality)

Brenda Thatcher, Co-Owner
mystiquebooks@gmx.com

Ok, well the past two years have been problematic, not just for m but also for many of us, yes?  But we're back on track, or so I hope, and we'll take a look at the latest Dirk & Steele novel.  This one is about fan favorite Eddie.  (Yeah, I like him too, so Yippee Skippie!!)

Still recovering from the chemical attack that nearly took his life, Eddie remains holed up at Dirk & Steel's San Francisco headquarters...in a glass box.  (Glass.  Inflammable.  See the point?)  However, Fate--the cruel witch that she is--has other plans for him and out the door he goes.  His assignment?  Locate the missing daughter of a murdered dragon shapeshifter and his wife.  Only Lyssa isn't a little girl any more.  She's lovely, troubled, and extremely dangerous to anything flammable.

Did I mention someone being a cruel witch?  Well this book contains more than simply Fate as the cruel witch.  In fact, it offers up many cruel witches...and a pedophile to be chomped.  (I'm all for that, by God!)  It also offers up a wonderful story of love's healing power.  Too many of us carry the damage of the past into our current lives.  For Eddie and Lyssa, they find their way out of that darkness to a healthy and happy future that many can only dream of.

I do have one discussion point to address, although I wouldn't call it a nit to pick.  What's with the author's habit of doing ill things to her heroines' right arm?  Lyssa's has issues and also, the heroine in The Fire King is missing her right arm from an "accident".  I'm all for the bravery of offering up a heroine who is physically not perfect--a mighty huzzah to Liu for doing so--but is she left handed perhaps?  Is that why damage/issues appear on some character's right hands?  Inquiring minds cogitate this topic.

Anyway, WITHIN THE FLAMES is a lovely story.  Eddie and Lyssa's struggle to live, not just to exist, will resonate in many hearts, especially those who have lived though a tragic event.  (Note to the author:  I'm still waiting for Koni's story though.  *koffkoff*)

Four Mystique Moons
Class Three Sensuality

Brenda Thatcher ~ Co-Owner 
mystiquebooks@gmx.com

An enjoyable read. 

I'm a huge fan of Cynthia Breeding so it grieved me to not give this book a higher rating.  However, I do feel it earned this due to the following issues:

The romance was not believable.  In each story, the H/h feel into the "OMG, I am in LOVE" far too quickly.  Yes, LOCHS AND LASSES is a collection of short stories but there is a way to ensure the emotional connection between primary characters grows naturally.  Author Breeding is close in a few of the stories but is also off the mark in a few others.  Nurturing the growth of the emotional connection between charactes within a short story's page length is no easy task, granted.  Then there's the attempts to not be hackneyed.  I"m glad to say the Breeding never fell into that trap.

Here is my big nit, and this is just mine.  Surely others will disagree with me and I'm all for that.  However, reviewers do get to pick nits, which is why we're equally loved and loathed.  The Scottish accent in these stories was waaaaay over done.  He're my spin on it:

I have my own Highlander--well, he has me.  He can "dinna fash yerself" or "I dinna ken" with the best of them.  However, as most bilingual/multilingual people do, they speak the language of whom they're conversing with.  My Highlander speaks American English when speaking with me.  Equally, when he speaks with his family he speaks Gaelic.  When he's speaking with his British buddies, he speaks Brit.  Yes, there is a difference.  Very occassionally he clouds the two accents/linguistal stresses.  Example:  he said "haggis" and I heard "august."  Much hilarity that day,  but he strives to address his speech for the ear he's bending.  

Equally, we don't hear a word that that our mind has already translated.  Our minds simply translate and our understanding flows.  (When folks hear 'dirk' they translate it to 'knife, held in the fist" or something like that.)  Thus, the Scots/English dialogue wouldn't be so drastically full of idiomatic Scottish.  Sure, the occassional one to flavor the story would be nice, but that's it.  Well, except for the Time Travel story.  There the struggles between modern English and Medieval Scottish could have been explored--perhaps with a humorous twist, but I digress.

Anyway, that's my nit.  However, please do give LOCHS AND LASSES a try!  Author Cynthia Breeding obviously loves Highlanders.  (Who could blame her?)  If you're a fan of the time as well, LOCHS AND LASSES would very well be a lovely, pool-side summer read.

Three Mystique Moons.  (Enjoyable)
Class Three sensuality. (Standard Romance)

Brenda Thatcher, Co-Owner Mystique Books
mystiquebooks@gmail.com

LOVE HURTS is a collection of erotic short stories by well-respected erotica author I.G. Frederick.  Please note, I did not say "romantica" author.  In erotic stories, the experience is the key not any Happily Ever After.  That's not to say HEAs won't happen, just that such is not the focus of the stories.  And is that not how life goes?  It happens when we're busy doing Other Things.  Busy with life, one turns around and stumble into love...or at least the possibility of it.

LOVE HURTS is ripe with possibilities and also with experiences.  While I am not wired for FemDom--I'm more into MaleDom as demonstrated with my personal preference for her last story--taking a walk through the mind of a man submitting to a female is something that every woman of courage should do.  Why?  It just might be valuable information at some point in one's life.  (I'd liken it to learning how to change a car's oil but I'm not sure that's a valuable comparison.)

Anyway, through the pen of author Frederick, we are introduced into some aspects that BDSMers might call "edge play."  This includes: knife play, buggery by the unknown, and a tiny bit of bathroom play.  We also experience what it's like to be whipped...and to whip.  How many of us girls have dreamed of having a hunky dude at our beck and call?  Clean our house?  Make our dinner?  Wash the car without prompting?  A fantasy indeed.  For those of us who are wired for male domination, a lovely experience called "The Auction" is available. 

LOVE HURTS may not be to everyone's taste but it is a spectacular example of the genre.  FemDom is out there and out there to stay.  Like every other genre it will have its stars.  I forsee that I.G. Frederick's star is on the rise.

Five Mystique Moons.  (Outstanding)
Class Five sensuality.  (Raging Carnality)

Brenda Thatcher, Co-Owner Mystique Books
mystiquebooks@gmail.com

BLOOD AND STEEL is a short story that grabs the reader by the throat and ruthlessly drags them along as it hurtles toward the end. This is my first read of Angela Knight and I was not dissappointed.  The skillful pacing alone in would have me looking for more.  Luckily, there was a great story compressed in less than 100 pages.

Elyn Castel spent years as a slave to a sociopathic vampire.  When Our Hero shows up, she is forced to deal with the pain and trauma of her old life. Under a less skillful writer this evolution of the heroine would have killed the pacing and bogged down the narrative. However, author Knight doesn't miss a beat.  Every scene allows the heroine to grow alongside notching up the pace of the killer action. 

Hero Blade drives story at breakneck speed.  He is racing from his painful past and on a collision course with Elyn in a believable and meaningful manner.  Blade is a wonderful dark sexy character who is badly broken and needs the heroine just as much as she needs him. The result is a sizzling romance that jumps off the page.

The villains in BLOOD AND STEEL were creepy but in a good way!  I found them to be disturbing and downright scary, which enhanced the story.  Too often in stories once villian is killed then everything goes back to normal.  Not with this book!  I won't say more because I don't want to give away the story, but what a ride!

My only nitpick was that there was so much story jammed into so few pages.  I wanted more! And that is the mark of a spectacular read. 

Four Mystique Moons.  (Excellent)
Class Three sensuality.  (Standard Romance)

Sarah Gentili, Co-Owner Mystique Books
mystiquebooks@gmail.com

Cindy Spencer Pape has crafted delightful cross genre romance that grabs the reader and pulls them into a beautifully layered world. While the story is tagged as "Gaslight Fantasy" it really is so much more. You have vampires and mechanical dogs in a world being protected by the descendents of The Knights of the Round Table.  It is fabulous!

For this reviewer,  I was captivated by the world  and feel in love with the characters. The heroine, Caroline, is smart and independent. This girl is not a damsel in distress or a kick-ass fighter. She is an intelligent, lovely women making the most of her life.  I also loved the way the romance built between her and the hero. I believed they were falling in love and by the end had earned their happily ever after.

Sir Merrick Hadrian is one of the best alpha heros I have read in a long time. His life is dedicated to protecting others.  Due to the nature of evil he is fighting, he must do so without the general public's knowledge. He is a protector and thanks to brilliant writing he is sexy and protective without being overbearing or demanding.

I have to also congratulate author Pape on her flawless secondary characters. Merrick's Aunt was a hoot and had some great lines.  For me, however, the five orphans were amazing.  Children are hard to write in romances without falling into cliches. Yet aAll five of these characters were unique, well developed, and a crutial to the story.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to fans of romance. The world was detailed but not overbearing.  The romance began as subtle and built into a satisfying crescendo. I had fun reading STEAM AND SORCERY and will look for more books by author Pape in the future.

Five Mystique Moons.  (Outstanding)
Class Three sensuality.  (Standard Romance)

Sarah Gentili, Co-Owner Mystique Books
mystiquebooks@gmail.com

To quote a hero of mine: "Fascinating."   Spock only says that when the unexpected occurs and thus, my statement.  Fascinating.  This book truly is incredible! 

My G'ma Ose once told me that "memories are dreams and dreams are memories."  I didn't really know what she meant until I touched author Zarin's memories of his time on that forgotten continent.  And he knows the so-called "forgotten" land of Atlantis; giving us treasures of sight, sound, and taste that bespeak of familiarity rather than imagination. 

In his dreams Zarin has walked the shores of Atlantis from dawn of its time to the tragedy of its end.  He tells us of cultural memories held and forwarded by dolphins, and in doing so instructs us of our own inner landscape, or our own cultural memories.  How else can we explain the mythology of The Flood, found in so many civilizations and stories--Gilgamish, Biblical--that can be found here?  Can we not see that the "storm" that took the early people to Atlantis mirrors the "storm" that flooded our earth and took our early ancestors to their "new world"?  A cultural memory or a coincidence?  Or the story of fratricide, brother killing brother out of jealously and greed.  Biblical, yes, but we have that here as well.  Can that be a coincidence?  Is there such thing as a coincidence when we're speaking of our species' memories?  "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, then are dreamt of in your philosophy."  Indeed.

It is true that only the beginning of Atlantis is given to us in this first work, but what an story!  For those of us who have always believed, we are left nodding our agreement.  "Yes, yes...makes total sense....just what I remembered myself..."  For those who may not yet believe, it gives ample opportunity for them to say, "Perhaps.  Just perhaps..." 

I highly, highly suggest experiencing this book!

Five Mystique Moons.  (Outstanding)
Class One sensuality.  (none)

Brenda Thatcher, Co-Owner Mystique Books
mystiquebooks@gmail.com

I loved this book! Susanna Fraser does a wonderful job of constructing a gut twisting romance with some of the most believable and lovable character I have ever had the pleasure of meeting on the page.  

Set against the wonderfully rich back drop of the Napoleonic Wars the story follows Lady Anne Arrington as she "follows the drum," traveling with a husband that does not love her and the English forces. The fact that Lady Anne has chosen to follow her husband adds a unique level of gritty realism and danger that is sometimes missing from more traditional historical novels. The best thing about Lady Anne was how well she was crafted. I laughed and cried with her and she has remained with me even though the story has ended. She was one of those rare literary gems - a completely believable heroine who has her own strengths and gut wrenching experiences only she can deal with. When she finds herself falling for the one man she could not have she was faced with at best more scandal and a ruined reputation and at worse destroying the career of the man she loves.

After the scandalous demise of her cruel husband, Lady Anne finds herself under the protection of the 95 Rifles and Sergeant Will Atkins. It did not take me long to start thinking of Sergeant Atkins as My Sergeant. He was hands down the best soldier I have every read on the pages of a romance, historical or otherwise. Will is a ran away who joined the army because he was not ready to get married and take over the farm. There are no deep dark secrets behind his soldiering and he is not Rambo. He is a natural born soldier, popular with everyone. Will is brave and chivalrous, and self-educated. He is also handsome and romantic as hell as he discovers that his feelings for Lady Anne go beyond anything he could imagine.

 Filled with a slew of villains and obstacles there were times I did not know if Anne and Will would get their happily ever after. When they finally where able to be together and over came everything that had been standing in their way I cheered.

This was a wonderful read and I highly recommend it.

Five Mystique Moons.  (Outstanding)
Class Three sensuality.  (Standard Romance)

Sarah Gentili, Co-Owner Mystique Books
mystiquebooks@gmail.com