Beyond the Dark

I'm not into anthologies as I feel that if I become too engrossed within each story they tend to end abruptly as I wanted more to each novel than what was written in the book. But surprising enough - this book was gripping and I couldn't put it down. All three authors here do a magnificent job - so much so that I found myself being disappointed that the book had ended! I'm having a tough time deciding which novel I liked best and find that I loved all four stories equally!! I wont go into detail with the plots, as there are a few reviewers here that have done a great job already. DRAGON DANCE - ANGELA KNIGHT - 5 STARS My first book by Knight and I will now make it a mission to try and get into her previous novels, as she is a talent not to be missed. Arial and Tracker. After Tracker was transformed and became a Hyper - he had a close friend that helped him embrace his new powers. Arial has just been transformed and she needs to be able to control her new Hyper powers. So Tracker takes her to Richard's hide out, unknowingly followed by Kali - an evil Hyper that enslaves other Hypers to bend them to her will. The paranormal aspect to this book was riveting and believable. The character development was great and the chemistry between Arial and Tracker was wonderful - sizzling, hot love scenes that are sexy and a total turn on. CAUGHT BY THE TIDES - DIANE WHITESIDE - 4 STARS When Owen, the King's Mage washed ashore, near dead Emma realizes that he is indeed a royal Mage by the ring he is waering and she knows she must help him. But little does she realize that in doing so she will become a pawn and the unwittingly target to a traitorous Mage who wants to restore Napoleon Bonaparte back to France. Delightful Regency Romance - with the Magick touch that will delight readers - Caught b the Tides is my first Diane Whiteside book but will not be the last. I liked her writing style and the scorching heat of her love scenes were well placed in the story. QUEEN OF ALL SHE SURVEYS - EMMA HOLLY - 4 STARS Not my first novel by Holly but I really enjoyed this story. The plot was interesting - even though it had more sexual content than story - but I didn't feel that it detracted from making this a great short story. The chemistry between Queen Tou and Prince Memnon is sizzling. The sexual scenes are Erotica but beautifully told. All in all I liked it very much! IN A WOLF'S EMBRACE - LORA LEIGH - 5 STARS ++ By the reviews here - Lora Leigh has become an icon with her Breed series - which am sad to say that I have not read any - so this was my first. I found reading the story - even though paranormal - I had tremendous empathy for how the Breeds have been developed and how they have suffered by their genetic change - brought about by humans. It was truly horrible to read what the atrocities they have suffered in the labs through the years and I was able to see that that Mathias is one that has suffered the most. With their genet

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 e

I read Dragon Dance and thought this is an unusal idea, a "virus" that allows a person to become like a superhero - providing they don't go crazy while adjusting. Then to find out that the "virus" actually allows an alien race to inhabit your body and gives you your "powers". An unusual read, but very well done, and I'm looking forward to seeing if Ms. Knight does any other stories in this line. To me it was as good as her Mageverse series. Ms. Whiteside's contribution seemed to start in a fairly normal way - if you're a mage that is. Then to have the hero rescued by the heroine who really doesn't seem to have magical talents, only to discover she does, at first it seemed a little formulatic. But as the story goes on, you discover that while the heroine does have magical talent, it appears to be minor, but it's tied to the land, and when she finally opens herself to the land, her power allows the hero to help stop a war. Emma Holly's story - what can I say? The story rocked! I didn't like the king from the get go, and then when he "threw" his son to the queen as a gesture of peace, I liked him even less. But when I discovered just what the king had done in the past to the queen, and what he had planned for his son and the queen in the near future, I was ready to lead a war party myself against him. I've followed Ms. Leigh's Breed series since I found them, and I still haven't read them all. This one is a typical Breed albeit a wolf and not a feline so there are some differences. An assassin and his mate, the witness. There was no doubt in my mind that he loves her, and she loves him, but she won't stay unless he changes his ways. When he calls her "his sunshine", I cried, it was beautifully written, and kept me turning the pages even at 1:30 am.

Four mistresses of romantic fiction come together in one fantastic anthology featuring four riveting paranormal tales. I was already a fan of Angela Knight, Emma Holly and Lora Leigh, but Beyond the Dark was the first chance I have yet had to experience Diane Whiteside's talent. In my honest opinion, each of the stories in this collection has earned Kwips' highest rating of five Klovers! ~Dragon Dance by Angela Knight~ Random humans have developed inexplicable paranormal abilities. The change comes upon them without warning, and for many, they never recover from the madness that accompanies the transition period. Hostage negotiator Arial Dean is called in to talk down one such `Hyper', as they are called, in a standoff that threatens not only the man's wife and children, but every living being in the vicinity. It will take the combined efforts of Arial and the mysterious man known only as Tracker to subdue this dangerous new Hyper. Angela Knight recently became one of my favorite authors, and I have been greatly anticipating this story from her! Dragon Dance in no way disappointed me. This story has several twists that I did not anticipate but which greatly ramped up my excitement for this story when each was revealed. I guess I am trying to say that it got better and better with each page! LOL Of course, it was captivating from page one, with characters that leapt off the page, immediately engendering a feeling of familiarity for them, and definitely a strong empathy. As can be expected from an author who has affectionately described her work as `blatant smut', Dragon Dance has some blazing hot love scenes between Arial and Tracker! Of course, simply calling this story blatant smut would do this talented author a disservice. Without the emotion Ms. Knight effortlessly wrings from her characters, it would simply be sex. But Knight has written a true love story, with all the romantic passion guaranteed to satisfy any romance reader. ~Caught by the Tides by Diane Whiteside~ It is 1803 and England remains on guard for threat from Napoleon Bonaparte. Both the French and the English employ the use of powerful mages with the ability to control the elements and more in their battles. Owen Bentham is just such a King's Mage, in service to England. As he carries an imperative message that can change the tide of the war, the enemy calls a storm that leaves him near dead. When Emma finds the handsome man washed up on her beach, she recognizes him as a King's Mage by the ring he wears, and knows that her duty to help him goes beyond simple human kindness, but is a duty to her country. But in caring for Owen, she finds herself caught in the midst of the fight, an unexpected but significant pawn that the traitorous mage will do anything to control. In order to foil the traitor and help Owen succeed in his mission, she must give everything she is to Owen. As I said previously, Caught by the Tides is the first time I have read a

Matthias Slaughter, a wolf breed and highly trained assassin, was freed from the labs long ago. Tattoos cover his body and earrings pierce his skin. One thing never touches him, however, and that is love - or so he thinks. Sent to assassinate one of the Genetics Council members, he lies in wait for the monster to return. There is just a bit of a problem. One of the hotel staff, a woman Matthias has spent much time with just witnessed his cold blooded assassination. Matthias does the only thing that will keep her alive - he kidnaps her. After all, he might not know it yet, but Grace is his mate and he will do anything to keep her from harm. Grace laments the fact that the man she thought she knew is a killer. Not happy, she threatens and pleads to be let loose. She fell in love with Matthias during the past several weeks and her heart is broken with the belief that he is actually completely different from her perceptions. But, as time passes and Grace opens her heart up to the wolf breed, something happens. The heart she tried to harden softens and Matthias steals his way into it once again. She is his mate and there is nothing she wouldn't do in order to make a life with him. Matthias and Grace only have a few days to realize their love. It seems that the Genetics Council has found them and now that evil wants Grace and is willing to kill Matthias to get to her. I don't know how Lora Leigh does it, but I am glad she does. She weaves her magic around IN A WOLF'S EMBRACE creating an incredible novella. Matthias Slaughter is not a breed that we have been exposed to yet. He is scarred, he has tattoos, and he is one delicious bad boy! But, in every bad boy's life there is a woman that completes him and that woman is Grace. Her name says it all. She is regal, she is graceful, and she is loyal. Her love for Matthias brought tears to my eyes and made my heart beat faster. Their love scenes are explosive, breathtaking, and so real even I blushed. I was very happy to see a new wolf breed story from this author. As a breed junkie, I can't get enough of this series, and without a doubt, Ms. Leigh can write one heck of a story. IN A WOLF'S EMBRACE will grab you, it will make you sit spellbound, and you won't stop reading until the very last word. IN A WOLF'S EMBRACE is a novella in the anthology Beyond the Dark which released on December 4, 2007.