Mercenaries

This book contains 3 novellas: Trinity (originally published as Mercenaries, Ebook short, heavily revised and substantially lengthened), The Thrall (also published as and Ebook), and lastly Claiming Cassidy. They are all set in the lost planets space. An interstellar war erupted and these planets have been cut off from the rest of humanity for 200 or more years. Some have been in contact for longer than others but all are somewhat skewed. Trinity lives on Orville's Paradise and has been turning down all proposals of marriage (the local bachelors are more appalling than appealing) and the church elders are going to auction her off for mirage to the highest bidder. She finds Nathan (the captain of the mercenary ship Starrunner) and Sebastian his XO in the lone local bar (can't promote sin you know) and asks to join the ship. Nicely written plot some BDSM and Ds, humor as well as erotic scenes including a 3 some. This rewrite cleans up some inconsistencies from the original and shows how far the author has come as a story teller. The Thrall takes place on Bedsem a colony founded by BDSM (note the phonetic match) aficionados. Al the rulers have titles based on dom. Sebastian goes undercover as a thrall (sub) to find the son of a ruler who has been kidnapped by another ruler because he turned her down on an offer of mirage to her oldest daughter. Nicely done BDSM, Ds, and erotic scenes as well as a nice plot and tongue in cheek humor. Claiming Cassidy pits her (she's a fighter pilot from the Starrunner) against Rune a Dharani Tribesman pilot. They mutually shoot each other down (managing to craqsh on a habitable planet) and once Rune finds his opponent is female he decides he wants her for his wife. But he also realizes that he has to seduce her if he doesn't want to wake up one morning with a serious case of slit throat. This story is more romantic than the others but still has some nicely done BDSM, Ds, and erotic scenes and the story line is nicely done as well. The physics is a little off as Tachyons are not part of the standard model (particle physics and well accepted) but are beloved of the string theory folks. Tachyons have negative mass and move faster than the speed of light and are one of the puns that you get trying to reconcile General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. Even if you don't care for this genre this book might be the one to change your mind as the characters through out the book are well drawn and appealing.

I had read Angela Knight in compilations and enjoyed her style. I was even more impressed by Mercenaries. The stories though short are titillating and spicy. The drama is light but keeps it real allowing the sex to seem plausible not forced. I have personally recommended this to several friends and relatives. I reread Mercenaries when in need of something light but not silly. It is at times humorous and I enjoy a good ending. The erotic scenes are intensly hot with just enough bondage for spice not freaky or painful.

In Angela Knight's anthology she combines two older stories and then ties them all together with one new one. They are a little more.. hardcore, I suppose is the word I'd use. That doesn't detract from my enjoyment of each decadent page. Plus her heroines are always up to the challenge, physically, sexually and most of all verbally. (Smarta$$ is as good Kick A$$ in my book!) I would compare the book to an ice cream sundae. There is the deep dark rich chocolate of "Trinity" (hint her name is a clue as two what sorta happens in this one) Then, you have the strawberry and cream concoction of "Thrall" with the BDSM world and all the trimmings. Whips chains and leather ooh yeah. The content is saved from the darkness by heroine's sweetness and the hero's snarky inner dialogue. Loved it! Finally with "Claiming Cassidy" you have the vanilla portion of the book as it was written for Berkley. However, this is the sort of vanilla made with the heaviest, richest cream, the most exotic vanilla beans ever imagined and laden with some wickedly hot sex and even hotter action. As for Rune.. Hubba Hubba.. It sizzles, it simmers, and then it all explodes. This is a wicked delight, without the calories. In fact, the way my heartrate goes up while reading AK's books, I figure it's a cardio workout all its own. Some have complained that the characters fall in love too quickly. These are short stories, of course they do! It's an anthology, a sampler of wicked deliscious delights that doesn't disappoint this slightly non-fudgy fan. I'm a vanilla, but hey, I've never minded a bit of chocolate sauce in my books now and then.

My goodness! This is not just a book, it's really porn, with a plot (I guess that makes it girly porn). Ha! Here we have three novellas. All are related in that they are members of a crew on the starship Starrunner. In the first one, we have a crazy colony where all the men get off whipping their errant wives for burning dinner. Until Captain Nathan arrives. In the second, the second mate seduces the princess with a little S & M. In the third, one crewmember is stranded with the sexy enemy and a waterfall. Ha! I want to bust out laughing just writing this because it is so corny. Yet, I really enjoyed it. Angela Knight made it work. Her sex scene (which were numerous) were well written and vivid and there was a definitely workable plot that kept the story interesting and fast paced. I'm looking forward to reading more. For those who were comparing her to Anita Blake -- PLEASE! Hamilton needs to take pointers. Hamilton ain't got nothing on Knight.

Angela Knight has compiled three of her e-stories into one trade paperback book. These are great stories. Each one of them tells a brief, highly erotic, sci-fi love story. The first is the story of Trinity Yeager and her effort to leave a backward, demented religious society. Nathan August is the mercenary pilot who gives her safe passge for a very sexy price. The second story is about Sebastian Cole who goes undercover to free a kidnapped dominant prince. He encounters Zaria, a royal dominatrix with a seemingly shameful secret. The last story is the best one as far as I am concerned. Cassidy Vika is in the middle of fighting a war when she is shot down by enemy pilot, Rune Alrigo. He doesn't want to kill her though, he wants to claim her. Their courtship is brief but intense. I loved the pacing and the characterization in all three short stories. Ms. Knight seems to hit a home run every time.