William’s boring lovemaking leaves Catherine unsatisfied. Harboring fantasies she can’t put into words, she longs for a sexual voice but finds herself too stifled by her proper social upbringing.

When a blackout hits their resort hotel and William proposes a sexy version of hide-and-seek, playtime takes on a whole new salacious meaning. Charlotte’s mind races with sexual scenarios. But even her fantasies fail to compare to the titillating adventure her husband has planned for her—with the help of another man.

Soon everything she knows about lust will be irreversibly changed—and she’ll moan for more.

Title: PARTY GAMES
Author: Elise Hepner
Series: standalone
Genre: Erotica
Publisher: Ellora's Cave Publishing
Year of release: 2011, May 10
Format: eBook
Source: received an e-copy from author for review

First line:
< Charlotte could point the finger at William for this childish party game. b>Memorable Scenes:
-

Note from reviewer:
I've called this a DNF-review in the title but actually it's not a review but more an explanation of why I couldn't finish the book. As a matter of fact I don't think it can be called a review if you don't make it past the first chapter. Still I didn't want to let this book go by unaddressed as 1. I received it for review and 2. what doesn't work for me, might for work perfectly for someone else as we all bring different backgrounds, history, experiences, hot buttons and pet peeves to our reading.

Elise Hepner is one of two authors whose work I recently first encountered with and those first encounters weren’t stellar. However, I did really like the writing styles and voice of both authors so this week I read a second book of both authors and while the other author was redeemed, unfortunately this wasn't the case for Elise Hepner.

I started reading PARTY GAMES and being intrigued by the blurb and the premise I was positive I would like it.

I read the first paragraph and once again was impressed by Elise Hepner's powerful, edgy writing. And then I read the next passage:

“Then take me.” She sought out his lips. The thrill of possible sin with another man made her flesh burn from his touch.
William must have his fair share of dalliances outside their marriage bed. What would be the harm in her having just this one? Her husband worked nights often. She knew what the sewing circles whispered. William had never made any motion to make her doubt the gossip. If anything, his actions only enforced the rumors because he would come home at night with different women’s perfumes on his skin and wrinkles in his untucked shirts.
Briefly, the thought of her husband in an affair stung until she buried it away. They didn’t know each other well enough, like other married couples, for her to waste so much time on her emotions. Their courtship had never been a match of love, but their marriage was one of business between families.
So it didn’t make sense to waste pain on the hypothetical. It wasn’t as if she could change things. Where would hurt get her in the end? She wouldn’t be any better for it, so it was best for her to lock it away.
But surely William didn’t care enough for her for this to hurt him? He’d never done much but scold, reprimand or mount her―that is, when they saw each other at all. William couldn’t deny her curiosity. Not when David might bring her to life again. She couldn’t resist when the timing was so right.
If anything, William should be pleased that she might finally have fun in the bedroom—or a closet. Maybe this would teach her to bring her own desires to her husband. Wouldn’t that be ironic?

This is a total deal-breaker for me. And yes, I know this is erotica and not erotic romance so a HEA into the sunset was not to be expected but the purposeful cheating, intent to cheat and emotional distance between the main characters are things that just don't work for me. So I had to stop reading there and declare this a DNF. I read a book once where there was cheating in the book and decided then and there I would not do that again, as much as I hate not to finish a book, especially sent to me for review, I read for pleasure and enjoyment and I don’t want to read about things I cannot reconcile with enough to enjoy the book.

When I read the above page in the book I knew this book was not going to work for me and that's because in my reading I look for that emotional connection with and between the main characters and I didn't think this book was going to give that to me.

Despite this being a DNF I must say that if you read and enjoy non-romance erotica, Elise Hepner is an author to keep an eye on because her writing is excellent and her voice absolutely fits darker edged erotica. For me it didn’t work but that doesn’t mean it won’t for someone else.

Rating:
No rating as this was a DNF within the first chapter

Naomi gets her high from crowd surfing in her little plaid skirt. She’s got voyeuristic tendencies and with a mosh pit full of people there are infinite sexual possibilities. She’s only got to look to the person next to her for a slamming good time in the sack and out of it.

Alissa is a cougar with a sex addiction and a penchant for stealing her daughter’s clothes. When she comes across a freebie catalog full of her favorite kind of dress up, she just can’t help herself. Out comes the credit cards and in she goes to the nearest single’s bar. It’s time to see what today’s catch of the day is.

In this anthology all it takes is a little scrap of fabric to rule the world. When playing dress-up who doesn’t want to take over the world?

Title: THE LITTLE PLAID SKIRT SAGA (VOL 1&2)
Author: Elise Hepner
Series: not part of a series, as far as I know
Genre: Erotica
Publisher: Excessica
Year of release: 2010, October 29
Format: eBook
Source: received a digital copy for review from author

First line:
VOL1 - Naomi
The rush of the crowd against her thighs as she surfed their open, groping arms made her wet at the seams.
VOL2 - Alissa
I couldn't make up my mind today.



QuickScore-Verdict:

THE LITTLE PLAID SKIRT SAGA is an ultra short novella of the erotica variety. It's not that I was expecting a romance with a HEA but the lack of emotional intensity and the strong lean to non-romantic and more straight sexual need/desire did remind me of why I love to read erotic romance and not so much erotica.

Also because these 2 stories were so very short I never had the chance to really get into the characters and click with them. Even though the stories felt a bit one-dimensional to me, the writing style is promising and I would love to read an erotic romance by this author.

I know there are erotica readers who will really like these stories and I urge them to give Elise Hepner a go as her knack for writing raw sexuality shines through, even for a reader like me who's more into the HEA and the emotional part of erotic romance.

Favorite Quote:
(Vol. 2) I just had to play the good girl until the bad one came out to play.

Two guys. A girl. One incredible game of pool…

Scarlett wants to escape, even if it’s just for a little while. So she heads to Southern Comfort, where she’ll find a certain marine she can’t get out of her head. And she knows he won’t be alone.

Michael spies the uptight woman of his dreams the minute she fights through the crowd. She’s sexy as sin and he can’t take his eyes off her while she flirts over some liquid courage. When she finally heads his way, it’s time to find out if she can live up to her end of the fantasy.

Red-hot chemistry may call the shots, but once you take the double hit… The game is on.

Title: SOUTHERN COMFORT
Author: Eve Cassidy
Series: Standalone, part of Ellora’s Cave EXOTIKA line
Genre: Erotica, Erotic Romance, Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Year of release: 2010, September 2
Format: eBook
Source: Bought via Jasmine Jade eBook store

First line:
Scarlett Bailey approached the entrance to the bar with equal parts trepidation and excitement.

Memorable Scenes:
The scene just before the pool game starts > hot!


Quick & Dirty-review:

Ingredients/Summary:
Interesting stuff on a pool table, a little bit of dirty talk and the fulfillment of a fantasy.

Characters:
Normally I break this part down into hero and heroine but because the story was so short I didn’t get an extensive enough picture of the characters to send them through my usual character analysis so I’m sweeping them all up together in one short paragraph

The main characters of this story are the commanding and forceful Sergeant Michael Conner and Scarlett Bailey. Scarlett is a passionate wicked woman underneath the veneer of a straight-laced marine, looking for a good time with the man she's longed for, ever since she was placed in his unit.

Writing:
I need to read more of Eve Cassidy's work to be able to form a founded opinion but this short story definitely made me want to taste more

Likes:
- set up of the story and build-up of the sexual tension
- the unexpected twist at the end of the story

Dislikes:
- the shortness of the story that didn’t leave room for exploration of the characters

Verdict:
Extremely short (only 32 pages) but very hot ménage story with an unexpected little twist at the end. Liked it but would love to read 'the whole story' on Michael and Scarlett.

Favorite Quotes:
Then she spotted him in the form of snug jeans riding low on his waist and a black . . . between her thighs and her skin tingled clear to her scalp.

He looked up just in time to see her lick it, slam it and suck it on a tequila shot and his mouth watered at the sight.

She's gone from rags to riches....
Now she's a good girl gone bad.

One hot summer's day, everything changes for Frannie Luttrell after she rescues rich, young Marianne Nyland from drowning. An innocent small-town girl from the other side of the Bar Harbor tracks, Frannie is rechristened "Frankie" and swept into Marianne's glamorous world of wanton sensuality and expensive fun. Soon she is enjoying decadent pleasures beyond her wildest imagination with any and every guy she desires—except for the man she really wants, the ever-aloof Dax Cordrey, who disapproves of her new, indulgent life.

Offered a job as Marianne's personal assistant (aka permanent party pal) in New York City, Frankie and the insatiable Marianne hit the town on exotic nightly sexcapades, fulfilling their wildest fantasies. But when Marianne is found dead—and Frankie is named her sole heir—gossip flies like wildfire and a steamy sex tape featuring the Cinderella heiress suddenly appears. Deciding to make the most of her fifteen minutes of fame, Frankie acts the part of a publicity princess—while trying to prove to Dax that she's not the scandalous vixen she's been made into. She's only as bad as she wants to be...for the right person.

I hesitated for quite some time with this book, first whether I should buy it and my curiosity got the better of me, so I did.
Then whether I should take it with me on holiday and again curiosity won and finally if I really could write a review on this book. I decided to do it anyway because every book deserves a review, even books that I do not like.
But there's actually not much to review except for sex, a lot of meaningless, cold sex. And of course that's to be expected in an erotic romance but I must say there was little erotic or romantic to it. And although I like a good erotic scene in my books and not much really bothers me, the scenes in this one really did. They were so on automatic pilot, so cold and emotionless, some of them actually made my skin crawl and almost all of it was just straightforward (vanilla) sex, but still....

There's a hint of a story that can be summed up as Frankie (poor girl) saves Marianne (rich girl) from drowning and to reward her Marianne offers her to show her and let her live the life of the rich for the rest of the summer. After a few years Frankie goes to live with Marianne in New York and spends her days and nights going from one raunchy sexfest to another. Meanwhile she's in love with Dax, who is also part of Marianne's entourage but does not involve himself in her sexual escapades and he wants nothing to do with Frankie because of her lifestyle. He tries to warn her that Marianne is no good for her but she doesn't listen.
Then Marianne ends up dead and Frankie is her sole heir. The press has a field day when more and more details of Frankie's depraved lifestyle leak out.

The end is quickly scrapped together to create a lousy explanation of the course and why of things and events and there's a small hint of Frankie and Dax's HEA but that's it.

Very unsatisfying and not what I expected from an erotic romance at all.
But of course not all authors can capture the exquisite balance between erotica and romance to create a story that's both hot and emotional. In this case I'm sad to say that it was neither.