Romance | Self-Publishing Review

Review: Wantin by Truth Devour

Fate is relentless in its pursuit of Talia Jacobs. Presented with unimaginable turns of chance, she is drawn into the depths of tragic losses then catapulted to the extraordinary heights of life’s joy. Take the journey with Talia as she undergoes her sexual, social and physical metamorphosis from a vulnerable girl into a mature young seductress. Nothing in life is ever as it seems. Is she blessed or cursed? Will she ever find the man who will love her like no other, fearlessly caressing the deepest part of her being while intertwining his soul to hers in a dance that […]

T B Markinson2014-11-27T06:35:27+02:00October 29th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Paranormal, Romance|

The Yellow Field by Lauren Pickering

Trigger warning – NSFW

Emma Pascoe, a university student, is in a rotten relationship with Charlie, her boyfriend. Not only is he insensitive to her needs, but he has become progressively violent during sex. Then Sally enters the picture. She’s applying for a job at Emma’s father’s farm. As soon as Emma sees Sally, she feels a spark. That same day Emma and Sally make love. After the experience, Emma wonders if she is a lesbian or bisexual. Sally has had sex with other women, but the encounter after a year of abstaining from sex leaves her with questions.

In […]

Cate Baum2019-01-22T05:39:23+02:00October 10th, 2014|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Erotica, Romance|

Review: Wounded by Ben Burgess Jr

Set in New York City, headliner stripper Samantha is a player – and she’s gay, beautiful, black and out. Seducing women all around her is her main pleasure in life, whether they are straight, bi or gay. But she can’t forget the abuse from childhood that rules her sexuality.

Dancing on stage felt second nature to me. As a child, I was forced to do so many horrible acts that dancing with my clothes off as a profession felt natural.

This very erotic women’s fiction is written by a man, Ben Burgess Jr, author of Monster, which told […]

Naka Jackson2019-01-22T05:39:33+02:00August 7th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Erotica, Romance|

Review: Lights of Valencia by Michael Pilcher

Oliver, a twenty-something American ex-pat, escapes into Valencian culture while he prepares for the local celebrations of Fallas with his Spanish girlfriend Maria. But bad memories of his childhood back in the US are harder to escape than he thought.

Lights of Valencia is a treasure on various levels. The fact it is written by a young man who has lived in Valencia and had similar experiences means that the writing comes from first-hand reflections crafted into fiction. This kind of book will always be sturdier and deeper than those pieced together through third-hand research, and it makes all the […]

Cate Baum2014-07-08T17:36:51+02:00July 8th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: International Fiction, Romance|

Review: Autumn for Dragonflies by Theresa Sweet

This first of a three-part romance series about young and innocent Mary Lakas is a smooth and easy read with charming characters and wonderfully detailed settings. Mary is a college freshman studying science with the somewhat vague aim of becoming a physicist. When she is not in school, she is very involved in the choirs at her church. Music and science are the two passions of her life. Each realm provides a potential love interest for Mary, yet it is less her budding love life than the character of Mary herself that captured my interest.

Mary is funny and spontaneous […]

Avery Hurt2014-05-05T20:34:26+02:00February 26th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Romance|

Review: House of Mirrors by S. Israel

House of Mirrors is an erotic novel telling the tale of Linda, a young girl with no sexual knowledge who is abducted when she shares a cab with a stranger – then wakes up completely naked in a room made of mirrors after accepting a coffee laced with drugs.

In the vein of Story of O, Linda’s appetite for erotic adventure opens up as walls become transparent and she becomes the voyeur or the participant in a series of sexual vignettes with both a woman, Gloria, and two men, Dave and Joe, before they are released from the house […]

Cate Baum2019-01-22T05:39:55+02:00January 20th, 2014|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Erotica, Romance|

Review: A Bus Ride Home by Tidimalo

This debut novel by South African writer Tidimalo is part romance, part chick lit, but takes a unique approach to both genres. The story is framed by a hiking trip, and that trope comes up again and again throughout the novel. The story begins with the protagonist, Tlotlego (we do not learn her surname until late in the book), catching a bus to the starting location of a week-long hike. The story itself is told through a series of flashbacks, including several that feature other hikes involving Tlotlego’s friends, family, and lovers.

The flashbacks can be a bit confusing at […]

Avery Hurt2014-05-05T21:14:58+02:00December 19th, 2013|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Africa, Romance, Women's Fiction|

Review: Monster by Ben Burgess Jr.

This first novel by poet and spoken-word artist Ben Burgess, Jr. chronicles the love life of Ken Ferguson, a young man who responds to being dumped by a self-centered, materialistic girlfriend by giving up on love and instead devoting himself to pursing as many meaningless sexual conquests as he can manage—and he manages quite a dance card. Ken starts out as a very nice guy, but as he tries to keep himself from feeling any emotion, seducing and bedding women becomes almost a game to him. He gradually turns into a very different sort of person, the monster in the […]