I've read one other novella by Ms. Hill, and found it to be pretty good but not as spectacular as her latest releases have been crowned. Board Resolution finally showed me why. This did have a lot of focus on sex and bondage, and yet it gave more emotional depth than a majority of romances I've read, erotic or not. Even when Savannah was enjoying something sexual, things that were about as scorching as it can get (and definitely not something I could read in public and remain unaffected), the author always had a strong emotional element weaved throughout the moment. Little flashbacks and memories came to Savannah while with those men, revealing more about them and her ties to them than I'd have thought possible in a 88-page story. It's not a traditional way to go after an HEA, but the manner in which Matt finally got Savannah to open up to him was not only fitting, but an excellent show of vulnerability on both their parts. After Board Resolution, I'll be looking forward to Ms. Hill's next release.

Mardi Gras by Lacey Alexander
Ty is tired of meaningless sex with women he only dates for a short time. He needs the dirty, wicked things they do with him, but wants a woman who can be sweet outside of bed. But he knows no sweet girl can be a naughty girl, too.

Mia has known Ty since she was thirteen, and in all that time, he's only thought of her as sweet Mia, the kid sister to his best friend. But she's not thought of Ty that way. When she overhears him speaking with Jake about his desire to be tied up, just once, she decides it's the perfect time to get Ty out of her system by going to Jack and Liz's Mardi Gras party in disguise. She'll be the sex, naughty girl he wants for one night.

Lacey Alexander is an author I put on my auto-buy list when I read her second release at Ellora's Cave. So it came as a surprise when I didn't enjoy this story as much as I'd have thought. Mardi Gras started out with an interesting plot, but I failed to connect with the characters. There was plenty of sex, and once I realized I wasn't likely to get to know the characters all that well, I was willing to settle for Ms. Alexander's customary scorching love scenes. But even there, I found myself sometimes bored. There were some pretty hot moments, but I often found myself distracted by the almost forced feel of it. The endearment "baby" was used too often to be enjoyable. When reading this, I rarely felt a strong emotional connection between the characters, and the sex scenes emphasized that. The moments that most suggested an emotional bond weren't too often, yet the fact that they were there was welcoming. There was a customary HEA, but I couldn't entirely believe it when Ty was so willing to sleep around, then found himself loving Mia once he realized she was his masked lover. I'd like to say I really enjoyed this part of the anthology, but after loving French Quarter so much, Mardi Gras seemed like only a fair story.

Hidden Desires by Elizabeth Lapthorne
Lily is looking for the perfect mask for Mardi Gras, and stumbles onto it at an old shop. And when she puts it on, she see visions of herself under a masked highwayman. That night, as she'd hoped, she meets a sexy stranger in a mask that she plans on having a week-long affair with. Yet, something about him seems familiar, and not just the fact that he's costumed as a highwayman.

Andrew works in the same company as Lily. She caught his attention months ago, but between work and other things, he's never quite gotten around to approaching her. So when he overhears Lily and her friend talking about Lily's planned Mardi Gras vacation, he decides it's the perfect time to seduce her.

Hidden Desires was light story that started out partially on sex (Lily's need for it) and partially on romance (the beginnings of something more than desire for Andrew). Both were rather laidback characters with laidback, though strong, desires. Sex took a fairly good portion of the story, but scattered throughout were little things to give the characters a little more personality. And while I didn't quite believe they'd fallen in love by the end, I could believe they were happy together. One thing that confused me about Hidden Desires was that it started out with a sentient mask, but then progressed with the plans Andrew and Lily had all along. It seemed kind of strange to have a mask deliberating on setting up two lovers, yet then have very little use for it during the story (after the beginning, it asserted itself only once more). Besides that, Hidden Desires had no flaws. It was a light story with enough heat to satisfy most erotic romance fans. One thing that set it apart from the previous two stories was the lack of strong BDSM elements. With only light bondage, Hidden Desires is likely to be more to the taste of vanilla readers.

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Explicit

Reviewer: Tara Black
May 11, 2005