Twice Blessed by Rachel Bo
Jenny became a nurse to please her parents but went back to school to become an artist. When driving to her first dream job in California she has a brief, sexy encounter with the Blake brothers. Now she is headed home for the holidays, looking forward to reconciling with her parents, and excited about the big contract her firm landed with a movie studio. What she never dreamed was she’d meet up with the handsome twins from her past, and they are even sexier now! They had never forgotten her and these determined brothers will do everything in their power to make her remember her sexy promise to them.

Twice Blessed is a super-heated romance featuring a committed shape shifter ménage. Damien and Devlin are tall, dark and intensely sexy. When Devlin and Damien show up at her Uncles holiday party Jenny cannot resist them. They appeal to her on some deeper instinctual level than what she can logically explain. She struggles with her feelings, thinking it just lust, and decides to indulge herself with a holiday affair. But Damien and Devlin are weyrwolves and they know Jenny is their true mate. The sexual tension and ménage scenes in this story are beyond hot, they are blistering! The way the brothers communicate and concentrate on their mate is extremely arousing and well written. I had to stop to catch my breath after this one! Be aware these scenes go a step farther than many werewolf stories…but Ms Bo skillfully shows the sexual encounters to ! be part of the context of the mating between these weyrwolves and Jenny. This may be disturbing to some but in my opinion does not detract at all from this sexy paranormal love story. Wolf lovers, this is a hot new keeper for you!

Home for the Holidays by Stephanie Vaughan
Valerie Mills is not feeling very happy about the holidays or her life. She’s been laid off and forced to work in a horrible dead end job. The only bright spot is her best friend Suzi can sometimes run interference for her, like when she intercepts Val’s sarcastic Secret Santa wish list before the evil boss from hell sees it. When Suzi invites Val and her big brother Dan home for the holidays neither of them realizes Val’s’ secret wishes will be fulfilled.

Home for the Holidays is like an Atomic Fireball candy; a treat that starts off spicy sweet then burns your mouth off! Detectives Dan Crocker and his partner Tyler Zinczenko decide to spend Christmas with Dan’s family. It brings back warm memories for both of them after a dangerous 2 year undercover assignment. They are much more than work partners to each other but also love women. They hope to find the perfect woman, one who shares their passions and can accept their relationship. They want a third partner but never expect to find her with one of Dan’s childhood friends! Dan is shocked to hear from his little sister that Val’s secret Santa wish was to experience shibari or Japanese rope bondage for three. When these three indulge their fantasies the fireball starts to burn! The shibari was very erotic; the interplay between Dan and Tyler was a! mazing and made their sex play with Val all the more intense. The sexual scenes included M/M, M/F, and M/M/F with some different combinations that, while not for the faint-hearted, are Atomic Fireball HOT. With 2 devoted sexy alpha men, an intelligent beautiful woman and some of the sexiest fantasy love scenes I’ve read, Home for the Holidays shouldn’t go on your keeper shelf - it needs to be put with your favorite sex toys!

Christmas Noir by Barbara Karmazin
Shannon MacNal is a beautiful, wealthy, influential hermaphrodite. When a friend is brutally murdered she’s also in danger. Detectives Fergus DeSoto and Tannamae Jones are assigned to protect her and solve the string of murders before the killer makes his threats against Shannon come true. Protective custody means the detectives move in to Shannon’s home and one of them must be within 3 feet of her at all times. All three of these exotic and sexy protagonists are uneasy with the attraction and growing affection they feel for each other. Shannon has had to deal with prejudice all her life. She steels her heart against disappointment even while she wishes for love. Christ! mas Day brings more than she hoped for in an exciting conclusion to Christmas Noir.

Christmas Noir is a fascinating love story that explores a futuristic question of what if, what would happen if gender discrimination laws were expanded? But the wider picture is that this is a story about love, and that love can cross any boundary whether internal, external or both. Shannon does not expect to ever find someone to accept her and love her unconditionally. She has buried herself in work and is wary of letting anyone get close to her, for good reason! Fergus and Tanny are in a very loving relationship and communicate well with each other. They know they are each attracted to Shannon and will act on those desires together, but not until the murder case is solved. Shannon’s physical safety comes first. Of course this lead! s to Shannon misinterpreting their intentions and through all of this the suspense of a rabid serial killer keeps the story simmering on another level! Part of the warning for this story, is for violence. The murder of Merry was gruesome- but the disturbing details are no more graphic than an episode of any of the “CSI” forensic evidence shows. The sex with all three characters is explicit and unique, but also heartwarming and very sensual. This story is not for everyone but it’s engaging and well written. I enjoyed it and I think fans of erotic futuristic romances will enjoy it also.

Overall impression: Rated X-Mas is one of the few anthologies that I equally enjoyed every one of the stories. It has something for readers of many different genres. Every story is enjoyable no matter what your favorite type might be. The Scorching rating is certainly well deserved since these stories take popular erotic romance themes and push the envelope to the next heat level. Each story was a little holiday ornament; unique, sparkling with extremely erotic scenes, appealing characters and romantic storylines. This is a perfect holiday treat for readers who enjoy their erotic romances on the naughty side of nice.

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Explicit

Reviewer: Patrice
December 15, 2004