A Flame in the Night by Morgan Dante

Published: April 11, 2023Publisher: SelfAuthor: WebsiteInfo: Goodreads

The start of bloody decadence...The definition of marriage: Two people and their silver-haired vampire.In 1924, Paris is a bastion of sexual freedom, even for shell-shocked Leon Laflamme, the most dramatic blond this side of the Seine. After years of loneliness and secrecy, he's married the clever and sumptuous burlesque dancer Claire. However, Leon truly finds liberation when he meets the stoic, intriguing, and silver-haired Count Matthias, who offers true freedom in his dark gift: immortality. (goodreads.com)

I'm just a hair shy of saying the florid writing of A FLAME IN THE NIGHT was too much for me, but most of the time it created a sumptuous scene that was just luscious to read. It did occasionally lose itself in the language, though, as I had a hard time working my way through some of the sentences and certain scenes, especially the sex scenes because the descriptions got a little boggy. It sometimes slowed the reading down to the point where I got a little lost in what was happening.Dante nails painting vivid characters from the moment they step on the page. Claire and Leon and Matthias were all fully formed using so few words. In their cadence of speech, how they viewed the world, and how they interacted with each other. The development there was enviable.The pacing was a little slow, which is kind of surprising for such a short book. There is a lot of character setup and their interaction with Matthias, and getting to the point of his story arc, took more than half the book to get to. As a result, the ending felt rushed, albeit it satisfactory. I liked where the story went and how the arc was resolved. I liked the realization of just how shallow the monster now lives under their skin and how they now must control it forever. It creates a good cyclical plot. Leon and Claire were running from monsters, and they ended up fighting fire with fire.If you're looking for a lush read that's sexy as hell (those sex scenes were something else) that's worth the payoff of a slower start to the plot, you'll like A FLAME IN THE NIGHT.3.5I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

The Smutesaurus: The Ultimate Guide to Superior & Preposterous Language for Romance Writers by Samantha Swart

Published: February 15, 2023Publisher: SelfAuthor: WebsiteInfo: GoodreadsThe title pretty much says it all. Borne into this world by a romance editor on TikTok as a lark, Swark created a guffaw-inducing compendium of terminology NOT to use when writing a romance novel. I mean, I guess you COULD use it, but it's ill advised. I found myself cackling profusely, especially during the chapters highlighting the names of male and female bits. MY how creative society can get!There are also, dare I say, inspirational terms in here too, especially as they pertain to certain kinks. Those were a little harder to read as I fumbled my way through pronouncing a lot of them. But I did! Success!THE SMUTESAURUS is a must have for any romance writer, because if you find yourself using one of these more gregarious terms in your writing, it must be stricken forthwith! Unless you're writing a satire. In which case, carry on!5

Ally and Her Mad Hatter by SN Hunt

Pub Date: February 1, 2023Publisher: SelfAuthor: WebsiteInfo: Goodreads

Ally spent her whole life being told Wonderland was just a fantasy, nothing more than a story that lived inside her mother's head. All it took was a tumble through a mirror to prove that was a lie. Now she must find her place within this world of madness without losing her sanity in the arms of the Mad Hatter.Hatter seeks to forget Alice, who shattered his heart by wallowing in a sea of liquor. When he stumbles downstairs in search of more, he finds himself face-to-face with the spitting image of her. But Ally is no Alice, so why does he burn for her with a fire as hot as the sun? (goodreads.com)

Sweet.Baby.Jesus.First and foremost, check your triggers on this book. Like seriously. The author puts them at the front. You will need them. ALLY AND HER MAD HATTER is INTENSE. And DARK. Like seriously dark. Darker, I think, than King of Flesh and Bone. So if KoFaB had you clutching your pearls, ALLY will have you turning them into paste.This book is sexy af. Like let's just get right to the point, shall we? It's deep and dark and dirty and will make you question why you're finding this hot but it's FURKING HOT and you may need to take a break or twelve in the middle to, you know, tend to your needs. Like, I don't think this book is doing anything particularly hard left of center, but it takes what people do tend to like and pushes them to the extreme. So, like, pleasure in pain? YEAH. It's going to go a bit down the path with that one. Choking? Dangling from the cliff. There's some double action and, shall we say, REALLY deep throating.Like I said, there isn't anything in here that's super niche kinky, but it turns some fairly common kinks up to 37.The story itself is a fun one. Ally is the daughter of Alice [in Wonderland fame] and gets pulled through the looking glass because Wonderland needs a new Alice. Except Ally isn't really the sweet thing her mother and prior Alices were. She's something darker, and when she meets Hatter, their darkness feeds off of each other.Thing is, it ends pretty sweetly. For how dark the book gets, it is absolutely a HEA and I thought the end was a nice way to round out the book and bring it back to something that is wholly settling and squishy and gives someone lovely feels in all the right places.ALLY AND HER MAD HATTER is one of those books I wish I could read again for the first time. I couldn't put it down, especially when a chapter ended in the middle of something super spicy. Yeah, DEFINITELY not putting it down there. But I, uh, will be referring back to it pretty often, thankyouverymuch. The only complaint I really have about it is it could do with a copyedit or a run through ProWritingAid or Grammerly, but I was reading an ARC, so take that for what you will. Obviously it did not detract from my reading because I absolutely swallowed this book whole (heh).If you're looking for some super dark, sexy fun, this is it.4.5I received a copy of this book from the author through BookSprout in exchange for an honest review.

Blood by Midnight by Cassie Alexander

Published: March 8, 2022Publisher: Caskara Press (self)Author: WebsiteInfo: Goodreads

Angela: Run. I need to run. My boyfriend, Mark, thinks his mafia connections will be able to kill my ex. But Gray’s an alpha werewolf and the leader of the Pack, Vegas’s most notorious motorcycle gang. It will take more than just a mobbed up human to take him down. To protect my boyfriend and my son—we have to run.Jack: I’m the only one strong enough to save Angela—but even I can’t take on an entire werewolf gang. Which means I have to talk to Rosalie: the vampire who made me, the Mistress I despise. If I don’t, Angela and her son are as good as dead—so I’ll do it, even if swearing allegiance to Rosalie kills me. Again. (goodreads.com)

Book three in the Dark Ink Tattoo series and I'm still hooked. The tension is still turned up to an eleven and going higher, the plot keeps me guessing, and I'm absolutely never bored. Never a dull moment. Truly.Jack and Angela's stories are starting to tie up more than Angela just being Jack's boss, which is awesome. I was wondering when that was really going to be set into motion. With Jack babysitting Angela's son, wires get crossed and that Venn diagram starts moving toward a full circle.I like how Angela lets her wolf off the leash a little, and how it responds to Jack. I honestly wonder how Mark will factor into Jack and Angela, or whether we might be looking as a poly romance (granted, I don't have high hopes for that one, I don't think Mark's the type for that). There's going to be a boom moment that brings Jack and Angela together. I'm just waiting for that particular shoe to drop.Of course, the spice was SPICY. As always. I love Cassie's writing all around, but her sex scenes in particular. To die for.Cassie keeps delivering with these books. I'm not seeing any mid-series lag, or places where the plot is falling off. The storytelling is tight, the sex is lit, and the drama is high. I can't ask for much more than that!5I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

King of Flesh & Bone by Liv Zander

Published: April 21, 2022Publisher: SelfAuthor: WebsiteInfo: Goodreads

Worse than a ruthless king... is a king obsessed.Isolation, darkness, and rotting flesh,Surrounds me, suffocates me,But I am the vile ruler who controls it all.I long for warmth,Yet, all that I touch,Is cold.Then, she stumbles in to my domain,Lost and frightened,Alone and confused.And I terrify her even more.She calls me the devil,So I show her pleasure,Like only the devil can.I am the heat that stirs her flesh,The longing that trembles her bone.She begs her body to refuse,To escape my embrace,But I am her master,The puppeteer of passion.I am the King of Flesh and Bone.Welcome to my court, little one. (goodreads.com)

KING OF FLESH & BONE is not something I would usually pick up, but it kept popping up on TikTok, and not necessarily for good reasons. It's a dark fantasy romance and there are some puritans on TikTok that think books like this shouldn't exist and want to shame the people who read and enjoy these books, this particular title especially. So of course I bought it because I wanted to see if it was as dark as everyone says it was.Yeah, it kind of is. This is a romance born of basically Stockholm Syndrome and out of torture. There is noncon and dubcon galore. Yet, here I sit, completely unfazed. Maybe it's because I read a lot of Labyrinth fanfic in my youth that played around with a lot of these themes already? Not to mention I tend to lean toward the villains and morally gray characters anyway . . . so . . . 🤷🏻‍♀️I can totally see why people would have an issue with this book. But it's not a book for children. There are content warnings EVERYWHERE. I didn't include it in the blurb, but the first line on Goodreads before this blurb even says 'a dark fantasy romance.' What part of DARK FANTASY are y'all not getting? Oh no, not THAT dark. Then cover your eyes and turn away.It's actually really well written, it's a great story, and because I already like deep dark stuff anyway, I didn't have an issue with the sex in it. I was able to suspend my disbelief in order to enjoy the book. I WILL be reading the next one and possibly purchasing paperbacks because they're fun.KING OF FLESH & BONE is a DARK story. Like every part of it is dark and tortuous. There is maybe one glimmer of light and that's it. It's funny because the last time I dabbled in publishing it was with a YA dark fantasy, and that was a primary complaint of people: that it was too dark and not enough happy moments. Um. Again, what part of dark fantasy are you not getting? Maybe people just don't believe how dark an author's heart can get? Or they think they know dark until they have their eyes ripped out. Who knows?I liked this book. In fact, it's probably one of the best indie books I've come across. If you can handle this kind of content (and check the website for the complete details on that), I'd recommend it. Yeah, it's dark. But it's a great story, a great world, and it's hot. You might learn something about yourself reading it, one way or another.4.5