"Two hot vampire fantasies!"

Marriage in Moonlust by Kate Hill

Historical. This sexy tale opens with the heroine, Leona, resisting rape. She has been offered by her family as a virgin sacrifice to the acting lord, vampire Kornel Debray. Luckily the true ruler, Kornel's older brother Narcisse, returns, intervening in the nick of time. However, as Leona has been poisoned, the only way to save her is for Narcisse to give some of his blood to her. In the process, a white- hot attraction sparks, binding the vampire and the mortal together.

Unfortunately, there are obstacles to their love. Years ago, Narcisse had fallen in love with and married a human. Tragically, she died in a horse-riding accident while she was pregnant, taking with her the unborn baby. Since then, Narcisse has not allowed himself to love. Add to that, the jealous brother, Kornel, and we've got quite a story.

Watching the romance unfold between the cautious Narcisse and the equally wary Leona was exciting. The hot, steamy sex was, of course, a definite plus. I personally find vampire romances extremely sexy, and Hill's short story is one of the reasons why.

Sensuality: Hard R - oral sex, very mild bondage.

Icarus by Sherri L. King

Contemporary. Running to Scotland, famed poet Morrigan Medoros hopes to find sanctuary from her hectic, stressful lifestyle... and her equally active dreams. For many nights now, she has been plagued by increasingly erotic dreams that hint at dark desires she has never even thought of before. However, she finds her new home, rather than calming her, actually increases the frequency and intensity of these dreams. She begins to see new details. Her dark lover is Azure, a winged alien who feasts on blood to live.

Az is intensely sexy, from a water-dwelling race called Icari. He has traveled across the galaxy searching for his mate, and he is not about to let Morrigan's fears separate them now that he has finally found her. The love scenes were spicy and totally delicious; I found Az's efforts to persuade Morrigan to accept him to be compelling, to say the least. I could practically hear his husky whispers, urging Morrigan to give in to her desires. Author King definitely created a hot fantasy with this tale; I eagerly anticipate her future works.

Sensuality: Hard R, oral sex, masturbation.

Reviewer's Note: Kudos to artist Darrell King for a fabulously evocative cover! I picked up this anthology for it alone.

Reviewed by Barb Chan for Sensual Romance.

Reviewed by Sensual Romance
Courtesy Sensual Romance
Posted March 14, 2003

Summary

Marriage in Moonlust by Kate Hill: Sacrificed to a family of vampires, Leona is rescued by handsome, powerful Narcisse Debray. In spite of her initial fear of blood drinkers, Leona is unable to control her attraction to the vampire lord. His lovemaking excites her beyond her wildest imaginings and he offers devotion such as she's never known. Unfortunately, their happiness is tainted by the wickedness of a jealous enemy. Narcisse's younger brother will stop at nothing to see the lovers destroyed.

Icarus by Sherri L. King: He comes to her in dreams, when she is most vulnerable to his stirring touches and burning kisses. He drinks her blood and binds her to him in ways no mortal lover ever could...but Morrigan doesn't want to believe that her water-dwelling blood drinker is anything more than a figment of her deprived imagination. Morrigan wants to be free of her addiction to the highly sexual creature she knows only as Az. But Az has other plans...and soon he hopes that Morrigan will be too deeply under his spell to care that he wants to take her back to his homeworld... to be his mate for all eternity.