"Surprises as well as shocks"

In this Brava historical romance anthology, surprises - as well as nasty shocks - are dealt by the three veterans of erotic romance.

From Russia With Love by Susan Johnson

Susan Johnson tones down her usual explicit sex with a poignant passionate story of the resilient Tatiana, dictated by Ivan The Terrible to marry the ogre Prince Shuisky to strengthen their alliance in Russia 1570. While sequestered in Livonia with her child Zoe, she meets the suave Stavr Biron who campaigns for Ukraine and falls in love. The danger arrives when Prince Shuisky is consumed with jealousy when his "possession" is taken by his enemy. Erotic and sensual with tender affections, Susan Johnson explores a forbidden passion with empathy and masterful narration.

Her Lord and Master by Thea Devine

This tale is an immediate turn-off to me, with the unconscionable Earl of Wick taking a fancy to deflower a virgin. Jenise, seeing her sister Julia being cruelly cast away by Wick, decides to teach him a lesson, only to indulge in the rapturous surrender of sex. The sex marathon soon becomes gratuitous, monotonous as the romance element is stripped away by the explicit and crude manhandling, inducing more of a nasty shock for readers.

Erotic Deja vu by Katherine O'Neal

I found this tale to be cluttered with numerous blatant sex scenes, but starkly original with its surreal realm and a surprising twist. Celia Wybourne, the scandalous erotic romance author, travels to Gibraltar and finds that her destiny entwined with a mysterious stranger Royce - in several past-lives - with tragic consequences. The attraction to the story is not immediate but on a progressive mode.

With excellent predecessors such as CAPTIVATED and FASCINATED, TAKEN BY SURPRISE falls short, with the romance diminished by debauchery and lack of character development. It is fortunate that Susan Johnson and Katherine O'Neal dish out enough surprises to neutralise Thea Devine's shockingly bad tale.

Reviewed by Desmond CHan
Posted March 16, 2003

Summary

Her Lord & Master by Thea Devine
Bored, jaded, and obscenely wealthy, the Earl of Wick has ravished every woman in London and beyond. Now with pressure from his family to settle down, the scandalous rogue embarks on an erotic odyssey to seduce a ripe, lily- pure virgin whom he might—or might not—marry. But the lady in question is not quite as naive as the earl expects, and with each heated night of bold passion and willing abandon, it's the silver-tongued rogue who finds himself falling under the lady's sensual spell...

From Russia With Love by Susan Johnson

Erotic Dééjàà vu by Katherine O'Neal