"What's your Fantasy?"

The Widow's Auction by Sabrina Jeffries

Can a Respectable Widow still be considered Respectable after she sells herself to the highest (and hopefully the most talented) bidder?

Widow Isobel Lamberton, Lady Kinsgley, has a difficult time keeping her deceased husband's project, the Lamberton Boy's School, funded and she opposes school board member Lord Warbrooke's idea of establishing a factory on the school grounds to put the boys to work and make money for the school. She lets her friend Phoebe talk her into participating in a Widow's Auction, an annual event at a local club, where respectable (masked) widows offer themselves to bachelors for one night of passion. In exchange the widows get to keep most of the money. Phoebe convinces her that not only will it be a way for Isobel to make money but it will also help her to discover if she would ever want another man's attentions again. Isobel hadn't counted on the fact that Lord Warbrooke himself might attend the auction and actually bid on her! Can she take the risk and give in to her secret attraction for him and spend the night with him? What would he do if he found out all her darkest secrets?

I enjoyed this story in spite of the plot device of a 'Widows Auction' that I did not find plausible. Luckily Lord Warbrooke caught on fairly quickly and from there on out the story revolved around his dilemma of whether or not he should tell Isobel that he knew who she was. My advice to the reader is to suspend disbelief on this one and just enjoy the one- night courtship; it was fun!

Luisa's Desire by Emma Holly

This one answers that age old question- can sex between a celibate monk and a blood sucking vampire lead to vegetarianism?

In 1600 Tibet, Vampire Luisa del Fiore makes her way to a lamasery where she hopes the monks will be able to assist her in her quest to find a means of surviving without human blood. Martin, a student of the Lama, is given the task of helping Luisa. He is attracted to her in spite of himself but he fights the attraction, not willing to sacrifice all he has worked so hard to obtain.

I found this story a little slow moving in the beginning. I believe that was because I was expecting something different from Emma Holly who is known for her hot, erotic stories. I had to remind myself that this story was populated mostly by monks, not the most erotic of settings. Of course when it was decided that a key to a cure for Luisa might be through sex, then things really heated up!

Mr. Speedy by Elda Minger

If a woman cuts her hair short and puts on pants can she fool a room full of men into thinking she is one of them? Will they guess she is wearing bikini underwear?

Magazine reporter Miranda Ward wants to write a story on a popular seminar called the Swiftest Seduction, a seminar that supposedly teaches men how to seduce a woman within twenty- four hours of meeting her. Trouble is, the seminar is strictly males only. Well, she decides she isn't going to let that stop her so she cuts her hair, borrows a male friend's clothes and goes anyway. Famous reporter Jake Blackhall attends the seminar in order to write an expose on the guy who is running it. He also wants to know why men would actually believe that it would work. When he meets his roommate for the weekend he senses something a little different about the guy. Maybe it is because the poor guy says he has four sisters and no brothers. With all those women around it is no wonder that the guy seems somehow slightly feminine.

This is another story that was fun to read in spite of itself. I had real difficulty with the concept that a woman can dress like a man and fool people into thinking she is one. But once I got past that I enjoyed the story, and I really liked our hero Jake, who is incidentally (and thankfully) NOT the 'Mr. Speedy' of the title.

The Awakening by Christine Feehan

Can a transplanted American girl find happiness in the rain forest? Most definitely! All she has to do is stand outside and call "Here kitty, kitty, kitty."

In spite of her adoptive mother's warnings to stay away from the area, Maggie Odessa journeys to the rain forest of Borneo to claim her inheritance, an estate left to her by her deceased parents. Once she enters the forest she begins to feel different somehow, more alive. Yet something about this place frightens her. She doesn't know that she has been skillfully led into caretaker Brandt Talbot's carefully laid trap. What is it about this man that seems so dangerous yet calls to something inside her? Now that Brandt has her he can't let Maggie go. But how will he make her stay once she learns the carefully hidden truth about the strange goings- on in the forest? I always begin one of Ms. Feehan's tales with a keen sense of anticipation. She has a wonderful talent for instilling a sense of excitement and a tingle of fear into her readers from the very beginning. Her heroines are brave, loyal and resourceful and we know they will prevail against the most insurmountable odds. Her heroes are possessive, domineering and eventually putty in their true love's hands. The Awakening is another fine example of Ms. Feehan's own unique brand of story telling.

Reviewed by Janice Bennett
Posted March 1, 2002

Summary

In these four new novellas by today's hottest romance writers, a Victorian widow auctions off her most prized possession: herself...a beautiful jungle explorer discovers her own wild side...a bloodthirsty beauty gives in to her darkest desires...and a young woman turns an all-male academy into a school for seduction.