Dragon’s Bounty is the first book of a new historical and fantasy series called Dracula’s Love by S. Joy P.

Since I finished this book, actually since I started this book and actually had to close the book up to see if I had the right one, I have pondered what the hell my feelings are towards it and let me tell you right here and now, it is a hate love relationship.

This is not a book you grab as you walk out the door for a day on the beach. It will take your full attention, both in a good and bad way because it is quite difficult to get into but when you have it is like a dark sky that explodes into a blue ocean with the sun standing high.

It is a book with so much colorful description that there comes a point when I had to stop reading and start turning pages to see "hello when do I get some people on people interaction because I'm going nuts here". It is a book that when you finished it no matter if you like it or not you just know you will read, however, many other books this series will hold, each and everyone of them because you will have to know what more battles will Vlad and his men Iancon, Marin, Lion and let’s not forget the God of Love who has descended to earth to be close to the mortal man he loves like Romeo loved Juliet, Love the Englishman.

Why don’t we start with Love since the book starts with him, and honestly the man drove me absolutely bonkers, especially, in the beginning with his obsessiveness over this Vlad man that we had no freaking idea who or what he was. But Love is the reason the first 30% of the book is worth reading without him and talking to his companion Motudd. He is a man with devotion, loyalty, and passion in spades. He is a man to look up too because he doesn’t change his mind as things becomes difficult to avoid the hardships, and this is something even Vlad Dracula, the Warrior Prince, realizes is a value any leader can ask for. Love, as I said, drove me bonkers in the beginning, at that point being nothing but a slave working the mines and fields for Vlad. He was for the lack of a better word acting like a love sick puppy, a poor, dirty, lice "walked away" with his hair filthy and starving puppy, and still all he could do was to pine after Vlad Dracula.

After the magic 30% point, where the massive discription somehow ended, the more I read the better Dragon’s Bounty became. S. Joy has not only created a world but characters, that mind you now are all pretty vicious and plain evil (including dearest Love and the things he does throughout the book in the name of love is all of it far from fair) but that you will like spite their cruelty. One one page you will cringe, wrinkle your nose and go eww only to on the next page after the bloody battles are done and the same men sit around a fire or table eating showing their comradery for each other, you will go awe ain’t that nice, and smile feeling relieved that there’s some humanity left in these men after all.

The relationship between Vlad and Love, is slow burning, and with slow burning I mean slow like imagine the slowest burning love story you ever read and then quadruple it by ten and you have the slow burning passion and friendship between these two very different yet, similar men. It needs to be slow burning, if S. Joy had made it happen in any other way than she has then Love’s obsession would have become a stalkerish insane kind, that would have needed the men with white lab coats to come get him. Instead Love’s passionate and deep burning love for the dark Warrior Prince becomes this grand epic story of unconditional love that makes you want to be Love and how it changes or rather shows a different side of Vlad or as he’s also called Dragwlya.

The side characters to this story mostly other men and warriors of Prince Vlad’s army and closes guard, Iancon, Marin, Lion and later on Adam are spot on, I love these men all for being their own set of men with their own voice and yet they behave accordingly to the rules that S. Joy has set up for them. They enhance the story and strong emotional bond that all these men share with each other, and gives you behind the battle scene moments that makes you feel compassion for them. The one scene that sticks in my mind the one scene that is the most prominent of the story with so much heart that it not only made me cry but made me want to scream just like Love did was the end scene with Adam. It broke me in a way that I wasn’t prepared for.

In conclusion, I would have loved to have given this story a five-star review, I really would but I can’t because the very long, and overly descriptiveness at some parts killed made it hard for me to focus, there were too many times when I caught myself thinking about other things and where I had no idea what I read for the past couple pages so I had to go back and re-read. But it is well worth the read because the story that is told between is a wonderful story of the power of camaraderie, loyalty, and love, in the interaction between a handful of well thought out characters that you learn to mostly love!

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Enrapture by Pierce Smith is an erotic novella taking place at Halloween night.

The book starts out with a very upset Noah, who is horny and frustrated that his boyfriend, Ethan, who he happened to have met exactly one year ago that very night, is running late for their date. Being hyper, horny and quite bored to be honest he tries to occupy himself with flirting with the guy running the shop from across the street and after some time Ethan finally calls and things are on between the two boyfriends and the guy across the street.

I don’t want to ruin the story by telling too much but the plot of the book is fairly straight forward, it consists of what erotic novels consist of mostly, namely sex in different aspects pleasing yourself while others are watching, listening or why not doing all of it in front of large windows where everyone and anyone can see. Enrapture, is if you like real erotic books, is full of lust filled sex, but also a good portion of humor.

Noah and Ethan are both likable characters, even if what we really know about them as people isn’t that much. And because of that I find them both to be slightly immature at times. It would have help the depth of the story and the understanding of the characters if we had gotten to know them some on a more personal level, this is the problem I have often with short stories or in this case novellas. Then there is the fact that Noah giggles a lot, it drove me a tad bit bonkers because you all know how much I like adults giggling, but I ignored that fact because well let's face it some people giggle and I just need to get over it, and kept reading.  

Pierce Smith, writes really well, the dialog is engaging, it feels genuine and as if it is a true conversation that could take place. Noah’s and Ethan’s chemistry it real and hot and at the same time sweet. Spite the third party, it is obvious that they are more to each other than just a fuck buddies and that they care deeply for each other even though the language and tone at times would seem to convey the very opposite. But instead it makes it sort of playful between them. To this point I’d say Enrapture was pretty much like many other erotic novels and even though well written, from my point of view, there wasn’t really anything that made it stand out buuuut...then came the ending.

So, what makes this story different and not just another erotic novel with two or more people screwing each other’s brains out, the ending. The ending chapter is brilliant and shocking! It makes you go “what the hell!” and go back several pages just to read it again so you can make sure that you read it right and didn’t miss something. What would have made this story top notch is if that "it" factor had been displayed way earlier and built up. Then it would have been killer! I give it a 4 star rating.
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Dear Stranger by Sid Love is a short sweet story about two strangers who happen to just meet, or isn’t it as much of a coincident as at least Reggie thinks?

It is hard to write a good short story, I most often, I’d even say I more often than not come out after reading a short story (even those that are 10-20K longer than this one) feeling like I’ve missed out on a big great part of a story. I usually leaves me feeling cheated, meaning I don’t really like short stories because I love the detailed info, the build up, to get down to the nitty gritty of things.

But I have to say I am happily surprised by Sid’s story Dear Stranger, not only doesn’t it leave me hanging in the end, even though I’d fancy to know more because I really do like both Reggie and his dear stranger. The plot is focused and driven, the characters engaging and the dialog sweet, even teasing at times and flowing along well for as short as it is.

I am impressed by how much info and story Sid manages to get into the story, how he manages to make us see both Reggie and his stranger as people we know some without really telling us a lot about them, but what little info we get is important and helps you understand who they are and where they come from. Also the fact that it doesn’t feel rushed, which a lot of short stories feel because you try to get to much action into the story and instead of making it lovely it just makes it unbelievable. But not here with Dear Stranger.

Sid Love write with a lot of heart, he’s a believer in true love, a romantic and it shows in his writing. Well done Sid Love! Be Proud!

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When Skies Have Fallen by Debbie McGowan was my first book by this author and it won’t be my last one that is for sure. When picking up this book I was very curious about, one because it been so highly recommended but also because I met Debbie before reading any of her books and because I had done so it is always fun to see if you can find some of the persons essences in their writing. 

When Skies Have Fallen takes place during end of the WWII, where men were men and women were women, or at least where a small part of society decided what a man and a woman were, a world where being gay was considered to be a crime and you could actually be put in jail for taking part in so-called homosexual acts. 

I’ve been sitting here for hours trying to find the right words to describe this book because to make it fair it is not a love story, it is not without it but the moral of the story isn’t will there be love, the moral of the story is how far will you go to be free to love your partner so the world knows. To not live a life in fear and all that, how long will you go to make sure someone else will have those rights too and will you give up trying if fighting for that right will kill you?

This story made me think of something I often ponder in regards to romance stories, as they are so aptly called, we make fun of it about being romance authors, some even feel shame in saying they write romance(ish) stories as if saying so is admitting to picking your nose or worse. To me, it is so funny that we put so much shame into something that is something that we all (including me even if I am about as romantic as a dirty gym sock) is to be loved. OK, it doesn’t mean having to be IN love but to be loved and accepted for who we are, no matter who that is (unless it is the chainsaw slayer, Luca’s dad or someone equally horrible). But the idea of love is somehow what keeps us all going and moving forward. 

This book is full of love, in love, deep friendship love, sibling love, love for thy country, love for thy neighbor and so on and so forth. This story is the beacon of love and hope, that we all live in a world that we all have the possibility to help change to the better for ourselves as well as thy neighbor. That there are people out there willing to fight battles that might not be their own but are willing to bend over backwards and then some because in doing so they help someone else be free, free to love the person that is the world to them in When Skies Have Fallen this is Jean and Charlie, better and truer friends than them you have to look for and they are someone how just as important for this story as the two lead men, Jim, and Arty, if that is what you want to call them. Because even though the battle of the story is theirs there wouldn’t have been the strength and hope or even possible for them to go through what they did and come out as well as they did on the other end without their friends fighting right there, side by side with them.

So, if you want to read a story out there that is a hope bringer and a wake-up call giving you a glimpse on how far we come, but how we do not want to become again and therefore have to keep fighting all these battles of hate no matter what they are for, then you have to read When Skies Have Fallen. Thank you Debbie for this amazing story of love and hope! 

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