TAIL OF THE DRAGON by Sultry Summers

Date published: April 2012
ISBN 9781613332818
Paranormal
E-book
Reviewed by Helen
Obtained via publisher.


Llud’s evil magic drains and kills sweet healer Shannon, who Garnith loves. Garnith, a dragon shapeshifter and lord of the village, kills Llud, but in so doing is thrown out of his own time and place.

Danielle is on vacation, looking forward to challenging the twisting mountain road known as The Tail of the Dragon, on her Ducati sports motorbike. A weird storm causes her to stop and a naked man lands at her feet. Danielle and Garnith then must work together to stay alive and defeat Llud.

I just couldn’t get into this book. The idea is an excellent one, mixing magic, a dragon shapeshifter, a wild road and a motorcycle aficionado heroine together. But every time I was ready to sink into the adventure, or the magic, or the romance, I was pulled away by spelling and grammatical errors, telling instead of showing, or worse still, by telling followed by dialogue showing me the same thing I’d just been told.

This book had the potential to be a really interesting, different story, with green and purple lights and a hot, freshly different couple, but to me, it failed to achieve it.
There were far too many typos and grammatical errors. The descriptive passages are over-written which pulls the reader out of the story. There was also some annoying repetition and jumping around. Besides, I confess I actually laughed while reading in a sex scene that she “stiffed” a cry.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

CHRISTMAS RESCUE by Sultry Summers

Publisher: Whiskey Creek Press Torrid
Publication Date: December 2008
ISBN: 978-1-60313-338-8
Erotica
E-book
Reviewed by Gina

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If the heartbreak of her father’s death was not enough, Christine must now deal with her low life step-mother and her smarmy son, Donzo as they make their bid to take over her beloved home. More than just a house, it holds the essential memories of her life. Adding to her misery are ongoing advances by Donzo toward her. His attempts to woo her blatantly attacks her sanity. After sending him away from a pre-Christmas advance, just as Christine is settling in for a long winter’s night, she sees a star streak across the night sky. However, it is no mere falling star. She quickly realizes it is a space ship that has crashed on her land. Hurrying out to the site, hoping to reach the alien craft before the Air Force can find their way to her land, she comes upon a most gorgeous man, Trinous.

Trinous and his Kantari people have long visited Earth, yet he has never beheld a woman as beautiful as Christine. Trinous quickly sees that Christine has more than physical beauty and realizes she is the woman he has searched the galaxy for. In short order he intends to make her his bride. Before he can convince her to return to Kantar with him, he must first repair his ship without the Air Force finding him. Donzo and his mother come to the house yet again, demanding Christine leave with them. Christine must decide between her home on Earth and the chance for happiness with the man she has quickly fallen for.

This story caught my attention the moment I saw the blurb because for me it recaptured the magic of the holiday season. For children, Christmas is a time when dreams can come true, for our fondest desires to become a reality. The idea of someone coming from out of nowhere and making my dreams come true was so appealing. Ms. Summers delivers on the fantasy.

Trinous is a grown up Christmas package, handsome, intelligent, caring, loyal and hot in the sack. He is the stuff of fantasies that become a reality. I struggled with Christine’s dilemma – could I give up beloved pets, a home I loved with all it’s memories and my life to travel far away with the man of my dreams? Many would say “heck, it’s no choice, love!” Yet Christine must weigh these choices.

There were a few timing gaps in the story—for instance it is two weeks before Christmas, two days after, Christmas day and what a long day it is. In the beginning she is going to lose the house two weeks after Christmas and then two days after. There were a few continuity glitches that I felt an editor should have picked up.

One of my personal gripes about novellas is that when there is a really good story unfolding, by their very nature, they are cut short. Threads that draw me into the story are limited by the novella’s very length. Such as the case with CHRISTMAS RESCUE. I enjoyed Ms. Summer’s writing, her particular voice and wanted more. I would like to see where Christine and Trinous are a year from now—perhaps in another holiday tale.