'Rampant' Little Goddess #4 by Amy Lane

From the BLURB:

Lady Cory has carved out a life for herself not just as a wife to three husbands but also as one of the rulers of the supernatural communities of Northern California-- and a college student in search of that elusive degree. When a supernatural threat comes crashing into the hard-forged peace of Green's hill, she and Green determine that they're the ones in charge of stopping the abomination that created it. Their vow to protect leads Cory, Bracken and Nicky to Redding--where a tight-knit family of vampires threatens the people Cory loves to keep a terrible secret. It also leads them to a conflict of loyalties, as Nicky's parents threaten to tear Nicky away from the family he's come to love more than his own life.

Cory has to work hard to hold on to her temper and her life as she tries to prove that she and Green are not only leaders who will bind people to their hearts, but also protectors who will keep danger from running RAMPANT.

Cory is really starting to thrive in her new royal role. Alongside Green, Bracken and Nicky, she is coming into her authority with wise words, a firm hand and vicious tenderness. So when there are numerous reports of puma killings (were-puma), Cory and her people are quick to assume control of the situation. And when Nicky’s family are so distraught by his foursome relationship that they want to drag him home to bumfuck Montana, Cory and her men bandy around their brother and lover with fiery determination.

‘Rampant’ is the fourth book in the ‘Little Goddess’ series.

Previous books has seen Cory deal with her newfound supernatural tendencies, an unconventional multi-partnered romance and the responsibilities of her kingdom. In ‘Rampant’ we are reading Nicky’s perspective and understanding the many ways he is balancing his unpredictable and unscripted life. Previous books have concentrated on Cory’s relationship with Bracken and Green, so ‘Rampant’ is really Nicky’s time to shine. I didn’t think much of Nicky as a character until this fourth instalment . . . but I feel like, now that Cory knows is role in her life and vice versa, I finally get (and appreciate) him too. His journey in this book is cringe-worthy funny, and also sweetly moving. I find that Amy Lane does that juxtaposition a lot. Cory herself is a young woman of wise and lyrical words who can switch to gutter-mouth in a New York minute. I like that flipside in this series – when Amy Lane can write a highly erotic scene, followed by a blood bath.

‘Rampant’ also introduces some new characters in the form of Green’s Hill werewolves – Teague, Jack and Katy. Apparently these characters appeared in short story instalments which were originally free to download on Amy Lane’s website, but have now been bought by Torquere Press. Short stories 1 and 2 are currently available for purchase, but the other four won’t be out until June, August, October, and December this year. It’s a little frustrating to read their concurrent storylines, because Teague occasionally narrates. Their story of a threesome werewolf pack isn’t so convoluted that you can’t follow it, but there seems to be a lot of delicious back story that I resent not having read yet. These short stories will definitely be on my TBR list though!

‘Rampant’ is the last book in the ‘Little Goddess’ stories for the time being. I don’t know when Amy Lane intends to release the fifth instalment, but I hope it’s soon . . . because ‘Rampant’ leaves on a jaw-dropping, spine-tingling cliff-hanger that is full of spectacular possibilities.

I have been really impressed by this series. Amy Lane writes a sensuous and intense romance between four very different characters. Her writing is lush and poetic, and the universe is set on a grand, fantastical scale;

Some demons couldn’t be kissed away. Some of them had the right to ride you, to rend the skin of your wellness with ragged, dirty nails.

I am really looking forward to more books in the ‘Little Goddess’ series. It’s been a grand journey so far, and I can only imagine where Amy Lane intends to take these characters in the future. . .

4/5

'Bound' Little Goddess #3 by Amy Lane

From the BLURB:

Humans have the option of separation, divorce, and heartbreak—for Corinne Carol-Anne Kirkpatrick, sorceress and queen of the vampires, the choices are limited to love or death. Now that she is back at Green’s hill and assuming her duties as leader, her life is, at best, complicated. Bracken and Nicky are rivalling for her affections, Green is gone taking care of his people, and a new supernatural enemy is threatening the sanctity of all she has come to love. Throw in a family reunion gone bad, a supernatural psychiatrist and a killer physics class, and Cory’s life isn’t just complex, it’s psychotic.

Cory needs to get her act and her identity together, and soon, because the enemy she and her lovers are facing is a nightmare that doesn’t just kill people, it unmakes them. If she doesn’t figure out who she is and what her place is on Green’s hill, it’s not just her life on the line. She knows from hard experience that the only thing worse than facing death is facing the death of someone she loves.

Because loving people is easy—living with them is what takes the real work, and it’s even harder if you’re BOUND.

Cory, nee Lady Cory, is settling into her role as Queen of the fae foothill slowly but surely. With Green by her side as well as her elfin husband Bracken and her Avian partner, Nicky, Cory is assimilating to her Queenly role with aplomb (and only a few minor hiccups).

Cory is also finding time to finish her university degree – with a concentration on business and kingdom ruling. She is even making new human friends while she attends school, giving her tenuous connections to the world she left behind.

But a sinister presence threatens to destroy everything that Cory has worked so hard to protect and accept. A malevolent presence – with a smell of decay and nails-on-chalkboard sound – is stalking the foothills. It’s up to Cory and co to protect their own and eradicate this new evil, nicknamed the ‘Hollow Man’.

‘Bound’ is the third book in Amy Lane’s ‘Little Goddess’ paranormal erotica romance series.

In the first book, ‘Vulnerable’, it seemed as though Cory’s journey was all about accepting her ‘otherness’ and opening her eyes to the supernatural. ‘Wounded’ saw Cory nursing her grief while struggling to accept the responsibilities of the foothill. ‘Bound’ sees Cory’s focus shift to the mending of her love life as she compromises and accommodates her three permanent lovers and mates.

Green is away on business for two weeks when ‘Bound’ begins, as his sexual healing takes him inter-state to strengthen his various allegiances. But being away from his beloved is soul-crushing for both him and Cory. While Green is away on business, Cory must step up and become leader in his absence – a task she is overwhelmed and humbled by, even more so when the Hollow Man comes to terrorize. It’s interesting to read Green and Cory apart – in many ways their romance has been an assured constant since the first book. As distance makes the heart grow fonder, it’s nice to read how much they depend on each other and crave one another.

But ‘Bound’ is really about Cory’s evolving relationship with the other two men in her life. Bracken is her ‘husband’ – they are bound in mortality and fidelity. Their relationship is fiery and intense, and as vital as breathing to both of them. Nicky is an ‘Avian’, a shape-changing bird/man. He and Cory were accidentally bound in a mating ceremony, and because Avian’s need their mate to live, Cory has no choice but to accept his complicated love. Nicky and Cory’s love is tepid and complicated compared to her lush passion for Green and Bracken. In this book, Cory has to find a balance with Nicky and accept the boundaries of their mating.

This book really highlights Cory’s growth. She is becoming impressively queenly, especially in how she gathers new supernatural’s to the foothill and protects those in her kingdom;

“We live in a vast world, Davy. Bigger than you imagine, more complicated than you ever thought possible. And Kyle has made you a part of it, and that’s for him to explain. It’s scary. There are deaths and pain and brutality that I don’t ever want you to imagine, much less know.” I turned to Bracken now, and was going to take his hand, but he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, giving me just enough room to turn to her, as she sat on the wet metal bench in the rain. “But there’s sweetness here too, Davis Stacia – remember that when you talk with Kyle. So much of it hurts, but there is sweetness, and beauty, and love.”

‘Bound’ is a great new instalment in the ‘Little Goddess’ series. Cory is coming leaps and bounds in her queenship, and her romance is heating up and balancing out. I love Green and Bracken, and while Nicky still reads like a third-wheel, I'm impressed by how Cory works the complications of their mating. I can’t wait to read fourth book, ‘Rampant’.

5/5

'Wounded' Little Goddess #2 by Amy Lane

From the BLURB:

Green: "If someone gives their life for you, it is because they can not bear to live in a world without you. This is a great gift and a terrible burden, and if you are going to live, you need to be grateful for the gift and prepared to bear the burden."

Cory: "I do fearsome things, when I'm touching people who love me..."

Cory fled the foothills to deal with the pain of losing Adrian, and Green watched her go. Separately, they could easily grieve themselves to death, but when an enemy brings them together, they find out what a great and terrible force love can be.

*** This review contains SPOILERS of the first book in the ‘Little Goddess’ series, ‘Vulnerable’ ***

It has been months since Cory left her newfound fae home in the California foothills. She left behind her new, supernatural life and the man she loves, the fearless foothill leader Green. She left with grief in her heart and despair in her eyes . . . for she still mourns the death of her first lover, the vampire Adrian.

Adrian was taken from her too soon, with too little to remember him by. She and Green both grieve for him and miss him, but Cory feels the suffocating need to leave for school in San Francisco to deal with her wounded heart in private.

And it is in this glorious new city that Cory is attacked. A strange supernatural presence has stolen Cory’s ‘first’s’ – the most important of which are linked to Adrian.

So Green, along with his faithful elf second, Arturo, Adrian’s adopted-brother and lover, Bracken and a cache of fighting fae leave for San Fran to protect Cory and get back what was ripped away from her.

‘Wounded’ is the second book in Amy Lane’s paranormal romance series, ‘Little Goddess’.

I went into this book a wee-bit sceptical. I did enjoy the first book of the series, ‘Vulnerable’, but was flabbergasted and somewhat disheartened by the ending in which Adrian sacrificed himself for his and Green’s people. I loved Adrian – I thought he had a terribly tragic past and that there was lots of potential between him and Cory and what they bought out in each other. I was looking forward to reading a series in which a romantic threesome was established and maintained. Alas, that was not Amy Lane’s intended trajectory for this series. . .

‘Wounded’ sees Cory and Green in the latter stages of their grief, which has been worsened by their distance and time apart. When a malevolent being forces Green to rush to Cory’s rescue, they are both forced to admit their feelings and struggles in the wake of Adrian’s death. Green must acknowledge that Cory will need to take another lover (or two) because as a sex-healing fae, Green cannot give himself completely or monogamously to his beloved. Meanwhile, Cory is surprised to learn that a college classmate has been crushing on her for four months, and that Adrian’s adopted-brother, best friend, romantic rival and sometimes-lover, Bracken, is lusting after Cory and desperate to be her new bedmate.

Despite the changing tides of Cory’s affections as she opens her heart up to new lovers and romantic possibilities, Green is her constant. Their love is spectacular, and open. Yes, Green gives his body to numerous Sidhe and fae in order to heal emotional and physical wounds, as well as strengthen alliances . . . but what he has with Cory is distinctly different in heart and tone. His sexuality may be fluid and frequent, but Cory is a boundless love that Green has not had the pleasure of experiencing since Adrian came into his life. I love Green and Cory, even if there’s still a small part of me that believes Adrian was Cory’s more interesting partner.

Bracken is a surprising new addition to Cory’s ‘harem’. He was a sidelines character in ‘Vulnerable’, one who had a combustible and unfriendly first encounter with Cory. But since Adrian’s death Bracken has reassessed his intentions and decided he wants in Cory’s bed and even a more permanent place in her heart if she will allow. I really liked Bracken – he’s a nice new romantic addition (in replacement of Adrian) and his being polar-opposite to Green makes for a nice, fiery balance in Cory’s life. Bracken is possessive and jealous, and Cory knows that a relationship with him will be full of high-drama and pitfalls . . . but by the same token he is caring and noble, and Cory feels safe in his arms like she hasn’t done since her first lover’s death. Bracken and Cory are a somewhat tangled web, for Bracken’s previous relationship with Adrian – but as this series progresses Amy Lane really highlights how fluid and open the fae sexuality is, and as a reader you don’t even bat an eyelash at some of the trickier couplings.

Cory is slowly coming into her own in this book. She made so much progression in such a short time in ‘Vulnerable’ – from an angry Goth girl, to lover of a fae and vampire, respectively. But Adrian’s death has put her two steps back in emotional development. It’s interesting to read her struggles with a changing world view while dealing with the very raw, human emotion of grief and loneliness;

“ . . . My whole life I wanted I wanted to get out of the freaking foothills of California, but now all I can think of is going back, because I fell in love with Green’s home, and Green’s people, and now I want to be there again. I mean I'm what? A hundred and fifty miles from home?”

“Too far.” Bracken murmured. “You’re too far from home.”

“It feels like a hundred and fifty mile hole in my heart.” I told him, feeling that hole heal a little, just to say it. “Can you really fall in love with a life? With a . . . preternatural flop house for the fey and undead, just by falling in love with its leaders?”

I'm still not 100% convinced that Adrian’s death wasn’t a trigger-happy plot ploy. I still feel like he was a missed opportunity and he is sorely missed in ‘Wounded’ (but still with infinite possibilities?) . . . but I am interested to read the next two books in the ‘Little Goddess’ series. I am loving Cory’s emotional maturity and changing view of the world – not to mention a brand new kick-butt attitude and powers to match. The romance in this book is fiery and lush, with plenty of couplings and romantic tension.

4/5

'Vulnerable' Little Goddess #1 by Amy Lane

From the BLURB:

Working graveyards in a stop & rob seemed a small price for Cory to pay in order to get her degree and get the hell out of Nor-Cal. She was terrified of disappearing into the aimless vortex that awaited the lost and the young that haunted her neck of the woods. Until the night she actually stopped looking at her books and looked up. What awaited her was a world she had only read about--one filled with fantastical creatures that she was sure she could never be. And then Adrian walked in--and she discovered that risking your life was nothing compared to facing who you really were. And then falling in love.

Cory had a plan to get out of the California Foothills. She was going to study hard, escape her parent’s double-wide and hitch a ride on a University scholarship. In the mean time, she works the graveyard shift at a gas station.

The graveyard shift is pretty monotonous and soul-sucking. So it suits Cory’s Goth-bitch persona pretty damn well. But in between crunching out English essays and barely tolerating her customers, Cory stumbles across a whole new world as it tramples through her gas station . . . because the late-night shift brings strange folk through Cory’s door. A cache of weird and wonderful people – impossibly beautiful and sensual with sharpened teeth and pointed ears.

It’s all in the back of Cory’s mind, until one of her customers opens her sight to the real world. Suddenly Cory can see them. Sidhe – they are the stuff of myth and legend, Shakespearian sonnet and paranormal erotica. Goblins, elves, vampires, shifters, red-caps . . . they all pass by Cory’s counter, buying Malboro’s and Dr. Pepper on a nightly basis.

And then he walks through her door. Adrian. Impossibly beautiful and lethal – a predator in heart-throb’s clothes. Adrian is a vampire, and he wants Cory. For months and months Adrian courts her, drawn to her sarcasm, brutality, honesty and potential greatness.

Cory resists. Adrian is one-hundred and fifty years old and beautiful to boot. What would he want with Cory – who is nineteen, plump and unhappy? But want her he does . . . until Cory simply can’t resist.

Adrian brings Cory back to his faerie hill home. Adrian built the hill with his mentor, brother, lover and soul-mate, Green. Green is a high-Sidhe and he is the one who discovered and saved Adrian from a terrible human life. Green is the centre of the universe for Adrian and all of the Sidhe who live in the hill. But when Adrian brings Cory home, it changes everything . . .

Adrian loves Cory. Green wants her. Adrian and Green want each other, and Cory is only just starting to realize her own sensuality. But a dark presence looms, threatening to destroy Adrian, the hill and all that Green holds dear.

‘Vulnerable’ is the first book in Amy Lane’s ‘Little Goddess’ paranormal romance series.

I read Amy Lane last year, her beautifully erotic book ‘Truth in the Dark’. I've had her on my TBR shelf for a while now, and finally decided to give her series a read.

I initially thought that ‘Little Goddess’ would be a young adult series – because of the somewhat tame front covers, nineteen-year-old protagonist and a blurb that failed to hint at the lustful couplings within. So I was pleasantly surprised to discover that ‘Vulnerable’ is a cross between Sunny’s ‘Monere: Children of the Moon’ and Laurell K Hamilton’s ‘Merry Gentry’ series. This book is like a modern Midsummer Night’s Dream; with a frenetic plot and fiery romance.

The story is told from alternating points of view, swinging between Cory, Adrian and Green as their romance intertwines, the stakes are raised and danger looms.

Cory was a wonderful and very human protagonist. She’s a teenage girl with a chip on her shoulder and a dream in her heart; a self-conscious Goth who feels the need to act tough in order to get by. Cory is hyperaware of being mediocre – plain instead of pretty, somewhat smart and all together too average. She reminded me a little of Juno, for her quick wit and sharp tongue, her self-deprecation and unrelenting humour. So she’s a little amazed when the Nor-Cal fae take an interest in her. It starts with an elf called Arturo giving her ‘the sight’, and suddenly Adrian is walking into her life and determined to have her heart. Cory is doubly surprised when she meets Adrian’s first true love, the high Sidhe Green – because pretty soon it becomes apparent that Green wants and loves her too.

I'd see him again, but suddenly I missed him when he left. It was like being the last two people at a party – lonely and companionable at once.

I looked at Adrian’s eyes, beautiful, mesmerizing. Not human. I didn’t feel lonely at all. “You’ll take me places?” I asked. His answer was important, even though my decision was already made.

“You can’t imagine where we’ll go.” He said, sincerely. He no longer looked vulnerable. He looked assured. He looked happy. He smiled, and doubt and sense and worry all fell away. “You’ll enjoy the trip.” He murmured, lowering his head.

I really loved Green and Adrian’s romance. Adrian had a shockingly awful childhood, until Green saved him – and they’ve been lovers and best friends ever since. Together, Adrian and Cory built a faerie hill sanctuary where every piskie, elf, gnome and vampire could seek refuge in the foothills. Though Adrian is besotted with Cory, he still knows deep down that he won’t ever truly give himself to anyone who can’t also accept Green into their relationship. So Adrian is relieved and amazed when Green’s lust for Cory matches his own.

Green is a high Sidhe with a magic touch, literally. He heals emotional and physical wounds through love and sex. So he’s always helping people through intimacy and affection, but it has been a while since he was last truly in love – until Adrian brings Cory to the hill.

The romance in this book is pretty wonderful. Adrian and Cory have enough sensual chemistry together, but add Green into the mix and things really heat up. First it’s a longing kind of love – and then it evolves into a strong and steadfast triangular relationship that also helps Cory to experience her personal powers.

‘Vulnerable’ is first a foremost a romance, but there’s also a lot of great magic and myth in the story too. Lane writes a frenetic winsomeness that’s initially hard to follow, but merges into a wonderful and distinctive voice. She writes an outlandish and extravagant storyline with plenty of fae explanation and new twists to old legends.

I was all ready to give this book 5/5 stars and happily delve into the next three books of the series . . . until the ending crept up on me. I don’t want to give anything away, but the ending was a total kick in the pants. Really, I felt blindsided and a little short-changed by the explosive finale. I thought I knew what the ‘Little Goddess’ series would be exploring, and I was excited to read a series that promised such love in the first book. But with the ending I did wonder if Amy Lane was a little too trigger-happy. I suddenly found myself a little reluctant and unexcited to breach the second book because of the game-changing end of ‘Vulnerable’.

‘Vulnerable’ is the first book in a sensuous and extravagant paranormal romance series. Amy Lane has written fae and myth with her own unique twist and offered up a deeply satisfying and sexy romance. I am disheartened by the surprise ending because it changed the entire outlook of the series for me, but I will soldier on and try the second book.

4/5

'Truth in the Dark' by Amy LANE

From the BLURB:

“I am not beautiful…”

Knife’s entire existence has been as twisted as his flesh and his face. The only thing beautiful in his life is his sister. When Gwennie is obliged to turn a suitor down because she fears to leave her brother to the brutality of their village, Knife is desperate for anything to ensure her happiness.

Her suitor’s cousin offers him a way out, but it won’t be easy. Aerie-Smith has been cursed to walk upright in the form of a beast, and his beloved village suffers from the same spell. Aerie-Smith offers Gwen a trousseau and some hope, if only Knife will keep him company on his island for the span of a year and perform one “regrettable task” at year’s end.

Knife is unprepared for the form the island’s curse takes on his own misshapen body. In one moment of magic, he is given the body of his dreams—and he discovers that where flesh meets spirit and appearance meet reality, sometimes the only place to find truth is in the darkness of a lover’s arms.

‘Truth in the Dark’ is a Dreamspinner e-book by Amy Lane. It is a very different type of M/M erotica and *utterly* brilliant.

Naef was born ‘crooked’. He has a club foot, twisted spine, too-big teeth and walks with a limp. In his little fishing village he grew up tormented and teased, abused and violated by the villagers. His only saviours were his mother and sister. Naef grew up despising himself, and throughout his life he has refused to look in a mirror.
One day his beautiful and tender-hearted sister, Gwennie, falls in love. Her man is a sailor called Klyn who offers for her hand, but an obligation to stay with Naef and defend him against village persecution forces Gwennie to refuse. Klyn will not give up so easily however, and sends his cousin to help him in his courting.

And so Aerie-Smith, Klyn’s cousin, arrives on the island, proposing that Naef come away and live with him on his own private isle for one whole year in exchange for a marriage chest for Gwennie. Aerie-Smith is a nobleman, rich and well-connected. He is also half-lion.
A ten-year old curse has seen Aerie-Smith take the shape of a lion-man; able to walk on two feet and speak through his muzzle, but with fur and a mane he looks more beast than man.
For his sister, Naef agrees to the year-long exile to Aerie-Smith’s island. But Naef gets more than he bargained for when he realizes that Aerie-Smith’s curse extends to the inhabitants of his island, humans who have taken the forms of animals. And Naef is further surprised when he reaches the island’s curse and his twisted body is made smooth and beautiful...

I loved this book! It is a very odd type of MM – a combination surrealist/fantasy/fable. There’s no clear time period in which the novel is set, and it could plausibly be modern day, alternate universe or from ‘a long, long time ago’. Either way, I was hooked from the first page of this book. ‘Truth in the Dark’ is a very poetic MM romance, and I’m not actually 100% comfortable with labelling it ‘erotica’ because I think there’s a lot of merit in the book beyond the smut.

Don’t get me wrong, the romance is hot and sensual, even when half of the couple is a lion. The sex scenes are intense and blush-worthy. Half of the joy in reading them is because Naef genuinely loves Aerie-Smith and adores his body. He doesn’t care that he looks like a lion, because when he touches him all Naef can feel is man. It’s beautiful and adds a layer of intensity to the lovemaking.

Amy Lane’s writing is beautiful – lyrical and passionate and utterly charming. The opening chapter is confronting and awful, truly harking back to brothers Grimm fairytales in which the hero is existing in the worst of circumstances. Naef is a wonderfully complex character – he thinks himself ugly on the outside, and has therefore made himself ugly on the inside. But scenes with his mother and sister reveal a tender-heart that he safeguards, and for good reason. Naef’s life is sad, lonely and the opening chapter is heartbreaking.
Enter the white-knight, Aerie-Smith who whisks Naef off to his private and cursed island. It is here that Naef’s body is transformed by the curse. Where the magic made all of the island’s humans take animal form, the magic gives Naef the body he was denied. Naef’s complexities are revealed when he rages against his new perfection;

“Change it back,” I muttered, hating it. My insides matched my outsides... I had spent years...I had spent my entire life twisting myself inside so that I could match the body and the face the fates had plagued me with. “Change it back!”
“I can’t!”

‘Truth in the Dark’ is an MM romance – emphasis on the *romance*. The fable quality of Naef and Aerie-Smith’s coupling is wonderful. The obvious connotation is ‘Beauty and the Beast’, but when I was reading I was reminded of the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche. That Greek myth has a moral message about trusting your love, and seeing with your heart what you can’t with your eyes. I think that’s the message in this book, and the love between Naef and Aerie-Smith.

I highly recommend ‘Truth in the Dark’ for those who want to read slightly high-brow MM erotica. Amy Lane does wonders with the prose and characterization, but at its heart this is a sexy fairytale romance, and one that will surprise you.

I would say if you enjoy Josh Lanyon's variety of M/M romance (à la 'Adrien English') then this book is for you.
I must thank K.C. of ‘smokin’ hot books’ for recommending this to me.


5/5