Jeaniene Frost, Shayla Black, & Sharie Kohler: "Haunted by Your Touch" anthology

Authors: Jeaniene Frost, Shayla Black, & Sharie Kohler

Publisher and Title: Pocket Star: Haunted by Your Touch anthology (2010)
Plot Type: SMR

Ratings:  V-3; S-4; H-2

     This anthology contains three great SMR novellas, two of which are parts of series.  There's plenty of lusty action in all three stories.

     Jeaniene Frost's heroine in "Night's Darkest Embrace" is Mara, a Partial Demon. This means that half of Mara's heritage is human. Partials must always be on the alert for Pure Bloods, who live off the energy they gain when they kill Partials.  Pure Bloods, in turn, must stay away from Fallen Angels, who survive by sucking out the soul of Pure Bloods.  As you can see, the theme for this novella is the prey/victim/prey cycle of life and death. Unfortunately, Pure Bloods and Partials look exactly alike, and there is no way to tell them apart until the Pure Blood attacks. Mara lives with her family on Earth, but she occasionally visits Nocturna, a realm she enters through a portal next to a mall dumpster. 

     Nocturna's ever-present night lends itself to the pleasures found at Bonecrushers, a raunchy bar where Mara lost her cousin Gloria when the two visited Nocturna as teenagers with two young men they thought to be Partials. As events played out, their dates turned out to be Pure Bloods, and Gloria was dragged off into another realm and killed. Mara was saved by the hot and sexy Rafael, ruler of Nocturna. Now, Mara has returned to Nocturna for the first time in five years, determined to find Gloria's killer.  She soon runs into Rafael, on whom she has always had a major crush. As Mara begins her investigation, she uncovers new information about Rafael, and it seems to implicate him in Gloria's death--or does it?  Events unfold quickly after the initial build-up of expositional information: trust and betrayal, lust and love, with a great surprise ending you won't see coming. 

     Frost also writes three other series, all of which are interconnected. Click HERE to read my reviews of the NIGHT HUNTRESS and NIGHT HUNTRESS WORLD series. Click HERE to read my reviews of the NIGHT PRINCE TRILOGY.

     Shayla Black's "Mated" is a story from her DOOMSDAY BRETHREN series. Raiden, one of the Brethren warriors, was born without the mating instinct that is present in the other warriors, so he believes that he can never have a true mate.  Raiden is currently in a relationship with Tabitha, a young witch who is pregnant with his child. Tabby's parents were opposed to their relationship and convinced Raiden that Tabby would be safer if she were mated to Sean Blackbourne a Council member whose mate has died.  When the story begins, the series villain, Mathias, has burned down Tabitha's home and murdered all of her family. Tabby escapes and runs to Raiden. The plot follows the couple's attempts to decipher the meaning of Tabby's father's last words to her: "Save the secret tree."  The action includes several battles with Mathias and his undead army before Raiden and Tabby finally figure out how they want to live their future lives.

     Sharie Kohler's "Temptation" is a story from her MOON CHASERS series. Luc is a dovenatu, a half-breed lycan born to a human woman impregnated by a lycan. Dovenatus have a choice of going either to the dark side or the light side, and Luc is a good guy.  They can also shift at will and are immune to silver. One night, Lucy, a newly turned lycan woman shows up at Luc's isolated mountain home and tries to kill him, mistakenly believing that he is the one who bit her.  In this world, if a bitten lycan kills the lycan biter within the first month, the newbie will not become the monstrous killer that all lycans are. Needless to say, Luc and Lucy eventually work out their differences in all kinds of lustful ways.