Okay, so technically I've not 'actually' finished reading this book - I just read the first story, Turn Up The Heat by Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Which was AWESOME!

I adored the story, and just plain loved the chemistry between Vince and Allison! The conclusion of the story was so heartfelt, beautiful, and euphoric that I fell in love with this short story! I felt the characters to be very real and believable, and the plot was just plain fun!

The Warlord Wants Forever - Kresley Cole - Start of Immortals After Dark - 5 stars
DNF - Sherrilyn Kenyon's Turn Up The Heat - 1 star
Hunter's Oath - Jaid Black - Kidnapping Vikings - 3 stars

Three short stories. Light entertainment. Explicit erotic romance.

Kenyon's story about the island was poorly written.
The dialogue and narrative felt like a first draft. 2 stars

Black's plot about Vikings beneath the Earth felt silly. As for the relationship, I felt no relationship development, and no passion, just sex. But it was sweet. Almost 3 stars

Cole's IAD story of Nikolai and Myst was the best of the bunch. Decent scenarios involving her chain. A lot of sex, though, for a short story. I am probably biased since I like this series and found it easy to follow the plot and keep track of all the characters. 3.5 stars

Review originally posted at www.paranormalchick.com
Sometimes for a nice change of pace I like to read short story collections. It gives me a little taste of some authors I haven’t read before. In my case I hadn’t read anything by Black or Cole. I wanted to read Cole’s short story so I could begin her series.

In Kenyon’s story “Turn Up the Heat”, we meet a girl who is down on life and reads romances for fun and escape. After her publishing friend sees her at work, she convinces her to enter the contest in the new romance novel. It’s for a trip to an island where men will cater to her every need. At the same time a gangster type needs to get away and his gangster friend puts him on the island too. You can imagine how this turns out.

In Cole’s story “The Warlord Wants Forever” we meet Wroth and Myst. Wroth is a vampire and Myst is a Valkyrie. These two races do not mix well together, well basically, they hate each other. Unfortunately, it turns out that Myst is Wroth’s vampire Bride and there can be no other. This story is a will they or won’t they and I found it interesting enough to read the first full length novel of the series.

In Black’s story “Hunter’s Oath” we meet a young lady who has just lost her military brother in a helicopter crash in the Arctic Circle. On her way there, her cabbie kidnaps her and sells her to some strange men. I loved how Sofia was strong and kept fighting the whole time. It turns out that deep underground there is a whole Viking culture hidden away and one handsome man wants to make her his wife. I really enjoyed this one and want to read more of this author’s work.

Turn up the Heat by Sherrilyn Kenyon = 3.5
Hunter's Oath by Jaid Black = 2.5
The Warlord Wants Forever = DNF

Turn up the Heat by Sherrilyn Kenyon - 3
Vince is an ex mafia hit man hiding out and Allison is a grocery clerk on a fantasy trip to relive a romance from one of her novels. Very much a fantasy story, with instant lust, hot sex, running from the bad guys suspense.

This book was an anthology which featured short stories by a variety of different authors. They were entertaining stories, but nothing really stood out to me as being one which I really connected with and I loved. I mainly read this for one of the stories in the book which is the first installment for a book series I wanted to start, Immortals After Dark series.

I’ve heard all sorts of things about the series and I was anticipating to really enjoy it. The Warlord Wants Forever seemed to be better as a concept, but the actual story didn’t really resonate with me very well. It featured a golden belt which was a genie’s bottle which would take the heroine’s freedom away that the hero used against her a few times to keep her “in line.”

The second story was about a fantasy world which featured vikings who lived underground to purchased brides at auctions. The heroine was captured from “up top,” our world and brought down to “their world” by people who wanted to get money for her, kind of like bounty hunters because of the valuableness of women who came from up top. I liked the concept more than the actual story I think. I know it was a novella and for that I really can’t hold how fast the romance took place against it, but I can’t help it. I loved the hero and how much he really did care for the heroine. I would love to read more about these types of stories about a hidden world featuring these amazing males who are strong and alpha like but also teddy bears deep inside.

The first story featured winning a trip to a “fantasy island.” The heroine was the lucky winner; she loved reading romance books and she worked a local grocery store at the beginning of the story. During her trip, she meets the hero who was being chased by his old gang, an ex-mafia group. This one was more contemporary than featuring any type of supernatural aspects to it. I am not a huge fan of pure contemporary stories just for the fact that it seems like the main characters always seem to be quick to jump into bed and never mind the consequences. I would rather read about a historical where there seems to be more restraint and if there isn’t, it just seems there are more social rules they need to navigate while in our modern times, anything and everything goes and it just sometimes takes the fun out of a romance story when all that seems to be going on is sex without any emotional intimacy.

Rated: 3.75/5.0—Overall, it was an enjoyable read. I am interested in reading more from these authors; my interest was piqued and maybe I shall find that “book” that really connects with me and that I will add to my favorites list and my inspiration resources.

Hunter's Oath by Jaid Black
Meh. It's hard to get into a slave-bride story. I was mostly annoyed by Sofia's adamant refusal to just accept reality. I understand wanting to escape, but she herself said she had nothing and nobody to escape to. She wanted to start a new life. Well, bitch, here it is! Fucking start. And after admitting to herself that she knew escape was impossible, she still wouldn't let it go. I'm sorry, but if I were kidnapped and taken to a strange new world that nobody had ever heard of, I'd find a way to be content. It might be hard and it might be weird, but fighting it is futile. Fighting it when you have accepted it's futile is just fucking stupid.

The Warlord Wants Forever by Kresley Cole
Again, the heroine kills me. The story itself was really neat, but Myst's personality - the use 'em and lose kill 'em attitude got tiresome real quick. I felt bad for Wroth. So bad that I understood his losing his head and hurting Myst. I mean, it's reasonable. Myst wasn't reasonable at all. And Regin, her sister, was a biiiiiitch. OMG I wanted her to get killed by the bad guy.

Turn Up the Heat by Sherrilyn Kentyon
I skimmed the crap out of this one. I couldn't bear any more of Allison's "oh-woe-is-me" nonsense.

Overall, I feel like I wasted my time reading these. Partially because these stories are part of series that I am unfamiliar with, but also because none of the heroines were strong. I found serious fault with all of them and forced myself to continue because I don't have anything else to read at the moment. I regret it.

And I just unwittingly quoted Voldemort.

This anthology is terrible except for the Kresley Cole story that is actually a story and not just a mishmash of lame story-telling and poor borderline erotica pulled together at the last minute. Cole's story, that starts the IAD, is the only thing holding a 3 star review. The story itself is worth a 3.5-4 stars the others are worth a 2.

Jaid Black's "Hunter's Oath" starts out alright but it quickly turns into a syrupy sweet rushed blob of goo and suddenly you have this non-sensical HEA. The sex is there for the sake of having some sex even if it is part of the so-called story line. The hero has the hots for a terrified woman being sold naked at a marriage auction block like a slave. She's oiled and shaved everywhere --this is what I mean by bad erotica. I think it was intended as erotica but for me anyway, it was a far cry from it because of the abject fear that the poor heroine was experiencing. Pretty creepy if he's all hot and bothered over that. It also gets preechy about religion at one point--right out of left field that one! The author felt the need to moralize I guess which stuck out like a sore thumb. It's poorly written and just silly. The HEA is 100% gag worthy.

Sherrilyn Kenyon's "Turn up the Heat" starts out well too but quickly spirals into just plain stupidity. It's like a bad episode from the Sopranos at one point. The whole mafia thing is so stereotypical that it's not funny. She tried way too hard and it just didn't work. Her heroine, this plain Jane little mouse of a woman suddenly morphs into a Lara Croft sex kitten knowing the ins and outs of how to use a .22 and a glock--all because she was raised on a farm in the American mid-west--it doesn't get any more unbelievable than that. Everybody is calling everybody "baby" and loving each other after 20 minutes of being together. This is some very bad stuff.

Kresely's Cole's "The Warlord Wants Forever" is a real story that the author put some effort into writing. Good thing I started with that one and not the other two otherwise it'd have quickly been tossed into the DNF pile. It goes a bit fast but it is a short story so it can be overlooked. The full length books in the series are better. She does a great job building up tension and she tells a plausible story. Too bad you can't just buy this story and spend less money than on the $14 anthology of garbage.

Penasaran. Bought this because of the cover. Love the red color! ^^
So it's my-very-first-of those authors'. I got mixed feelings reading these stories.

TURN UP THE HEAT
It's about Allison, an average woman who won the vacation of a lifetime--a trip to Sex Camp. She got a chance to live a life out of her favorite romance novel plot. She was to be a hot gorgeous chick, and those men in the island were actors hired to act out the plot, being a gang and stuff. But she fell for a man, who's not actually an actor, just an ex-Mafia hit man who hide from his ex-employer.
What I didn't like, Allison was described as an average woman, but turned to be surprisingly tough, being good with guns and all. It just didn't make any sense to me. :p And finally she, along with Vince, was recruited to be government agent. Ha!

**2 stars**

HUNTER'S OATH
When I heard the word Viking, I imagined a hard, rude, big man with primitive urge. Somehow at first Johen seemed to be qualified. But then after he met Sofia, being soft and tender, he's no longer the viking-type I knew. And when Sofia was being pumped with a sexual aphrodisiac? Oh, please. It reminded me of Johanna Lindsey' Secret Fire, which I didn't like. And aside from that, I think they fell in love too fast (do you really think it's love, not lust?), and well, the novel was too short, too. :)
**1 star**

THE WARLORD WANTS FOREVER
From normal life (Allison and Vince), to Viking (Johen and Sofia), and now we moved on to Vampire stuff. I'm not really into Vampire, Ghoul, Valkyrie and that kind of creature. As a matter of fact, it's a bit hard for me to follow at first. But then I got along quiet okay, because I loved the plot when the couple met again years later and one of them was into a 'revenge'. I've never read any of Kresley Cole's before, and never bother to found out or remember any of her book title. :p But somehow I got a feeling this story was part of a series. So when I got to the end of the book and read a sneak peak for Hunger Like No Other, oh, well, I got myself to think whether I will read the other titles of the series or not. :)
**4 stars**

This is a collection of short romance stories, two with a distinctly supernatural leaning. It was a curious mix of stories for me, because I had such different reactions to each of them.

Turn Up the Heat was enjoyable, just 3 stars because it was nothing special, although I thought the idea of winning a trip to reenact your favorite romance novel was funny. And the main character took a lot of initiative and was not a princess in need of rescue, which was nice.

Hunter's Oath I gave 1 star - I hated, hated, hated it! The whole first scene is the men kidnapping a woman and auctioning her up as a sex slave. They say that they have done this to thousands of women and they all liked it. Um, can anyone say rape complex?? And for the first sex scene the author came up with a really creepy way  - an herb that was the supernatural equivalent of roofies, aka the date rape drug -  to make it seem like it was not rape. I do not approve.

The Warlord Wants Forever I gave 2 stars, because it started out so cleverly, and the universe the author is creating is a pretty interesting one. However, it again had shades of rape, with the main woman character being held against her will and, worse, supernaturally compelled to obey everything the man requested of her. I just do not understand the appeal of these stories for otherwise rational adults who don't actually approve of sexual assault in the real world. BDSM in a controlled environment by mutual consent, okay, that's a fantasy role play, but stories like these last two are about things the characters do *not* want to do. Yechh.

So I'm not sure I can recommend this book, unless you are interested in this kind of stuff, or if you want to see if Sherrilyn Kenyon's B.A.D. series is something you want to follow (Turn Up the Heat is number 1.5 in the series). Some of the later books in Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series are worth reading and aren't so power imbalanced, but you don't have to read this story to enjoy those.

The Warlord Wants Forever By Kresley Cole

I'm actually not one hundred percent sure as to what I think about this novella. It was rather interesting, but I believe that that's all it really has going for it. It ended way too quickly for my taste, but that is why it's called a novella. If the story was only drawn out a little bit more, then I feel like it would have been perfect. Even more so if it was actually made into a novel.

Myst is a valkyrie. One of the most ruthless female warriors known to the Lore. She's been rumored to be pure myth, but her and her sisters know better than that. The one thing that her sisters don't know is that she's tired of being the bait, and this time she vows that it'll be her last. Especially since it landed her in the dungeons this time. Where it looks like she's going to stay for a while. Myst is on a mission to learn the secrets of a certain vampire. However, it's hard to do that when said vampire only sees her for a very short time. Which may change when the Forebearers start to take over the castle. Nikolai is a general in the Forebearers army, and a very good one at that. He was turned while dying on the battlefield and has been doing this ever since. Now he's laying way to a castle that has information that he needs. Information that a mysterious woman seems to know about. Nikolai is fascinated by Myst, and all of the mysteries that seem to go with her. She's a crazy beauty that seems to know everything, without actually giving any of it away. However, what makes her very special to Nikolai is the fact that she's his bride. But Myst refuses to accept it and even manages to get away from him. Leaving him with the overwhelming desire to find her.

The novella is quite something, that's for sure. It's on a level that I never saw coming, but that was truly amazing regardless. However, it can be a bit difficult to find at times. This novella would be found in the urban fantasy section. It's got vampires, valkyerie, fighting, drama, and romance all within it. It's one of those novellas that has a lot to offer, but that just takes time first. It's a type of novella that keeps you begging for more. Even when it's got nothing left to offer. Making it all that for fantasy lovers, who are also going to want to get behind it. So my recommendation for the novella is a fairly easy one to make. This is a novella that all urban fantasy lovers are going to enjoy. It's a great start to the series and it's most definitely a must-read.

*Read on July 9th, 2016