The Demon's Daughter loved the Victorian feel - and our hero who wanted a girl who was more enamored of him than her fainting couch.

Hot Spell (anthology)same world but not 'Victorian' in the way DD was

Prince of Ice not my favorite, sort of feudal Japan crossed with China's Forbidden City

Demon's Delight (anthology)Demon scientist is trying to develop the ability to 'upgrade' the body - again a piece of technology that will probably reappear should the characters of Demon's Fire get another book.

Beyond the Dark (anthology)this one is set in the distant past [think Ancient Egypt:]- this introduces a piece of 'technology' that appears in Demon's Fire

Demon's Fire (the sequel to Prince of Ice)and in my opinion much more enjoyable, linked to Demon's Daughter.

Very hot!

La storia si svolge nell’alternativo mondo di Yama e i personaggi di questo libro sono Xish e Corum. Lei rimane orfana da parte di madre praticamente appena nata, lui è un principe. La prima volta si incontrano praticamente in fasce e tutti e due nascondono un segreto: lui un difetto genetico , lei l’identità di suo padre.
Tra di loro ci sarà subito feeling (e per subito intendo fin dalla culla), che con il passare del tempo diventerà una tenera amicizia, ma raggiunto l’ottavo anno di età la madre di lui, gelosa di questo rapporto speciale, li separerà mandando la ragazza in un orfanotrofio. Arrivata alla maggiore età Xish, non avendo un posto dove andare, deciderà di accettare la proposta della scuola di Madame Fagin , dove diventerà una ragazza GUANCIALE . Nella scuola incontrerà altre ragazze e altri ragazzi con cui farà amicizia: le sorelle Giglio e Crisantemo, Amarallis, Rosa Tea, il bello e antipatico Jehol e Mingmar, che le darà il soprannome di Orchidea . Corum, senza saperlo e senza riconoscerla, la comprerà e la porterà nel suo palazzo. Naturalmente tra di loro scatterà la scintilla della passione che li porterà ad innamorarsi, ma questo amore si scontrerà con diversi ostacoli.

A dir la verità, questo libro non mi ha entusiasmato molto, sia per la lentezza nella lettura e sia per il mondo alternativo che forse non mi ha convinto. Anche i personaggi principali non vengono approfonditi particolarmente, la scrittrice predilige di più soffermarsi sul lato passionale del rapporto (molte le scene hot ben descritte), a discapito di quello sentimentale. Avrei preferito un po’ più di intrigo e sentimento e meno lato fisico, ma chissà… magari la Holly mi accontenterà nel prossimo libro.

Holly was one of the authors I decided to check out after reading Beyond Heaving Bosoms. In this tale demons live in our world, but only in the remote areas like the Himalayas so that they don't have to mix with humans. Demons are similar to humans, but with a few key differences. Demons have a much stronger control on their emotions, but have a much laxer view of sex. Also really interesting is that male demons are the ones with monthly cycles instead of females. Once a month they go into heat and can only get *ahem* release with their genetic match, but specially trained servants called pillow girls can take the edge off their uncontrollable desire when their genetic match isn't available. When Prince Cor gets his first pillow girl, his hope is that she will awaken his sexual desire so that he can finally find his mate. But Xishi is different than other pillow girls and the two soon discover that their relationship is more than that of servant and master. The construct of this society is a little convuluted for me, but the emotional connection between Cor and Xishi was compelling. Still, this is one I won't need to reread.

I primarily read this book to get the backstory for Prince Pahndir from "Demon Fire", Book 3 in this series. Although he was only in the beginning and end of this book, he was still my favorite character.

In this demon world, a yama/demon will know it has found it's mate when his eyes go black with lust. Displays of emotion are looked down upon. Royals are under extreme pressure to keep the blood lines pure and not mix with any humans, or yama of a lower class. When young Xishi gets around her playment Price Corum (Prince of Ice), his eyes go black. It's not longer before his nanny and mother notice, so Xishi is sent away to an orphanage where she is ostrazied. There's something special about Xishi's energy and aura that brings about emotional reactions, so other children keep their distance. Fortunately, this is just what Madame Fagin needs in her next prostitute-in-training/pillow girl/courtesan.

Madame Fagin signs up Xishi to receive training in her exclusive Purple Crane Pillow House - a training ground for young men and women, and a favored choice for royals looking for some side action. Unfortunately for yama, a mate match doesn't necessarily mean a love match - so pillow girls and boys are acceptable and the norm in royal relationships. There, Xishi meets yummy Prince Pahndir, who is a forced prisoner and training subject used by Madame Fagin. His mate is dead, his family has let everything think he's dead, and he's being sexually tortured by Madame Fagin's students! Even Prince Pahndir can't resist Xishi's chi, and she treats him with kindness, so a friendly slighlty erotic relationship ensues.

Xishi and Prince Corum reconnect after years apart when he pays a visit to the Pillow House and purchases Xishi. The young lovers face many obstacles - Prince is torn and slightly ashamed about his strong feelings for Xishi, who he thinks is just a pillow girl (she's got some secrets even SHE doesn't know about), he's jealous about Xishi's past relationship with Prince Pahndir and current fixation with getting him free from Madame Fagin's grip, and there are royals plotting to kill them!

I enjoyed this, but I did get distracted and read a few books while in progress with it. I think I'll like Demon Fire even better since it's all about Prince Pahndir :)

First book I'd read from Emma Holly that was fantasy.
Loved it!

Set in Holly's Demon world, the plot has an oriental feeling.
The two characters are fated to meet after being introduced to each other as children. The love scenes in this book are very steamy.

I love Emma Holley's scifi/fantasy writing...Books are gorged with steamy sex too....

Love Emma's Demon world! HOT!!!

I decided to read Prince of Ice because I like courtesan - lord pairings. I wasn't quite on board with the paranormal demon lore and yeah, I'm still sitting with it because orientalism.

It's not that there are off-colour jokes that haven't aged well.

But I'm still sitting with the purpose of writing a demon omegaverse series set in an alternative China, and what it actually does for the story.

The demons are basically what we think of as fairies: beautiful people. They also have an advanced society hidden away from humans until recently, and now there are some diplomatic relations between humans and demons, however, the demons look down on the humans. So much so that royal demons who fornicate with humans are literally banished from the capital.

Omegaverse comes from the royal houses that go into heat and can only ejaculate with their mate. When they find their mate, their eyes go black (their mate is often called "the black of their eye"). The men can only find release with their mate, but they can still enjoy physical congress with their pillow girls or pillow boys (courtesans) - it just will be dry.

I didn't read the first Tale of the Demon World series but it's taking and using East Asian concepts for wallpaper decoration. For example, Chi. Human chi is the most irresistible for demons almost akin to blood for vampires. The royals live in the Forbidden City, the costumes are of silk fabric, the men wear queues. Cor, the hero, does martial arts.

But then they are demons. The demons are ostensibly in a kingdom similar to China. Is this fuelling exoticism of East Asia? Is this making you think of China as ancient, as a place that doesn't exist now?

What does it really add that we call human energy "chi"? Because that is what chi comes down and that is really how this book uses it. There is no further exploration or debate about energy so why even pull a different concept except for the sound of it?

It's the thing of hearing anecdotally by authors of East Asian descent who share their challenges in publishing where they are told China fantasy stories do not sell, but then seeing white authors create and publish without pushback.

And it's also the frustration many regency readers bemoan about wallpaper historical fiction where details are missed or not used - if you're not going to care if your hero go to White's or Brook's, why even dump them in this time period?

What about the steam?

Historical erotica authors all must have read the same book or attended the same workshop on what they think a sex scene should be: long, descriptive, and flowery. But it becomes not sexy at all? I've encountered this numerous times when getting into historical eroticas, and it just doesn't do anything for me.

I felt more when I read Cor and Xishi being separated, of Cor's obsession with Xishi. That moment when he enters to choose his pillow girl was so tense! When Cor is jealous, or when Xishi feels she doesn't understand Cor.

I felt much more in those moments because there was passion and development in their relationship than I did when Xishi and Cor are talking about using dildos on him. So at about the 50% mark, there are long, descriptive scenes of a carnal nature, and I started to flip past them to get to the political mystery.

I found out on Twitter that Emma Holly recently passed away, and after learning of her reputation for paranormal erotica, I started to look at her backlist on GoodReads. I wondered why the name was familiar, and I realized I had come across her name under historical erotica lists. I never finished her historical erotica romance, set some time in Regency period, I think.

Overall, I think Emma Holly did a decent job. I was hooked in the beginning, on the fence about the setting, but invested in the MCs. This is ok. I probably won't continue with the series, but I will probably try other works by Emma Holly.

Utterly ridiculous and hilarious. Would read again if I was hopped up on pain meds. Would not read again under other circumstances. It's entertaining for what it is - a bit of pron with a very light dash of "sci-fi" stylings.

STEAMY!! LOL