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Summary: FOUR EROTIC STORIES
Review: CAPTIVATED is a collection of four short stories written individually by four female writers who are at the erotic, passion-writing forefront.ECSTACY, by Bertrice Smalls, is a fantasy of a magical land where female domination and male servitude are the rule. It's truly unbelievable, but just as erotic. BOUND AND DETERMINED, by Susan Johnson, presents a situation where a princess is married to a homosexual husband, but she must produce an heir. So she kidnaps a very reluctant Marquis who is known for his sexual prowess and fertility. DARK DESIRES, by Thea Devine, is the story of a resistant bride entering into a marriage with a man who will not be resisted. Neither is what he or she seems. In A LADY'S PLEASURE, by Robin Schone, a woman on a month-long, isolated holiday takes in a traveler who is seeking shelter from a storm. They spend two days together that change their lives. I can't wait to read FASCINATED by these same four women.
Rating: 
Summary: Really erotic literature at it's best!!!!
Review: Captivated is the correct title for this book. From one story to the next this book held my interest. I read this book in one sitting. I caution the reader that does not like explicit sex acts or explicit language, this is not the book for you. My favorite stories from this book were the first by Bertrice Small and the last From Robin Schone. Both ladies told interesting stories but the real clincher for me was the explicitness of the stories. Ms. Johnson and Ms. Devine both had very interesting stories to tell and because of this book Ms. Devine now has a new fan. I will look for her books and hopefully they will be as interesting as the short story was. I have always been a fan of Ms. Johnsons and Ms. Schone so of course I will continue to read their works. Ms. Small is a new author to me. When I was a teenager I read Skye O'Malley and did not appreciate it but as with age, all good things come, and so does my level of appreciation for her stories. Thank you ladies for a interesting days reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantasy Land turns boring real fast
Review: Ms. Small's story was pure fantasy; not boring in the least, but wicked in a harmless way, I guess. It puts 'normal' love scenes to shame.
Ms. Johnson's story was good, as expected. There WAS a plot, after all.
Ms. Devine's story was AWFUL! This guy Courtland was just about the meanest character ever made, and he was the hero! He rarely said anything civil to Drue, he just growled. The way he looked at her, as if he couldn't stand the sight of her, did not sit well with me.
Ms. Schone's story was okay; predictable and cute. At least this guy was a real man.
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Summary: This book is one of the best i've read so far!
Review: This book is hot.My favorite is A lady's Pleasure by Robin Schone. Although the story is purely concentrated on the sex scenes, I feel that the characters really care for each other and there's a feeling of romanticism in the story. I also liked Ecstacy be Bertrice Small, it's very sensual. The other 2 stories-Bound and Determined and Dark Desires - were so boring and senseless i didn't even bother to finish them.
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Summary: I'd like a little SM with my Romance.
Review: Okay where do I start. Oh Yeah again, Robin Schones story made this book of anthologies for me. Ecstacy by Beatrice Small-I read one chapter of her story and skipped it. I don't know why just did. Bound and Determined by Susan Johnson-This was a sad romance almost torture how she left him but a good story if you like bondage, voyuerism, kidnapping. A princess and an aritocratic libertine rake you can't go wrong except I felt so bad for him. Dark Desires by Thea Devine-Romance with a twist and lots of frustating sex with definate SM undertones. Set in the South with Plantations and all. Very steamy I like Dru and Courtland. A Lady's Pleasure by Robin Schone- by far the most romantic story and not a hint of SM. A lonely Spinster on her last holiday and a Colonel in the Millitary on convalescence both looking to forget. She wants to forget the future of having to marry for families reputation and he wants to forget his violent past in the millitary. Together they discover new people within them selves with the help of each other. And you won't believe what he does in the ending. Very daring for that time period. Oh yeah lots of great sex.
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Summary: Schone - genius, Small - fun to read, Johnson - nonsense
Review: It would have been more accurate for the editors to call this book "romantic erotic" instead of "an erotic romance." Erotica is the emphasis here, so strict romance readers should be forewarned that this is more than your average steamy romance novel. If that's OK with you, you're going to enjoy this book. Beatrice Small's story has elements of both the romanance and the fantasy genres. Her premise - a female dominated society where men are little more than sex slaves - is not particularly original, but she has fun with it and it's an entertaining quick read. As for the Susan Johnson story, all of her standard bits are here, but they don't add up to much of a story. In fact, I never could understand why the characters were doing whatever they were doing. In a book like this I'm willing to cut the authors some slack, but this one just didn't make sense. The offering from Thea Devine didn't appeal to me, but others may like it. The true gem of this book is Robin Schone's contribution. There's not much plot here, but that's OK. The emphasis is solely on the characters, and Schone makes it work. Despite the length constraints of the novella format, she creates two of the best written characters you are likely to see in any romance. I've read other pieces by Schone, and this is her best work.
Rating: 
Summary: Yuck!
Review: 1st story: Ectasy - Public humiliation, enslavement leads to love. Yeah, right. 2nd story: Bound and Determined - Kidnapped and forced to father a child leads to love. No romance, don't buy it! 3rd Story: Dark Desires - Bought to pay off the debts of the father. A virgin is humiliated and exposed to S&M all leading to love. Just made me sick. Hated the characters. 4th Story: Two strangers find each other in the night. The only one worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: By Far The Best In The Series
Review: All four stories are very engaging and well-written. I couldn't put it down! 'Fascinated' and 'Delighted' each had at leaste one story that wasn't worth reading twice, but 'Captivated' doesn't disappoint!
Rating:
Summary: Great~
Review: This is the first erotic anthology Kensington put out and It's pretty than lot of other anthologies (criteria: have to like 50 percent or more of the novellas) out there.
The first novella is "Ecstacy by Bertrice Small, which was hysterically funny. mmm I don't think that was the reaction the author was going for. Me. Hysterically. Laughing. With. Tears. Running. Yup this happened especially each time I encountered phrases or words like "on you back now, slave! I wanna to sheath you", "Now, my queen! Mount me", "her orifice", or "her hot humid love sheath", "love juices" and "rosy aperture" - these are only the ones I remember, there are probably more hilarious ones but my stomach hurts too much from mass laughter for me to go at it a second round by looking for more euphemisms. In fact, I'm surprised I didn't get stroke purple prose induced overload in these short 89 pages. Did i mention the 13 inch errr... endowment that the hero Dagon has? or that the Queen Kelida "fell in love" solely because of his ability to give her multiple orgasms? Oh well maybe the author is trying her hand from being a romance writer to a comedian? or perhaps she's trying to win a contest/bet on how much purple prose studded sex scenes she could cram into a few pages? I guess I could maybe excuse her if that is the case.
"Bound and Determinded" was ok, wasn't too impressed but way better than the first one. I got through this one, without laughing but still unfulfilled because the ending didn't explain much in the way of what political conflict Princess Marko was in, what happened to her cruel gay husband etc. I guess he just went away to frolick with his gay pals? who knows. I have to give Mrs. Johnson some credit though- there is some element of romance...
"Dark Desire" by Thea Devine is about a woman, Drue, who absolutely hates her new husband Courtland because of some financial issue/triangle with him, her father, and her (complicated). He is determined to seduce her into loving him and making her forget her old flame, Gerald. True, the bondage and domination parts was a bit on the dark side to say the least but hey look at the title, it is called "DARK desires" as opposed to "Normal Conventional Desires". If the desires were so normal and conventional I would be bored to tears, the whole bondage/dominatrix fantasy is a FANTASY only (isn't that what books are about-fantasy?) and appealed to me in a strange way.
As I'm sure everyone agrees, the gem of the anthology has to be "A Lady's Pleasure" by Robin Schone. Sex was great/excellent/marvelous and superbly done in a erotic way that leaves the readers feeling satisfied instead of disgusted. The emotional connection with the characters and between the characters were real too. Wow, Mrs. Schone, I'm impressed...bring it on!
Rating: 
Summary: Erotic Romance
Review: Ecstasy by Beatrice Small *
There is not any romance in this story. Keep a dictionary handy and try to not be grossed out by the never-ending erotica. Bound and Determined by Susan Johnson ****
I am partial to Susan and feel that she rarely writes anything below 4 stars. Unique plot but as always Ms. Johnson follows through with a strong female character that's trapped but smart and determined. Dark Desires by Thea Devine ***
This hero definitely has some dark desires but soon has the heroine obediently trained. The sexual manipulation was graphic though not necessary and sometimes hard to imagine/follow. The business arranged marriage plot was good though. A Lady's Pleasure by Robin Schone ****
Abigail got what she never imagined a stormy night could bring. She was just little too quick to leave when the storm was over. She was on vacation.
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