Yep, Erotica.  Me.  I actually took a college class on erotic literature way back in the olden days, which made me see the whole genre in a different light.  So whether you just enjoy a good steamy book, or are reading erotica for its literary merits (humph, cough, yeah that) I won’t judge.

THE LAST GIRL by Kitty Thomas

Juliette is a young woman haunted by nightmares.  At thirteen, she survived a robbery of her home.  Discovered while hiding in the closet, one of the intruders spares her life, commanding her not to tell anyone of the incident.  She obeys, never telling a soul.  Not that she could reveal much; she doesn’t even know what the robbers look like since she kept her eyes tightly shut the whole time.  Christian is a vampire who has been obsessed from the first moment he saw Juliette huddled in the closet of her home.  He’s waited six years to take her as his human pet, and he hopes this time he’ll manage to keep from losing control and killing her.

One of the joys of erotic fiction is it allows the reader to experience horrific things that in real life are not normally sexy.  Vampire aside, the forbidden appeal of this book lies in the kidnapping and slave-like subjugation of Juliette as well as the elements of sadism.  Stockholm Syndrome is very real, and personally, I have a hard time getting past that in this book.  For me, this diminished the erotic appeal far more than the moderate sadism did.  There were some parts that sparked my fire, like a blindfolded group sex scene in the vampire club, but overall I found the sex scenes to be rather flat and numb.  The book could have benefited by more a more sensual as opposed to sexual tone around what Juliette was experiencing physically during the sexual acts.  Graphic sexual language is no substitute for sensual description.  Overall, the book was an enjoyable one, with a good premise and nice character development.  I really felt Juliette’s pain upon realizing that she’d never see her mother again, never enjoy their early mornings, baking in their bakery.  The portrayal of the vampires was solid.  Christian was a terrifyingly self centered, self-indulgent being, fascinating and unsympathetic even as he falls in love with Juliette.  Three stars.  If you can get past the Stockholm Syndrome and the weak sensuality, worth the read.

COVET by Felicity Heaton

Javier has wanted Lilah from the moment she began work in Vampireotique, a club he co-owns with other vampires.  He can never act on his desire because Lilah is a human owned by another vampire.  Touching her, drinking from her would violate a sacred vampire law of ownership, and condemn him to an immediate death.  Of course, nothing feeds the fires of sexual obsession like having something you want temptingly within reach for two years.  Lilah wants him too, and their desire bursts into a raging fire of forbidden sex in a hot, hot, hot balcony scene.  Now that they’ve broken a taboo, Javier and Lilah must find a way to free her from her master and avoid their looming death sentence.

The sex in this book is nicely done, so descriptive I actually felt the fangs graze my neck.  There were a few contrived parts, but hey, anything that gets a hot vampire guy tied to a bed is ok with me.  There’s also a good fight scene to break up all the juicy bits.  The only personal hitch for me was the fast transition from “I want to get in your pants