A Note from the Dame

Oh, Darlings! Did you miss me? I missed you Darlings!

I am sorry to keep you waiting, but oh, Darlings! I was on a whirlwind romance that kept me awake from dawn until dusk! I was doing yoga with a very handsome Gentleman; well, a certain kind of yoga!

Oh, Darlings, it was to die for!

I am back and ready to go, Darlings. I have quite a few reviews in store, so just hold on to your hearts, or other parts of your anatomy, and get ready for some hot and racy reads!

Kiss Kiss,

Dame Vanessa Charles

The Vampires Quest by Vivi Anna

Hello My Darlings!

There’s nothing I love more than a good vampire tale, except a hot man! It always gets me so hot when a man bites me on the neck. Well, except for my third husband who had fake teeth. He would take a nibble and his teeth would stay on my neck and come out of his mouth! This was not a romantic thing to happen, Darlings!

That being said, The Vampires Quest is one of the best paranormal romances I have read in eons, not that I’m that old, Darlings! Well, it really depends on what you mean by old. I can thank plastic surgeons for my youthful physique and looks. And I’m young at heart Darlings! This must be why I always go after younger men…

Kellen Falcon is a man with a secret! He has come to Nouveau Monde to crack a rare blood disease…that he has! It’s swimming in his veins and unless he finds a cure, he may die, Darlings!

Hope lies in beautiful lycan (a fancy word for werewolf Darlings) Sophie St. Clair. A criminologist and daughter of a pack alpha, she knows that lycans and vampires can’t mix! But, temptation has never tasted so good!

When the two come together for a meeting of the minds and bodies, neither the lycan or the vampire could have predicted the results…

Oh, Darlings! This book was so hot it sizzled! The sex was sexy, the characters hot and heavy and the action was awesome! I know that this Dame will be swallowing everything Vivi Anna has written (among other things) in the near future!

Five out of Five Pearls Darlings! Now read this book before it sets itself on fire!

Until the next hot and sexy read Darlings!

Kiss Kiss!

Dame Vanessa Charles

Billionaire Extraordinaire by Leanne Banks

Oh Darling Ones!

There is nothing this Dame likes more than a sexy man. Unless it’s a sexy man with money. Or, even better, a sexy man with LOTS of money. One must be kept in the lifestyle to which they’ve become accustomed Darlings!

Damien Mdeici is a man with a mission and a billion dollars. He’s been brought on by Magalos-De Luca Enterprises to re-organize the company, even if that means slashing budgets and cutting jobs. Helping him in this task is sexy assistant Emma Weatherfield.

But both of them have a secret, Darlings! Damien wants revenge on the company for bankrupting his family years and years ago and Emma is actually spying on Damien to get information to her bosses at Megalos-De Luca Enterprises!

What happens when thoughts of revenge and spying are replaced with lust? When Damien finds himself falling for Emma, and Emma finds herself falling for the dangerous billionaire, more than just their lives are at stake. They could also lose their hearts, to each other!

Oh, Darlings, I can’t tell you how much I loved Billionaire Extraordinaire! It gave me a hot flash so hot that it melted my panties! And it was so funny, I laughed so hard that Juan, my poolboy, wondered what was wrong with me!

If you want a good read for the summer, Darlings, this one is it! It’s short, sweet and oh, so satisfying. Five out of Five Pearls Darlings!

Until the next hot read!

Dame Vanessa Charles

Protector of One by Rachel Lee

Oh, Darlings!

There’s nothing sexier than a good, strong cowboy who likes to ride his filly! I should know. I’ve slept with enough cowboys to open my own ranch! But I don’t like boring cowboys. This usually means cowboys who do nothing but talk about breeding instead of DOING the breeding; with me that is.

The same applies to romance novels featuring cowboys. I want it to be sexy, fun, dangerous. Well, Protector of One was none of those things.

It all started out so WELL, Darlings. It’s a shame that it didn’t continue.

In Protector of One, we meet Kerry Tomlinson. She’s got a mysterious ability that helps her to see things. When she starts to see a serial killer moving around the small town of Conrad County, she turns to Adrian Goddard for help.

But something begins to flame between the cop and the psychic and soon they are trying to escape the passion of their hearts as well as the danger!

Well, Darlings, it sounds exciting. It was for the first forty pages or so and then the story just goes poof! Like a puff of smoke. After such a great fantastic start, the plot gets boring boring boring.

The book does end well, Darlings, with a happy ending and love all around, but oh, Darlings. Something with psychic visions should be exciting! Not boring like home ec or filling in your taxes.

I wish I had liked this book more as it had so much promise, but Protector of One only gets Two out of Five Pearls.

So sad, but true. Like so many men I have known...

Kiss Kiss Darlings!

Dame Vanessa Charles

Midnight Cravings by Various Authors

Hello Darlings!

Sometimes, this Dame just needs a quickie. And I’m not talking about the quickie I had with my pool boy Juan in the pool house the other day. Come to think of it, that one was a little too quick, if you get my meaning.

No Darlings, I’m actually talking about short little romances. Well, imagine my delight upon finding Midnight Cravings. It’s made up of six short little novella’s. Inside Midnight Cravings, you’ll find the following:

Racing the Moon by Michelle Hauf
Mate of the Wolf by Kate Whiddon
Captured by Lori Divoti
Dreamcatcher by Anna Leonard
Mahina’s Storm by Vivi Anna
Broken Souls by Bonnie Banak

Now, Darlings, I’m a little unsure how to rate this book. Three of the stories were really good: Mate of the Wolf was a hot little story that, even though it was short, got me emotionally involved with the characters.

Dreamcatcher by Anna Leonard was completely different from anything I’ve read before, and stood out because of it.

The best story in the collection was Mahina’s Storm by the incredible Vivi Anna. That story got this Dame’s blood rolling.

Now for the bad: Captured is the second story I’ve read by Lori Divoti and I am pretty sure it will be the last. Just like Dark Crusade, the plot made no sense and I didn’t care a lick for the characters; and you all know how I like a good lick.

Racing the Moon by Michelle Hauf is horrible; I’ve never liked her work and this story didn’t win me over at all. Badly written romance is still badly written.

And I’m torn with Broken Souls. I think, had Bonnie Banak tried to fit this story into a novel and given it more time, it would have been lovely. But it felt VERY rushed in a short story.

Now, this is just my opinion, Darlings. You may like the other stories more than I did. But Midnight Cravings is indeed perfect when you get that craving for a little something extra. Because I enjoyed four out of the six stories, I’m going to give the collection Three out of Five Pearls.

It’s not great, but it’s not horrible either. That's how I feel about all my ex husbands!

Until the next sexy read Darlings!

Kiss Kiss,

Dame Vanessa Charles