Thursday, September 18, 2014

Review and Giveaway: Love Bites

Love Bites by Angela Knight

Publication Date: 09/02/2014
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley Sensation
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 336
ISBN-10: 0425254917
ISBN-13: 978-0425254912

(Received for an honest review from Berkley Sensation)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Indiebound

Angela Knight on the WEB: website, blog, twitter, facebook, goodreads

Excerpt from, Love Bites, courtesy of the author's website.

WARNING: This book is inappropriate for reader's under the age of 18. It also contains hardcore BDSM situations.

Synopsis:

The New York Times bestselling author explores her most daring side yet in three tales of seductive vampires and the women who love them.

In the brand-new “Oath of Service,” Angela Knight introduces the Doms of the Round Table and a kinky circle of pleasure, pain, and power as she returns to her “sexy as hell” (Heroes and Heartbreakers) Mageverse world for a new twist on the Arthurian legend.

Morgana le Fay finally gets what’s coming to her in this novel-length story. After a fight with a dragon goes wrong, Morgana takes an Oath of Service to Percival, vampire Knight of the Round Table. Percival and his partners, Cador and Marrok, decide to give Morgana a taste of bondages and submission she’ll never forget. What they don’t know is that the lovely witch is keeping secrets that could destroy them all. To make matters worse, the dragon is plotting a deadly revenge….

In “Be Careful What You Wish For,” a beautiful vampire and her two vamp lovers lock horns with a wizard with the ugly habit of refusing to take no for an answer. When he casts a spell on Beau and Decker, Amanda finds herself the object of both men’s lust. She’s had some yummy threesome fantasies along the same lines, but since the men hate each other, she figured it was never going to happen. But when it does, things get a lot more kinky than Amanda expects.   

In “The Bloodslave,” Angela Knight’s classic “must read…highly erotic” (*The Best Reviews) novella, a female mercenary comes under fire during a hunt. The beautiful, virginal, and very human Verica is captured by three hungry alpha vampires driven deliriously feral by her purity. But they desire more than her warm blood. They want her body, leaving Verica more vulnerable than ever before—and loving every minute of it.


Thoughts:

Angela Knight takes readers back to the mageverse in her latest anthology. Love Bites not only contains a full length story set in the mageverse, but two shorts and a preview of Knight's next book. This one is full of erotic moments that go from the staid and honorable to the more kinky side of BDSM and are not for the faint of heart. If the reader is looking for strong alpha male characters who are not afraid of their own sexuality, then these vampires might suit the bill. But if it's a sweet and lovable happy-ever-after that the reader wants, they might want to keep on trucking!

What I liked:

The mageverse series is basically the King Arthur legend on steroids. Not only are Arthur and Gwen vampires, but so are rest of the knights of the round table. Being a history buff and this being one of my favorite legends, predisposed me to liking this series very much. I wasn't sure in the beginning if I could put my love for history and the paranormal together and give it a chance, but once I did, I totally got into it. Now that the series has ended, I was very happy to see that Knight put a story in this anthology that would draw in mageverse readers. 

"Oath of Service" focuses on Morgana le fey, one of my favorites from the actual legends. Knight has given her readers a character in Morgana that is strong, forthright and very passionate. I was interested to see where Knight would take that idea in this story. This is an erotic novel and readers should remember that as they read this one. It's pretty hot and heavy, I would say definitely hardcore BDSM. I certainly saw Sir Percival in a much different light in this one. As I said these stories are not for the faint of heart and if you are just dabbling in erotica you might be in for a bit of a shock. That's not to say that I didn't like it. I did, but I realize it would not suit everyone. If you like BDSM at it's most extreme it will absolutely appeal. The story did give a reader a much greater insight into Morgana's character and her reasons for her actions in the rest of the series. A very intense story!

"Careful What You Wish For" was too short to suit my tastes. I liked the idea of three vampires on a mission but thought there just wasn't enough time to explore their characters. Menage is definitely afoot here and that has an appeal all it's own. This one was strictly hot, kinky and sexy, with very little plot to hold it all together.

"Bloodslave", was interesting. Verica is a virgin and these vampires are literally beside themselves from wanting her. Her blood, her body, you name it, they want it. There was potential here and I thought Knight did a great job of bringing this one together. 

What I didn't like:

It was a little too over the top sexual for me, but don't let that deter you, if that's what you are into because Angela Knight knows how to write erotica and this one will blow your socks off.

Bottom Line: 

I am not often a fan of shorts because I need a little more story than I do sex to make erotica worth my while. And all three of these stories lean heavily on the sexual aspects of the book and less on the magic and the paranormal elements. I wanted more plot and less hanky-panky. But that's a preference of mine. This book will probably be very appealing to BDSM fans and of course Angela Knight fans. 

Love Bites is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 4 out of 5 apples from my book bag!




About the Author:


Angela Knight is New York Times bestselling author of the Mageverse novels, and a former newspaper journalist. She lives with her family in South Carolina.


Giveaway Details:

The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of Love Bites by Angela Knight.

~ You must be an email subscriber to participate.
~ US addresses only.
~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, October 2nd.

1. Please leave a comment about collections. Do you like them or not? If so, why?

2. Please fill out the FORM.

9 comments:

lag123 said...

I don't normally like collections. I prefer an in depth story.

lag110 at mchsi dot com

justpeachy36 said...

That's how I am too, but sometimes it does give me a chance to sample a writers work that I might not have tried before, just to see if it would be a good fit for me.

Kimberly Wyatt said...

I don't read a lot of collections but some I do like. One of my favorites (which is absolutely nothing like this) is The Portable Dorothy Parker. It's a collection of poems and short stories, etc.

Unknown said...

I really haven't thought about getting collections. I usually drift towards full story where I can get to know the characters. However, the idea intrudes me as there are times that a quick read would be what I need during a busy work week.

bn100 said...

not really; don't really like all the stories in them

Unknown said...

I like them because it offers snippets from different authors so you get a glimpse of what their writing is like.

Texas Book Lover said...

I will pick up collections if they include authors I like or books I want to read...or even if they are on a sale I can't pass up.

Anita Yancey said...

Collection are alright, but I don't read them very often. Thanks for having the giveaway.

ayancey1974(at)gmail(dot)com

jmcgaugh said...

Sometimes I like them; sometimes I don't. The best ones introduce me to new authors, give me another glimpse of favorite characters, or provide spin-off stories from favorite series.