Sometimes I just come across the most precious jewels. RAVEN TAKES A PEARL is full of surprises. Sharon Lynn Fisher has assembled a rare piece of tantalizing elements. In an eerie atmosphere of doom and fantasy, a girl decides to go on a rescue mission. The monster that lurks in the dark skies is fond of stealing sparkling things, even worse, sometimes babies, or so superstition says. Long dead, her father left a jewel to her mother and it disappeared from her home. Now she's intent on retrieving it no matter the risk. Off she goes to the tower around which a moat collects all kinds of shiny objects. Until she's caught in the act.
I really enjoyed the writing style, it's good, gripping and arousing when it comes to describing the most lurid scenes. Yes, there are steamy times in this short but imaginative story. The master of the tower is a strange creature, halft machine half bird. But it's the man in him, however puzzling, that intrigues Pearl. Will he punish her for her brave attempt to get her stone back? Or will he try to unravel how a female body responds to his touch?
Besides the steampunk touches and the free rein on erotic fantasies, I liked how daring Pearl is. There is a mixture of fear and arousal in the atmospheric writing that shows Pearl at the hands of two men and how she comes out of their ministrations stronger and wiser. I liked the fact that Master Raven has to learn about intimacy and his manservant is there to teach the basics in practical demonstration. I really liked the way Pearl teaches him more than just physical release. Very nice naughty story :o)
Genre: Steampunk
Erotica (BDSM)
Publisher: West
26th Street Press
Date of
Publication: Oct. 29, 2014
Second
novelette in the Fantasies in Color series by RWA RITA-nominated author Sharon
Lynn Fisher ...
Pearl knows it
was Raven who stole her mama's heart -- a beautiful quartz stone given to her
by Pearl's father right before he died. She sets off alone to the crow-man's
keep determined to bring back the stone, but she's caught by a servant and
taken to the tower.
The dark-winged
ruler of the keep isn't at all what she imagined, and he isn't about to let
Pearl go before unlocking all her mysteries -- mysteries she never dreamed her
body possessed.
Read an excerpt
THE
PUZZLE BOX
We pass through a
corridor lit by more of the strange lamps, most notably an octopus with an arm
span of a dozen feet and a large green light bulb for a head. A clock is
mounted just under the bulb, and as it strikes the hour, the arms begin to
adjust their position along the wall, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of
grinding gears.
Wilkes catches me
eyeing it and says, “Master makes them all himself.”
“Who is ‘Master’?” I
reply, fear sharpening the edges of my voice. “Where does he come from? Who
made him like that?”
“Same as makes us all,
Pearl. The Maker.”
“You mean to say he
was born like that?”
“Are any of us as we
were when we first separated from our mothers’ bodies?”
This sounds like
something my pa would say, and is not at all the sort of chat I want to have
right now.
“What makes him do
it?” I demand. “Why does he steal things?”
“Master Raven acquires
objects for his inventions. Cast-off things, or things the owner will not long
miss.”
“Ha,” I grunt, “and
what would a silly old crow-man who has no use for other living souls know about
that?”
Wilkes follows me down the corridor, so he
can’t see it’s not only anger that’s choking me up. But also I can’t see what
he thinks of my answer.
At the end of the
corridor we climb a dizzying number of steps that wind upward like a corkscrew.
We rise up through a hole in the floor into the “workshop.”
Workbenches line the
walls, and every surface is covered with what look like machines in various
states of repair or assembly. There are heaps of “acquired” objects up here as
well, and I steal a quick look around the room for Ma’s stone.
The tower has but one
large window fitted with amber-tinted panes, so it’s only moderately brighter
than the rooms below. More lamps range around the perimeter, but these mostly
use clear light bulbs so it feels less like being in a submersible — or at
least what I’d imagine a submersible to feel like. Near the window is a tall
easel holding a stack of parchment. Symbols and numbers and diagrams have been
scratched over almost every inch of the first sheet. I notice now that many
sheets, similarly scrawled upon, have been hung along the walls. Some of the
diagrams seem to be carefully labeled drawings of Raven himself.
“Here, Wilkes,” he
calls, and Wilkes takes me by the arm and leads me over to the easel. Next to
it is a sort of stand, shaped like an X, with a system of straps and buckles.
I jump as the
manservant pushes me toward the stand, and the moment my back touches it I
begin to fight him in earnest.
“What are you doing?”
I demand, shoving at his chest.
Wilkes doesn’t reply,
but he uses his body to seal me against the stand. His eyes bore into mine,
transmitting something hot and alive, as he raises my arms over my head.
Raven joins us, and I
cry out as he fits leather cuffs over my wrists and ankles.
“Leave us,” orders
Raven.
As Wilkes withdraws,
Raven steps back, cradles his elbow in one hand, and props his head on the
other, watching me.
“What do you want from
me?” I shout, straining against the cuffs.
His brow furrows as
his eyes move over me. I’m not sure he’s heard me.
“Master Raven!” I
insist.
He drops his arms and
moves to stand directly in front of me. We regard each other, my heart
vibrating my chest, and I become aware that the fear that grips me is changing
— in a way I don’t understand well enough to explain to anyone, including
myself.
My heart still
hammers. My breaths come faster. I am afraid. But something warm and velvet is
awake and moving low in my belly.
About the mastermind
An RWA RITA
Award finalist and a three-time RWA Golden Heart Award finalist, Sharon Lynn
Fisher writes stories for the geeky at heart — meaty mash-ups of sci-fi,
suspense, and romance, with no apology for the latter. She lives where it rains
nine months of the year. And she has a strange obsession with gingers (down to
her freaky orange cat). In addition to her erotica stories, she’s authored
three science fiction romance novels for Tor Books: Ghost Planet (2012), The
Ophelia Prophecy (2014), and Echo 8 (2015).
Visit her at
GIVEAWAY TIME
5 ebook copies
(winner’s choice epub or mobi)
Good luck, book buddies :o)
