Magus and Cyr are two of 14 immortals who have sacrificed their lives for the continuation of mankind. These two men carry Wrath inside them and they are coming close to losing their battle as they search for the one who will love them and save them from losing what humanity they have. Gina comes to live with her grandmother next door to Magus and Cyr and four of their friends. The men know she is the one but, although attracted to the two men, she is preoccupied with her grandmother and the loss of her old life. Secrets have kept but now must be told to save all three of them.

I enjoyed this book. I liked Magus and Cyr and Gina. I liked her grandmother also--what a scamp!  The story caught me up and put me in Gina's shoes. I wanted to be her. When all the secrets are out they all have to decide what choices to make. Gina probably has the most to decide. She walks a fine line between staying and running. But like all good ménage romance she works it out for everyone's satisfaction.

Not to my taste.

Tale the first features a h and her bestie getting caught up in the mists of time and finding themselves in Scotland long before indoor plumbing was invented. Add to that, the convenience of the H and his band of merry men being on a rieving mission to steal his would-be bride (steal her and marry her in some random priest's hut as opposed to a formal arrangement between families. Gotcha). I mean, I suppose it wasn't bad, but it's hard for me to get past the 0-60 aspects of it. But then there was that position where we're beat over the head with the fact that her buttocks and labia are skyward (that's what it said. :shrug: )

Tale the first reminds me of a book I read sometime last year. I'd swear the book author read this and decided to improve upon it. Basically the H is a dragon, the h is trying to get something from him, and as he discovers quickly, she's his mate. Irritants - that 0-60 aspect, coupled with bdsm.

Tale the third is an alien abduction, with the H being a dragooni or something like that. The h spends several days in an induced sleep while getting "prepared" for mating while she's awake. The impression I got was that the H (and with this sort of thing as a norm, I'm using that term v. loosely) was boinking her while she was drugged out of her mind. Then expected her to be all warm and fuzzy about things when she woke up. Frankly I would have been out for blood. Also, this is a menage.

I confess. Anthologies usually start at a 3. It's up to the individual stories/authors to change that. Being that this is a theme anthology, one expects a bit of cheese. Being that it's an EC theme anthology, that's likely cream cheese...

:ahem

Tale the first isn't bad if you get past the TSTL of the heroine. I mean; she wants to get nailed by her hot boss (fair enough), and sets out to do so at the halloween masquerade party at his bar (well, ok), with the intent of leaving afterwards with her anonymity still intact (ummmm). She figures he'd never look at her otherwise so she gets tarted up (yeah?), shows up, catches his eye right off the bat (still with you), stays after closing for the "special party" of two with him (mmmhmmm?), and tries to leave. She's astounded when he asks her where she's going, and calls her by name. I mean really hon. How many nearly 6' statuesque redheads do you think he knows?

Tale the second...is a mixed up fairy tale. Ella Cinder is a living cliche. Her late father married a woman with two unattractive, rather bitchy daughters, promptly keeled over, and she has an office in the basement of their prestigious GYN hospital/office. She has the hots for the new Dr who is exceedingly hot for a OB/GYN. By nights, she has an adult production company that puts on a private showing of a decidedly mature Cinderella, named Sinderella. She's doing a show, Prince Charming fails to show, and Dr McHotty is in the audience. She puts forth the offer for him to act as a substitute. He's happy to follow through... and he also figures out who she is. Really hon, you talk to him daily. You don't think he'd recognize your voice?

Tale the third is actually pretty good - if you ignore that the h ends up mated to a total stranger without any knowledge of how that happened (or that it was even a possiblity). She's a werewolf, and not by choice. She's after the rogue who turned her, and assumes that the H is him. Fortunately for her, he isn't. He assumes at first that she's in with the rogue. She's not. They do conveniently find the rogue - or rather, his pack does - and he's taken out.

Tale the third...ehhhh that's a no for me. The h is kidnapped on halloween by a couple of weirdos. She wakes up naked and tied to a bed, listening to an argument about her, and well, the third weirdo is absolutely convinced she's his wife (I have no recollection of that event...). She...puts out? Well, not like she has a choice, being as how she's tied up, but she doesn't protest too hard. Later she finds out - from someone called the Wise One - that somehow she ended up in an alternate dimension thanks to him, has a zillion clones of her, also thanks to him (because he had the hots for her), and someone wants her dead, because for reasons never clarified, she killed the previous Goddess, and to protect her, she was sent back. Oh, and she is married apparently but her memories were wiped. A scant day(?) later a former boyfriend of hers tries to kill her, and she wakes up naked in her own bed. There's a knock at the door and the guy claiming to be her husband in the other dimension is there. I dunno. The whole thing leaves too many holes in the story itself (what, why, how, huh???), a h who caves way too readily to someone she has no memory of, and a lot of BDSM type sex without the h actually agreeing to any of it.

I think I need some whine with that cheese.

Travis “Hawk” Hawkins finds himself rescuing a damsel in distress.  Only real problem?  She takes her time in realizing she really is in distress.  Bigger problem? The heavy attraction between them that is getting hotter.......

Lila is not sure which is worse.  Having family that bosses her around and does not respect her or her ambitions, or meeting a man thousands of miles from home who seems just like them that she is enormously attracted to.  Maybe it really is a bit of both.  He just keeps turning out to be the good guy.

This was an incredible story right form the get go.  I was seriously stuck inside the book and had a hard time putting it down.  Each page brings more to the adventure, and even more sexy heat.  These characters are a treat to read.  I sure hope we visit them again.  What a great start to the new Aegis Security series.  I give this a 4/5 Kitty's Paws UP!

***This early copy was given in exchange for an honest review only.

I don't know whether to feel sorry for Fitz or not.

Like when Chade is angry because Fitz expected there to be strings attached to him helping with Haps apprenticeship.

Of course he thought so – there have been strings attached to almost everything in his life.

Or when Chade assumes Fitz knows everything about the Skill despite knowing Fitz was never trained and even knowing what Galen did to him.

Fitz has been badly used for other peoples purposes with rarely a thought to how he might feel.

Then he goes in full whining mode and I just want to slap him.

Old or not, I think Chade is just an asshole.