Review: Bastian by Elizabeth Amber

Bastian (Lords of Satyr, Book 6)
~Elizabeth Amber

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Kensington Aphrodisia
Publish Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN-10: 0758241305
ISBN-13: 978-0758241306

From the author's website:
Man-gods born to live and love forever, the Lords of Satyr are renowned for their sexual prowess…and unquenchable lust…

Call My Name

The forum excavations in Rome go on, directed by the iron-willed, charismatic Lord Bastian Satyr. Out of nowhere, a mysterious, haunting voice calls out to him…and lures him to the site of a long-vanished temple, where vestal virgins once performed rites of erotic surrender. The temple is the find of his career, but his heart is about to face the unknown…

Michaela is a pure Ephemeral. She can enter the bodies of others—and become any woman a man might wish to possess. His choice is her pleasure. And the commanding and utterly virile Bastian is the only man she desires…

Silvia has been traveling the earth for centuries - she was the virgin servant of the goddess Vesta, along with 11 other "sisters".  Part of their duties to the goddess was to keep her fire lit, and they were each entrusted a sacred stone to keep in the fire pit.  When the temple was destroyed, the girls fled, and the stones were scattered.  She's now charged by the evil Pontifex to find the stones.  He's imprisoned her sisters and he's getting impatient.  Silvia's best friend, Michaela, left the sisterhood and has taken her human form permanently; she's fallen in love with Bastian, one of the last remaining Satyrs.

Bastian Satyr has been excavating the ruins of Vesta's virgins, and Silvia needs to help him along, thinking she'll find the stones.  Using her ability to possess a body near death, she take the form of a young street urchin, and in that body gets to know Bastian much better - he really is as wonderful as Michaela says he is.  Silvia is beginning to fall for Bastian too, but between Michaela's affections for him and her own vow of chastity, she resists.  When tragedy befalls Michaela, she begs Silvia to take her body and make love to Bastian.

In fulfilling her best friends dying wish, Silvia experiences a sensual new world that leaves her wanting more of what she knows she can't have. Between trying to outsmart Bastian to find the stones, and trying to keep the Pontifex from getting the stones, Silvia is having quite a time of it. Bastian eventually figures out who she is and wants to help her, but she refuses.  Silvia is torn - should she choose a human life of happiness with Bastian or find the stones and turn them over to the Pontifex in the hopes that he might free her sisters?

Elizabeth Amber has created a fascinating world with her Lords of Satyr. The creatures of Else World, a parallel world to Earth, is in turns sultry and scary:  There are the Satyrs - four sexy brothers who protect the gate between worlds, and on the other side is The Pontifex, a disgusting, sex-starved denizen in Else World. Bastian was an interesting story, I liked the ancient ruins as a setting - I could easily envision the dust in the air and men digging, finding pieces of history and cataloging their treasures. The scenes with Bastian and Silvia as a young boy were wonderfully written and fun.  Once she lost the boy's body, though, I got frustrated with Sylvia's "body hopping" (she can only spend a month in each body) - I wanted her to take her human form for Bastian.

The erotic aspect of Bastian was very, very sensual. Silvia's ability to possess other bodies made for quite a bit of variation in the sex play. There was some f/f and m/m activity, which I wasn't expecting. And yes, this is the series where the hero has two penises, but in this particular book that plays a very small part. Bastian is the second book I've read in this series and I'd like to go back and read the earlier stories of his brothers.

My Rating:

This book was received from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Dane by Elizabeth Amber

From the author's website:
DANE begins a new trilogy within The Lords of Satyr series.
It's now 50 years later, in Rome during the forum excavations of 1880. . .

Dane and Eva have secrets.

Because of a mysterious boyhood trauma, he harbors an alternate personality that seeks to protect him from the knowledge of his missing brother's whereabouts. Eva is a matchmaker, whose job it is to find human wives for Dane and his brothers. She's the only female satyr in existence. A fact she must hide, even from Dane.

_________________________

I first saw an excerpt of Dane over at Cecile's place and though it was an interesting premise. I was a bit leery of a guy with two penises, but it wasn't weird (really!).

The storyline was good and it kept me interested. (The dual penises were a part of the Satyr genetics - they only came out at full moon and were very erotic but not the focus of the story.) We learn that Dane and his younger brother were kidnapped many years ago. Dane mysteriously reappeared one year later but they still have not found his brother. Because of his experience, Dane has multiple personalities that come out when it's time for the full moon.

The story starts with Dane walking around on his land, when he finds Eva in his forest. He senses she's not human, but can't figure out what she is. It's full moon, and he starts to seduce her, but she gets away before she gets the whole "Satyr"treatment (*wink, nudge*). What Dane doesn't know, and we don't learn until Eva gets home, is that she is the only female Satyr, and as such is very valuable and succeptible to kidnapping; which is why she disguises her scent. We learn she has needs at full moon that only a Satyr can fulfill, so she creates a "shimmer skin" (fake man) to assist her in fulfilling her needs.

Eva is a marriage broker for the "Elseworld" (the non-humans living on earth). Due to a disease years ago, most of the Elseworld females cannot procreate, and therefore the men marry human women. Dane hires Eva to find him a wife. While she is working on this, they attend many functions together and are attracted to each other.

The storyline of Eva and Dane getting to know each other was twined nicely with Dane and his brothers searching for their missing youngest brother. The bad guys in this story were unrepentantly bad and I loved it! (I was a bit surprised at the culprit.)

I liked Eva but was a bit frustrated that she didn't ask some of the questions of Dane that she should have up front. She is able to see auras and Dane's auras changed with his personalities. I don't think, based on her personality, she would have ignored that.

I haven't read any of the previous books in this series, so I don't know if I would find out more about the Elseworld there, but I am definitely interested. I'd also love to see Eva's friend Alexa get a story - maybe with the long lost brother *winks*?

If you can let yourself get immersed into the fantasy world Ms. Amber has created, you'll enjoy this erotic and entertaining read; I read it in a day!

My rating:

I received this book from the author in exchange for a honest review.