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Burning Bright
Two lovers, brought together by a forbidden passion, are on the run from their pasts. Veraine was once a commander in the Imperial army; Myrna the divine priestess he seduced and stole from her desert temple. Traveling through a jungle kingdom, they fall prey to slavers and are separated. Myrna is taken to the city of Tiger inhuman tyrants with a taste for human flesh. Myrna still has faith that Veraine will find her - but, left for dead, he has forgotten everything. Still he journeys through a fevered landscape of promise and supernatural danger to find the unknown woman he longs for.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
3 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Janine Ashbless
67 books134 followersJanine Ashbless is a British author of erotica and hot romantic adventure. Janine likes best to write paranormal- and dark-fantasy-themed fiction and has a lifelong interest in mythology, folklore and history.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 15, 2010
What an odd book. I went into this completely cold. I'd never heard of Black Lace. I didn't know this was erotica. I knew nothing of the storyline. I simply needed a book that was written by an author whose last name started with an A to fulfill a challenge category.
The book opens with our hero regaining consciousness after having someone bash in the back of his skull. He was left for dead and had most of his things taken. Those things he misses most at the beginning are all of his memories and his shoes. He staggers for a way looking for water and sees a beautiful young woman getting water. He loses consciousness again.
When he comes to the second time, he is feverish and tied to a bed. The young woman appears to be a healing apprentice. The old witch is instructing her apprentice how to suck the scorpion spirit which is making our hero sick out through his dick with his seed. It's about this point that you realize that the book has taken a turn from mainstream fiction.
Our hero does realize that he was travelling with someone and he needs to find her to make his soul complete. Along the way he has sex. A lot of sex. If he doesn't fight it, he fucks it. He leaves a trail of blood and semen a mile wide (and eight inches deep) as he gets back to his goddess.
And speaking of his goddess what is she up to? Mostly just being a sex slave to a bunch of incestuous shape shifting tigers. And she really is a goddess.
So final verdict? It reminded me of the old Conan books if Conan was played by John Holmes. So we will refer to this new hero as Gonad the Barbonian (with an emphasis on the second syllable). In other words, I actually liked it more than I thought I would. I'll probably come back and give it four stars after I see if it sticks with me a while.
Caution: This book is not for everyone. It contains: oral, anal, vaginal, sex with another man's wife, MFM, FF, dom/sub, sex with the undead, spanking, creampie play, urine play, rape, tattooing of a woman's labia, sex with non-humans (a half snake half woman Naga), masturbation, and probably a few other things that some may find offensive that I've forgotten. Like I said in the review, a little off the beaten path.
The book opens with our hero regaining consciousness after having someone bash in the back of his skull. He was left for dead and had most of his things taken. Those things he misses most at the beginning are all of his memories and his shoes. He staggers for a way looking for water and sees a beautiful young woman getting water. He loses consciousness again.
When he comes to the second time, he is feverish and tied to a bed. The young woman appears to be a healing apprentice. The old witch is instructing her apprentice how to suck the scorpion spirit which is making our hero sick out through his dick with his seed. It's about this point that you realize that the book has taken a turn from mainstream fiction.
Our hero does realize that he was travelling with someone and he needs to find her to make his soul complete. Along the way he has sex. A lot of sex. If he doesn't fight it, he fucks it. He leaves a trail of blood and semen a mile wide (and eight inches deep) as he gets back to his goddess.
And speaking of his goddess what is she up to? Mostly just being a sex slave to a bunch of incestuous shape shifting tigers. And she really is a goddess.
So final verdict? It reminded me of the old Conan books if Conan was played by John Holmes. So we will refer to this new hero as Gonad the Barbonian (with an emphasis on the second syllable). In other words, I actually liked it more than I thought I would. I'll probably come back and give it four stars after I see if it sticks with me a while.
Caution: This book is not for everyone. It contains: oral, anal, vaginal, sex with another man's wife, MFM, FF, dom/sub, sex with the undead, spanking, creampie play, urine play, rape, tattooing of a woman's labia, sex with non-humans (a half snake half woman Naga), masturbation, and probably a few other things that some may find offensive that I've forgotten. Like I said in the review, a little off the beaten path.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 15, 2012
Erotica in any form provides an element of fantasy, an escape
from the mundane, an expansion beyond the boundaries of everyday.
Reading erotica, we can lose ourselves in the intoxication of
desire. We can forget the overbearing boss, the traffic jam, the
bills waiting to be paid, not to mention our own physical weaknesses
and imperfections. For a few hours, we are free to become someone
else, to experience intense, exotic, outrageous sexual adventures
that most of us are unlikely to encounter in the real world.
Paranormal or fantasy erotica provides an even more complete
escape. Not only are sexual rules and restrictions suspended, the very
laws of physics are subject to change. At its best, this subgenre can
steal you away to a totally new world where the inhabitants have
powers and lusts stronger than those of mere mortals.
Janine Ashbless' Black Lace volume, BURNING BRIGHT, is a fine
example. Though the heroine Myrna appears little older than a girl,
she is in fact the reincarnation of Malia Shah, a terrible goddess of
destruction and despair reminiscent of the Hindu Kali. Trained from
birth by the priests in her desert temple to ignore and transmute
pain, she is hardly daunted when she is captured by vicious slavers
who serve the Tiger Demons. However, she fears for her lover Veraine,
beaten and left for dead by her captors.
Veraine, meanwhile, is barely alive and has completely lost his
memory. He wanders through strange realms, seeking his past, following
the ghostly shards of memory that he retains of a woman with dark skin
and coppery hair. Somehow he knows that this is his true love, but
this does not prevent the lusty warrior from ravishing every other
woman that crosses his path.
Myrna is chosen as personal pleasure slave by the Harimau queen
Shinsawbu, a magnificent and capricious creature who is truly feline
in her cunning and cruelty. The goddess/slave becomes a pawn in the
dangerous games played by Shinsawbu's brother Dhammazhedi. As Myrna is
punished, marked, defiled and humiliated by the Tiger Lords, she
awaits the return of Veraine. Although all live in terror of the
blood-thirsty, shape-shifting demons, Myrna knows that Veraine can defeat
them, and indeed he does, though just barely. Together they bring down
the inhuman reign of the Harimau and find a new home after their
exile.
Genre novels entertain partially because the reader knows what to
expect. BURNING BRIGHT fits the mold of fantasy/paranormal romance.
The plot is more or less predictable, and since this is an erotic
romance, the frequent sex scenes are also easy to anticipate. Despite
the stereotypes that come with the genre, however, I found the book
entertaining with occasional flashes of brilliance. Ms. Ashbless
paints vivid pictures of strange lands. When Veraine stumbles into the
sadomasochistic clutches of the revenant Rani Mirabai, I could see,
feel, even smell her haunted, decaying palace. The luxurious and
colorful city of the Harimau comes alive when viewed through the eyes
of desert-reared Myrna. The various peoples that Myrna and Veraine
meet in their travels are distinguished by language, culture,
superstitions and traditions. I particularly enjoyed Veraine's
traveling companions, itinerant storytellers Rahul and Teihli, who
bring tales of the gods to the villagers, and leave the blessings of
their bodies.
I also applaud Ms. Ashbless' carefully limited use of magical powers.
Too often, heros and heroines in this genre easily conquer every
adversary, simply by calling upon new supernatural capabilities.
Though she is a goddess, Myrna has no real power other than her wits
and her esoteric training. Veraine is heroic and skillful with
weapons, but suffers from many weaknesses including the tendency to
ignore his common sense in favor of his cock. Even the Tiger Lords are
not invincible. In fact, this book is "paranormal" mainly in its aura
of mysticism and inexorable destiny. Myrna and Veraine have visions;
they walk in the world of the spirit as well as of the flesh. At the
same time they are realistically fallible.
I did find myself wishing that Myrna's and Veraine's history had been
given more prominence. The tale of their love, of their betrayal of
their assigned fates and their flight into the unknown, would make a
grand adventure in its own right, but the history is barely sketched
out near the end of the novel, almost as an afterthought. In fact the
end of the novel was a bit disappointing overall. Perhaps this is
always true in romance. When the lovers reunite after their separation
and their trials, in a coupling of inevitably incadescent passion, the
tension that propels the story forward is dissipated.
On the other hand, this reaction is likely a reflection of my personal
preference for a bit of ambiguity in fiction. Anyone who enjoys a
romantic tale in the paranormal/fantasy genre, with plenty of exotic
sex along the way, should appreciate BURNING BRIGHT.
from the mundane, an expansion beyond the boundaries of everyday.
Reading erotica, we can lose ourselves in the intoxication of
desire. We can forget the overbearing boss, the traffic jam, the
bills waiting to be paid, not to mention our own physical weaknesses
and imperfections. For a few hours, we are free to become someone
else, to experience intense, exotic, outrageous sexual adventures
that most of us are unlikely to encounter in the real world.
Paranormal or fantasy erotica provides an even more complete
escape. Not only are sexual rules and restrictions suspended, the very
laws of physics are subject to change. At its best, this subgenre can
steal you away to a totally new world where the inhabitants have
powers and lusts stronger than those of mere mortals.
Janine Ashbless' Black Lace volume, BURNING BRIGHT, is a fine
example. Though the heroine Myrna appears little older than a girl,
she is in fact the reincarnation of Malia Shah, a terrible goddess of
destruction and despair reminiscent of the Hindu Kali. Trained from
birth by the priests in her desert temple to ignore and transmute
pain, she is hardly daunted when she is captured by vicious slavers
who serve the Tiger Demons. However, she fears for her lover Veraine,
beaten and left for dead by her captors.
Veraine, meanwhile, is barely alive and has completely lost his
memory. He wanders through strange realms, seeking his past, following
the ghostly shards of memory that he retains of a woman with dark skin
and coppery hair. Somehow he knows that this is his true love, but
this does not prevent the lusty warrior from ravishing every other
woman that crosses his path.
Myrna is chosen as personal pleasure slave by the Harimau queen
Shinsawbu, a magnificent and capricious creature who is truly feline
in her cunning and cruelty. The goddess/slave becomes a pawn in the
dangerous games played by Shinsawbu's brother Dhammazhedi. As Myrna is
punished, marked, defiled and humiliated by the Tiger Lords, she
awaits the return of Veraine. Although all live in terror of the
blood-thirsty, shape-shifting demons, Myrna knows that Veraine can defeat
them, and indeed he does, though just barely. Together they bring down
the inhuman reign of the Harimau and find a new home after their
exile.
Genre novels entertain partially because the reader knows what to
expect. BURNING BRIGHT fits the mold of fantasy/paranormal romance.
The plot is more or less predictable, and since this is an erotic
romance, the frequent sex scenes are also easy to anticipate. Despite
the stereotypes that come with the genre, however, I found the book
entertaining with occasional flashes of brilliance. Ms. Ashbless
paints vivid pictures of strange lands. When Veraine stumbles into the
sadomasochistic clutches of the revenant Rani Mirabai, I could see,
feel, even smell her haunted, decaying palace. The luxurious and
colorful city of the Harimau comes alive when viewed through the eyes
of desert-reared Myrna. The various peoples that Myrna and Veraine
meet in their travels are distinguished by language, culture,
superstitions and traditions. I particularly enjoyed Veraine's
traveling companions, itinerant storytellers Rahul and Teihli, who
bring tales of the gods to the villagers, and leave the blessings of
their bodies.
I also applaud Ms. Ashbless' carefully limited use of magical powers.
Too often, heros and heroines in this genre easily conquer every
adversary, simply by calling upon new supernatural capabilities.
Though she is a goddess, Myrna has no real power other than her wits
and her esoteric training. Veraine is heroic and skillful with
weapons, but suffers from many weaknesses including the tendency to
ignore his common sense in favor of his cock. Even the Tiger Lords are
not invincible. In fact, this book is "paranormal" mainly in its aura
of mysticism and inexorable destiny. Myrna and Veraine have visions;
they walk in the world of the spirit as well as of the flesh. At the
same time they are realistically fallible.
I did find myself wishing that Myrna's and Veraine's history had been
given more prominence. The tale of their love, of their betrayal of
their assigned fates and their flight into the unknown, would make a
grand adventure in its own right, but the history is barely sketched
out near the end of the novel, almost as an afterthought. In fact the
end of the novel was a bit disappointing overall. Perhaps this is
always true in romance. When the lovers reunite after their separation
and their trials, in a coupling of inevitably incadescent passion, the
tension that propels the story forward is dissipated.
On the other hand, this reaction is likely a reflection of my personal
preference for a bit of ambiguity in fiction. Anyone who enjoys a
romantic tale in the paranormal/fantasy genre, with plenty of exotic
sex along the way, should appreciate BURNING BRIGHT.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews