Secrets: Volume 4

Secrets Volume #4

by Jeanie Cesarini, Susan Morgan, Susan Paul

An Act Of Love by Jeanie Cesarini
Shelby Moran's past haunts her and has left her terrified of sex. International film star Jason Gage is hired to gently coach the young starlet in the ways of love. He wants more than an act — he wants Shelby to feel true passion in his arms.

Enslaved by Desiree Lindsey
Lady Crystal Halverton is in turmoil. Lord Nicholas Summer's air of danger, dark passions, and irresistible charm have brought her long-hidden desires to the surface.

Will he be able to give her the one thing she desires before it's too late?

The Bodyguard by Susan Paul and Betsy Morgan
Kaki York is a bodyguard, but watching the wild, erotic romps of her client's sexual conquests on the security cameras is getting to her — and her partner, the ruggedly handsome James Kulick. Can she resist his insistent desire to have her?

The Love Slave by Emma Holly
A woman's ultimate fantasy. For one year, Princess Lily will be attended to by three delicious men of her choice. While she delights in playing with the first two, it's the reluctant Grae, with his powerful chest, black eyes and hair, that stirs her desires.

Genres: Erotica, Anthologies, Romance, Fiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1998

Reviews

[Collette]

I really enjoy these Secret books. They introduce to me to some new authors and keep my comfortable with my old standbys. This books contained these stories.
An Act of Love by Jeanie Cesarini. I enjoyed this one which was about an old "retired" movie star coming together with a rising star and helping her overcome a horrid sexual past. It started out a bit weird but turned into a sexy, sensual story worth reading.
The next story was Enslaved by Desiree Lindsay. It was a bit too historical for me with the flowery language and all but still worth a read. It's all about hidden desires and had a few too many ill-placed morals for me but the reasons do become clear later in the story.
The Bodyguard by Betsy Morgan and Susan Paul which was about a female and male body guard and their starlet client who's "drug of choice was men". As she heated up her bedroom while they had to watch on cameras to make sure she was safe, they tried to avoid heating up each other. It had a good theme but went way too fast and was way too short. The ending was very abrupt and had me looking for the rest of the story.
Emma Holly's The Love Slave was the star of the book for me. (of course!) It was about a princess and her three love slaves. It had her usual open-minded approach to sex, wit, charm and really left me with a good feeling.

[Stefanie]

An Act of Love: 4* - Good chemistry, was believable. Would read more from this author.

Enslaved: 3,5* - Lots of tension, maybe a little to much angst and drama. Would have liked it more, if Freddie had explained himself.

The Bodyguard: 2* - That was lousy. It started off ok, but then went downhill. I didn't feel the connection between James and Kaki at all, he feels things for Alana, but has sex with Kaki! And the ending was just WHAM - BAM, we have reached our allotted word count. Bah! The fight at the end also was written badly, confusing and unrealistic.

The Love Slave: 4* - Good characters, good story line, you didn't feel as if you were reading a short story. Hot scenes well written, yum.

[Janet]

Steamy erotica but the plot was just so-so in each one.

[Cherie Clark]

Loved these book☆☆☆☆☆♡♡♡☆☆

[Vivian]

Decent read.

[okyrhoe]

An Act of Love by Jeanie Cesarini
As I began reading this story I thought to myself the opening scene was too contrived, and the writing could have been edited to something more realistic/natural. So the order for "Cut! Cut! Cut!" sets things in their proper context.
The plot device of the male "teacher" initiating the female into the realm of carnal pleasures (innocence vs. experience) is a tried and true formula, but it's not easy to come up with an imaginative set-up that will differentiate itself from previous narratives. I found this story's variation an imaginative one. I like the way this story is set up, especially the catchy chapter headings playing on the theme of acting and "faking", a nice commentary on what sometimes goes on in relationships & sex.
Still, there's not much depth; the story could have been expanded further, with more detail about these character's pasts, & greater insight into the reclusive nature of Alana and Jason, and why they suit each other because of this.

Enslaved by Desiree Lindsey
I guess period romances just don't feel "real" enough for me. I couldn't get into the characters' motivations.

The Bodyguard by Betsy Morgan & Susan Paul
Was this the story with the misspelled officials' names? Pat Moynihan & General Schwarzkopf.

The Love Slave by Emma Holly
This story is heavily influenced by Anne Rice's Beauty Trilogy. Despite that it's well-written, and I enjoyed it. There are some interesting themes present that make it distinctively different from Rice's novels. The premise that learning about exerting power and good governance in the public domain can be achieved by practicing bedroom politics sounds farfetched at first, but the interplay between Lilly and her "love guards" demonstrates it's a credible one, within this story's framing.
I liked the playful twist of making virginity and chastity a "revolutionary" idea, one deemed "dangerous" by the powers that be!
Princess Lily's character evolves from hesitant teen to assertive woman; we follow her transformation into maturity as she learns new skills through play & recreation, how to express & stand by her beliefs when dealing with her autocratic mother and self-effacing father, as well as with the opposite sex.

[Angela]

Story #1 - An Act of Love by Jeanie Cesarini
It was all right. I guess there was another story that had the main character as a secondary character in one of the Secrets volumes previously (I haven't read vol 2 or 3) -- I wasn't overly impressed.

Story #2 - Enslaved by Desiree Lindsey
again, it was all right. I saw the ending coming, but I won't hold that against the author.

Story #3 - The Bodyguard by Betsy Morgan & Susan Paul
My favorite story thus far, although I think it could have been a short novel. It seemed there were a lot of skips and jumps in the story line. I liked the characters, and would like more from them.

Story #4 - The Love Slave by Emma Holly
The princess gets to have a "love guard" -- three slaves to do her bidding (to get her trained how to keep a husband) for a year. This princess is a bit different than her momma though, because she focuses on respect through kindness rather than fear -- a nice story, with some good sex scenes. I was of course routing for Grae all along.

[Kendra]

As with any anthology, some stories I liked more than others. For me, the best one was the Emma Holly one -- well developed characters, a storyline that kept me interested. Kudos there for developing an emotionally charged story that highlighted some incredibly steamy scenes. My least favorite was the one by Betsy Morgan and Susan Paul and this was basically because it had such an abrupt ending. I mean, the story started off fine and then, bam! Tie everything up in a few short paragraphs. Uh, what? Major points off there, because it's like someone forgot to print about six chapters. Also, the Desiree Lindsey story deserves a mention for it was my second favorite. I liked how there was much more to the story than just one hot scene after another. It featured a good storyline about a couple who had grown up close friends, but now she was married to his best friend. When she asks him to father a child with her (with the blessings of the husband), things heat up. Nice characters that could have easily been written as a full-length novel. Overall, I'll give the anthology a B.

[Justme]

This is a difficult book to rate; 3.8* overall (2 decent, 2 not recommended)

AN ACT OF LOVE by Jeanie Cesarini - sensual details, good flow, satisfying ending 4.5*

ENSLAVED by Desirée Lindsey - h dealing w/alot, but just laying around to die multipleX was blech...very weak 3.5*

THE BODYGUARD by Betsy Morgan and Susan Paul - was like 4 different disjointed storylines! obvious 'mystery' & unbelievable "romance"; h threw out all standards on a guy who had no redeeming qualities & no character development?! cause, you know, she got turned on for what 3 seconds? after she resisted SEALs for 5 yrs... 3*

THE LOVE SLAVE by Emma Holly - liked characters & wanted more; barely felt "finished" (hit the word limit...and we're done!) 4.2*

[Melania Ramona]

I read this a while ago, but what I remember most is "The Love Slave". I really liked it because it doesn't feel wrong (the whole one princess and three lovers thing). It explores the emotions and also the sensuality of the idea. And it has a real plot, too.
Also, "The Bodyguard" was nice.
I confess, I have only a vague memory about the other two stories, but I guess that says a lot.

[penelopewanders]

An anthology. This was received as an RABCK, so I don't want to look a gift horse too closely in the mouth... but anthologies do tend to be pretty uneven, I find. The best in the batch was the Emma Holly story. The book itself has done a lot of travelling and needs to be handled gently as some pages are falling out (but still all there...).

[Melissa]

I liked the first story, then the second and third got progressively worse (writing-wise), until Emma Holly's final story, which was AWESOME. If I were just rating her contribution, it would be four stars without question.

[Laurie Gold]

An Act of Love - C
The Love Slave - D
Enslaved - F
The Bodyguard - C

[Lina]

"Love Slave" by Emma Holly only

[Janice]

KOBO

[Beautiful_Jade]

Just don't bother.

[Cecilia Rodriguez]

A collection of four sensual short stories.
My favorite was "The Love Slave," by Emma Holly.
The story is a fantasy version similar to Arabian Nights. Holly has a good blend of humor and steam.