Enchanted Dreams: Erotic Tales of the Supernatural

Enchanted #3

by Nancy Madore

The clever mind behind the Enchanted series is back, crafting more of the fiercely erotic and darkly sensual stories that have become synonymous with her name. In this most recent collection, bestselling author Nancy Madore offers up the peculiar and fantastic world of the paranormal, where erotic fantasies know no bounds.

Within these seven arousing stories you'll discover how wildly promiscuous fairies react when a flesh-and-blood woman stumbles into their midst…why a werewolf with a sadistic streak finally succumbs to unexpectedly dangerous desire…a monster hunt that turns into a darkened night of terror and delight…and how a couple manipulates magic to dominate and stimulate….

Don't close your eyes…you won't want to miss a single moment!

Genres: Erotica, Fiction, Short Stories, Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy, Adult

336 pages, Paperback

First published August 29, 2009

About the author

Nancy Madore achieved enormous critical acclaim with her ENCHANTED series, which includes ENCHANTED, ENCHANTED AGAIN and ENCHANTED DREAMS.

Now, following her life-long interest in ancient history and mythology, Nancy Madore is launching a new series in the historical and science/speculative fiction genres, called LEGACY OF THE WATCHERS. So far, the series includes THE HIDDEN ONES and POWER OF GODS. Madore is currently working on the third book in the series.

You can read more about Nancy Madore's LEGACY OF THE WATCHERS series by visiting her website at www.nmadore.com.

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just....weird!!! The stories aren't well written, and each main character is just as bland and generic as the next. And the "erotica" aspect...

The Enchanted Forrest involves a woman alone in a sexy forest. With sexy tree roots. And flowers with long stamens.
Disenchantment have you ever fantasized about getting it on with a hot guy then biting his head off? No? Best to skip this one...
Dying for It adds nothing to the vampire genre. Boring.
Expecting alien probes and tentacle sex.
Flowers for Angela psychotherapy and submission.
Jimmy sexy, invisible ghost
The Incentive Program time travel, voyeurism...possibly sex with multiple partners or group sex. Not quite sure because after being disappointed and skimming throughout the rest of this novel, I stopped reading this one pretty early in. This is the last story in the collection and appears to be as poorly written as the rest.

A more talented author may make oddball stories hawt and fascinating in a quirky, unique way. Nancy Madore is not that author. Not much to say without bashing her, which really isn't my intent. My advice is to skip this one entirely.

[Izlinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think my definition of what stories/genres/characters count as "supernatural" greatly differs from Madore's definition/view.

I'm too rushed to write a full review now, but needless to say, I was pretty "WHAT?!" while reading this book and when telling my friends about the stories in here, they were going "Oh, my God, Izzy!"

I'm sure it fits other people's preferences, just not mine. Which is kind of unfortunate because I had better luck with her previous collection.

Spoilers ahead! BIG FAT HONKIN' SPOILERS!
Edit:

Enchanted Forest - So Catherine stumbles upon a magical, lush forest. And the sex ends up being with a tree root...that release a sap that acts as a lubricant... Also, stamens...in a plant...

No, not my type of story

Disenchantment - Maryanne meets up with Dan, in a blind date kind of way. She releases her philosophy about relationships, which was an interesting read. I disagree with it, generally (even I'm not that pessimistic or cynical about relationships). She ends up being a praying mantis in female form and ends up killing the man at the end of the story. Buuut the earlier sex scene where she doesn't kill him was a safe read.

Dying For It - Before I got to this story I was going "Oh, my God, I was thinking supernatural as in witches, vampires, shapeshifters, not magical tree roots and praying mantises!" Well, voila, vampire story! Ana stalks Vincent, the vampire for a while before he finally notices her. (She saw him seducing and having sex with one of his earlier victims so that was an interesting sex scene.) So they do end up having sex and when she's going down on him - oh, hey, she pierces the big fat vein in his cock with her incised tooth and drinks his blood!

OHMYGOD. It totally brings to a new dimension to the warning "watch for your teeth" when you're going down on a guy!

I broke out laughing so hard while reading this part. But, happy ending!

Expecting - Pregnant woman. Alien abduction. Aliens with, you guessed it, tentacles . Oh, God. It's a rather sad story, overall, though, she doesn't adjust well to the pregnancy and...yeah...this story definitely didn't have a happy ending.

Flowers for Angela - What? So...is this the story described on the back cover? "...and how a man masters the power of suggestion to dominate and stimulate." Uhm...no... In this setting, it seems rather more coercive and manipulative... It was an unnerving read.

Jimmy - A GHOST! Yeah, Sara goes to a seance, then when she comes back from the night, she ends up having a ghost after her. Jimmy, the ghost, is not nice and Sara gets addicted to the ghost sex and...yeah... Happy ending, though. (A bit corny but happy!)

Incentive Program - Another story that made me laugh... Basically, Georgia is a scientist working on a computer program that predicts the future, so long as current information is fed into it.

There's one line I had a big beef about "Our program has been fed every kind of statistical data on humans and human behavior that you can imagine, going back four hundred years. We've included statistics that cover all aspects of human life, from cultural, to economical, to psychological tendencies and behaviors. In addition, we've trained the program to configure the logical progression of human existence based on this data. Literally, we have given the program an education in human behavior that would be the equivalent of about two hundred scientists with doctorates in everything from psychology to sociology." (pg 264.) "...in everything from psychology to sociology"? Most people use "from to " to express how broad in scope something is. Psychology to sociology is not a big a jump, as say, psychology to anthropology would be, or even economics to biology! MY GOD. (Sorry, just a nerve hit after putting together a proposal for an interdisciplinary major.)

So this program is accelerated and it's now 2304 in the cyberworld. Georgia is stuck on a figure's life, Cassie. In the future it turns out females are more easily damaged by global warming and diseases caused by global warming so the ratio is all skewed. It's dangerous for females to go out so the government decides to run the Incentive Program. Enter a matching/dating website that's government sanctioned! Females enter alone, whereas males have the choice of either entering solo and being grouped randomly with other solo males, or males can join in an already formed group with their friends/relatives. Cassie and Craig (brother), Steve (best friend) and Peter get to talking. Eventually they meet up and sex ensues. It's not all of them at once with her, but she goes to them separately. (Remember Georgia is watching her life through the program.) So we get two sex scenes with Craig and Steve, but Peter just gets a "ravished" thrown in because Georgia's suddenly so hot and bothered. Apparently the presentation on the computer program caught the eye of the scientific community and they get letters from other scientists. One group of them says they're working on time travel, and ZOMG, Georgia's hot for that idea cause she wants to go the future and find the Incentive Program! HOT DAMN!

Okay, I know my tone is high on the mocking scale. I'm just...well, first off, I don't like that Peter got completely gypped out of a scene with Cassie for the audience's perspective! I think Madore could have written one for him, with his own personality and style after the two differing ones for Craig and Steve. Secondly...Okay...what? I know Madore chose to have females die off in the future to set up a multiple males-one female scene in a setting where females wouldn't be viewed as slut for doing so, but STILL. Also, Georgia, there are places in the now that would offer you such opportunities... Fetish clubs, people use AdultFriendFinder or CraigsList or other Internet sites. I mean, okay, maybe you won't find a group of men who are also friendly with each other and completely okay with sharing a woman that easily (and Cassie loves Craig, Steve and Peter equally) since communes like that don't really exist anymore, or they're really rare now, but...still...

So...I don't know if the stories here really would be considered "supernatural" in other people's opinions. The last one hit me of science fiction or something.

I had high hopes for this book, which I suppose made my disappointment even more biting and intense. Her debut Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women I liked. But they were fairy re-tellings and not that...bizarre... She has another collection out Enchanted Again: More Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women. It's about retelling nursery rhymes... Maybe it wouldn't as disturbing to read as this collection...

[Literary Ames · Rating 2 out of 5]

'Mind-altering drugs were used in the making of this book' -that's the disclaimer that should be printed on the very first page of Enchanted Dreams.

***SPOILERS BELOW***

The first story Enchanted Forest especially says "psychedelic" because no sane person would use a tree root as a dildo. Or plants. Or flowers. Or let butterflies lick *ahem* down there. I suppose you could say she’s making love to nature. The end gives a possible explanation –is it her afterlife? Her heaven? Not what I was expecting when the title reads 'Tales of the Supernatural'. Far out, man. **peace sign** ---1 star.

Disenchantment - Cannibalism. Not Sexy. And I never want to meet anyone who thinks it is. Ever watched that Preying Mantis episode of Buffy? Well, this was that but with an added discussion on why relationships are so dysfunctional and the gender dynamics and behaviours at work which was interesting. I enjoyed it right up until the eating of human flesh. ---4 stars.

Dying For It -One of the more “normal” stories with a voyeuristic terminally ill human stalking the predatory vampire. Her teeth though, I could never imagine doing that to myself, I consider it self-mutilation. ---3 stars.

Expecting -Aliens, abortion and mental illness. Kind of depressing but maybe because I choose to believe it wasn’t real, it was all in her mind. It was too weird and she was too paranoid for me to think otherwise. ---1 star.

Flowers For Angela -Creeped. Me. Out. I’d rather keep my free will than let myself be brainwashed and turned into a slave by my husband and psychothe rapist . The violation of trust is staggering. Also, the eating of dog food was nauseating. Overall, just plain disturbing. ---2 stars

Jimmy -I really thought she’d run off with Jimmy the incubus at first but he wasn’t very considerate, which is exactly what I accused Ray of being. I was wrong. He was amazing once she confided in him. ---2 stars

The Incentive Program -Wow, after multiple WTF weird moments reading this book I never expected to find such a gem at the end. I’m with Georgia, get me into the future so I can join this programme just like Cassie did and meet my very own Craig, Steve and Peter. I LOL'd when Peter started reading Madore’s first Enchanted book to Cassie. I loved the Beauty and the Beast story he read. So sweet. ---5 stars.

For erotica I didn’t find it terribly erotic. Many times I felt like a child pointing and laughing at the strange goings on in this book. Even when I was beginning to enjoy it, I had to pull myself back after a few stories when I learned that liking a character could mean their death or being turned into the villain of the piece. I’ll admit the canabalism threw me. At that point I checked this book was actually listed as erotica because it made me think more of horror = erotic horror.

The main theme running through the stories other than the supernatural (or in this case crazy drugged-out hallucinogenic tales) was domination, control and the issue of consent. The predator and the prey. The dominant and the submissive. The victim and the villain. It wasn't always clear which characters were in which roles. And it didn't matter whether they were male or female. The aggressor could be either.

I'm always very aware of gender roles when I read Madore's books (she comes across as a feminist but not bra-burning, man-hating one) and I find her ideas on them intriguing so even though I don't always rate her highly I'm always interested in her work.

[Jean Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best paranormal or sexual fantasy stories transport the reader to an imaginary world which is parallel to this one: recognizable in some ways, completely exotic in others. Each of the seven stories in this diverse, single-author collection seems to be based on an intriguing premise and each includes sex scenes that really seem to take place in another dimension. However, not all the stories come equipped with the same amount of fuel, so to speak.

The thin line between "What an amazing setting/character/sex scene!" and "This is just too hokey" is drawn differently by different readers, depending on how long we can each suspend our disbelief. My own view of the world and my past experience of fantasy literature (I was raised on A.A. Milne, Lewis Carroll, Grimms' and Anderson's fairy tales) undoubtedly influence my responses.

The opening story in this book, "The Enchanted Forest," seems as beautifully heartbreaking (at least on first reading) as Hans Christian Anderson's "The Little Match Girl," and for similar reasons. A fairly typical modern woman, seeking relief from stress, goes on a camping trip alone, and finds exactly what she has dreamed of: a natural environment that responds to her every wish and literally makes love to her.

Catherine, the heroine, is lovingly bound to a tree by sentient roots and branches. There follows a consensual assault by flowers (I kid you not) which resembles a scene from The Nutcracker Suite:

"She peered down between her legs and noticed that each and every bloom, while brushing cross her trembling nether lips, cleverly turned its face toward them and thrust out its heavily coated stamens for a thoroughly intimate kiss that doused her with their nectar!"

This is only the first round.

Catherine hears a high-pitched sound and sees a mist moving in the sky. When the “mist” approaches, she sees that it is a huge swarm of brilliantly-colored butterflies who have arrived to finish what the flowers started:

"Catherine stared with wide, disbelieving eyes as they each, in turns, feasted on the banquet that had been so painstakingly spread out before them. Their activity tortured her in the most delightful way."

Remarkably, Catherine is able to survive on her own in the forest without any of the supplies she brought with her. Memories of her past life fade over time, and she feels no desire to contact anyone or return to a job or an apartment.

When she discovers something unexpected, the enchantment of the forest can be understood. Is this story about an afterlife? Read it and decide.

"Disenchantment" is a clever war-between-the-sexes story in which a woman tells her date, apparently a nice-enough guy, why men and women are not well suited to each other."'A woman's most fundamental need, at her core,’ explains Maryanne, ‘is to be desirable.'” She pauses for effect before explaining that everything men do after they have had sex with a woman for the first time “’is designed to diminish her belief that she is desirable.’” Maryanne sums up: “’I think it is an unconscious effort to ultimately destroy her desirability to other men.'"

The man takes her explanation as a challenge and decides to prove her wrong. Will he be attentive to her for the rest of his life? Is his attentiveness a sign that he is truly in love or that he is trying to prove her wrong? Although the sex between them is completely mutual and romantic in its way, the two characters are clearly fighting a duel.

The conclusion of this story is as brutal as the woman's theory. It is both unforeseen (by one of them) and as predictable as the behavior of a predator in the wild.

There is a vampire story in this collection, and it follows the popular heterosexual pattern of Dominant vampire male with submissive mortal female. In this version, the woman has a reason to offer herself to the local vampire, whom she has been stalking for awhile. She even has an elaborate plan for getting what she wants, a kind of topping-from-below strategy. The story has a surprisingly happy ending, but the enchantment doesn't work for me.

"Expecting" is about the alien impregnation of Emilie, a woman who is happily married at the beginning of the story. Her life is taken over by something almost indescribable which creates a credibility gap between her and everyone she knows, particularly her bewildered husband. As in real-life testimony about alien abductions, the sanity of the witness is in question.

Here is where the author’s use of a distancing third-person voice (which expresses Emilie’s consciousness) really works. There is objective evidence that something is happening in Emilie’s body, but the reader can never be sure what to believe.

Emilie has “dreams” or experiences which combine intense fear of the alien, reptilian invader(s) and an expectation of intense pleasure:

“She could never be fully prepared for the creeping, slithering, clinging feel of them, weighty and slick as they moved sluggishly over her. The intrusiveness of their touch, so all at once eerie and repulsive, caused all of her senses to come startlingly alert.”

Emilie comes to expect the intimate visits of beings she can barely see and whose motives she can only guess. The superhuman pleasure they give her is palpable, and her sense of having been chosen for an important mission is perversely flattering. However, like all such relationships—whether the mortal woman is visited by a fairy, a shapeshifter, a demon, by aliens or the Angel Gabriel—this one increasingly alienates Emilie from other human beings.

“Flowers for Angela” is a clever response to the award-winning short story (first published in 1959), novel and numerous dramatizations of Flowers for Algernon, the tragic tale of a laboratory mouse (Algernon) and his fellow-subject, Charlie, whose intelligence is manipulated by the mental-health establishment.

In Nancy Madore’s story, Angela is a psychologist who becomes suspicious of her male colleague’s methods when she is treating one of his former patients, a widow who can’t seem to move past her relationship with her late husband. The widow, who had first sought counselling because she and her husband were at odds, seemed to change abruptly from an independent thinker, who was not attracted to BDSM, to a devoted submissive who played the role of her husband’s dog whenever they were alone together.

Angela, as a career-driven professional, is also predictably separated from her husband, who would prefer a more appreciative wife. The one thing Angela and her husband can agree on is that their current relationship (not together but not yet divorced) is uncomfortable for both. Meanwhile, Angela decides to investigate her colleague under the guise of becoming his patient. The outcome is disturbing, especially when Angela’s colleague defends his methods in a male-to-male conversation with her husband.

While this story could be interpreted as anti-BDSM, it raises valid questions about marriage, two-career relationships, women’s rights, heterosexuality and the role of psychiatry (and counselling in general) in all of the above.

One of the author’s most convincing supernatural male characters is Jimmy in the story by that name. Like a teenage troublemaker who jimmies locks to steal other people’s stuff, Jimmy is a kind of archetypal bad boy who is magnetically attractive to (as well as attracted to) the central character, Sara, who lives with her boyfriend Ray, an understanding guy with whom she is totally compatible except in bed. Ray often climaxes before her and then falls asleep, not knowing that she is frustrated and too polite to tell him so.

Like other demon lovers, Jimmy can only possess those who want him on some level—and Sara’s frustration gives him the opening he needs. Jimmy, as it turns out, tormented good-guy Ray in life. And after Jimmy’s premature death, caused by one risk too many, he is not about to stop.

The sex-addiction that Jimmy can induce is vividly described, as is Sara’s increasing desperation. How do you fight off an incubus?

The answer to that question is elegantly simple, and Sara’s good-guy vs. bad-guy dilemma actually has a solution which does not force her to give up dirty, edgy, thrilling and satisfying sex to hang onto the “normal” pleasures of love, a job and a life that includes non-sexual activities.

Unfortunately, the author’s exclusive focus on male-female sex sometimes leads her into the shallow clichés of romance fiction. In “The Incentive Program,” the concluding story, a computer expert named Georgia spends all her time on a program which predicts the future and which ultimately leads to actual time-travel. The end result of the combination of technology and government bureaucracy is that Georgia is able to identify with an alter-ego, several centuries in the “future,” who becomes the cherished female partner of three men in a society in which women have become scarce. Considering the space-opera framework, the sexual adventures of “Cassie,” the alter-ego, seem surprisingly bland. The sex scenes would be more suited to a contemporary romance novel about a woman and her male harem, in which she carefully divides her time among three good-natured, barely-distinguishable lovers.

Enchanted Dreams is part of a series by Nancy Madore which includes Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women, Enchanted Again and The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The series seems to have a deserved cult following. This author clearly has a way with paranormal subject-matter. She could be described as an enchantress who was born to cast spells, but whose power (like electricity) surges and wanes.
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[Wayward Child · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Enchanted, I didn’t like Enchanted Again, so here we go – Enchanted Dreams! The first collection featured a dozen or so stories, the second one eight and the third one only seven which, right off the bat, speaks of a decline in quantity and, probably – ideas. Nevertheless, a decline in quantity may not necessarily mean a decline in quality as well. It simply means the series has run its course and should be left behind in favour of other projects. I mean, one of the things I really loathe is when I encounter a really good show whose creators simply do not know how to quit while they’re ahead. The first few seasons are ridiculously good and then there is a steep decline in writing and original ideas (I’m looking at you, Modern Family). A good thing should be appreciated for what it is, though not necessarily milked for all it’s worth. Sometimes, in fact very often, less truly is more. If you don’t know how to quit while you’re ahead, you end up being the Simpsons, a mistake I really hope Nancy Madore doesn’t commit.
So, with that little rant out of the way, let’s take a look at the latest instalment of the Enchanted series. Whereas the first collection revolved around famous fairytales and the second one around... Well, I don’t really know what they were trying to do with the second one, the third one is all about the paranormal and the occult. It started out really well with a novella titled The Enchanted Forest. In it, a stressed out city woman goes camping in order to unwind, but ends up taking a tumble over the edge a cliff. She promptly realises she entered some hidden realm in which plants reign supreme. As the days wear on, she slowly starts letting go of her former life, memory by memory, until she no longer even remembers who she was before entering this magical botanist’s dream, nor does she really care to remember. Meanwhile, she comes to see the forest is truly alive, with said plants providing her with everything she could possibly need – fresh water, food, shelter, clothes. The plants are shy, silent and gentle and little by little start catering to her other needs, those of a carnal nature. The woman decides that this life is far better than the one she can no longer even recall and that she never wants to leave. In the end, she spots an unfamiliar object that has no business being in a forest next to the corpse of a young woman. We recognise the object for her backpack and the corpse as her own. The woman, however, doesn’t let herself ponder this strange anomaly for too long and quickly returns to her newfound life replete with pleasure. I really loved this story. It is so gentle, natural, as tender and tentative and slow as the plants which bring our heroine so much joy, though imbued with a certain sort of melancholy that somehow fits in this shadowy realm of gentle creatures, further accentuated by the woman’s loneliness and desire for the company of another human being. Even so, she obediently resigns herself to her new circumstances, neither regretting what is lost nor pining after what is unachievable, and simply learns to find joy and pleasure within the cards she was dealt.
The subsequent four stories were bad, in my opinion only. I simply didn’t enjoy them at all and was at one point so furious about this once wonderful series falling so low that I decided, right then and there, this book wouldn’t get more than two stars on Goodreads from me, those two stars being awarded on the sole merit of the first novella. But then I got to the last two stories and changed my mind, for they were, in a word – sublime.
The penultimate one is called Jimmy. Our heroine is Sara, a young woman who has a nice boyfriend, Ray, but isn’t entirely satisfied with their sex life. Namely, Ray has never managed to make her achieve an orgasm. Still, he’s nearly perfect in all other aspects and Sara loves him. One day, she attends a séance with some friends just for kicks and attracts the attention of a mischievous spirit – Jimmy. Soon enough, Jimmy appears in her bed and the two of them have mind-blowingly good sex. He is invisible – she can’t see him, but she can hear him and she can bloody well feel him too. Jimmy becomes an all-too-frequent guest in Sara’s bed, however he proves to be a rather selfish lover. He won’t satisfy her until she caters to all his needs, which is becoming a problem, since Sara starts experiencing increasingly more uncomfortable bouts of unquenchable desire which border on painful. These bouts start becoming more and more frequent, impeding Sara’s day-to-day life, making her all but addicted to Jimmy and his growing number of selfish whims and wishes. Desperate, Sara reconnects with the medium who performed the séance that summoned Jimmy in the first place and learns he is an incubus, a male demon who seduces mortal women. The medium informs Sara that he is probably targeting her for revenge, but Sara doesn’t even know him, so she correctly deduces that Ray must’ve done something to him. This theory of hers is confirmed by Ray once she finally opens up to him about her problem. Whilst Ray did nothing bad to Jimmy, Jimmy, who was equally mischievous in life as he is in death, still holds a grudge against Ray. The couple talk about their sex life and Ray is appalled to learn he has never fully satisfied his girlfriend. They decide the best course of action would be for Ray to quench Sara’s carnal desires himself and thus drive Jimmy away for good. So, like a good boyfriend that he is, Ray goes on to make love to Sara for days on end, selflessly putting her needs before his own, in the process making Sara realise he is the love of her life.
Now, the plot and the characters are interesting enough on their own, but this being an erotic novella, what really makes it shine is the fantasy embedded between its lines. In this particular case, the fantasy is that of another man. Just imagine this – Sara is lying in her bed when Jimmy suddenly appears. He’s invisible, but superior in strength to her. He is demanding, but also capable of bringing her unspeakable pleasure. He is brash and coarse and frequently mocks her, dragging her vulnerabilities and hidden desires out in the open, while simultaneously fucking her senseless. And while all this is happening, Sara must control her desire, for poor Ray is sleeping right next to her, oblivious to what is happening. Juicy, right? And, as if that wasn’t enough, Ray’s transformation in the end from a sweet, but clueless boyfriend to a determined man ready to satisfy his woman’s needs is more than enough to make your mouth water. As all good stories, it has a good message embedded in its core – be honest with your partner! Seriously, communication is everything. Jimmy never would’ve been capable of taking over the couple’s life had they shared a more open and honest bond. Ray should have been more attentive and Sara should have been more expressive. Towards the end of the story, Ray says something along the lines of – If we can survive the supernatural, we can survive anything together, which is really a very nice, if thinly veiled metaphor for the importance of communication and honesty in relationships. Sara also brings up a good point, how her reluctance to tell Ray she never experienced an orgasm with him is partly due to her belief that there might have been something wrong with her, since “it took so long”. Ladies, there is nothing wrong with you. Let me repeat that – ladies, there is nothing wrong with you. Contrary to the male one, the female orgasm is a slow build-up, the key word here being build-up. It doesn’t come out of nowhere. It is a gradual slow burner. It is simply the card we’ve been dealt by Mother Nature. If it isn’t making an appearance, well the answer is right here is this wonderful novella – openness and honesty.
The last novella in this anthology is The Incentive Programme and it features an elaborate, albeit immensely interesting sci-fi plot. It’ll take me a bit to explain everything, so bear with me. Georgia is a scientist who’s helped develop a programme which has been introduced to our collective human history and can, based on all that vast knowledge, predict the future with admirable accuracy. Time in this programme works differently than in our own world, so by the time Georgia holds a panel about it to raise funds, the simulated world is well into the twenty-fourth century. It has a number of advantages and can pinpoint the pitfalls humanity should be on the lookout for, from famine and drought to wars and conflicts. Georgia seems like a very straight-laced, dry scientist completely focused on her work, but we learn that once she goes home, this simulation programme means more to her than just some simple tool for recognising future problems. At home, Georgia can spend hours upon hours observing this world, almost like some Sims game which she can’t control, and her favourite person in this world to observe is Cassie, a lonely woman she relates to. We learn that this world has suffered a terrible virus that women were particularly susceptible to, thus dramatically decreasing the female population. It sounds almost post-apocalyptic and you can only guess how certain men act in a dystopian world that has a shortage of women. Therefore, many women who survived this plague are afraid to even go outside, let alone associate with men, the result being far fewer children born and an entire species being threatened with extinction. To combat this problem, the government comes up with the Incentive Programme. Since there are far more men than women left in the world, the government decides to establish a safe programme in which groups of men may court a single woman and provide her with everything she may need, with the hope that this new type of polygamous family units may become the standard and help get those baby rates up. The men who enter the programme are heavily tested first, you know, to weed out the psychos, with every aspect of their lives weighed and measured, until only the sane ones remain. These men must provide for their chosen woman emotionally, financially and sexually and make sure no harm ever comes to her. So, Cassie enters the programme and soon starts being seduced by a trio of charming men – Craig, Steve and Peter. They meet and Cassie (and by extension Georgia and by extension the readers) is blown away by these guys who, together, make a perfect man – Craig is thoughtful, intelligent and easy to get along with, Steve is a jokester with a heart of gold and Peter is earnest, soft-spoken and quietly determined. Together, they really do make the perfect man and Cassie is surprised by how quickly they manage to put her at ease and how hard she falls for each of them. They go on several dates, with Cassie becoming closer and closer to each of the men. The time finally comes for her to spend the night over at their place. She decides that she cannot grant the pleasure of spending the night with her to just one of them and so informs them that she will sleep with each of them. No, they do not end up having an orgy. First, Cassie goes to Craig’s room where they make love, then to Steve’s and finally to Peter’s. The men all treat her wonderfully, with unprecedented amounts of respect and dignity. They don’t treat her as a ragdoll to be toyed around with, but a person they love and cherish, their partner and their future co-parent. Before Cassie and Peter have sex though, he reads to her a bit first. It is an erotic book for women, he says, a classic from the twenty-first century titled Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women. I really, really, really liked that little bit there. There is nothing wrong with a little self-promotion and, hey, if Nancy Madore decides to have this anthology stand as the final one in the series, there is no better way to finish the story and bring it full circle in my opinion. Anyway, when Cassie and Peter get down to business, Georgia turns off her computer, having reached a momentous decision – she will be the one to establish the Incentive Programme. And that is how Enchanted Dreams ends, on a perfectly high note, if you ask me.
If I were to judge this book on its own merit, I’d say it is a rather mediocre anthology of erotic short stories focused on the paranormal, with certain amazing standalone novellas dragging its GPA up, perhaps even enough to carry the weight of less accomplished tales (again, this is only in my opinion). However, I cannot disentangle it from the preceding anthologies so, everything I say from here on in, applies to the series as a whole. I remember the prologue to Enchanted in which the author criticised today’s society for its hypocritical treatment of women, especially in the sex department, lamenting that even in this day and age, the most advanced period of humankind so far, the one that’s supposed to be the most tolerable and nurturing environment for personal and sexual expression, women are still being judged based on what they wear, how they act, what they eat and so forth. We are constantly being manipulated by media and big industries into thinking ourselves not good enough, our sexual preferences and fantasies often remaining hidden, draped with a blanket of shame, for fear of being ridiculed, not taken seriously or ostracised. The author also expressed her wish that her stories may help women by portraying female characters who are enough, more than enough, just by being themselves, not thinner, tanner, bustier or more demure, but just as they are. As a whole, I think this series delivered what its author promised – a just world in which women are not reviled or shamed, a world in which women are not judged based on double standards, patriarchy, biased viewpoints, the Madonna-whore complex, their appearances, choices and sexual appetites, a world in which all fantasies are valid and taken seriously, a world in which shame is reserved for evil-doers, not those who fantasise about threesomes or controlled rape/ravishment scenarios or bondage, a world in which women and the men in their lives are encouraged to explore their sexuality and play around and simply feel good about themselves and their bodies, a world in which fairytales and eroticism blend without any profanity, obscenities or distasteful language, but rather highly titillating words of understanding and inspiration, a world in which women are not objectified but celebrated, not as cover girls, but as real, living, breathing human beings without whom, let’s face it – this world would be a truly dull place.

[Catherine Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the first short story in this book, It was my favourite, the rest of the book was okay.
I probably would not recommend this as a very erotic novel but it was cute.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

These erotic tales were just ok for me. They were quick to read but not much plot and a little too far-fetched for me.

[BeckyisBookish]

DNF... this wasn’t erotic, it was just strange... and not in a good way

[Julie-Anne Borgias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable with some great and well developed ideas. Each story fully formulated and well executed. Have ordered another in the series which is unusual for me.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed these for what they were but felt like many of the stories spent more time with the heroine's negative feelings (e.g., theories about relationships, discomfort from being probed by aliens, slovenly and hungry after losing project funding) than is typical for romance or erotica.

So in that respect, it seemed like there was more plot than sex? I ultimately felt more disturbed and turned-off by some of the stories. I think the writing could have been tigher.

I enjoyed the style and voice of the first Madore book I read more (Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women). This one was a more random collection, featuring forest fairies, vampires, insects, aliens, mind control, a ghost, and a futuristic menage a trois (whatever else is described in the synopsis on Goodreads doesn't seem to be accurate).

There were also a couple of editing errors -- in one of the story titles, as well as with the wrong hero's name being used. And the author name-dropped one of her own erotic anthologies in the last story.

Individual ratings of stories (out of 5 stars):
"The Enchanted Forest" - **** dark, but beautiful and titillating
"Disenchantment" - ** depressing although their ideas were interesting
"Dying For It" - *** could have been hotter
"Expecting" - * very little of this was appealing
"Flowers for Angela" - zero stars, I didn't like any of it
"Jimmy" - **** there's worse things to get consumed by; I wouldn't mind a Jimmy
"The Incentive Program" - **** fascinating as a story, a little lacking on the erotic side

[Brandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book only gets two stars because of how much I enjoyed the last story The Incentive Program. Otherwise I want to warn women that Nancy Madore must hate you! The second story Disenchantment fucked up my head. It was the unhappiest story I've ever read! I was on a trip with my fiance while I was reading this, and instead of "setting the mood" as I had hoped, he ended up with a neurotic mess on his hands the whole weekend. The other stories are okay, but if you read this book, just skip the second story - it's full of brain ninjas.

[Klehmenteen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having read Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories For Women, I was expecting great retellings of classic fairy tales, but with an adult twist. Instead, this volume seemed more focused on domination than on retelling the stories we all know and love. In short, I was very disappointed.

[Gypsie Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

These erotica short stories are seriously kinky! Think outside the human realm, think outside of paranormal, although one is about vampires, another about an incubus. Let's talk about.....well read it and find out, but if you don't like your sex outside of any kind of modern normalcy then this book is most definitely not for you.

[manic_reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was better than the last one.It kinda got weird with the story Disenchantment, one clue-Praying Mantis :)
Then I got to the story Expecting. This one was just completely weird and ridiculous. The next story-Flowers for Angela just got plain creepy and disturbing..But the next 2 stories were actually good ones.
I

[Le · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit the book started at a slow start. The first two stories were wonderful until the end in my opinion. In which point I began to debate on even finishing the book but fighting the urge to quit I read the rest and they stories were wonderful. My favorite were Dying For It and The Incetive program. Even though those two are my favorite each story was a wonderful read.

[May · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as Madore's erotic fairy tale collection, Enchanted: Erotic Bedtime Stories for Women. With some much potential, I felt most of the stories were not as engaging. Frankly, aliens with tentacles are not that interesting unless they look like Ryan Gosling who happens to have tentacles instead of hands and arms!

[Rebecca Lien · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I read this I was new to the Erotica label and possibly a little young and inexperienced because all I wrote in the original book log was, "disturbing". Although I frequently now pick aspects of this tale when I am alone. I think this is a book that is raw and amazing to puzzle through.

Tarot Card

The Devil is a power player and will make you think of the worst/best ideas.

[Mannyv · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was amazing. The stories were over the top. I loved the other Enchanted book but this one blew me away. Where does she come up with this stuff? Each story will leave you dazzled but you really really really have to read the chapter called 'Disenchantment'. Enchanted Dreams is fun and exciting.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was especially good. I've really enjoyed her other books but this was amazing.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her best yet. I love her books. They are all very readable but this one was heartstoppingly good. LOVED the supernatural plots in these erotic tales.

[Sori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perrrfectly erotic and exciting. I loved every minute of it but I wish there was more!

[Alysses · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only liked the first story. The rest were very dark and nothing felt like a fairy tale retelling except for the first story.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

My girlfriend and I loved these twisted tales of supernatural eroticsm.

[Alexandrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

These really go all over the place. More likely, there will be some you're into and others you're really not.

[Mayra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and surprising endings good short stories

[Andreald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This was refreshingly different than most erotic out there.

[Brittany Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was okay, not what I thought it would be.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories were better than others, but overall I wasn't impressed

[Rachel-RN · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just weird.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the only books that truly got me all hot and bothered. Adored it.