Pocket, $1.99, ISBN 978-1-4767-7579-1
Historical Erotica, 2014
I’m starting to wonder whether I did the right thing in categorizing Lisa Cach’s 1,001 Erotic Nights series as romance. I guess what’s done is done, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the heroine Nimia will eventually end up with someone, satisfying the “romance” part somehow. For now, though, it looks like the series is starting to go down the route taken by the likes of Bertrice Small in the old days: 1,001 Erotic Nights is shaping up to be a heroine-centric tale where she meets and loses handsome larger-than-life men in various adventures here and there.
Siren of Gaul is the third installment in this series, and judging from the ending, Nimia’s adventures will go on for a while longer. I can’t say I’m displeased, because I’m pleasantly addicted to this series. I think it’s all those hot guys. I don’t know what kind of special douche Nimia must be using, but I may take up that habit myself if it means I’d have all these big, hot, bad virile men panting after me the way they pant after that silly little thing.
Oh, what, the story? Well, we are in the third installment of the series, so it’s hard for me to go into detail without giving away spoilers. Let’s just say that, once again, Clovis sends Nimia on a sniff-and-spy mission, and Nimia of course agrees – not that she has any choice in that matter – only to have hunky dory sexy times with another hot guy. And, oh, thank goodness, she is starting to think that maybe she deserves better than being merely Clovis’s favorite blow-up doll.
Once again, Clovis is completely outclassed by the two other men present in this story, which really says a lot about the poor guy’s underwhelming endowment in the personality department. He’s become the plot device pimp that sends Nimia to the next hot guy to show her a good time and make her realize that the man she’s doing all this stuff for may not have the biggest brain or wee-wee in the land. If the author intends for him to be Nimia’s one true love, she’d have to get cracking and go some extra mile in beefing him up, because right now he’s pretty dull.
In fact, the most memorable emotional scene here – one that I really hate to love because it’s the final exit for one of my favorite male characters in this story – takes place between Nimia and the Other Guy.
Siren of Gaul isn’t as erotic as the previous two installments, although there are some naughty scenes here, but it delivers some emotional ones that give me some hope that a light bulb would finally go off in Nimia’s head and she would be a bit smarter about whom she puts out to the next time.
Anyway, I have no idea where the author intends to go with her story, but so far it’s an addictive ride. Things just twist and turn without following a discernible formula, and I like this. I am also enjoying the whole sleazy-sexy atmosphere of the story, and while there are some jarringly contemporary turn of phrases here and there, the whole thing is turning out to be a pretty enjoyable romp in ancient Roman times.
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