The Super Sexy Cynsters

Still waiting for Marriage Training to come out... seriously how long does it take? Bah. That's just me being impatient. Again.

Anyway.

Okay... so I've definitely been on a Victorian kick lately, not just with my writing but with my reading.  Actually the reading preceded the writing. I started reading some Steampunk romances which led into Victorian romances which lead to the Victorian disciplinary erotica... which in turn led to Domestic Discipline and Being the Maid. 

I realized I hadn't done an author review in awhile and that this was the perfect timing to give a shout out to Stephanie Laurens because her latest Cynster novel, And Then She Fell, was released this week.

The series starts with Devil's Bride, which is my favorite out of the entire series although there are some other ones that I think are just as good... I just have a particular soft spot for Devil.  The man is seriously yummy. 

 

All of them include romance, some hot sex scenes (the slow seduction books are my favorites... I get all hot and bothered and then jump hubby), and some kind of murder/danger mystery.  Normally I'm not into the mystery romances, but with Stephanie Laurens I make an exception.  Okay, so it's pushing plausibility that every single person in this family would face a murderer / thief / crazy person at some point during their courtships, but who cares as long as it makes for a good story?

 

Granted, after give or six books some things can get a little cliche, which is why I have my favorites out of the books... the interesting thing for me about the Cynster series is that it's not like the books get worse as you go along.  It tends to go book by book, although there wasn't a single one that I disliked... there are just a couple that I have no interest in re-reading. Considering how many books there are in the series, the fact that I'm only not interested in re-reading a COUPLE is pretty impressive.  I've also read her entire Bastion series, which were fantastic, and the Black Cobra series, which was definitely her weakest.

 

The Cynsters are by far the strongest of her books.  Their family motto is "To have and to hold" and they mean that in the most possessively sexy, family-oriented way possible.  Cynsters accumulate land, money and power.  The men are authoritatively alpha male and unrepentant rakes, and it's common lore than only a Cynster woman - meaning their chosen wives - can tame a Cynster male.  The Cynsters marry for love.  And they tend to choose women who are challenges.  Hence the seduction. Oh the yummy, yummy seduction.  Stephanie Laurens can make me feel things with nothing more than the unbuttoning of a glove that some authors can't achieve by unbuttoning their characters' pants.  

 

There's non of the BDSM-y stuff, but this is great romance and there's some seriously good sex scenes in the book as well.  She's a fantastic writer and the plots are involved and engaging.  Even re-reading the books I have a hard time putting them down and I already know what's going to happen!  I'm hoping to eventually write some stuff along the same lines as her, although right now I'm way too involved with my BDSM-y stuff, but in the meantime if you want to check out some good Victorian romance she's definitely a good way to go. 

 

Mmmmm Devil Cynster.  Right up there with Jericho Barrons from Karen Marie Moning's Darkfever series. And I didn't think that was ever going to be possible.  Hotness.