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Charming the Snake
The Good Dr. Gladys Loder. Brown hair, brown eyes, skinny, tall-as ordinary as they come. Liberty Wainwright. An extraterrestrial archaeologist who lives by the rules. Chastity Tilson. Privileged, beautiful, fiercely independent. The Bad Jaz Scavenge. Red hair so dark it's almost purple, eyes a lighter shade-cherry cough drop red, to be exact. Brady St. James. Ebony hair, cobalt eyes-a man called the Saint, though he is anything but. Darian "Dare the Devil" Acer. Deeply tanned, dark of hair and eye-the ultimate in masculine perfection. Charming the Good girls, bad boys, sinners and saints-it takes a special passion to charm the snake. Gladys and Jaz, Libby and Brady, Chassy and Dare. Three clashing couples, three laugh-out-loud lusty futuristic erotic romances New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author MaryJanice Davidson and introducing Camille Anthony and Melissa Schroeder.
316 pages, Paperback
First published April 11, 2005
2 people are currently reading
399 people want to read
About the author
MaryJanice Davidson
142 books5,398 followersMaryJanice Davidson is an American author and motivational speaker who writes mostly paranormal romance, but also young adult and non-fiction. She is the creator of the popular UNDEAD series and the time-traveling historical fiction A CONTEMPORARY ASSHAT AT THE COURT OF HENRY VIII. MaryJanice is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author who writes a bi-weekly column for USA Today and lives in St. Paul with her family. You can reach her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 25, 2012
Well, I sort of finished it. MaryJanice Davidson's story was OK, the second story forgettable, and the third completely unreadable. Glad I didn't pay money for this.
November 12, 2010
I take back all snarky comments made about other unreadable trash. This book is the worst thing I have ever seen in print. It makes "Breaking Dawn" actually look like "Midsummer Night's Dream."
Sadly, the first short story by Mary Janice Davidson, is actually quite good. A clever world, well-expounded and the emphasis is on humor. An obvious sequel/side story, the sort of thing that really ought to be free on an author's website, but good writing nonetheless.
It's the other two that were eyeball-scorchingly horrid.
Camille Anthony's "Seducing the Saint" suffered primarily from obvious marks of "rank amateur." A setting that was clearly made up as-we-go-along-- pages of "As we all know" and lengthy expositions of things that should have been worked in earlier in the narrative. Gratuitous sex using words like "flowing" to describe various bodily fluids. I was reminded of hentai-- in which various scantily clad women are portrayed drenched in what appears to be shampoo. Or possibly corn syrup. Flowing corn syrup.
I had thought we'd hit the low point there-- a turd wedged between two gems-- but Schroeder's "Carte Blanche" was the worst of the lot. Example:
"Heart pounding from the double rev of exertion and fear she exploded around the last corner and skidded to a halt. Lungs laboring, she frantically dragged in enough air to shout 'Father!' as she burst through his bedroom door . . . Beneath one screenless opening, her father lay sprawled, his bloodied chest draped half out of the low marble sash. [What?] ... Recalling a bit of medical trivia, she made sure not to grip [his wrist] with her thumb. A faint, thready beat pulsed against her forefinger and she collapsed in a weak huddle, thankful tears raining down her face."
It-- kinda just goes downhill from there. The religious system seemed to consist of "guardian angel serpents" "powers above" and "higher beings." Although the guardian angel serpents turned out to be actual winged serpents that act as guardians. Which is odd because the inaptly named "Chastity" often exclaims: "Oh my guardian angel serpents!" Which, I guess is an exclamation equivalent to "Oh my wild boars!"
The protracted sex had dialog like: "Oh, gods! You are so responsive!" "I shall explode!" This is preceded by referring to champagne as "bubbly" and followed by the statement "I'm going to slurp you up."
The setting is supposedly a sci-fi version of regency England, but there are plentiful modernisms thrown in, making the overall effect not a clever melding of disparate worlds, but a garbled mess. There was a long thing about men being startled and terrified by Chastity's smile, but... that was never really explained. Or if it was, I missed it. There's a bit of a mystery-- who shot the father and why? What really happened between Dare and his family? These questions are answered. In the epilogue. After an inexplicable fade to black during the middle of an action sequence.
There is actually a reason why I'm reading these. Not horniness, which has probably been cured for months.
I need to read something good now.
Sadly, the first short story by Mary Janice Davidson, is actually quite good. A clever world, well-expounded and the emphasis is on humor. An obvious sequel/side story, the sort of thing that really ought to be free on an author's website, but good writing nonetheless.
It's the other two that were eyeball-scorchingly horrid.
Camille Anthony's "Seducing the Saint" suffered primarily from obvious marks of "rank amateur." A setting that was clearly made up as-we-go-along-- pages of "As we all know" and lengthy expositions of things that should have been worked in earlier in the narrative. Gratuitous sex using words like "flowing" to describe various bodily fluids. I was reminded of hentai-- in which various scantily clad women are portrayed drenched in what appears to be shampoo. Or possibly corn syrup. Flowing corn syrup.
I had thought we'd hit the low point there-- a turd wedged between two gems-- but Schroeder's "Carte Blanche" was the worst of the lot. Example:
"Heart pounding from the double rev of exertion and fear she exploded around the last corner and skidded to a halt. Lungs laboring, she frantically dragged in enough air to shout 'Father!' as she burst through his bedroom door . . . Beneath one screenless opening, her father lay sprawled, his bloodied chest draped half out of the low marble sash. [What?] ... Recalling a bit of medical trivia, she made sure not to grip [his wrist] with her thumb. A faint, thready beat pulsed against her forefinger and she collapsed in a weak huddle, thankful tears raining down her face."
It-- kinda just goes downhill from there. The religious system seemed to consist of "guardian angel serpents" "powers above" and "higher beings." Although the guardian angel serpents turned out to be actual winged serpents that act as guardians. Which is odd because the inaptly named "Chastity" often exclaims: "Oh my guardian angel serpents!" Which, I guess is an exclamation equivalent to "Oh my wild boars!"
The protracted sex had dialog like: "Oh, gods! You are so responsive!" "I shall explode!" This is preceded by referring to champagne as "bubbly" and followed by the statement "I'm going to slurp you up."
The setting is supposedly a sci-fi version of regency England, but there are plentiful modernisms thrown in, making the overall effect not a clever melding of disparate worlds, but a garbled mess. There was a long thing about men being startled and terrified by Chastity's smile, but... that was never really explained. Or if it was, I missed it. There's a bit of a mystery-- who shot the father and why? What really happened between Dare and his family? These questions are answered. In the epilogue. After an inexplicable fade to black during the middle of an action sequence.
There is actually a reason why I'm reading these. Not horniness, which has probably been cured for months.
I need to read something good now.
October 22, 2021
Totally picked this up during my Ms. Davidson phase. I tend to binge read a new author I find. If they have written many books by the time I find them, I hole up and read everything they have. Then I od and move on. I have to pace myself. Ms. Davidson is one of those. This anthology introduced me to a new author but I kind of just let it peter out.
May 29, 2011
Three erotic stories of independent women and 'bad' guys set in a futuristic paranormal setting. My favorite was "Seducing The Saint" by Melissa Schroeder; this one was an adventure story and fun, quirky characters - I would have enjoyed it being longer.
November 24, 2016
After really enjoying the previous anthology I was very disappointed in this one.
May 7, 2010
WEIRD FREGGIN BOOK - I couldn't get into it at all. I did not finish the book.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews