Mutual Desire- Review

*disclaimer* I bought this book. Ok, onto the review:

So, I picked up Mutual Desire by Donna Grant hoping for an entertaining and steamy read. The book is comprised of three erotic short stories all written by Donna Grant.

Let's begin at the beginning, shall we?

The first story is called Spellbound. Here is the blurb:

Kate is a Scottish temptress who wants nothing but her freedom. When she is married against her will to a powerful laird, she vows to deny him---until his scorching touch unleashes primal urges she cannot control....

Sounds good, right? Hot lil Scottish number and her scorching hot lovah. Yeah, not so much.

Keep in mind these are short stories. We get 91 pages in this story to fall in love with the characters and story and the hot hot smexin.
The first 15 pages are mostly Kate's internal dialogue of what a docile and obedient daughter she is, but yet she's totally fiery, so stand back ye who would screw her. And her daddy definitely done screwed her. Homegirl be on her third marriage. Her first two were old farts that croaked shortly after the marriages. Some bitches get all the luck. Or so she thinks, but then daddy dearest up and marries her to some brutish Highlander that doesn't even show up for the wedding by proxy. Homegirl be pissed. So, I'm like, Yeah, there's gonna be fireworks when these two meet so bring on the confrontation. Well, 15 pages later and no confrontation, no flipping Highlander even and she's going back and forth in her mind between dreaming of a time when woman shall have the vote, or at least don't have to marry no stinkin Highlander against her will, to being all *sigh* I gave my word, I am well and truly stuck in this marriage. Pick a lane sista. In the immortal words of Peter Griffin, "I'm bored with it now." At this point I was like just get to the fizznukin or even a fight. *sigh*
When we finally meet the new hubby, he is somewhat less than charming and the couple contemplates an annulment, then in the tradition of men before him, our hero, Ewan, decides the best couples therapy is to fuck like bunnies. Even the smex bored me. I kinda felt like it was cut and paste from so many other sex scenes I'd read before. Just kinda....blah. My favorite quote from our intrepid hero is after they have mind blowing sex and he's decided they're meant to be. All based on this little gem: "She had opened herself to him, and in doing so, made his climax marvelous." Aww, Ewan, you romantic devil, you. He has also decided at this point of knowing her for a couple hours, some of them spent apart and some in bed, that "their passion would never wane." Le sigh.

The second story is titled Enthralled. Let's see what delights await us, shall we?

The beautiful Linarra is sent to her tribe's archenemy as a peace offering, her body to be used as his sexual plaything. Once her new master claims her, Linarra discovers insatiable cravings that send her to the brink of wild ecstasy....

Let me just say, Linarra had a lot going for her as a character. She's feisty, loyal, pretty tough, and she's sexy as hell. Falcor, our hero, is pretty cool, too. A fair and strong King and easy on the eyes. The plot is better than the last and yet it's full of so many cliches. She rolled out of a rug. They flippin ripped off Cleopatra! And then he drugs and ties her to the bed so he can rape.....er force her to tell him all her secrets. FOR HER OWN GOOD! Naturally. The sex was hotter in this one, but I didn't really buy the emotional bond that much. I don't know. And for some badass warrior king, he got hisself pwned in the big fight scene. ::shrug:: Whatevs

Moving on to the third and final entry, titled Enchanted (I'm sensing a theme here)

Blurb says:

During an Amazonian adventure, willful Princess Arian is kidnapped and presented as an erotic prize for a jungle warlord, who turns her captivity into a sensual journey that awakens her body's most carnal demands...

I'm just gonna say, I've watched too much National Geographic to read this one. It starts out with the improbable situation of a Princess from some unnamed country off on a grand 'ole adventure of exploring the Amazon. I could deal with that. Then she's kidnapped by local warriors. Sure whatever. Then we meet the hero and get a glimpse of what's going on with him. So, he's an adventurer that found some treasure in the jungle, but gave it to some tribe, cuz it was theirs all along. Okeydokey. So they made him an honorary elder and he's been squatting with them for four years. I guess now that he's an elder he's hot stuff for the tribal ladies and four years in a jungle with no Skinemax can take it's toll, so he "relieves himself" now and then with the local women. OMG! Have you seen a National Geographic episode on jungle tribes? HAVE YOU SEEN THE WOMEN?! No offense to my jungle bred sistas, but hell the fuck NO! Uh uh. If you've been all over that, you aint gettin all over me. Not to mention the crap story that he met the Princess 4 years ago in the yet again unnamed country and fell madly in love in just one meeting. He then describes her to the local yocals and they see her frolicking through the jungle and decide to nab her as a big 'ol thank you to their white brother. Yeah, I'm not feeling it.

In conclusion, I'm not really sure how to rate this book. I didn't technically finish it, but I did finish 2 out of 3 stories, so that's gotta count for something, right? Based on the stories I read, I would have to go with a C grade. It's pretty standard reading. Enjoyable enough if you overlook a lot, but nothing to write home about. And to be fair, I may be the only one who doesn't want no jungle lovin with the tribal ladies. So, if you're cool with that than I can recommend this book to be mildly entertaining, but rather forgettable.

You can order this book here
Or here


Kisses