Book 35 of 2008: What Happened In Vegas by Various Authors

Book Description:

Behind closed doors, the real games begin…

Winning it big.

That's the name of the game at Las Vegas's Liege Hotel and Casino, where the hottest fantasies hinge on a roll of the dice…and the tantalizing knowledge that anything could happen before sunrise.

Cocktail waitress Carinna wants a man to tie her up, not tie her down. Little does she know that her most willing partner yet has something else planned for this fiery Latina bombshell.

Dahlia is a burlesque dancer with a brain for business and a bod for sin. Her latest admirer may be a sweet-talking Casanova, but despite what he thinks she's not giving anything away free.

Meanwhile, Amy has the perfect plan to rob the Liege Casino blind…until the intimidating owner catches her red-handed. Now she knows she's going to pay… with both pleasure and pain.

Professional shill Cassidy is ready to experience a breathless rendezvous with her "friend with benefits." But when he proposes five delicious nights of sexy blackjack, the stakes have never been so high.

My Opinion:

First off I want to send a big thank you Anya Bast's way for providing me with a copy of this fabulous read!!! I saw on her blog where she was looking for people to read and post "reviews" up on their sites/blogs about the book and I knew I was going to be seeing her at a signing in Radcliff, KY so I requested a copy and sure enough, she brought me one. :)

This was my first read by all of the included authors and I was not disappointed by any of the four, which means I'm going to be bumping up other books on Mt. TBR by these authors soon and/or trying to locate other books by these authors in the near future!

The first story in the book, HOT FOR YOU by Jodi Lynn Copeland, was actually my last story in the book to read as I wanted to get my hands on the prequel short story, HOT FOR IT. Let me tell you though, it was definitely worth waiting for as the story was, well... HOT!!! I met Jodi Lynn last weekend at the Lori Foster get together in Cincinnati, OH and she sure looks the innocent one, but you wouldn't think it based on reading these stories. Carinna & Jack made one hot couple and I loved every minute of their story. I can't wait to read more by Copeland. (especially HANDYMAN as I just want to carry that cover around. *drool*)

Story 2 is STRIPPED by Lauren Dane and I absolutely loved the struggle that was put up between Dahlia and Nash (awesome name for a guy!!!) in getting them together and the tension that built while they were struggling NOT to give in to temptation. The character development in this story was a major strong point and something I look for in my stories so I really enjoyed it due to that aspect. Lauren was yet another author I met last weekend and after having met her I think I could see her writing this story as I think her personality spills out in it a bit. (No, I'm not saying I think she's naughty & such, but just the language flow and such sounds like it was in talking to her in person). Dane is yet another author I'm looking forward to reading more of. (Oh... and for anyone that wants a great author blog to check out be sure to visit Lauren's as it's quite funny!

Kit Tunstall's RED-HANDED was a bit different than the other stories in the book I thought as it was a bit more intense. A friend of mine read this story and it actually bothered her as she felt that some of the sexual acts were actually forced upon the girl rather than her willingly giving her approval... even though it was part of their "deal". I could see her point of view and honestly it didn't bother me a whole lot as it takes quite a lot to offend me, but it also didn't "turn me on" like the other stories in the book did and probably because it wasn't a welcomed form of punishment... at least not initially anyway. I have no problem with sexual punishment by any means as I read books like that all the time... this story just seemed different somehow. It was extremely well written... just wasn't quite my "cup of tea" I guess. I'd still read more books by Tunstall as I did enjoy her style of writing and I doubt all of her books are about the same theme, but this was probably the weak spot in the book for me.

And last, but certainly not least, was Anya Bast's THE DEAL. As I mentioned above, Copeland has quite the innocent look about her, but let me tell you... Anya looks even more like an angel! Again... you definitely couldn't tell that from her writing. WOW!!! I have met and talked with Anya on several occassions now and she is one of the sweetest people I've ever met. I really didn't know what to expect of her erotica because she seemed so... pure. ha ha!!! Well... THE DEAL was probably my favorite story in this book. I loved the storyline of this one. I liked the concept of the 5 different nights of "sexy blackjack" and how they were playing out their fantasies each night. Again, this story also had great character development which is a major plus for me. I have many other Bast books that I've yet to get around to, but I'll definitely be getting to them sooner rather than later now as I loved this story!

As you can probably tell, I truly enjoyed this anthology. Spice did a fabulous job in selecting a wonderful group of authors to be included in this anthology. Now I just wish I were back in Vegas and having my own Vegas fantasies lived out.