One of my favorite things to read on a lonely night is a steamy novella, and boy, did I find one in Anna Evans' Captured. I can honestly say this is the best erotica piece I've read in over a year and I've read a lot of them.

We travel back to Boston in the 1890s and meet Lillian Thomas, a most adventurous novice photographer. Lillian has had her share of scandal in the past that would explain why her father was forced to buy her a husband from his own peers.

Having lost her heart long ago to a young friend of her brother's, Lillian has no desire to marry such an old man. She wants someone to stir her passions and satisfy her hunger for all those things she's read in the naughty books her father thinks she wouldn’t dare touch.

I've been reading Jaci Burton for a long time. Her stories have erotica circulating through them as their life-blood. Her characters find their way on the cusp of a carnal tide, sensually exploring their way through a sybaritic world to find their ultimate partner(s). So it is a bit of a surprise to find Jaci writing what looks at first to be a simple adventure story. (By the way, Jaci, belated congratulations on stepping up to Berkley Heat.) My only question is, what took them so long to find you?

What’s a girl to do when it seems that only unappreciative women are the ones getting married? What could be more frustrating than having a boyfriend that seems oblivious to the idea of marriage altogether –even after you’ve made it abundantly clear that the daily challenges of his being a Shape-shifter pose no problem? Author Marianne LaCroix gives us a humorous look at these issues with Bridesmaid and the Beast, the companion read to her Ellora’s Cave story, Beast In My Bed.

Can a romantically inexperienced woman with abandonment issues know what she really wants in a man? And if she is indeed uncertain, could she accept true love if it were offered to her, even from the most appealing of suitors? Author Lora Leigh delves into these questions with Sealed With a Wish, a White Hot Holiday Quickie from Ellora’s Cave.

Cara Montgomery is a giving, compassionate woman, despite—or because of—the very lonely life she knew as an orphan being shuffled around from foster home to foster home. While Cara lives a sensible life, she’s never experienced love or the sense of being truly wanted or needed. One day, Cara dashes in front of a car to rescue a child. Although no one believes her startling tale, Cara cannot forget the child she very nearly sacrificed her life for.

I was so in the mood for something different than the normal, boy meets girl; girl teases boy; boy makes wild, crazy, passionate love to girl. Oh, I still wanted the wild, crazy and passionate love part, but I wanted a different sort of main character, one that was a little more believable.

What I discovered was Terri Pray's Curvaceous Heart, a wonderful erotic piece with a full-figured female heroine and a man who wants her just the way she is. This story is such a breath of fresh air, a delight to read.

I've always been fascinated by Tarot cards and when I discovered that Ellora's Cave was doing a Torrid Tarot series, I knew it was just the thing for me. The first book in the series I decided to try was Brynn Paulin's erotic novella On Your Knees.

From the first moment you know this book is about D/s so if that is not your kind of thing, this is not the book for you. Lucky for me, I'm perfectly happy reading D/s stories so I sat down for a few hours of pleasurable reading wondering just what kind of punishment our heroine will be dished out.

It was a night I just needed a little diversion before bed. The kids were asleep, hubby wouldn't be home for awhile and I had a spare hour or so to wind down. On one of these nights I spent some time ready Anny Cook's Everything Lovers Can Know.

Ms. Cook introduces us to a couple destined for each other from childhood. Baron Llewellyn was just twelve years old when he met Jade Alexander, but he knew right away she was the girl he would spend the rest of his life with. It didn't hurt that the red-haired bit of a girl could read his mind and told him that he belonged to her. He already knew that.

Embarrassment stories. Ya gotta love them. A friend of mine told me about putting on yesterday's pants, and walking around a store wearing them until yesterday's shorts rolled out the pants leg. That might have been quite a memorable introduction to someone. I've seen people wearing shirts inside out. And my own situation: walking down the corridor of a calling center with a long trail of toilet paper dragging behind me. I can only HOPE it was attached to my shoe.

Drew Bennet is a personal trainer out to take a professional relationship to the personal level. There's something about the profession itself akin to D/s. I suppose it is the fact of the name itself "trainer" and the way conditioning parallels D/s since so many D/s relationships go through a "honeymoon" period of training; or perhaps it is simply the dynamic of the trainer issuing commands, and the trainee doing their best to perform the action commanded. What could be more D/s than that? Isn't it weird that a command--as well as a bit of praise--can work so powerfully on a psyche? This is something which our heroine begins to realize early on--almost as much as she appreciates the chemistry of having a healthy, well-built personal trainer aiming his hormones in her direction.

I am a huge fan of erotic novellas. I read very quickly, so I can breeze through one of these before bed as a nightcap – you know, to sort of get in the mood?

When Marianne LaCroix's Stolen by the Sheikh turned up in my mailbox, I put it at number one on my To Read list. I love erotic stories set in other cultures and what could be sexier than being carried off by a Sheikh in Casablanca?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Happy Birthday to me. Another year older and I'm not at all happy about it. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever wanted to be just left alone? To age in private? Ms. Lowery couldn't let that happen to Lorna Adams. Not when Lorna has friends with a fresh new idea for a birthday gift. His name is Ramon and he is Lorna's Gigolo.

Lorna meant for her birthday to pass by silently as she spent the night in the privacy of her own home. Her co-workers decided that that just couldn't happen. They spring into action, take up a collection, jump on the Internet, and find lonely Lorna the perfect gift. His name is Ramon and he's probably the best looking gift Lorna has ever received.

My parents owned a florist’s shop as I was growing up, so imagine my surprise when I found out that Isabella Jordan's story was set in just such a shop on the Saturday before Mother's Day.

Anyone who has worked on a major holiday like that in a florist’s shop knows the only thing you want to do at the end of the day is get away from people and get off your feet. Well, Carmen, the florist in Bewitching Breckin may be getting off her feet, but she definitely isn't alone.

When this erotic romance novella by Cassidy Kent crossed my desk, it couldn’t have come at a better time. I had some free time in my schedule and was looking for a hot little number to keep me busy. Boy did I find it in What Lies In Winter.

From the very first moment of the story, I knew I had grabbed one of those rare stories that pulls you in hard and fast and doesn't let you go until you're panting for more.

After spending all your adult life hindered in the attainment of your sexual desires, what would you do if just the right person suddenly came along... the person whose desires compliment your very own; someone ready and willing to be your partner in finding their own fulfillments? With Bound By Fate, author Lee Rush delves the possibilities with a hero and heroine determined to experience the delights of their long deprived BDSM affinities.

Do you have a free afternoon? If you do, pick up a copy of Amanda Jean Kelly's In Ruins and treat yourself to an archeological adventure in Belize. No customs lines, no packing, no passport required!

This engaging novella includes elements of romance and a bit of sexual spice as it follows Raul Ignacio and Theresa Tustin's quest for Yeccijil's Staff. Set with a backdrop of Mayan Ruins, you are quickly carried away into a world where Indiana Jones himself would feel right at home.