Wickedly funny and delightfully sensual.
That’s how I’d characterize Wicked Nights and Wicked Pleasure, the first two books in Nina Bangs’ Castle of Dark Dreams trilogy about three special brothers. The third tale, Wicked Fantasy, is due out in May and I can hardly wait to sink my, er, teeth into that one.
Ms. Bangs packs a lot of humorous punch into the pages of both Wicked Nights and Wicked Pleasure, and spices up the mix with, of course, romance, sex and interesting plots. The cast is made up of vampires, demons, an immortal warrior, a wizard, cosmic troublemakers, and of course, those hapless (but not hopeless) humans who find themselves suddenly drawn into the paranormal realm.
The three special brothers — Eric, Brynn and Conall McNair — are part of the Castle of Dark Dreams, the main attraction of Live the Fantasy, the adult theme park where the trio uses their unique supernatural talents to help the clientele live out their fantasies, and who are destined to have their own fantasies come true, even those they’d never before considered.
In Wicked Nights, “Eric the Evil” finds himself unexpectedly involved with a late-night radio talk show host who’s come to town to debunk the vivid accounts by some of her callers about the Castle. And in Wicked Pleasure, Brynn, a cursed 500-year-old demon of pleasure, suddenly finds himself attracted to, of all things, a demon hunter with a sentient and excitable demon detector!
“Eric the Evil” is, of course, hardly evil but he is a dark and powerfully sensual alpha male vampire who meets his match in the outspoken Donna Nolan. While Brynn finds a balm for his a tortured soul in the sensitive and reluctant demon hunter Kim Vaughn.
The cosmic troublemakers (two who like to parade around in the form of cats … not surprising considering feline arrogance and troublesomeness) and the lovely little detector are a great source of laughs, but one never forgets they should not be underestimated. Untold powers lurk beneath all that fur, and one particular troublemaker I suspect will play a larger role in the third book, considering her affinity for the immortal warrior Conall. The castle’s haughty wizard reminds one of Tolkien’s Gandalf though I doubt you’d catch him slumming with Hobbits in the Shire. Still he has his own special charm.
Ms. Bangs brings a biting humor to this deftly written cast of characters and spins a great sensual and witty yarn in both Wicked Nights and Wicked Pleasure. I can’t wait for Wicked Fantasy … though maybe she could arrange a visit to the Castle itself! Now that would be the perfect way to cap off this review!
Have you read Wicked Nights and/or Wicked Pleasure? If so, please feel free to comment and let us know what you think.
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(4 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
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