What Happens in Vegas…After Dark is a collection of novellas from authors Jodi Lynn Copeland, Lauren Dane, Kit Tunstall, Anya Bast that takes us back to Las Vegas and introduces us to the paranormal club across from the Liege Casino.
Las Vegas…it’s the town that lives up to the promise of its nickname, Sin City. A gambler’s paradise for innocent tourists, it conceals a darker, sexual world where the ethereal and wraithlike meet to play a different game…
Hot For Revenge by Jodi Lynn Copeland
From the publisher: If there’s one thing succubus Deitre understands it’s revenge. That, and enticing men into arousing, exciting and, okay, perilous sex (for him). Beautiful on the outside, demon on the inside, she’s going to get back at the naughty firefighter in Darkness…unless he plays his cards right…
Honestly, I’m not really feeling this story. I get the idea that Deitre is out for revenge, but the way she goes about it seems a bit unrealistic for me. I understand that Deitre is a succubus, but if she truly was out for revenge, why did she want to play with him first? She had plenty of opportunities to use her power against Ryan and she never took it simple because of the great sex? Granted, What Happens in Vegas…After Dark is a collection of erotic short stories, but this one was a little too much about the sex than anything else.
I also didn’t feel like Copeland worked the paranormal angle all that well. Deitre was a stereotypical demon and really didn’t have any unique qualities to her. Plus, the only real paranormal elements occurred at the end and it was an abrupt switch between the sex scenes and the paranormal. I think Copeland could have done better with the story if she had weaved more of the paranormal element throughout the story instead of having it show up at the end.
Overall, Hot for Revenge wasn’t a bad story, but I wouldn’t say it was one of the best I’ve read either.
Sensual Magic by Lauren Dane
From the publisher: Bounty hunter Nell is a hell of a tracker. Now she’s in Vegas on the tail of the witch who dared to steal from her clan. She’s going to get to the unsavory harlot through the woman’s ex-fiancé, and nothing about their charged encounters will be shallow, quick or friendly.
I like. Granted, I pretty much like anything Lauren Dane writes, but we’re given a great story that not only weaves the paranormal element throughout the entire plot, but we’re given action along with some exceptionally erotic scenes. We’re given some great development on Nell and William’s characters and all the sex the two engage in is there for a purpose. That’s one of the things I enjoy about Dane’s writing so much. The sex isn’t included in her stories just for the sake of sex; it’s there to help further the development of the characters and/or the plot.
Overall, we’re given a great story with a little bit of everything so the story never lags and there’s always something to look forward to.
The Promise by Anya Bast
From the publisher: When the half-blood fae male comes to club Darkness, Elena can’t resist acting on the mind-blowing heat coursing between them. She might be betrothed to another, but fae culture says sex with other men until marriage is most definitely foretold.
Of all the stories within What Happens in Vegas…After Dark, I have to say that Anya Bast’s The Promise has the least to do with Las Vegas and takes us completely into the paranormal world. I’m not saying this as if it was a bad thing, because it actually works really well. In Bast’s story The Deal from What Happens in Vegas, we met Cassidy who had been left at the alter by Damien. In the Promise, we get to find out why Damien stood her up. His story is kind of amusing and told really well. There are points to the story that seem a little realistic if it wasn’t taking place in the Fae culture, but it still had that fantastical element – it was a good blending of the two.
Overall, The Promise was good. We’re not given a lot of character development (since I really can’t remember it at this point), but that’s fine because its the story that’s the focus.
Divine Desires by Kit Tunstall
From the publisher: Tattoo artist Devi is the latent vampire the warlocks need to heal all wounds. But taking her power is a sexually exhausting and dangerous task requiring dark deception…and gambling on her life.
I have to say that the premise of Divine Desires was good; but the execution was a little rocky. The idea that a latent vampire can be used as a cure against a devastating disease was pretty good and new (to me). So I was a little turned off when it got lost in all the sex that seemed to be added to the story. Again, I understand this was an erotica collection, but the sex scenes were a little too long and the last one was totally unnecessary.
One of the things I liked the most about this story was the hero, Mal. Tunstall didn’t make him an ungodly strong mage. Instead, he was considered to be weak by his own people and I liked seeing a non-alpha in a position of rebellion. There’s not a lot of that in UF/PNR and it was refreshing to see that for a chance.
Overall, decent story, the sex scenes were a little longer than I like, but worth a read.
Overall, What Happens in Vegas…After Dark was a pretty good collection of stories. There were a few that kept my attention better than some, but you’re going to get that with any anthology collection. The one thing I did like about it as a whole was that each story involved characters we were introduced to in What Happens in Vegas. If you’re looking for a few quick erotic reads, definitely pick up this collection.
