Soul Possession by Maya Banks

Anthology-Men Out of UniformI’ve been in a reading rut lately and there are two things that will generally help break it – short stories and contemporary erotic romance. Don’t ask me why, but there’s just something about a steamy love story and a few well written chapters that is never affected by whatever rut I’m in.   Thankfully I just happened to have a copy of the new anthology, Men Out of Uniform, by Maya Banks, Karin Tabke and Sylvia Day.

Jessie spends a hot night with two sexy-as-sin detectives, only to be accused of murder teh very next day. But when Jessie becomes the target of a serial killer, her two detectives will risk everything to have her back in their arms – and in their bed…

The first story is Maya Banks’ Soul Possession and while it has a few flaws, it was definitely interesting enough to keep me reading.  I should say the flaws are more due to Soul Possession being a short story than anything else.  The story revolves around Jessie who catches the eyes of two detectives and ends up getting involved into two cases that the detectives are associated with.  I have to say, I loved the potential the story had, but I think it could have been executed a little differently. I would have liked to seen the two cases intertwined a little more, so that they affected each other and caused a few more problems for Jessie and her men, instead of one dealt with before the other was really addressed. In addition, the main villain, or antagonist, was also a little vague for me. There was no depth to her and her actions were never really explained.  It was more like she needed to be there for the story to work, but she wasn’t thought out in advance.

As for the chemistry between Jessie and her detectives, it was good. There were a few things I’m not down with, but nothing major that really affected my enjoyment of the story.  The characters were already familiar with each other, so we didn’t have long to wait before the heat factor came into play and there was definitely some heat.  There always will be some extreme heat with threesomes in my opinion. *grin* I do have to say though, that the first smexy scene was a little rushed for me.  Not so much in the writing, but with how much the guys were more interested in getting into Jessie’s pants than really trying to “be” with her. If that makes sense.

Overall, Soul Possession is a good start for the Men Out of Uniform anthology and I’m looking forward to see what Karin Tabke and Sylvia Day have in store for me since both seem to be new authors for me (although I could’ve sworn I’ve read them before).

Men Out of Uniform contains the following stories:
Soul Possession by Maya Banks
Wanted by Karin Tabke (review)
Taking the Heat by Sylvia Day (review)

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.