A couple scenes were okay, but pretty meh collection.

I'm definitely going to check out some of the books that were included in this!

I actually didn't mind this book. It reminded me of the years I spent slowly glancing through books in the bookstore, trying to get enough of a feel of the writing to want to buy. That seems to be the clear purpose of a book of excerpts - draw the reader in with a steamy scene to get them to purchase the whole story. Nice scenes.

A great premise....take some hot and steamy scenes from a few romance novels and put them all together in an anthology. Unfortunately, with the exception of the first excerpt (by Shelly Thacker) all the love scenes fell flat and ca me off as quite over the top and cheesy. Maybe the scenes need to be read in the scope of the actual book in order to work, but irregardless, this Kindle freebie ended up being very disappointing.

Another one of those free Kindle reads that left me wondering WHY.

Basically, this is a collection of excerpts for different books, putting all the 'good parts' together to lure you in so you want to buy the full book. If anything, these little pieces put me off of reading the entire story if pretty much all of them. I mean, sure, they were pretty steamy, but the scenes were clearly cut out of a bigger story, pulled out of context and none of them really stood out and overall it was just meh.

This was actually disappointing. I hadn't realized it was very short excerpts from ten different erotic romances.

Series:
"[b:His Forbidden Touch|432457|His Forbidden Touch (Stolen Brides, #2)|Shelly Thacker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1343576511s/432457.jpg|421417]" (Stolen Brides, 2)
"[b:After the Fire|325963|After the Fire (Hidden Cove Firefighters, #1)|Kathryn Shay|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1309202081s/325963.jpg|316606]" (Hidden Cove, 1)
"[b:Just Perfect|439916|Just Perfect (Perfect Trilogy, #2)|Julie Ortolon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388663497s/439916.jpg|428728]" (Perfect, 2)
"[b:Lips That Touch Mine|1935718|Lips That Touch Mine (Grayson Brothers, #3)|Wendy Lindstrom|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1190569604s/1935718.jpg|1938233]" (Grayson Brothers, 3)
"[b:Justin|13402001|Justin (Tales of the Shareem, #6)|Allyson James|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1326071831s/13402001.jpg|18633844]" (Tales of the Shareem, 7)
"[b:Hidden Crimes|14760073|Hidden Crimes (Hidden, #2)|Emma Holly|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1338681804s/14760073.jpg|20410088]" (Hidden, 3)

My Take
I believe, however, that the stated idea for this "novel" of excerpts is to provide the hottest bits from those novels. Like I said, the ostensible excuse provided. It's really just an enticement to get you to buy the actual novel/short story.

I don't recommend this book. Either buy the individual novels outright or borrow the actual stories from the library to see if you would like it. There just isn't enough in these to persuade me into buying more than a few.

The Excerpts
Shelly Thacker's "His Forbidden Touch" is an historical romance from the 14th century and pays no attention to mores of the time. This was a real turn-off for me.

Then there's the dorky inconsistencies: "fur had parted just enough to reveal the soft curves of her breasts, their rosy peaks taut." Okay, points for knowing the difference between "taut" and "taught", but if only her breasts' soft curves are visible, how can he possibly see those rosy peaks? And there are just too many of these idiocies.

Kathryn Shay's "After the Fire" is a contemporary romance about a pair of firefighters whose past romantic experiences have left them shellshocked. They have a child together, they live together, but they have made pact to not sleep together.

The little bit available to read was so melodramatic, although the sex scene was good. But it doesn't entice me into wanting to read more.

Patricia Ryan's "Heaven's Fire" is a twelfth-century romance with conflict over a teaching priest's attraction to a persecuted young woman in Oxford.

If it fell into my lap, I'd read it.

Julie Ortolon's "Just Perfect" is a contemporary romance about a doctor attracted to her ski instructor/head of Search and Rescue while she's on vacation. It's an interesting twist as both are attracted to each other and it's the man who slips up and confesses to love, although he does retrieve his position quickly.

It appears to include some rope bondage. I'd pick this one up. No, not because of the ropes. I like the twist.

Patricia McLinn's "The Games" is a contemporary romance between a biathlete and a hockey player. Ehhh.

Julianne MacLean's "Taken by the Cowboy" time-travel romance is kind of cute with Jessica Delaney unexpectedly taken back in time where she tangles with an Old West sheriff, Truman Wade.

This one's going on my check it out further list because it's about time travel. What can I say, I'm a sci-fi geek.

Wendy Lindstrom's "Lips That Touch Mine" is an historical romance also set in the Old West and presents a romantic conflict between a saloon owner and a woman on a temperance campaign. Only, she wants to know more about this vice she's against.

I did find Grayson's explanation of why a man goes out to a saloon quite believable, that when he's at home, he's thinking of all the undone chores and the family members or neighbors he should be helping whereas, at the pub, none of that is niggling away at him.

Allyson James "Justin" is a paranormal romance about male sex slaves. It is an interesting twist in that the women are the dominant gender. And, hey, it's Allyson James!

Emma Holly's "Hidden Crimes" is a paranormal romance from her Hidden paranormal romance series. I've already started reading this series and am enjoying it very much.

Lori Devoti's "Trust Me" is a vampire romance in which a dhamphir is hunting down the last member of a female vampire's bloodline. She's been feeding off her bloodline to increase her power and Henry Bisson intends to trap her and kill her in revenge.

Sounds interesting.

The Cover
I can't get excited about the underwear the girl is wearing, although that is all she's wearing...other than the boxer-wearing guy she's wrapped her legs around!

The title is to the point, for there are Ten Shades of Sexy in the ten excerpts.

Decent Book. I found it to be a great way to build enough of an intrest and see if I wanted to read the whole story. There is nothing I hate worse then getting half way into a story and figuring out it doesn't do anything for you.

I think it was a good idea to take the "good part" from several books. It helps me discover a few series that I am currently starting and find new authors that I enjoy. There were a couple that I just didn't like their writing style but it was nice to have the selection laid out for me.

A great premise....take some hot and steamy scenes from a few romance novels and put them all together in an anthology. Unfortunately, with the exception of the first excerpt (by Shelly Thacker) all the love scenes fell flat and ca me off as quite over the top and cheesy. Maybe the scenes need to be read in the scope of the actual book in order to work, but irregardless, this Kindle freebie ended up being very disappointing.

I actually didn't realize that this was just a compilation of one chapter from each of the authors - like a promo book. Still, quite okay read and I actually enjoyed two of the authors so much that I bought other books by them.