AWAKENED BY A KISS is a well-written, intellectual romance that immerses the reader in the era and the situations the characters find themselves in.

Years ago, I attended a romance conference and met an aspiring historical romance writer who happened to have a PhD in the historical time period she wrote about as well as being a college professor. She told me how she had entered a contest and the judges (also aspiring romance writers) did not believe the historical facts of her story and suggested she read a textbook that the entrant assigned to her undergraduate students. The irony of the situation was sad and laughable.

The reason why I bring this up is because the moment you open AWAKENED BY A KISS you are awashed in the historical time period as well as the interesting take on well-known classic fairy tales. AWAKENED BY A KISS is alive and vibrant and there are only a few authors who make me feel that way. I can get lost in a story when I read it, but rarely do I feel like I'm actually there. As you open AWAKENED BY A KISS your enmeshed into the era, it feels very authentic. So either like the woman I met at the conference, the writer is an expert in the time period or she fakes it very well.

"Sleeping Beau"

***Please be aware there may be spoilers***

I was immediately pulled into the action and appreciated it. When Adrien's half-sister is dismissed by her lover, she asks for Adrien's help to rid herself of her lover's new fiancée by seducing the woman. When Adrien encounters the woman his sister wants him to seduce he's shocked to discover it's the woman who drugged him and had her way with him five years ago. It was an experience he's never forgotten, an experience he wants to repeat.

Catherine is shocked to discover the man she attempted to seduce in an attempt to prevent herself an awful marriage was actually one of the King's bastards. Terrified, she knows what she did was a crime and she's afraid that Adrien will use what she did to cause her arrest.

Sleeping Beau had great conflict, though I wished for a more literal interpretation of the fairy tale. I suppose it's because I've spent too much time immersed in a certain animated movie that shall remain nameless. When Sleeping Beau reached its climax of how Catherine got put in her 'sleep,' I felt let down, wishing for more. Sleeping Beau built up to a great climatic moment that sort of fell short. I literally flipped through the pages and re-read them convinced that I had read too fast and missed something.

"Little Red Writing"

I really enjoyed the interpretation of Little Red Writing, it was spot on. So much so, that it took me until near the end of the story to warm up to Nicolas as the hero. He's the total wolf. He lies, uses his sexual chemistry with Anne to manipulate the situation. Although he does it all in the name of the King (he's a Musketeer), I found myself having a hard time sympathizing with him, which made it hard for me to believe in their happily ever after. Once again, I was disappointed with the climax. Little Red Writing is full of conflict from the first page and when Anne has to finally confront what she's done, it was like standing on top of a cliff getting ready to dive then diving and finding that the big drop you expected was just a little bump.

"Bewitching in Boots"

Bewitching in Boots was my favorite story in the anthology. That surprised me because Elisabeth is the classic spoiled, self-indulgent, rich girl, but I found myself rooting for her as she schemed and manipulated, and tried to ignore the fact that she was falling in love with Tristen. I believe Bewitching in Boots was my favorite because tension is kept until the end. You don't know until nearly the last page until the last page if all Elisabeth's scheming will give her the results that she wants and how she'll get those results. And despite Elisabeth being painted as a spoiled rich girl, I believed in her happily ever after because you see that the chemistry between Elisabeth and Tristan is more than sexual.

Despite the issues I've had with AWAKENED BY A KISS each main character goes through a change and comes out as a better person and despite wanting more emotional intensity to equal the sexual chemistry each story inside AWAKENED BY A KISS, it was a good read, one I'd recommend. ~ Lynette