The Brothers in Arms Series by Samantha Kane

Samantha Kane - Brothers in Arms

1. The Courage to Love - Jason, Tony, Kate

Category: Crème Brûlée - My All-Time Moan-Out-Loud Favorites. (A+)
Flame Height: 9" out of 9"
+2006 Passionate Plume Finalist+




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2. Love Under Siege - Phillip, Jonathan, Maggie

Category: Crème Brûlée - My All-Time Moan-Out-Loud Favorites. (A+)
Flame Height: 9" out of 9"




Add Samantha Kane's name to the list of Masters (Mistresses?) of Romantica. Even though I’ve already got ridiculously long TBP/TBR queues, once I read The Courage to Love, I had to immediately go back to EC and buy the rest. These stories are quivering, pant-out-loud, can’t-read-them-in-public erotic!

The basic storyline of these historicals is about a group of men who fought together in the Peninsular War. In pairs, they protected each other and saved each other many times over. They love each other but, for most of them, they never considered how much they needed to also physically love each other and could only fulfill that unspoken need by sharing one woman. Once they find a woman they can both love, it also frees them to explore their love for each other.

Samantha describes the erotic scenes (and these are truly erotic scenes, not just sex) in excruciatingly exquisite, drawn out detail. Not just a description of each physical touch/act, but what each one FELT like physically and LOOKED like from each character’s POV. And, proving her mastery at writing erotic romance, she somehow makes each scene in each book completely different! Let’s face it, there’s only so many Tab A’s and Slot B’s on human bodies, but Samantha manages to make each scene feel completely unique to each triad.

The one flaw for me was that the period appropriate speech (or at least what we in Romancelandia accept as period appropriate) was peppered with contemporary phrases that I found quite jarring. Although, by the second book I was used to them and they no longer made me pause as much.


3. Love's Strategy - Valentine, Kurt, Leah

Category: Peanut M&Ms - mmmm...devour... sigh... then reach for the next one. My daily dose of Insanity-B-Gone. Most books fall in this category. (A-,B+,B)
Flame Height: 7" out of 9"

Now, I held off reading the third book, Love’s Strategy, for a few days because I think I was getting dehydrated. Seriously. The first two were that absorbing. (pun intended*g*)

In this third one, Kurt and Valentine are already lovers. Yet their desire for children and a home sends them on a search for a woman who will agree to be their wife. If I had not already read the first two books in the series, I would have probably enjoyed this book more than I did. It’s a solid, albeit very short, story. On it’s own, it was damn good. Unfortunately, it just doesn‘t contain the riveting erotic scenes that the first two books did.

According to her website, Samantha is currently writing a fourth book- Ian and Derek‘s story. But, in that one, Derek is NOT happy about bringing a woman into their relationship. I hope Freddy and Brett’s story is ready to be told after that. Freddy’s a freakin’ DUKE so that should be VERY interesting and I think Brett has an intriguing story too.

Oh, and at some point I’d like to read the Rev. Stephen Matthews story. And when Kate’s niece, Very, gets older, I REALLY want to see her story since I doubt anyone is going to have to convince HER to be in a triad!
Piquant Opine: Jerr, RT, RT, TwoLips

UPDATE: Samantha is finished with the next book in the series, At Love's Command- Ian and Derek's story, and it's scheduled for a November 2007 release. I guess all shoe throwing should be aimed at Ellora's Cave for making us wait that long for it!
Next year, we'll get Freddy and Brett's story then Very, Michael and Wolf's story.