Anne de Vignon is a poetess in “Little Red Writing,” but she also writes under the pen name Gilbert Leduc, secretly publishing pen portraits and scathing literary caricatures of France’s most powerful men. Leduc has earned the displeasure of the King.

Nicolas de Savignac, known as “the Wolf” for his voracious sexual appetite, is the Musketeer assigned to arrest Leduc. He plans to seduce the poetess and get her to confess.

The strongest of the collection, “Bewitching in Boots,” follows Elisabeth de Roussel, the King’s daughter. Elisabeth has been well-schooled in surviving court. Her only weakness is Tristan de Tiersonnier, a former commander of the King’s Guard now down and out and living in a crumbling chateau.

When Elisabeth shows up at Tristan’s door demanding fencing lessons, despite his disdain, he is happy to oblige. But little does Tristan know that she has more in mind than a week of instruction.

In “Awakened by His Kiss,” the first in the “Fiery Tales” series, DiPasqua provides her characters with a well-rounded history and builds tension early, but her love scenes are not as “fiery” as anticipated. For three separate stories depicting notorious rakes, more sexual variety was expected.

DiPasqua switches between using anatomic references and more charged euphemisms, which can take a reader out of the moment. Some vocabulary choices do not seem to correspond to 17th century France.

“The Princess in His Bed,” DiPasqua’s second installment in the “Fiery Tales,” series, is scheduled for release in November.

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Author Link: http://www.liladipasqua.com/