Review: Combustion by Elia Winters

Combustion by Elia Winters
Publisher: Cecaelia Press
Genre: Erotic Steampunk Romance 

ISBN: 9781951589035
Rerelease Date: February 15, 2021
Source: Author
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N | Kobo
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Astrid Bailey is content living alone, balancing her career as a contract machinist with her true passion: making “felicitation devices” for her discerning female clients. The upcoming World’s Fair, with its substantial cash prize, is an opportunity for her to open the shop she’s always imagined and solve her financial woes. With questionable credentials, though, she’s unable to enter without a reputable businessman to vouch for her.

Eli Rutledge, noted watchmaker, needs to enter the World’s Fair to maintain his reputation as an innovator, but he’s fresh out of ideas. With no other options, he agrees to Astrid’s proposal, lending his good name to her scandalous invention. When construction heats up, so does their chemistry--and the complications. Astrid is unaccustomed to accepting help, especially from a privileged businessman like Eli, even if she can’t keep her hands off him. Eli is losing his fight to an attraction that could spell professional disaster and heartbreak. As the Fair date approaches, Astrid and Eli must decide how far they’ll go for the business...and for each other.

Warning: contains scandalous “product testing,” steamy f/f and m/f encounters, and gratuitous liberties with an alternative-history Steampunk London, all in the quest for happily ever after.

Combustion is a sexy and sex-positive romance that’s a whole lot of fun to read. Astrid Bailey is a bit prickly and she has reason to be. She’s known loss, grief, and has been dismissed as an inventor and businessperson because she’s a woman, not wealthy, and her devices are geared toward female clients. Astrid is a gifted inventor who dreams of owning her own shop to sell her “felicitation devices” and I wanted to see her achieve that dream. Her best shot at doing so is winning the cash prize at the World’s Fair, but to even enter she needs the backing a reputable businessman. Enter Eli Rutledge.

Eli is a watchmaker who inherited a successful business. He has the money and connections Astrid both needs and resents. He also is short of an idea of his own to present at the World’s Fair so he and Astrid teaming up is the perfect plan. Her idea is scandalous beyond measure, but the two of them go for it anyway. Eli’s edges are softer than Astrid’s and the two of them complement one another perfectly. I like that Eli isn’t dismissive of Astrid’s inventions or pleasure and it made the sparks that flew between the two of them seriously hot.

Attraction is easy, but falling in love is a lot more complicated. Both Astrid and Eli have walls up because of past wounds. Eli thinks he’s too boring for someone like Astrid and she thinks he would never want to be with someone of a different class. Miscommunication and misunderstandings threaten to derail the romance but they’re logical obstacles. I was rooting for Astrid and Eli every step of the way.

Elia Winters knows how to deliver seriously hot romances and Combustion is no exception. Astrid and Eli are not shy about testing out her inventions or asking for what they want in the bedroom (or the workroom or…). All in all, Combustion is a fast-paced, red-hot jaunt through alternate-history London. The steampunk elements are fun, the characters perfectly imperfect, and the ending made me smile.



Note: Combustion was first published in 2015 and has been revised for this edition.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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Review: Three For All by Elia Winters

Three For All by Elia Winters
Series: Comes in Threes, Book 3
Publisher: Cecaelia Press
Genre: Erotic Contemporary Polyamorous Romance

ISBN: 9781951589004
Release Date: November 12, 2019
Source: Author
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N | Kobo
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Geoff Robinson has no reason to feel insecure in his marriage to Patrick Walsh, even with Patrick’s polyamorous past and Geoff’s own inexperience. When Geoff starts fantasizing about bringing a woman into their bed, he has to admit that he’s trying to appease his own curiosity, and not Patrick’s. Threesomes are exciting, and surely one night of fun won’t cause any problems.

With the ink still fresh on her PhD, Lori Clark is finally ready to move to a bigger city and pursue her dream job. Her time in small-town Mapleton has an expiration date, so there seems to be little harm in a fling, even a fling with her sexy coworker and his husband. One night is never enough, though, and their chemistry together hints at the possibility of more than just an affair. The excitement of a new relationship makes Geoff and Patrick wonder if they’re just infatuated or destined for non-monogamy, but Lori’s future plans are pulling her away from both of them. Can a marriage survive when two people in love… both fall in love with someone else?

You’re not going to need to turn the heater on this winter because Three For All is hot as hell. Elia Winters’s third Comes in Threes story is a deliciously dirty polyam romance with a core of emotional honesty that makes it stand out.

Geoff and Patrick have been married almost seven years and their love and marriage is as solid as can be. They don’t talk much about Patrick’s polyamorous past anymore and Geoff has no doubt that Patrick is completely faithful. That doesn’t stop him from wondering if perhaps Patrick might want more…and if maybe he does as well. The chief reason for Geoff’s unquiet? His co-worker, Lori, who is not only intelligent and gorgeous, but shares a lot of common interests with both Geoff and Patrick. One of the things I love most about Three For All is Patrick and Geoff’s marriage. They have their bumps, uncertainties, and vulnerabilities, but they always talk to one another and there’s never any judgment. They are so solid they know they can be open and vulnerable to one another and it makes their love story that much stronger and more interesting.

With the ink still drying on her PhD, Lori has her eye on the prize. She’s going to leave Mapleton and move to New York City to pursue her dream of working as a relationship therapist, hopefully with an organization that supports people of color, LGBTQ people, and nontraditional relationships. She did her dissertation on polyamory and is intrigued when she realizes Goeff and Patrick are interested in inviting her to bed. What none of them count on is how quickly they start to fall for each other and fall into a triad relationship. Lori fears being the third wheel, but it’s clear she’s made for Patrick and Geoff. She’s also a fantastic heroine who is funny, interesting, and refreshingly self-aware.

Whether they get together in twos or threes, Patrick, Geoff, and Lori are insanely hot. Sweetly submissive Patrick just about melted my heart, Geoff – who can be uncertain in some areas of his changing feelings – is confidently dominant, and Lori isn’t afraid to go for what she wants in the bedroom. Put them all together and you’re in for one hell of a ride. And while I cannot overstate how sexy Three For All is, it’s the characters themselves who make this story shine. They talk about polyamory, they learn, the guys become friends with Lori even as they fall for her and she for them. There’s no false drama, only honest emotion and very human fears and needs. There’s so much to love about this book and the way it discusses polyamorous relationships that I’ve barely touched on what readers will find.

Elia Winters writes polyam romance better than anyone else I’ve ever read and Three For All shows why. It’s erotic, sex-positive, funny, heartwarming, engaging, and just plain fun to read. Patrick, Lori, and Geoff are all unique, well-drawn characters who fit each other perfectly and I loved watching them become a family. So if you’re looking for a kinky good time that also has emotional depth, Three For All is the perfect book for you.


FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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