REVIEWED BY CINDY 
TITLE: Cereus Rescue
AUTHOR: Julia Talbot, BA Tortuga and Sean Michael
PUBLISHER: Torquere
LENGTH: 175 Pages
Blurb:
Even the strongest paranormal creature can need a rescue, as proven by the three stories in Cereus: Rescue.
In Free Demons, by Julia Talbot and BA Tortuga, when demon Bel goes to the Cereus resort, he’s fleeing his father, the king of a demon dimension. When his bodyguard of old shows up, Bel thinks Xerxes is there to take him home, but Xerxes wants them to be free to be together.
In Sean Michael’s Spirit Bear, Lightning has been captive for a long time, but the werebear is rescued, and Etu takes him in, teaching him that love knows no boundaries, and that safety can be super-sexy.
In Babysitting Job, by BA and Julia, Devon is sent by Cereus owner Jonny to escort vampire Sandro to safety. The two of them fall for each other, but they have to escape Sandro’s stalker in order to be together.
Review:
I picked up this book to review not because of the blurb for once, but because of the trio of writers who’ve contributed to it. I’ve become a huge Julia Talbot fan in the last few months and have admired BA Tortuga since Racing the Moon. Sean Michael is a newer author for me, but I’ve read a few things by him and have been pleased so far with what I’ve seen.
This is an alternate universe Earth story where the world is inhabited by all sorts of fantastical creatures including shifters, demons and dragons just to name a few.
In Free Demons, we meet Bel, a demon who just wants to be free to live the life he desires, free of his father’s abuse and expectations so he flees his own dimension and takes refuge at Cereus, a resort for the supernatural creatures that need to escape the rest of the world.
Xerxes is his old bodyguard and when he shows up looking for Bel, Bel is unsure of what he wants. When he realizes that Xerxes has broken free of his obligations for a chance to be with him, he looks at him in a whole new light.
The world create to house these stories is amazing and the character’s that inhabit it are interesting and easy to become attached to. In this story, it’s not really a case of insta-love but more an awakening of feelings that have been simmering for a very, very long time.
In Spirit Bear we meet a young man who’s been haunted by a feeling to the point that most of the world thinks he’s crazy. With the help of a few trusted family member’s, he finally finds the being behind those feelings they are both set free of the things keeping them captive.
Etu is sweet and loving and he stole my heart from the first moment. The way he and Lightning are together is adorable and the people who surround and support them are amazing friends and fascinating in their own right.
I could see where this story was going from the start but I loved how it got to the inevitable end.
The Babysitting Job is really a case of someone smart bringing together to people who turn out to be two halves of a whole. A vampire and a werewolf? It’s a perfect combination. They start out at odds but quickly move on to a much deep connection.
It’s hard to review these stories separately as they are all intertwined and while I guess that they could be read as individual stories, they are a much richer experience when read as a whole.
These stories wove together seamlessly and created an amazing world where all the creatures of the supernatural live together in a safe place and it leads to some rather interesting situations. When I started this book I couldn’t put it down and I love a story that I can get lost in.
It’s not perfect though. The biggest issue that I have is that I feel like I was plopped down into the middle of a much larger story. I wanted to know more about Cereus and the men who started it and I really wanted to know where things were going after the book ended. I was frustrated by the feeling that I was missing out on something and if there are books that explain about this getaway for the for the fantastical or if there are books on the way then I would sure like to know about them.
But in the end, the writing was smart, well edited and compelling. The characters were perfectly cast and my admiration for all three writers continues to grow. I recommend this for anyone who likes a good fantasy story.
Rating: 
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