If these hadn't been free...I'd be upset. But they were free to me, on my Kindle, so I guess I can't complain.

PARADOXES contains two novellas by two authors. They're similar in that they both start with some very grim situation - in one, a girl tied to a tree as a village's sacrifice to a dragon and in the other, a girl sold in slavery to a foreboding traveler - but quickly transform into very sweet, positive, gentle sexual scenarios. Both books had a bait-and-switch quality to me, where I started out reading one book and somehow ended up in another. They are erotic, and feature prominent sex scenes, which are of the "lavish the lady with exquisite care and see to her pleasure above all things," type.

FLY WITH A DRAGON by Rosemary Laurey is the first, much shorter novella about a virgin tied to a tree and left in a sacred grove as a sacrifice to a dragon. Myfanwy was selected because she was nearly the only virgin left in her backwards, medieval-style village - all the other girls took steps to make sure they weren't eligible. She's terrified, but she doesn't need to be: it turns out that dragons are technologically and culturally advanced creatures whose biggest quirk is a strong dislike for body hair. After the fright of her journey to the dragon's home, Myfanwy's only challenge is deciding which luxury to enjoy first: hot water, good food, a comfortable bed, loving sex.

HEART OF A RAVEN by J.C. Wilder maintains its dark atmosphere for a little longer than the first novella. Dani is a vagabond, who has spent her short life traveling aimlessly with her nasty, brutish father and brother. Her life is unspeakably horrible; her father keeps her in chains so she can't run away, and she sleeps on a grass mat under her father's ramshackle wagon even in freezing weather. Meanwhile, her father and brother drink and gamble. When two wealthy travelers stop for a while at the campfire, Dani's father and brother think that they can use loaded dice to cheat the gentleman out of their gold; instead, the travelers win again and again. Broke as he is, Dani's father sells her as a slave to the gentlemen in order to cancel out his debt.

For a short while Dani is uncertain of her fate with her new master Haaken, but soon enough he spots a birthmark on her back singling her out as "the one" who can break his family's curse. Haaken is cursed to spend his days as a raven unless he can "find his true love and learn the importance of love." He tries to break the curse by cheating, thinking it will be enough if he marries Dani and makes sure she lives in luxury, but it turns out that to break the curse he has to make an emotional breakthrough, too. ( )