Earth has become a post-apocalyptic water world, filled with violence and shadowy intrigue. Human and supernatural beings once thought fantasy live on the slopes of the Alps, in floating cities and even in the old cities beneath the waves. The Empire and its corrupt Emperor rule over everyone. And everything...

Liberty "Libby" Draycock is the only female dragon in the floating city of Carnalis. When Imperial soldiers kill her best friend, she crashes through the dome of the royal Throne Room in all her dragon glory, looking for the Emperor's blood. Instead, she finds the Empress, a woman with strange powers and secret allies such as Swann, pirate captain of the Swift Revenge.

When the Empress "arranges" a meeting between Libby and Swann, he's surprised to find the "boy" he pulls from the deep is actually a woman. When Libby regains consciousness, she's onboard an immersible vessel manned by mer-men, all of them scarred and maimed veterans from the war against the Emperor seven years before. Libby discovers that Swann is perhaps the most scarred of them all, inside and out. They're immediately attracted to each other and in Swann's case, not entirely because he hasn't been with a woman in seven years. Women know to steer clear of the Swift Revenge when she's in port, because her crew is gay. It's assumed that Swann is as well, but after his captivity and torture during the war, sex with a man is the very last thing Swann can stomach.

When he learns that the Emperor wants Libby for a captive breeding program, Swann will do anything to keep her out of the bastard's reach. But when it's Swann instead who ends up in the Emperor's dungeons under his tormentor from the war, the Emperor underestimates Libby and the lengths to which she will go to save the man she loves.

Empire: Burning Desires by Cat Marsters is the second book in her action-packed, emotion-filled series that successfully holds the reader's attention from beginning to end. To my mind, there's nothing better than a book that runs you through a gamut of emotions, and this one certainly does that.

Ms. Marsters has a particularly fine touch when it comes to blending futuristic and fantasy elements. In Burning Desires, she eloquently captures the essence of romantic passion in the smoking hot love scenes between Libby and Swann. Swann re-lives the pain of his past through nightmares and flashbacks, classic symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Yet he works behind the scenes, thwarting the Emperor at every turn. Having grown up in the slums, Libby is a tough but passionate woman with the caring and understanding needed to ease Swann's painful memories. And she's woman...uh, dragon enough to fight for him when his life hangs in the balance.

Edward, Nalina and Carver from Empire: After the Fall make appearances in Burning Desires, helping to make the righteous ending very satisfying indeed.

Content Warning: Contains m/m/f ménage & m/m bisexual interaction.

Reviewed by: Merrylee