I requested this book because it is obviously intended to be strongly yaoi-flavored, with a strong side-order of goth—right up my, um, alley. I have read Black Lace books before and appreciate their desire to provide erotica for women that has a bit of an edge. I only wondered why it took them so long to flirt with M/M.

Dark Desires is about Remy, a self-employed fashion designer, outfitting the main players at her friend's altogether (midnight in a graveyard) gothic wedding. She brings along a recent acquaintance as a model, and is immediately enthralled by the handsome best man. But, as any good yaoi fan should, Remy is struck by the fantasy of getting brooding Takeshi and dreamy Silk together.

I must confess I found the first quarter of the book light and not engaging, and the yaoi related exposition was sometimes clunky. I put the book down and didn't give it a second thought for over a month. But once I got back to it and made more, um, headway, the story developed a lot more depth and momentum. The plot really picks up around the halfway mark when we learn more about the two heroes emotional needs as well as their sexual kinks--and then the whole narrative seems to end all too soon.

There is a large cast of characters but they are written in a way that means you never lose track of just what everyone is up to. The book is peppered with lines that give crisp and perfect impressions of each character's nature. For example, the brides mother from Silk's point of view (at a crucial moment): “She rolled the condom down his shaft as if she were arranging one of her turtleneck sweaters. Dolores, he decided, would have enjoyed the days when sheaths had to be tied on with ribbons”.

By the end, the characters become rather interesting and the eventual M/M and MMF scenes seem far too short to be erotica in any functional sense. But as a chimera that combines M/M and Black Lace style erotica the story is surprisingly successful and readers who persist will find the last few chapters more than worth the effort.

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