An explicit, erotic, entrancing detective story for the seriously committed lover of erotica.
The erotic education of former escort Elle Lorand continues, plunging her into a world of sensual delights. But she soon finds herself on a quest not only to solve the mystery of her ex-fiance’s birth, but also to save her partner from jail.
Having broken her engagement to David Barlet and fallen in love with his older brother, Louie, her sexual tutor, Elle impetuously asks for Louie’s hand in marriage. Startled yet pleased, Louie consents, on the condition that Elle complete her amorous education through a series of tests. Elle agrees, and the games begin. Mars (Hotelles, 2014) excels at orchestrating elaborate, emotionally charged sex scenes, making the physically implausible ring psychologically true in this, the second novel in a steamy trilogy translated from the French. More Anaïs Nin than E.L. James, Mars weaves a psychologically complex tale; she creates a world in which sex sanctifies. Elle and Louie do truly communicate through their bodies, planning sexual adventures for each other that test trust and vulnerability. Yet an art exhibit at Louie’s gallery sends the entire enterprise spiraling down. Tipped off that the gallery would project pornographic images into the night sky, the police descend, arresting Louie. While Louie awaits his trial, Elle faces a number of quandaries: Can she physically survive without Louie’s addictive, sensual touch? Has she lost her identity in his bed? Who has stolen their shared journal, detailing each erotic encounter? Is Louie truly behind the blog spilling all of their secrets? Bereft and bewildered, Elle cannot resist David’s offers to help, despite her suspicions that he may be less interested in exonerating his brother than in covering up more secrets of his own. Perhaps the answers lie hidden in the Hotel des Charmes.
An explicit, erotic, entrancing detective story for the seriously committed lover of erotica.Pub Date: April 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-227419-9
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Perennial/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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