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Showing posts with label erotic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label erotic. Show all posts
5 July 2015
Title
| Rivals |
Author
| Jilly Cooper |
Publisher
| Corgi |
Publication Date
|
1988
|
Pages
| 720 |
Genre
| Romance |
Description (from Amazon)
Into the cut-throat world of Corinium television comes Declan O'Hara, a mega-star of great glamour and integrity with a radiant feckless wife, a handsome son and two ravishing teenage daughters. Living rather too closely across the valley is Rupert Campbell-Black, divorced and as dissolute as ever, and now the Tory Minister for Sport.
Declan needs only a few days at Corinium to realise that the Managing Director, Lord Baddingham, is a crook who has recruited him merely to help retain the franchise for Corinium. Baddingham has also enticed Cameron Cook, a gorgeous but domineering woman executive, to produce Declan's programme. Declan and Cameron detest each other, provoking a storm of controversy into which Rupert plunges with his usual abandon.
As a rival group emerges to pitch for the franchise, reputations ripen and decline, true love blossoms and burns, marriages are made and shattered, and sex raises its (delicious) head at almost every throw as, in bed and boardroom, the race is on to capture the Cotswold Crown.
My thoughts:
So there is a bonkbuster before anyone had heard about Christian Grey. What I love about Jilly Cooper is that her books are sexy without having to resort to detailed anatomical /gynaecological descriptions of the act and everything around 'it'.
This time, in the second book of the Rutshire Chronicles, she takes us into the world of television instead of show jumping. But fear not, Rupert Campbell-Black is back and his story continues. He bordered on the unpleasant in the first book, but here, he mellows out a lot (though I've always loved him I have to say!) and, after a few more Rupert-like conquests, his life takes a surprising turn - with the arrival of a young woman in his life, of course.
Yes, all the characters are OTT, but completely loveable (somehow even the 'nasty' ones). Not a lot of the other characters from book one are coming back, only Billy Lloyd-Foxe got a bit of a very small side role. But that didn't make a difference, as I quickly got to know the new people here. I couldn't really warm to domineering Cameron (who really just want's to be loved) - can't really say why. But of course, I loved Cinderella aka Taggie. There are so many other characters, some with bigger, some with smaller parts, but I felt that I really got to know all of them really well and felt I was almost part of their little world at the end and would really like to know how it continues.
The book was written and published in the 1980's and all of those readers who, like me, lived in the 1980's, will recognise current themes of the era, most notably the emergence of AIDS/HIV which Cooper manages to include (not the main story, of course, but Rupert, being responsible, takes a HIV test and is relieved all is clear).
I am already looking forward to read Book 3 in the series Polo and can't wait to see how it continues for Rupert and hopefully I'll also meet some of the other characters again.
9 March 2015
Title
| Fifty Shades Freed |
Author
| E L James |
Publisher
| Arrow |
Publication Date
|
April 2012
|
Pages
| 594 |
Genre
| Erotic Romance |
When Ana Steele first encountered the driven, damaged entrepreneur Christian Grey, it sparked a sensual affair that changed both their lives irrevocably. Ana always knew that loving her Fifty Shades would not be easy, and being together poses challenges neither of them had anticipated.
My Review
So much has been said and written about the Fifty Shades Books that it is somewhat difficult to come up with a unique review.
I have now finally managed to read the 3rd book, just about in time before the film was released. In book 3, the story of Ana and Christian continues. They are married now, and Ana tries to adjust to married life with her 'Fifty Shades' as she still refers to him in her mind. Madly in love and lots of sex, yes. But a challenge it is certainly for Ana. As we know now, Christian is quite controlling and of course there is also the security issues he is fretting about. Little things like not wanting to take his surname makes him go really mad. And when she decides to go out with a friend when she promised him she will stay in... oh my! But hey, he is only concerned for her safety. We pretty much meet the same supporting characters in this last instalment, and previous 'enemies' of the couple come back to haunt Ana.
I had trouble getting really into the book. The first half of the book was like wading through treacle for me. And sorry, I just didn't care for their sex life any more. I was like 'ok, here we go again' and I would find myself skipping it. The second half got a bit more interesting and I found myself turning the pages quicker.
I really enjoyed the last few pages where Christian recounts the story from his own point. One of my favourite part of the whole series actually, and I felt it was the perfect close for the series.
Lots of criticism has been placed on the book stating that Christian is very controlling and she accepts this. And would she still be so happy with him controlling her if he was not a multimillionaire but living in a trailer park? My thoughts..(apart from the fact that it is a fictional story after all)... Well, firstly, money and success are attractive, no doubt. I also found that the author actually got the portrayal of Ana just right as someone who doesn't actually care that much about the money (without being over the top on it and without being too obvious about it).
All in all, with all 3 books read now, I think they are quite simply a love story with sex thrown in. There are lots of elements from your typical romance book - damsel in distress finds prince etc. From my own reading experience, I can honestly say that I have read many books which were steamier than this - and no, I don't read porn, but just ordinary books purchased in normal book stores (Waterstones etc). I think the story would have been ok for 1 book only and 3 books stretched it a bit and parts became boring, especially as all of them are quite long.
23 July 2014
Title
| Laying a Foundation (Love Under Construction Series) |
Author
| Deanndra Hall |
Publisher
| North Road Publishing |
Publication Date
|
March 2014 (and ed)
|
Pages
| 388 |
Genre
| Erotic Romance |
Blurb:Tony is a successful businessman whose personal life has been almost unbearable thanks to his crazy ex-wife. Nikki lost her husband and children in a tragic accident and barely has a life. It looks like there's a "happily ever after" on the horizon - until an ecoterrorism group with a personal bone to pick threatens everything.
First full-length installment in the Love Under Construction Series, now including the introductory volume, The Groundbreaking. Tony Walters operates a successful construction company in Louisville, Kentucky; he's anything but successful in his personal life, thanks to a mean-spirited, mentally ill ex-wife. Nikki Wilkes has lived for five years with almost no life, thanks to a drunken driver's mistake that took her husband and children from her. It seems the universe has aligned to make sure they meet, and their shy and sweet attempts to build a relationship blossom just as an ecoterrorism group begins to threaten the construction business. But as time goes by, it becomes clear that the threat is directed personally at Tony, and as the group's efforts escalate, it looks like answered prayers for a special someone in their lives might morph into not having a prayer for a "happily ever after." Through it all, family and friends stand by them and add to the madness, mayhem, and hilarity, while the bedroom smokes with enough scorching, crazy, adventurous sex to set everything on fire.
The main characters are all over the age of thirty-five, and most are well over forty. A fun, mature, erotic romp with enough suspense and danger to leave the breathless. Not a stand-alone; the four novels are designed to be read in order for greatest enjoyment. It'll make you say, "I didn't see that coming!" more than once and leave you smiling!
My Review
Tony and Nikki Are the
main characters and most of the action is played out between those two. It’s
certainly easy to get into the story. Both have an interesting background story, and
initially it’s all about how these two meet and get together. I though: ‘yes,
finally!’ when it did happen, yes, I was rooting for them. The story with
Tony’s deranged ex-wife and the problems experienced with the ‘Eco Group’ will
keep you interested rather than just reading about the budding relationship
between Tony and Nikki. And I wanted to continue reading to see the conclusion to
their troubles. It is easy reading. The bedroom action of Tony and Nikki is described in detail, so careful if you don’t enjoy this. But my guess is if you
don’t like erotica you wouldn’t have picked up this book. The erotic writing is
certainly very good (in my humble opinion) without slipping into the unpleasant
and embarrassing (easily done with erotic writing). I do read mainly on the
train commute though, and it was not the right reading for the train journey I
have to say. But that’s a personal one for me and I did enjoy reading the book
at home.
What I loved about this story is that the main players are in their 40's and 50's. Yes, even if you are over the age of 25 you can have great sex with all the trimmings. By this stage in their life, most of us have had a big amount of good, very good, bad and very bad experiences and the author certainly shows this. And also, no matter how devastating your experiences might have been - death, trauma - there is a chance for all of us. Is it always realistic? No idea, but this is fiction, and it is meant to make us feel good.
I have read the Prequel and Part 1 of the Series so far. The prequel is supposed to introduce the main characters and it certainly does so. However, I think that this information could have been incorporated into Book 1 easily? Certainly, all the characters have their own background story (and let's face it, who of us doesn't), they are not that complicated so that a reader won't understand them if woven into the story. We get to know the main characters pretty quickly, and some of the others do have, in my opinion, a too minor part in order to fully needing to understand their background. Having said that, the same time, it is nice to have an extra 'book' to refer back too to see 'who was that again? The Prequel is now also available together with Book 1, and I think that was a wise idea.
10 January 2014
Title
|
Lovers and Gamblers
|
Author
| Jackie Collins |
Publisher
|
Simon and Schuster UK - Kindle Edition
|
Publication Date
|
first in 1977
|
Pages
| 608 |
Genre
|
Erotic Romance
|
Sexy and wild without being unpleasantly 'dirty', I like Collins' style. As with her other books, we find ourselves in the world of Hollywood stars and starlets, film premieres, models and everything in between. Lovers and Gamblers is essentially the story of Al King, an aging soul and rock star who does the whole sex, drugs n rock'n' roll thingy, and plenty of women thrown in for the fun of it. But inside, of course, Al's got a good heart and I quickly warmed to him as the 'hero' of the story despite his womanising antics. And than there is Dallas (what a name btw!), a model / actress with a dodgy past which she would like to keep secret. Initially separate stories, Al and Dallas will meet, but not the way Al likes to have it. Her character's well drawn out without being too much OTT (indeed she manages this even with cliched stuff like Hollywood, models, rockstars). The story is fast-paced, funny and never boring and the 600 pages will fly by.
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