TITLE: A PRIVATE VIEW
AUTHOR: CRYSTALLE VALENTINO
Pages: 313
Date: 28/08/2013
Grade: 3
Details: Received from Black Lace
Own
The Blurb:
As a model, Jemma is used to being the centre of attention. And when Dominic Vane, the world-famous photographer, asks her to pose for him, she knows it's not just her pictures he's interested in.
But in a world where pleasure is pursued above all else, will falling for Dominic's masterful touch come at too high a cost?
From the glamorous South of France to the luxuries of Monte Carlo, A Private View will take you on a wild journey of sexual discovery.
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I would describe this book along these lines:
Jemma is a successful model who is pleasantly surprised and intrigued when Dominic Vane, a famous erotic photographer, invites her to pose for him. Having an adventurous nature and healthy sexual appetite, Jemma imagines that the time she will spend with him will be a lusty combination of art and sex. And she’s not completely wrong.
From the moment she meets Dominic it is clear that he’s attracted to her, but he flat out refuses to touch her intimately. While that is frustrating enough for the easily stimulated Jemma, the fact that she appears to be the only woman he doesn’t want to touch infuriates her even more.
During her time in the South of France Jemma will have numerous sexual encounters with various people. But getting Dominic to act on the attraction he obviously feels for her may just be one seduction too far. Unless Jemma can figure out why Dominic is so afraid to be intimate with her and help him overcome those fears.
And that is more or less the complete story in this book. Because in reality this book is more or less a collection of sexual encounters between Jemma and numerous other people.
Don’t get me wrong. As you may have noticed I rather enjoy my erotic novels and don’t shy away from even the most explicit stories. But, and there lies the rub, I do like there to be a real story to accompany the sex. And in this book there was very little story to back up all the sexual encounters.
I had a few other issues with this book as well. For
starters: early on in the story we read the following passage:
“For too long she had been stuck with predictable, reliable Steven,
using their life together as an excuse for not pursuing a more hedonistic,
sensual lifestyle that she could truly embrace and enjoy.”
Which would be fine provided this Steven was indeed
predictable. But, from the glimpse we get of him, Steven comes across as
intriguing, adventurous and tolerant. What is more, they are supposed to be in
an open relationship so in theory at least, there shouldn’t be anything
standing between Jemma and the hedonistic, sensual lifestyle she is longing
for.
The writing is at times inconsistent. In one chapter
Jemma refuses to look at something only to muse about everything she saw, while
she was supposed to have her eyes closed, in the next chapter.
But what really got on my nerves after a while was the
repetitive way in which certain words were used.
So, what did I like about this book?
I liked the idea behind the story – the reason Dominic
refuses to touch Jemma and the consequences of his refusal and her persistence
in trying to change his mind. I can’t help feeling that a lot more could have
been made of that story idea though.
And, apart from the irritations I mentioned above,
this book was quite well and smoothly written and very easy to read.
If you’re looking for an easy to read book with a lot
of erotic content and not too much story-line or character development to get
in the way of all the action, you could do a lot worse than pick up this book.
If, on the other hand, you prefer it when the sexual action moves the story
forwards and aids the development of characters, this may not be the book for
you. For me this was a quick, easy and at times quite hot read, be it one that
won’t stay with me for very long.
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