AUTHOR: ELENE SALLINGER
Pages: 224
Date: 22/12/2013
Grade: 3+
Details: No. 1 The Chrysalis Series
Received from
SourceBooks Casablanca
Through NetGalley
Own/Kindle
“Claire Ryan is finally coming out of
her shell after a devastating breakup. What better way to rejoin the world than
through a romance book club. But she never expects to find love for herself...
Bookshop owner Evan Lang still harbors deep grief for the death of his wife.
He'd introduced her to a world of domination she'd never before known. He
thinks he'll never be able to find someone that open, that responsive again.
Until Claire walks through his door...
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This book could have been
so much better. I liked the idea behind the story; two people dealing with past
issues coming together and eventually finding a way to overcome what lies
behind them so that they can create a future together. I just wasn’t impressed
with the way in which the story was told.
For starters, the first
part of this book dragged for me. I don’t mind if it takes the main characters
in a romance – erotic or otherwise – a long time to actually get to admitting
that they are attracted to each other. In fact, I love it when the build-up to
the characters getting intimate is slow yet heated. I do however expect there
to be interaction between those two characters, an aspect that was rather lacking
from the first half of this story.
The story has more or less
reached the half way mark before Claire and Evan even start talking. Up until that point they have been trying to ignore each other and Evan
has been nothing short of rude and abrupt with Claire. All the reader gets to
see are the angst-filled thoughts and feelings on both sides. I have to be
honest and admit there were one or two occasions I just wanted to put the book
away because the story didn’t appear to be going anywhere.
I had a few issues with
the characters as well. Claire seems to be a contraction in terms. She has come
out of a long relationship about which she feels guilty because of the way she
behaved, has been unsatisfied with her love-life for as long as she can
remember and has fantasies about a less vanilla – although she’s not aware of
that term – relationship and yet she has, when the story starts, never touched
her own vagina while masturbating? I guess it is possible, but to me it just
felt unlikely. And I wasn’t anymore convinced that the woman who couldn’t bring
herself to actually buy the erotic books she was interested in would, without a
second thought, engage in a sexual encounter in the bookshop while it was still
open to the public.
And Evan seems to be as
much of a contradiction. He sees Claire, recognizes her needs and decides to
try and help her without getting involved with her. His main aim is to make
sure that she won’t fall into the hands of a man who will take advantage of her
needs and fantasies. Yet, in the act of introducing her to BDSM he turns into
exactly the Dom he says he is trying to protect her from. Unable to contain
either his anger at himself or his lust for the woman he doesn’t want to be
interested in, he is a risk rather than a safe harbor.
Having said all of that,
there were quite a few things that I did enjoy. I liked how Evan left out
relevant books for Claire to find so that she could discover that her desires were not
crazy or dirty but rather something lots of people share with her and indulge
in. I loved the way he explained the BDSM dynamic to her and adored him for
trying to show her how beautiful and seductive she is.
Claire grew on me once the story really kicked off in the second half of the book. I
loved her submission to Evan and adored how that submission didn’t mean she
forgot to look after herself. In fact, the more she submits the more she grows
to value herself, and that was a wonderful dynamic to watch.
In short, for me this was
an exercise in contradictions. I’m sorry that the best I can say about this
book is that it was an okay read for me. I’m convinced that all the ingredients
for a brilliant story where there, if only the author had chosen to use them in
a slightly different way.
I’ll end this review with
my favourite quote from this book.
“What
did I tell you about tears, little one?”
“They
are for things you can’t change.”
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