Sylvia Day comes through with
another well-written and developed story with characters so interesting
and passion so sensual that leaves the fan of the erotic romance
wondering how it can ever get better. Isabel, Lady Pelham, "Pel" and
Gerard Faulkner, the Marquess of Grayson, "Gray" are The Ton's most
beautiful and scandalous couple. They marry for the simple convenience
of being able to keep their paramours and lead simple lives and
although they lead lives of sexual scandal with others, they are
friends. These two sensual people have anything but simple lives, as
they both fell in love and were hurt at a very young age and did not
realize until years later that life was not as convenient and simple as
it seems. When Gray's young love Emily dies in childbirth he run off
and Pel does not hear from him for four years when he suddenly returns
a changed man. He has spent these years at his estates taking stock of
his life and growing up and discovering that he wants a real marriage
with Pel. When he returns, Pel is shocked and discovers she is sexually
attracted to Gray, now the stranger she has married. She has always
felt he was like her first husband, Lord Pelham, her first love who
hurt her deeply when he did not return her love, but instead turned to
a long string of other women, leaving her by dying in a duel over one
of his paramours. Gray is determined to prove his love for Pel and
feels he will begin by showering her with sensuality and passion, not
realizing that this only reminds her of Pelham, but at the same time,
while Pel enjoys and relishes his wild passion, she wants some sign
that Gray will be committed only to her. There are family characters,
Gray's mother and brother, and ex-paramours who try to put a wedge
inbetween Gray and Pel's relationship that make the story interesting.
The secondary side love story of Pel's brother Rhys is passionate, sexy
and sweet, although a bit short and should really have its own story.
Overall the book is sensual perfection and not to be missed.
Publisher: Kensington - Brava
(January 2007)
Reviewed
by Beverly,
Beverly Romance Books
