Helpful Score: 5
This is a very HOT historical romance about a spinster (aged 36) who pays for a male prostitute for 30 days (and nights!) to introduce her to pleasure.
Helpful Score: 5
Wonderful book----I thoroughly enjoyed it. As other reviewers have said, it has more explicit sex scenes in it. However, they weren't as graphic as some that I have read. She goes into more detail than the typical romance, but it is done very provacatively without using some words that I just prefer not to read (they take the romance out of things!). This book does not do that, it just makes you sweat (in a good way!). I found myself fanning myself a lot! Whew! And if you love your heroes tortured...this one is for you. Michael ranks up there with Lord Sin and Acheron on the tortured list! I can't wait to read the next book about Gabriel. Hopefully it'll be in the mail tomorrow.....:)
Helpful Score: 3
The sex in this book is great, and the characters are intriguing. (I picked it up one night and stayed up until it was done!) I think the plot is a needlessly complicated, though - an "old" woman and a former male prostitute having lots of erotic sex is plot enough for me!
Helpful Score: 3
Tries hard to be literary erotica, but doesn't quite pull it off. There are some very erotic moments (though nothing especially excessive like you'd find in Anne Rice's erotica), but be warned that there are plenty of gruesome scenes as well. The backstory motivating the main characters is woven in throughout the book, and I like that the author reveals pieces of it bit by bit, but there were so many passages that I had to read twice to understand exactly what was going on. In other words, parts of it were quite confusing (the whiplash POV switches alone are hard enough to deal with). And I really didn't buy a crucial factor that played into the revenge storyline (I don't want to give anything away, but it relates to the effects of a sex toy). I'm looking forward to reading the follow-up, Gabriel's Woman, to see if "The Lover" isn't this author's best work, or to see if it's me and I just don't "get" this author.
Helpful Score: 3
VERY Dark romance. Not for everyone. I loved it.
