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Friday Booktalk
Feb
15
2008

Simply Sexual by Kate Pearce

I bought the book because I like Kate Pearce. She’s a nice person and I’ve read her stuff from EC and Cheek and liked it. Amazon, at the time I purchased the book didn’t have a blurb up (and what’s up with that? I see it all the time – a blurb is um, sort of nice when I can’t pick the book up and look at the back) so when I got it and read the back I admit I put it down for a few days. The former sex slave in Turkey thing just didn’t catch me.

But I have to say, I picked it up night before last and I ended up awake until 1 am to finish it. I loved it. Valentin is such a wonderful tortured hero. He really came to life in the book.

This is an erotic historical and it had just enough detail but not so much I wanted to die. The characters never did things I thought, “why on earth would someone do that?” and I felt like the way Sara finally broke through was edgy and well written. It certainly pushed the envelope in several places without feeling manipulative on the author’s part.

I think the title underestimates the sheer emotional depth of the story though! Simply Sexual is probably one of the very best Aphrodisia titles I’ve read. Great job!

Nights in Black Satin by Noelle Mack

Interesting backdrop and setting, not every day you see Venice during Carnivale in a contemporary book. Fun bit of paranormal thrown in with a time travel plotline. Some interesting commentary about the place of women as a courtesan, etc – in fact that part was one of my favorite things about this book.

The sex was well done, the villain of the book wasn’t actually so much a villain and not a cardboard cutout – which I LOVED.

All in all, the book wasn’t at all what I expected and I liked it even more because of that.

Pick Me Up – Samantha Hunter

A little bit of suspense, a lot of sexin, great chemistry and romance all collide in Samantha Hunter’s Pick Me Up.

First – dewd, have you seen this cover? I love Blaze covers and this one is so tasty! Second, I like Samantha Hunter’s voice a lot and I enjoy her writing. She’s a good fit at Blaze.

You can read the book’s description to get an exact storyline recap but essentially this one is two people at the wrong time in their lives meeting each other, sparks flying and realizing despite how much they want to fight it, it’s really the right time to make something work.

Pick Me Up was a fun way to spend an afternoon!

7 comments to “Friday Booktalk”

  1. Charlene
    February 15th, 2008 at 1:39 pm · Link

    Sam Hunter’s Blazes are a lot of fun! 😀 Kate Pearce is on my list to try, just haven’t picked a book up yet.



  2. Cathy M
    February 15th, 2008 at 3:00 pm · Link

    Thanks, Lauren, I now have three new books to check out.



  3. Valerie Tibbs
    February 15th, 2008 at 5:33 pm · Link

    Yep, these are on my list to read now. Thanks Lauren.

    I shouldn’t have looked at the excerpt for Standoff. Now, I’m just going bonkers to know what happened with Nina and Grace. I don’t know if I can wait 18 days…

    Oh boy…



  4. Lauren Dane
    February 15th, 2008 at 5:42 pm · Link

    Charli – they are! Kate writes across a few sub-genres – historicals, westerns and contemps oh and futuristic. I haven’t read anything I’ve been disappointed by yet.

    Cathy – oh good! I hope you enjoy

    Valerie – aww, thanks! And that wasn’t even after the “big” scene between Grace and Nina either, hee!



  5. Valerie Tibbs
    February 15th, 2008 at 6:08 pm · Link

    I think we should petition the publisher to have Standoff released sooner. Like TODAY!!

    Anyone with me????? 😉



  6. kris
    February 15th, 2008 at 7:42 pm · Link

    I just finished Simply Sexual today and i LOVED it. It was totally HOT but it had a great storyline and was very sweet as well. Great balance.



  7. Kate Pearce
    February 17th, 2008 at 9:53 pm · Link

    Lauren, you always say such lovely things about my books-I loved writing Simply Sexual and I’m so glad you liked it too-Valentin is certainly an enigma. The best thing is that I got to write Peter Howard’s story for the next book “Simply Sinful” out in Nov, so we get to look at the relationship from the other side as well. 😀
    Kate x





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