I don't follow series as a rule--but I do follow Shana Abe's Drakon series. It is rare that a writer combines both mesmerizing story telling with mesmI don't follow series as a rule--but I do follow Shana Abe's Drakon series. It is rare that a writer combines both mesmerizing story telling with mesmerizing prose. Shana Abe does exactly that in her Drakon books, combining beautiful, precise, yet sweeping world-building with intimate, passionate love stories between equals. I can't get enough of those dragon shapeshifters. ...more
Let me state that it is difficult to summarize Black Silk without doing it an injustice, because this book, this story, these characters and their intLet me state that it is difficult to summarize Black Silk without doing it an injustice, because this book, this story, these characters and their interpersonal relations are so unusual, so remarkable, and so complex that the whole is near nigh irreducible. I mean, is it possible to admire the Mona Lisa a square inch at a time?
Reading Black Silk is like going to a five-star restaurant for the first time. You fidget a little in your chair, admire the ambience and the elegant waiters doing their nightly ballet. The kitchen is taking its time. A little plate of nibbles arrives, compliment of the chef. You munch, you ooh and aah. It's fabulous. But it's only a little plate. You wonder a little anxiously whether the rest of what is to come can measure up. And then the appetizers arrive - and then the first course. You half-swoon. Then comes the entree and you can hardly comprehend how you came to be in such heaven. Then the dessert which ends your experience with a bang (well, almost literally in this case, if I may be pardoned for a little risqué pun). You cannot believe the evening is over since you wanted it to go on and on and on.
Pardon the gustatory analogy, which in this case is apt. Judy Cuevas is a master of sensual description. Her writing has flavor, succulence and substance. It has that indescribable something that can only be called literary "fat", a quality that makes her particular confection of words deliciously tangible.
But her talent goes far beyond mere linguistic sumptuousness. Ms. Cuevas creates memorable characters. Graham Wessit, the hero of Black Silk, could probably be labeled a bad boy, a Victorian bad boy if you will. But unlike so many other romance novel bad boys who seem to copulate their way from one end of the country to the other and in doing so, generate nothing but good-willed envy from all men and trembling desire in all women, Graham has troubles. He is the defendant in a false paternity suit. His current mistress is thinking of divorcing her husband to marry him - a big scandalous deal in 1858. And on top of it, there is a popular newspaper serial that has its root material in the deeds, mistakes, and peccadilloes of his life, all exaggerated and ridiculed for the entertainment of the masses. Lest we forget, those were far more puritanical times. Even men paid for their transgressions.
Submit Channing-Downes is a virtuous widow, still in mourning, clothed in black - hence the title - for almost the entirety of the book. Her late, much older husband Henry had been Graham's cousin and one-time guardian. Submit loved and still loves Henry. Graham despised and still despises Henry. From their vastly different experiences with Henry and their intertwined present predicament, (thanks to a nasty posthumous bequest from Henry to Graham) arises what surely must be the most intriguing triangle of human relations in romancedom.
Graham is indolent and indulgent, but as the story unfolds, we see his honesty, kindness, and sincerity. He is also vital, exciting, and young at heart. Submit is equally complex. She is intelligent, thoughtful, and serious. And it is Ms. Cuevas' great accomplishment that this woman of true gravitas is also endowed with a subtle yet potent carnal allure. The two of them are a wonderful match because she needs his energy and vigor and he needs to be anchored by her rationality and cool-headedness.
The late Henry, of course, was one of a kind. Read and marvel. This book is perhaps not to everyone's taste. I'll admit, it took me a while to get hooked. Black Silk is not exactly a comfort read, and does not offer instant gratification, meaning, no kisses until half-way through, and no hero/heroine love scene until the last fifty pages or so. But those readers who stick with it will be richly, splendidly rewarded. And that is a promise.
Note: I wrote this in 2002 as a reader-submitted Desert Isle Keeper review for All About Romance. Juey Cuevas, of course, is none other than Judith Ivory....more
Beast by Judith Ivory is one of my two all-time favorite romance books and also simply one of the best books I have ever read. When I read books or waBeast by Judith Ivory is one of my two all-time favorite romance books and also simply one of the best books I have ever read. When I read books or watch movies, afterwards I have a certain feel for them, a textural sensation. Beast has left me with one of the richest, most voluptuous "feels" ever. The story is set around the turn of the 20th century. The first half of the book takes place on the ocean liner Concordia; the second half takes place in Provence, France. The plot is fairly simple. It combines an unknown lover theme with a beauty-and-beast theme. Louise Vandermeer is an heiress and beautiful beyond mere mortal imagination. Her fiancé, Charles Harcourt, is sophisticated, successful, and well-admired, the perfect man if you will, except for a couple of unfortunate defects. He is blind in one eye from a childhood ailment. That eye is further distorted by a scar. He also has a bad knee and limps a bit when the weather is unfavorable. In other words, he is not pretty. Louise agreed to marry Charles sight unseen because she wanted the freedom of a married woman. While she is on the Concordia traveling to Nice for the wedding, Charles, unbeknownst to her, happens to be on the same ship. He seduces her in complete darkness. But the prank backfires. Charles falls hard for Louise, but she is in love only with her shipboard lover, unaware that it was Charles Harcourt all along. One of the reasons I love this book is because of its characters. One doesn't see a heroine like Louise everyday. In fact, I've never read another one like her. She is not what one would label immediately sympathetic. She is eighteen, raised in the lap of luxury, more beautiful than Helen of Troy, completely aware of her power over the opposite sex, bored with her life, and annoyed with her parents and relatives. Sounds like somebody you and I could detest? But Judith Ivory made her so much more than a spoiled darling. Louise is excruciatingly intelligent. I can hardly think of any heroine from any other book who is sharper or more observant. As a result, Louise is painfully aware of how circumscribed her life is, both by her wealth and her beauty. People are struck dumb by her looks. They have no idea who the real Louise Vandermeer truly is or wants to be. She adroitly fends off open-mouthed admiration from men and jealousy from women while longing to be someone kinder, wiser, someone more open, someone who was in fact, the real Louise Vandermeer. You don't have to be beautiful. You only need to have been eighteen, confused, aimless, misunderstood and feeling like an outsider to sympathize with Louise. Charles Harcourt, on the opposite end of the spectrum, is also a victim of his appearance. With him, Ivory has succeeded in creating a man who pays a great deal of attention to and agonizes over his looks, yet who is never diminished by this seemingly less-than-manly concern. Charles is mature, understanding, generous, and open-minded. He is the person with whom Louise could be completely open. And while he is awed and flabbergasted and flustered by her beauty, we are never in doubt of what he really fell in love with: her strength, her perspicacity, her desire to improve herself, and the force of her will. Louise, to her great credit, realizes and admires the less-than-sightly Charles for all his wonderful qualities. In time, she falls in love with this Charles and we know they've both found the one person they needed. As if such complex, human, flesh-and-blood characters aren't enough, Ms. Ivory wows me with her exquisite command of language. There is something inimitable about her writing. (I know - I've tried and failed.) Not only do lovely similes, metaphors, adjectives, and adverbs cascade freely from her pen without ever degenerating into verbosity, she writes with an energy, an enthusiasm - almost a glee - that I have not seen anywhere else except perhaps in Isabel Allende's book Aphrodite. Her writing is tactile, visual, olfactory, gustatory. When she describes pearls, you feel their cool smooth roundness. When she describes food, you are hungry. And when she describes scenery, by God, you are there. Provence comes alive in her pen just as it does in Peter Mayle's books. And when she writes a love scene, you need a cold shower. Sometimes after reading a romance, one sighs and is satisfied. I was not only satisfied, I was astounded by Beast. Judith Ivory is one of the best writers writing today, period. And Beast, in my opinion is Judith Ivory at her best.
Note: I wrote this back in 2002 as a reader-submitted Desert Isle Keeper review for All About Romance....more