Saturday, June 09, 2007

Karen Does Lora Leigh's Forbidden Pleasures...


My name’s Karen, and I’m a Lora Leigh Fangirl. There I said it. *Cowers and waits to be pelted with lemons*

The thing with LL Cool L’s books is that you’re gonna either love ‘em, or thoroughly hate them.

As it happens, I love them.

Yes, I know that her heroes are usually assholic alphas, and yes I know that her heroines are usually weak-assed bitches who deserve flogging, and yes, I even know that she has a thing about the heroine always being the hero’s best friend’s sister. And not to mention that whole anal sex thing that she has going on in every book she’s ever written, but never the less, I love her writing.

I can’t be arsed writing a proper blurb so I’ll do it in my own very lazy way:


MY VERDICT

I liked Forbidden Pleasure, I really did.

I thought Leigh handled the emotional elements between Hubby, Wifey, and Bestfriend very well, and at no time did I get squicked out by any of their sexual gymnastics.

Menage books have become a bit of an ‘F’ word for me lately, but I must admit, this particular menage was credible, and I didn’t have to contort my own body in order to figure out if some of the sexual positions that they found themselves in were possible. That’s always a plus in my book.

Mac and Jethro had had similarly un-Leave-It-To-Beaver type upbringings, and when they met whilst training for the FBI, they discovered that they had a crap childhood in common, so they naturally gravitated towards each other.

Their bond intensified when they both joined Sinclair’s Gentlemen’s Club, and they discovered that sharing their women, and indulging in their slightly deviant unusual sexual practices, helped them forget the torment of their formative years.

I have to say that out of the two men, I thought Jethro (Jesus, I hate that goddamn name) was the sexier of the two. I think it was the silent and broody thing that kinda turned me on about him. I like that in my heroes.

Mac was ok, and surprisingly not as alpha, as most of Leigh’s heroes tend to be, although as per her stereo-typical hero, he did sport a massive hard-on for the majority of the book. (Hey, it’s an erotic romance what do you expect?)

I liked his relationship with Keiley, and I never got the feeling that his menage obsession was down to anything other than love for his wife and friend, and also, at no time did I get a Vishous and Butch vibe about him and Jethro. (Shut up Barbara B.*g*)

Unlike lots of other Lora Leigh heroines, Keiley didn’t actually make me want to gag, even though she was super sweet, and was kind to animals. She was a sympathetic character, yet slightly edgier than the average LL Cool L heroine. She wasn’t about to be messed around by anyone, including her adoring husband. Her childhood hadn’t been a picnic either, but I’m glad to say that Lora didn’t beat us over the head with that particular backstory.

In case you were wondering, this is supposed to be a Romantic Suspense, but seeing as I guessed who the baddie was the minute he was introduced in the book, it kinda fell short of being credible. The suspense sub-plot was so thin, it was virtually anorexic, and really, it should have been left out altogether, because it was at times, very disjointed, and quite frankly, totally pointless.

Overall, Forbidden Pleasure was an easy book to read, and had it not been for the stupid sub-plot involving the slightly dim-witted stalker, it would have been a fantastic read.

I still enjoyed it, but then again, as I admitted earlier, I am a Lora Leigh Fangirl.

You can visit Lora Leigh here, read an excerpt here, and pre-order Forbidden Pleasure when it’s released on the 12th June here.

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