Review: Maybe I'm the wrong age for this.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 03 10, 2014
Yet another BDSM-flavoured romance to cater to the overly-enthusiastic dabbler crowd.  Not the worst I've read, but none of the books I could describe in such a way would ever be high up on my list of things to recommend to others.  As far as BDSM or D/s goes, I figure you might as well read the best if you're going to read anything at all.  This doesn't qualify in that bracket.That said, it's not terrible.  I wasn't a fan of anyone in this book, but none of them are so bad as to warrant throwing my phone across the room, so that's something.  I was particularly NOT fond of Alexandre ... which is awkward, since he's meant to be the scintillating hero of the story, someone who dazzles the titular Pearl into doing everything he wants.  It just doesn't work.  Alexandre is neurotic and hypocritical, arrogant and inconsistent.  As a Dom, I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him (and from the description Richmonde gives of his physical build, I wouldn't even be able to pick him up).  There's the fact that he claims not to be into any of that stuff -- bondage, power play, etc.  Yet it's all right there as soon as he gets Pearl in the bedroom.  He never explains this discrepancy, and Pearl is too chicken (or desperate for attention) to demand some kind of firm stance from him.His sister Sophie is a fleeting figure -- possibly she gets more airtime in the subsequent novels.  I'm not going to read them, so I guess I'll never find out, but from what little we are told of her, she comes off as a woman with a lot of intelligence and street smarts, little to no self-control, and horribly violent tendencies.  Provoked?  You could argue that.  It doesn't change the disgusting mental image Richmonde chooses to leave with you when Sophie's past is partially revealed.  Not too keen to get to know her with that kind of introduction.Pearl herself comes across as flighty, weak, and as I said, desperate.  She isn't the sort of heroine I'd root for, though perhaps her overly-realistic failings might make her easier to empathise with for older or similar readers.  The title of this review comes into play here: possibly Richmonde's target audience is older than I am (somewhere at the nether end of my twenties).  Pearl's ripe for the picking, of course ... but I haven't read many books in this genre that so highlight a heroine's pitiful state of emotional neglect.  In "A Taste of Pearl", it isn't just a facet of who she is and what she's bringing to the story -- it's almost all of her character, i.e. 'Pearl, the woman who hasn't had decent sex ... pretty much ever'.  Alexandre sweeps in, all handsome, charming, successful, brooding, and tormented, and she falls over into his arms with nary a protest.It bored me more than anything else.  As a free taster for the rest of the series, it didn't do its job of hooking me in -- in fact, it made me want to avoid anything else by this author.  She's not a bad writer in a technical sense, but ye gods, give me characters I can get all emotional over, whether that's in loving or hating them (instead of merely feeling contempt for them)!  Give me a plot that I can sink my teeth into!  Give me a reason to tell my friends about your book!And don't leave a mediocre story on such a ridiculous cliffhanger at the end.  When the bait fails that hard, it just feels like the ultimate reason not to continue a series.