Review: NO WAY: not a single mature adult in sight
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 04 3, 2011
NO SPOILERS or plot summaries.HIGH LEVEL: Book 1 in a sci-fi erotica series set in Earth's relatively near future. This book shows no respect for women whatsoever. While there were definitely some very hot scenes, this was an irritating story. It was very well written, but it was well written garbage. Unfortunately, the ENTIRE plot sequence was based on the inability of the main characters to have an adult conversation. Every single thing that went wrong could have been avoided if they sat down and TALKED. And I was unable to enjoy the fabulous sex scenes because it basically amounted to rape: NO MEANS NO, even if there are pheromones involved that cause unwanted arousal. I just wanted to cry every time they started fooling around because all I could think of was how desperately Olivia DIDN'T WANT TO BE WITH HIM.CHARACTERS: Told from both characters' first person perspective, we got to know them both pretty well. One saving grace to this story is that Baird, the male lead, was actually a very sympathetic character when I was reading his perspective- even if he was an arrogant idiot- but from her perspective, he was awful. I really wanted to like him, but his complete inability to respect Olivia's wishes and talk to her like an adult just made me want to beat the crap out of him. Olivia was also almost likeable, except that she was also unable to just address things head on with Baird. One example: Baird decided to FORBID Olivia from leaving the room, rather than just bloody explaining to her the dangers of going out without him, and Olivia just acted sarcastic and rebellious instead of bothering to ASK WHY. For goodness sakes, people, Darwin's Law applies here.PLOT: Decent enough set up for a sci-fi erotica and would have made for a fantastic story if it had been handled differently. Instead of two rational adults- who could have acknowledged their attraction and then tried to find a way to make it work- we ended up with selfish, immature fools who spent their time fighting and alternately lying to each other and teasing each other. Also, there was absolutely NO ROOM made in the plot for Baird to make any compromises to accommodate Olivia- it was all about Olivia sacrificing her entire life for him. He was just supposed to convince her it was a good idea. Yeah- I guess the concept women's liberation never made it into our future.BOTTOM LINE: This was infuriating at best and offensive at worst. In fact, I'd call this book a travesty mainly because the author clearly has serious writing talent. The writing itself was very well done- the sex was very erotic, the characters very sympathetic- but because the actions and events were based on STUPIDITY it just made it painful to read. If you're the kind of person who likes a story about a woman who finds a man who is willing to worship her physically and you're not worried about whether she manages to maintain her own life, then you might like this. But if you're the kind of person who thinks keeping a woman locked up in the bedroom for the rest of her life is offensive, avoid this like the plague.