Review: Innocence and Erotica
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 11, 2012
I read, enjoyed and reviewed Vonda Norwood's first novel, "Facebook Breaks Up Marriages, LOL" but, it took reading her second novel, "Indie Authors Make Better Lovers" to confirm what I got a hint of in the first.  And, that is that you absolutely cannot remove this writer's persona from her novel.The theme of her first novel was innocence versus infidelity--and, I mean infidelity on multiple levels.  I suppose that's the same as saying "Innocence versus its loss"!  I shouldn't tell you more than this, because you really need to read it to understand all its ramifications.  But, I will lift up just a corner to peek at the most basic level of innocence.  The first time I encountered the protagonist responding to a moment of surprise with the outcry, "What the heck!" I smiled, thinking I was dealing with a prude.  Her verbal reaction was in stark contrast with the situation which elicited it.  And, what was warranted was at least a "hell" ... if not the perhaps overused, and usually-unflinched-at, "F-bomb".  But, "What the heck" was what came out of the mouth of--let me say it--the author, Vonda Norwood.That said, few readers will come away from reading "Facebook Breaks Up Marriages, LOL" with anything but the feeling of being thoroughly entertained and, I might even add--titillated!With "Indie Authors Make Better Lovers" Vonda Norwood, the author, ramps up the heat--a lot!  Exploring another level of the theme "innocence versus infidelity", the setting is an erotica convention at a mountain resort in Wyoming.  Mr. Rascal, a man with whom Vonda, the protagonist, has had a strained writer vs. writer professional relationship over the years, is there as well.  Something has to happen! Add to the pot of plot "stew" a sudden, violent storm that drenches Vonda on her way to her cabin (eliciting her exclamation "What the heck!")  Inject a serendipitous meeting with Mr. Rascal while Mrs. Rascal is quietly getting hammered in the resort's bar and ... well, I'll leave the rest to Vonda Norwood's (the author's) exemplary imagination.As with Vonda Norwood's first book, I think the reader will come away from the experience of "Indie Authors Make Better Lovers" with a feeling of being entertained, certainly, but also of having shared with the protagonist and author the age-old tension between innocence and its loss.