Review: 3.5 stars for short erotic suspense -- classic Rice
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 27, 2012
*********3.5 stars -- maybe a bit more -- for this new erotic suspense by Lisa Marie Rice. I enjoyed it. It's a sexy novella set in Sicily, with the urgent, ball busting sex Lisa Marie is known for. There is minimal sexual anticipation, the kettle boils over almost at first glance. The sexy times are accompanied by some emotional bonding (not enough for me) and a bit of suspense (some improbabilities and one too stupid to live (TSTL) moment).I liked this book but I didn't love it. It's not as good asDangerous Lover,Dangerous Passion, andEllora's Cave Presents Midnight Angel (Midnight Series, Book 3). But that is probably partly because it's a novella.Spoiler Free!! I list the positives first, then the more questionable bits. No spoilers.---The good stuff, the bits I liked:The POV shifts from Jamie to Stefano, with one short detour into the traitor's mind. We hardly spend any time at all reading about what the villain is thinking or feeling. This compares favorably with, for one example, Pursuit, written under her pen name Elizabeth Jennings (I lovedPursuit, but not the long detours into the psychopath's mind).The tension builds around WHO is betraying Stefano. I thought it was someone else (but we weren't given many breadcrumbs).Jamie knew what she wanted, and so did Stef, so they got down to it. No guilt. No dithering.Jamie faced a dilemma with two ugly options. I liked how she reasoned out what to do.That very first meeting, in his office. Classic Rice.The first sex scene -- phew! (even though the emotional bond didn't feel strong yet).Playtime: The race. The bet. The prize. Happy times. :-)The descriptive setting, at the beginning, when Rice illustrated Palermo in the summer. It felt authentic and vivid. The setting is similar to her other novella,Port Of Paradise.I chuckled when the inspector searched Jamie's colored pencils, examining each one carefully to see if it was a weapon or a camera, etc. Jamie watches this with a blank expression while thinking, "It must be exhausting to be a spy."The way technology was included in the plot.Well written. The dialogue flowed (what little there was). Only 1 typo. Hardly any cussing or profanity, which I appreciate.--- The iffy stuff, not so great (no spoilers):Insta-luv trope. And that would have been okay, cuz I've learned to expect it of Rice and of short stories in general, but she made such a point of the fact that Stefano had been without sex for three years or more that the love-motive lost credibility -- lust seemed the more likely cause of the connection. This perspective was fortified by the fact that Jamie kept mentally comparing sex with her old lovers against sex with Stefano -- unfavorably, of course.What's with the sudden, cold way Stefano behaved, later in the book? Felt out of character.I find it hard to believe that the Mafia goons did not take Jamie's _____ from her, and did not check or clear the _____.An exasperating (but touching) TSTL moment, near the end. Jamie gives girls a bad name. But it was sweet.As with many of her books, Rice includes inner dialogue. It's a pet peeve of mine, especially when the characters start repeating the same thoughts. That happened in this book -- not too bad, but more than I wanted -- and it seems a waste of text, especially considering the page constraints in a novella.It ended abruptly and needed an epilogue.This is nit-picky, but "penumbra" shows up in nearly every book. At least "gelid" didn't make an appearance. Instead we got "detumesce" -- which is fine, since it's not repeatedly used by Rice.Still, it's classic Rice -- erotic and suspenseful, with a super-protective alpha lover.************