Review: Breaking away from your sisters' thumbs by doing IT with 4 men, selling intimate apparel and having Bad Guys trying to get you
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 1, 2011
Book 1 of a new series "Orchidea: Love on the Bayou". No further books available at the time of this review.Plot:Under the onslaught of testosterone Angelique fights to maintain her independence, and her heart. But when her body keeps betraying her, and with their undoubted lust and love, she will have to accept that these four Alpha men can give her the HEA she wants.Comments:- Contemporary Menage romance with small suspense plot.- 4684 kindle locations, 75,765 words.- 1f with various combinations of 1, 2, 3 or 4 men - explicit, generous, loving. No m/m (brothers). Some erotic spanking. Typical of Dwyer's erotica, when Angelique takes the plunge she goes in the deep end. Night 1 and we go for it multiple times including an unprepared backdoor. Lucky the bath the next morning cured all her ills! Aiming for a committed five-some.- Angelique was abused by a previous boyfriend. It was only about 12 months prior, and she ended up in hospital. It makes her wary of entering a relationship with 4 controlling men, but hardly slows her down.- According to Dwyer's website, the series "Orchidea: Love on the Bayou" shares "the love stories of five sisters trying to survive on the Bayou". Sisters are: Ellena, Angelina, Mikayla, Illeana and, the youngest, Angelique. They all live in (small town) Orchidea, about 30 minutes from New Orleans.- Dwyer works hard to maintain the flavour of New Orleans and it's surrounding areas, including activities, places and the unique dialect of the area to place the reader firmly in the Bayou. The only drawback to this is including the accent in dialogue; this can make for difficult reading and may be a turn off to some readers. (And it's surprisingly Yoda-like: "Happy as can be you are").Opinion:A nice erotic menage story with a strong plot, and still heavily relationship driven. While the men are Dominant Alpha males, they aren't overly controlling; yes, typical of Dwyer's stories, they want it all, *now*, but they also try really hard to see where Angelique is coming from.Disappointingly, my e-version could have had some tighter proof-reading (eg calling our heroine "Stacy", some time-shifting issues), and the suspense plot wasn't as well explored as it could have been, but it's still a nice read and sets up the sisters' future books nicely.I'm giving this book 3 stars because, while typical of Dwyer's writing, it isn't as polished as some of her other work, and because, IMO, it just isn't all that memorable.Aside: One of the major plot points in "Angelique" is her owning an online lingerie store. It is heavily emphasised, particularly as the author has opened her own. Part of me was wondering if this is a great big ad for Dwyer's store (especially when she has an "Angelique" range!), but in the end I decided that was unfair. It is no more an issue than a heroine who just happens to be an author, or a Christian, or a book that includes the knitting pattern or recipe. Who an author is and what she does and knows will flavour her writing. However Dwyer walks a fine line here. Some readers will rave about Dwyer branching out, and love the erotic add-on of an Angelique baby-doll. Others won't.-CR-