Tuesday, March 13, 2007
The Possession of Celia
***½ The Possession of Celia by M. S. Valentine. Erotica.
This is a sequel to a previous book, and one of the bargains I bought when the Venus Book Club closed.
Celia's fiance Colin is wanted for a murder he didn't commit, so the two of them flee to France, a move which Colin hopes will release Celia from the hold his cousin, Sir Jason Hardwicke, has over both of them. But Celia finds her considerate and tender lover too tame now, and with them short of funds in a foreign country where they don't speak the language, it isn't long until Sir Jason catches up with them again.
I'm mildly curious about what happened in The Captivity of Celia, because there are so many flashbacks in Possession that it's hard to imagine that I've missed anything of importance. In fact, even events that occur after the start of Possession are told in flashbacks, a style that I found dizzying and thus irritating. Someone starts to do something, then all of a sudden they're thinking about what happened the day or the month before. It makes for an atmospheric read, but not a very coherent one.
I might have enjoyed the atmosphere, but one of the biggest factors of whether or not I'll enjoy erotica is if I can enjoy the particular fantasy. This one is, as is evident from the title, D/s, which is fine, but Sir Jason's tactics in this book involve dominating Celia into having sex with women. I don't mind one or two scenes like that, but it's really not my cuppa, and it got to be pretty boring and repetitious after a while.
I'm guessing I'd have enjoyed the first book more, but I'm not planning on going out of my way to look for it.
...more
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, Erotica
Labels: 3.5 stars, books, erotica
