The Art of Desire (Berkley Heat, #1) in Alpha Heroes & Spitfire Heroines

Sep 03, 2008 Eastofoz rated it it was ok

Shelves: contemporary, western-frontier, erotica

A sex-fest is all this book was 鈥搘e鈥檙e talking every 5 pages or so it seemed there were some very graphic sex scenes, and that鈥檚 all well and good if there was at least some emotional development between the h/hs. Unfortunately there wasn鈥檛, so what I had anticipated to be a good read that had an original story line turned out to be just a tedious romp that got boring fast.

The book has a very good title. It describes both the desire felt by the woman who painted her Indian outlaw lover and the A sex-fest is all this book was 鈥搘e鈥檙e talking every 5 pages or so it seemed there were some very graphic sex scenes, and that鈥檚 all well and good if there was at least some emotional development between the h/hs. Unfortunately there wasn鈥檛, so what I had anticipated to be a good read that had an original story line turned out to be just a tedious romp that got boring fast.

The book has a very good title. It describes both the desire felt by the woman who painted her Indian outlaw lover and the gallery curator who is having a torrid affair with the great great (maybe another great in there) relative of the Indian outlaw. The story is mostly told in the present from the gallery curator鈥檚 end, Mandy, and how she鈥檚 having this ongoing roll in the hay with her lover Jared. He鈥檚 Mr-Hot-to-Trot-I-Screw-Anything-that-Breathes. His 鈥渉otness鈥� gets old and his intimacy issues get even more annoying. He comes across as too smooth, too suave and way too much of a player, but he鈥檚 good in bed and then some so Mandy puts up with the rest. She likes the adventure and the unexpected with this self-proclaimed bad-boy. The guy鈥檚 got a fat head and needs to go down a notch or two if you ask me. This is also one of those May/December romances. There is one part where Mandy and her friend hook up with this really skanky broad named Amber (Jared's former lover) who regales them with all her sexual exploits 鈥揳nd the woman has been around the ol鈥� block a few more times than average that鈥檚 for sure. It feels like teenagers trying to get one up on each other.

The parallel story is set on the American frontier where the woman who painted the painting in the museum, Catherine, ends up with the Indian outlaw, Atacar. She keeps a journal describing their love affair and her story is told through the journal, so it's first person writing. The heroine in the contemporary is trying to find this long lost journal for the gallery. Catherine is this wild bohemian who left her parents in England because she just didn鈥檛 fit in so she goes to America where things are more relaxed. Sounds like a good story right, well it鈥檚 not. It鈥檚 very clear early on that the ladies are horn dogs which is fine and they are more than satisfied with their lovers sexual prowess, but that鈥檚 about it. I didn鈥檛 feel any connection outside of the mad bad sex between the couples. The story turns out to be very one dimensional when all is said and done. There is an interesting side story about the language of flowers, what they mean and how people communicated secretly back in the day that I thought was well-done.

As for the sex, well it鈥檚 one of those burn your eyes out of your head and your fingers off your hand kind of story, but there鈥檚 just way too much. It鈥檚 a fine line that an erotica author has to walk between a good story that doesn鈥檛 stagnate, graphic sex without going overboard and putting in sex scenes for the sake of doing so because it鈥檚 erotica. The sex here is really 鈥渋n your face鈥�, blatant, anatomical almost. There is no anal sex or BDSM but believe me you get more than enough "variety" with what's given. It lacks sensuality and there are some really ick/yuck moments that had me going 鈥渆w鈥� a few times. Graphic sex works if there鈥檚 good emotional development to go along with it. If it鈥檚 just gratuitous, well, I think you have to like reading that to enjoy the story. The writing is generally good, a few typos here and there but nothing major.

So here's the scoop: if you鈥檙e looking for sex every which way till Sunday to be the focal point of a book then you just may like this one. If you want a strong story with the sex, then pick up something else because you won鈥檛 get that here. 2.5 stars for me.
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Jul 03, 2010 Kelly rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, 2010-read

I'm putting The Art of Desire on my Favorite shelf because I would highly recommend this book for lovers of contemporary romance, Historical romance and erotica. It has all 3 and does all 3 perfectly.

I've read other books with a story in a story theme and usually one story out shines the other but in this case both are strong and I loved both equally!

While the writing is excellent the editing is not. I found several mistakes that pulled me out of the book and had me rereading lines.

Both h/h's h ...more

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