Portia da Costa has done it again! Or perhaps I should say, Black Lace has done it again - with a reprint of her 1996 novel 'Gothic Blue.' This is a timeless novel that is as fresh today as it was over ten years ago. It lives up to its erotica label from the very start - a prelude in which we are introduced to Count Andre von Kassel and the evil Countess Isidora Katori. The spell that is cast on the Count divides him from his true love, Arabelle, for all time - or at least, for four hundred plus years, when the arrival of Belinda Seward and her lover, Jonathan Sumner, at the Count's dilapidated manse gives the slumbering, suffering Count Kassel new hope.
While his blonde, mute, gorgeous servants (two females and a male) keep Lindi and Johnny `occupied' when they're not happily occupied with each other, it is the developing relationship between Andre and Lindi that drives the story forward. Will she succumb to his advances (yes), will it be all she imagines (oh yes) will she help him in his quest to lift the curse before the equally ageless Isidora interferes? The answer to that question I leave to you to discover when you read the book.
Elements of fairy tales and magic and timeless love meld seamlessly with a whole lot of steamy sex to make this book a winner. Congratulations, Ms da Costa, on this reprint. It's a great way to launch a reader into the incomparable imagination of the lively, lovely work of Portia da Costa - and a treat for anyone already familiar with her reliable, riveting prose.
