Fantasy Lover (Dark-Hunter World) (Paperback)

Kenyon keeps her tongue firmly in her cheek as we watch thoroughly modern, hopelessly cynical Grace Alexander, stumble through said procedure to please her superstitious friend and accidentally find a naked Spartan demi god in her living room. Of course from their on in we have every woman's fantasy unfurling before our very eyes. Julian is incredibly attractive and sensitive, firm and of course is... how shall I put this delicately? Constantly ..ehem ... at the ready to fulfil his obligations as a sex god. The story lies in Graces desire not only to have his body but free him from the pages of the book that denies him his liberty.

Kenyon certainly can rival Johanna Lindsey for coming up with ideas that make her storytelling refreshingly unusual. I can't say she has as much talent, though the humour is there, the situations and responses are a tad too predictable to surprise a genuine laugh out of you, but you certainly smile. The plot gets a bit tangled as greek god and goddesses pop in and out of thin air but it does make you want to brush up on your greek literature. The sex or rather the foreplay (you'll see what I mean when you read the book..) is pretty darn hot but lacks perhaps the sensuality of say Karen Robard or Julie Garwood (historical). Nevertheless, this book is entertaining and sexy and certainly pricks your imagination (no pun intended)... sex god in my living room, humm ... what a great idea, the possibilities are endless!!

Grace, however, isn't a believer in casual sex; her only previous experience was with a man who hurt her very much and then made fun of her publicly afterwards. She's not, therefore, about to jump into bed with a perfect stranger, no matter how attractive he is or how sexily he talks to her. Julian, on the other hand, is compelled to want her as a result of the curse which put him inside the book, and he also recognises that she needs someone to teach her to enjoy sex. And he's determined to do just that!

I thought at this point that the book was going to be a pure romp. But in fact it ended up being very much deeper. Julian is a tortured soul; he had a loveless life before being cursed, and ever since he's been treated abusively by the women who summoned him, in some cases chained to their beds, never allowed anywhere except their bedrooms, and frequently having to plead for food as a reward for sex. To them, he was a body, not a man.

Grace is determined to treat him better than that; he is determined to help her overcome her distrust of men. But even if both manage to achieve their objectives, there is still the hard fact that at the next full moon Julian will disappear back into the book, to be trapped there until the next time someone summons him. Can they treat this as a short-lived relationship? Or is there a way to break the curse?

The book's poignant as well as funny, and I thoroughly enjoyed it - enough to keep an eye out for the second in the series.

wmr-uk