Novel Review: Crave: The Seduction of Snow White by Cathy Yardley

Genre: Erotica/Adult Romance (with sex! sex is a main point in this book!)

Rating (Out of 5): ~2 (maybe 2.5)

Publisher: HarperCollins (Avon Red)

Spoilers?: Somewhat Minor.

Buy it here: Amazon. Book Depository. Barnes & Noble. Powells (or this one).

Goodreads Synopsis:

When a woman is ripe for the picking . . .

Beth Cordova's life is no fairy tale. Having barely escaped the evil grasp of her wicked stepmother, this "missing princess" seeks refuge in a strict commune where carnal pleasures are forbidden.

Sometimes just one bite of the apple . . .

Her world is lonely and void of intimacy, until the charming Stephen Trent arrives at the commune. Suddenly Beth yearns for a man's touch, the feel of his lips on hers . . . and Stephen is eager to show this pure-as-snow princess that she can still be the sensual woman she was once upon a time.

Is all it takes to unleash her desires...

But all is not what it seems, and the stunning beauty finds herself again in danger, her stepmother hot on her trail. The commune's founders will not tolerate the pair, yet fleeing its walls could prove fatal. Trapped in a world where passion is outlawed, can Beth live happily ever after?

Review:

I was expecting to like this book a lot more, particularly because of how much I enjoyed Enslave. And I feel like part of the reason I didn’t enjoy it is my fault.

Beth is living in a commune where men and women are separate and there can be no mingling between the two, and Stephen is a reporter coming in to see if there’s some big secret behind what they’re doing.

I’m going to cover the commune first: the commune is freakin’ crazy. For one, I just don’t like that sort of life style, how women take care of the home and men work (although, if that’s how someone wants to live, then go ahead), and particularly how they are not allowed to interact with each other at all. The women, in this instance, aren’t even allowed outside the fence, and men only when they go out to work. It’s ridiculous.

Then there’s the fact that they’re also kind of killing people. Not, like, all the time, but when someone steps out of line and is caught (which almost never happens), they get punished. And while part of it is publicly, the actual killing part is kept away from the public, so they don’t have to face it or see it happening. It’s horrible, really. The people heading the commune are mostly at fault, but the citizens of the commune just get excited about the punishing and goad them on, which isn’t really any better.

Oh, there’s also the fact that Beth is running from her wicked step-mother, seeing as how Beth is Snow White. Her step-mother, while we didn’t get to see much of her, I didn’t particularly like. And the ending for that plot worked out very nicely.

The ending in general, actually, for the romance, the commune, and the evil step-mother bit, all worked out rather well. That’s probably my favorite part. The only part I actually liked, really.

Now, the romance part: my biggest problem is how obviously lust at first sight it was. And how that lust turned, very quickly, into I-want-to-run-away-with-you-and-protect-you-Love. Part of the reason it bothered me, I think, is how I read a couple other books with a similar element really close to this one, but mostly I just don’t think I liked how it was done in this one.

There was also the fact that I didn’t particularly love Beth or Stephen, and the sex wasn’t very good. For instance, there were two instances in the book, near the end, where I thought the two should, instead of having sex, talk and comfort each other. You know, get to know each other. Instead, they had sex. One of the instances, even, they were supposed to be keeping quiet and hiding, and I just didn’t think the sex was needed then. And, really, when someone (like me) says that the sex wasn't needed or good, something is wrong here.

So, overall, I didn’t particularly like this book. The killing part of the commune was exciting, and the ending was good. That’s about it. I do still plan on reading Yardley’s other books, her Sleeping Beauty retelling in particular, and I hope that it’s better.

Novel Review: Enslave: the Taming of the Beast by Cathy Yardley

Genre: Erotica Contemporary Romance

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: HarperCollins (Red Avon)

Spoilers?: No/Minor.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A desperate beauty enslaved . . .
Nadia Bessonova's career-criminal father has deadly enemies--and to save him, his devoted daughter is willing to make a bargain with the devil himself. She will surrender completely, body and spirit, to the dangerous Dominic Luder, and submit to his every whim.

A tormented beast enthralled . . .
Haunted by inner demons and hiding away in his dark, secluded manor, Dominic is mesmerized by his sensuous prisoner who inflames his bestial lust. But Nadia is no mere plaything. At once fearful, willing, and wildly passionate, she brings his most breathtaking erotic fantasies to life--and thaws his cold, wounded heart.

A perilous path to a happy ending . . .
But Nadia never dreamed she'd become slave to her own desires in a savage game of seduction and revenge. And now that he has tasted ecstasy, will a jealous, magnificent beast be able to relinquish his prize?

Review:

I’m a little embarrassed to admit how much I liked this book. I try not to hold erotic or adult romance books on too high a level, mainly because I’m usually not very impressed with them. They usually have the characters jumping into things too quickly, or not very enticing characters, or not enough chemistry. They’re not usually very amazingly written stories. But sometimes I get surprised, and this book surprised me.

Now, I’m not saying that this book was amazingly written, with great characters or any of that stuff. And I’m sure that there are going to be several people that look at this book, and that read this book, and do not like what happened. But, for some reason, I did.

I found this book by chance, and thought it sounded good. And it’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling, which I didn’t know until I’d already started it. Finding this out made me pay more attention to certain things, and yet still didn’t make me dislike the book any more than I already did, which was not much at all.

Enslave’s main character is Nadia, one of three sisters, whose father deals with crime. And when her father goes a bit too far and ends up in Dominic’s debt, Nadia gives herself to Dominic so he won’t kill her family. And so Nadia ends up as a slave to Dominic, while her sister Jelena is trying to find a way to get her back.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the relationship between Nadia and Dominic. I probably shouldn’t, but I rather liked Dominic. He’s rough around the edges, but he actually does care for Nadia, and I liked the ending. And I liked Nadia, as well. She wasn’t too selfless, and she stood up to Dominic when it needed to be done. They had some problems with the whole, being-locked-up thing, but that worked itself out.

I was definitely surprised by what happened with Jelena. That was not a plot-line that I saw coming, and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d have liked. She’s really quite the bitch, and goes overboard even if she thinks what she’s doing is right. I’m not going to say too much more on this, though, because that could be major spoilers.

I did not like Nadia and Jelena’s father. He’s, just, pathetic. And despicable. I didn’t like him, and felt the sisters should have stuck up to him way before they did.

One problem that I did have with the story, is that I wasn’t quite sure what time it was set in. Nadia’s family is from Russia, and one of them was sold as a mail-order-bride, and where they live and how they live hints at an older time, but they have very new cars and cellphones… This very well could be set in modern times, but it felt like it should have been in the past.

Oh, also: sex. There is a lot of sex in this book. Not only between Nadia and Dominic, either. And there’s some kinky stuff happening, and a threesome, and some lesbian stuff. There’s sex in almost every chapter, too, but mixed in with actual plot movement.

And even with all the sex and Jelena, I read this book really fast. It was a while ago, but it was in less than two days, I know. I was surprised with how quickly the book went by, how easy it was to get through.

So, yea, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. And if I ever stumble upon another of Yardley’s books, I will be getting it.