It was no fun. I wanted it to be over. The ending was depressing and unfinished. I wish I had not read the book.
GENRE CONFUSION:
I bought this because it was labeled “Erotic Romance” in RT Book Reviews magazine. Unfortunately it was mislabeled and should have been called “Erotic Fiction.” Romance is defined as having a happy ending, this book does not. The couple starts out happy, and then they slowly break up during the book, which again is the opposite of “romance.” I would not have bought it if it had been correctly labeled. Although the word “fiction” appears on the side of the book, Amazon’s product page does not show or state this. Again, making it difficult for the buyer to know what they’re getting.
STORY BRIEF:
Tamia was a porn star to pay for college. She wore a mask in her movies to keep her identity secret. Since then she has been working for an ad agency and doing well. Her boyfriend Brandon is the son of a wealthy politician. Tamia is doing everything she can to get Brandon to marry her, including lying to him about her past as a porn star, her current address, and her sister in prison. Dominic discovers Tamia’s identity and threatens to tell her boss and Brandon about her porn star past if she does not become his lover. She becomes his lover and enjoys it. She also tells more lies to Brandon as she spends time with Dominic. All the characters in this book are African-American with a lot of ethnic phrases.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
THE BAD:
It’s hard to enjoy a book when you don’t like the heroine. I did not like Tamia. I had no sympathy for her. She made bad decisions with a disastrous ending, and the reader has no idea what will happen to her. It’s a hanging, unfinished, unsatisfying ending. Prior to the end, I felt this was a 2 star book, primarily because I did not enjoy the romantic relationship being torn apart. But the end was so depressing that I reduced it to 1 star.
I was unhappy with unanswered questions about Dominic and Tamia’s sister Fiona. Fiona’s motives and actions were so unrelated to the plot, they were weird, like they were pulled out of the air to give a twist to the book, but they didn’t fit. There were some other odd plot pieces that felt thrown in and not completed, for example Lou and the FBI.
Something else I didn’t like - too much repetitive wealth exaggeration. It seemed like every fifth page or so, there was a mention of some top-tier luxury lifestyle item. All the main characters wear expensive designer clothes, work in prestigious places, and are smarter than everyone else. This included Brandon, his parents, Tamia, Dominic, and Cynthia. It rubbed me wrong – like the author was bragging about all this upper-class wealth and spending. It felt superficial, pretentious, and snobby. It was hard to relate to such perfect people with their perfect lifestyles. I prefer interesting personalities with some vulnerability - more genuine people.
THE GOOD:
I think the writer has a good writing style. I would enjoy reading her work if she used a different plot and had some depth to her characters. There were a lot of really good, hot sex scenes.
DATA:
Story length: 323 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: strong/erotic. Number of sex scenes: 10. Estimated number of sex scene pages: 12. Setting: current day Houston, Texas. Copyright: 2011. Genre: Erotic fiction, African-American.