Robin Schone writes historical erotica in such a way that is both emotional and nuanced, yet hotter than sin. Explicit sex is great, but there is a dusting of realism that isn't found in the more happy Rake/Rogue/Spinster tropes. The "romantic suspense" part of the plot (isn't there always that in an historical romance?) has a much darker and emotional aspect not usually seen. There is more to this book than than you would expect. If you are a fan of the darker romances, then give this a shot. However it should be said that "The Lover" should be read before. Since this is the sequel. ( )

La noche de la reinauguración de la Casa de Gabriel, uno de los más famosos establecimientos dedicados al sexo en Londres, Victoria Childers subasta su virginidad ante los asombrados clientes. Gabriel, el dueño del local, ofrece dos mil libras por ella, convencido de que ha sido enviada por un antiguo enemigo para matarle. Sin embargo, Victoria no es una asesina, sino una antigua institutriz a quien la necesidad de sobrevivir a la pobreza y a su propia soledad obliga a tomar esa drástica decisión.

xx ( )

I saw this book/author described as having spare prose. Boy, was it spare. To the point of uselessness. I don't know if my reading comprehension would have been assisted by having read the first book or not, but the incessant description of the nameless, faceless enemy as "the second man" (without capitalization) was confusing and annoying (particularly whenever there was a generic second man around).

Gabriel's love-hate relationship with his best friend was inconsistent and annoying, too. In fact, everything about the way Gabriel was written was confusing and annoying, including (or because of) the pacing of the events. Another reviewer mentioned that they thought Michael and Gabriel were the ones in love and should have been together. I agree wholeheartedly. If I cared to think about it, I might be a little miffed that the author chose to take them both in a heterosexual direction instead of making them both bisexual. (Ah, but we all know bisexuality is the redheaded stepchild of LBGT [in fact, I don't even know why they include the B since the Ls and Gs seem to despise them], so making them bisexual would be just as fraught.)

Now, I'm as much a sucker for insta-lust as the next girl, but when I don't know who's lusting for whom for quite a while (because there's a silver-haired villain and a blond hero who is quickly begun to be described as silver-haired and silver-eyed), it's annoying as hell.

Also, Gabriel's descriptions, Michael's descriptions, and descriptions of maybe two or three of Gabriel's sentiments were repeated over and over and over and over and over again. It was like the word count needed padding and so this information was repeated ad nauseam. Sadly, for as many times as the two or three plot points were repeated, they were never clarified.

I liked the heroine. From the little business at the end between her and the heroine of the previous book, I'm thinking they're carbon copies of each other.

And the plot was convoluted, which is fine, but that much convolution dragging on for fifteen years was just this side of fantastical.

Since this is an erotic romance, I'll speak to the copious sex: There was a lot of it. And more. It was dry and uninteresting for all the reasons I stated above.

I will say this: The author's expertise in Victorian indoor plumbing is astonishing. I learned quite a bit. ( )

Reading the first conversation Victoria has with Gabriel, when she's so naked and vulnerable, and admits to wanting sex very badly, was really hard for me. It hit me in a nails on a chalkboard kind of way; I was upset and hated Victoria for saying what she did.

It was only later that I understood why that conversation had such a powerful effect on me, when I realized why I liked the book so much. Victoria has this "my sexuality is a beast within me" sort of attitude...she's not just a lady coming to terms with the fact that women like sex too (i.e., a common thing in historicals), she's really grappling with her sexuality at its most terrifying and base. The uncontrollable nature of desire; desire that knows no limits, that can be manipulated above and beyond her control. It finally occured to me that I really, really understood where she was coming from and that's why she made me so uncomfortable. Her actions and feelings were disturbingly real to me.

Gabriel is grappling with the same issues, though from the side of experience rather than innocence. He isn't just frightened of what desire can do to him; he knows. And he is so horrified by what he has been made to do - even more, by what he has been made to feel - that he's shut himself off against any kind of sensual fulfillment.

It's actually even more complicated than that; he spent so many years as a prostitute that, for example, great sex doesn't really have any meaning for him; it's something that he knows how to manufacture.

Gabriel's Woman is all about crossing boundaries. What does it mean to beg? When is it good and when is it bad? How close are pain and pleasure; where exactly does the fuzzy border between them end? How do you use the body in order to forge a connection between souls?

Sex, in Gabriel's Woman, is all about trust and vulnerability; that's the only thing that really matters, what makes the experience meaningful. As erotic as this book is (and it's full of very intense sex - explicit sex talk, voyeurism, and the only anal sex scene I have ever read in a romance novel) I was struck by the fact that Schone ultimately shifts the real importance of Gabriel & Victoria's connection away from a sexual one. In a more harlequiney novel, they would touch and sparks would fly and they'd be meant for one another. In Gabriel's Lover, the pleasure of sex is secondary to physical and emotional nakedness.

My only complaint is all the bad French in the book. There are enough French-speakers in the world that an author or editor ought to be able to find one to check their language before a book is published. And, as a French-speaker, I cannot describe how aggravating it is to read sentences that are literal translations of English phrases that do not have the same meaning in French, bad grammar, poor spelling, missing accent marks that totally change the meaning of the words ( )