"Contemporary Gothic Erotic Romance"
Contemporary Gothic Erotic Romance Length: Novella, Rating: NC-17 Jaid Black's Tremors is a gothic erotic romance set in
modern Sweden. The story begins with Marie Robb, the
heroine, exiting her Saab on a dark road in the middle of
nowhere. She runs into Fredrik Sorebo, or rather, he
catches up to her. He takes her to his dark ancestral home
and ravishes her. The gothic elements of fear, uncertainty, a dark and
forbidding hero, and a mysterious, uncontrollable setting
are all there. A mystery surrounds Fredrik's past, a
whispered-about incident with a young woman. Marie,
however, is not your typical gothic heroine. She is no
shrinking virgin, for one! Marie eagerly engages in varied
types of sexual play with her lover, including a delicious
scene with fruit... The one incident that brands her as
a "classical" gothic heroine is when she flees from the
rumors surrounding Fredrik, leaving him and their cozy
world behind. Though Marie and Fredrik's relationship was never the
highly tentative and achingly erotic tightrope walk of a
real gothic, the story was, nonetheless, quite intriguing.
Fredrik's hopelessness was a palpable force, at first.
Marie became his savior and his light in the darkness -- he
was unable to let her go. Admittedly, the book has its weak spots. The set-up is
fairly flimsy, but easily overlooked once Fredrik and Marie
meet. Marie is, for some reason, wearing a long dark cloak
that smacks of historical gothic novels -- if it weren't
for the prominent referrals to her Saab, the time period
may have been even harder to pinpoint. The sheer maturity of the relationship between the
characters earned Black high marks in my book -- Marie's
decision to leave is the only remotely childish action she
takes (well, besides driving out into the middle of nowhere
and just deciding to take a walk in the dark woods -- see
the "weak set-up" comment) and even that is easily
motivated by sensible concern for her own well-being. There
are no big misunderstandings or sulks by either the hero or
heroine, thankfully. And, of course, the sex is well-done.
Hot, and different in each occurrence. Overall, it was nice to see Black working in a contemporary
setting. The characters were appealing, the plot
intriguing, and the story as a whole quite enjoyable --
maybe not a strict gothic, but enough of one to carry the
technical label. It was a fast, fun and thoroughly
enjoyable love story punctuated by a dash of mystery, a
pinch of fear, and a lot of interesting sex. This book is available as a download, or on a CD, in the
following formats: Adobe PDF, MSReader (LIT), HTML/Rocket,
and Mobipocket (PRC). Review by Ann Leveille for Sensual Romance.
Reviewed by Ann Leveille
Courtesy Sensual Romance
Posted January 8, 2002
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