TITLE: THE PLEASURES OF AUTUMN
AUTHOR: EVIE HUNTER
Pages: 436
Date: 23/11/2013
Grade: 4.5
Details: no. 3 Pleasures
Received
from Penguin
Own
Blurb, taken from the back cover:
“Passion must have it’s way
When Sinead O’Sullivan is charged with stealing the Fire of Autumn
- a dazzling ruby with a notorious history - investigator Niall Moore is hired
to stop her fleeing and to find the jewel. Though Sinead needs to convince
Niall of her innocence, telling him everything she knows will expose secrets
she is desperate to keep hidden.
Sinead and Niall may not trust each other an inch, but they find
it impossible to ignore the fierce carnal heat between them. Niall an expert
interrogator, uses every trick of the trade - and every weapon in his erotic
armoury - to get at the truth. Sinead, a fast learner, counters his every move
with one of her own. Thief and thief-taker fight for dominance and there can
only be one winner.
But what happens in their red-hot game of cat and mouse when
criminals chasing the precious jewel come after Sinead...and the stakes become
deadly?”
==========================================================
The books in this series are, for lack of a better word, great
fun. Evie Hunter - a partnership of two Irish authors - has managed to find the
perfect balance between suspense and sexy. What’s even better the author
manages to integrate these two aspects of the story in a very satisfactory and
unputdownable manner.
In this, the third ‘Pleasures’, title we meet Sinead who has been
leading a double life to finance her way through college. When she’s offered a
job in a museum in Zurich
Enter Niall Moore, owner of Moore Enterprises, a security firm.
Initially he is hired by the Zurich
What follows in an adventure in which Sinead is so desperate to
hang on to the secret of her double life that other things she tells Niall are
dismissed as lies as well. These two characters shouldn’t be getting on at all
but find themselves unable to keep their hands off each other. Add to that an
American operative known for his cruelty and violence and you find yourself reading
a book that doesn’t contain a single boring moment.
Did I mention that this book is sexy? Trust me it is. Niall is a
Dominant who has long ago resigned himself to the fact that he won’t ever find
a woman who could put up with his demands.
“He wanted an equal, and had never found one. Until now. Until
Sinead.”
While Sinead, despite her history as a burlesque dancer, has
relatively little experience when it comes to men and sex. When these two
characters get together it turns into an instant and very heated battle for
power.
There were two things I particularly liked when it came to the
kinky scenes in this book. The first is that Sinead and Niall’s quest for the
Ruby demands that the pair of them attend a fetish party where Niall will have
to pretend to be Sinead’s slave. And while Sinead, thanks to her burlesque
past, has no problems portraying “she who holds the whip”, having to submit
nearly kills Niall. It made for a wonderful and very exciting scene.
The second thing that really impressed me is that this book has a
realistic approach to the familiar ‘experienced Dom meets new sub’ story-line.
Most if not all of the books I’ve read with a similar story-line feature Dom’s
who are either geniuses or mind-readers. They never seem to demand anything of
their novice that they can’t or won’t do. I loved that Niall did run into
Sinead’s boundaries when they first started, and respected them. A rather
refreshing approach which did a lot to make the story more believable.
As far as I know there is one more ‘Pleasures’ title to come: The
Pleasures of Spring, which is due to be released next April. I’ve got a feeling
this title will feature Andy and I hope that we will also get to see more of
Roisin. Regardless of whether or not that will be the case, I’ll be looking
forward to reading the book when it comes out.
