S.E.C.R.E.T. Shared

TITLE: S.E.C.R.E.T. SHARED

AUTHOR: L. MARIE ADELINE

Pages: 304

Date: 16/10/2013

Grade: 4.5

Details: no. 2 S.E.C.R.E.T

            Received from Crown Publishing

            Through NetGalley

Own/Kindle

The Blurb:

“Still wounded from a recent heartbreak over her boss and lover, Will, Cassie Robichaud throws herself into service with S.E.C.R.E.T., the mysterious organization that changed her forever by bringing her deepest sexual fantasies to life, one step at a time. Now, it’s Cassie’s turn to guide the group’s newest candidate, Dauphine Mason, recruiting men to execute a new set of fantasies.

     At thirty-one, Dauphine is the proprietor of a New Orleans vintage clothing store. She’s been harboring a crush on Mark Drury, a local rock star, but is too shy to put herself out there with him. She turns to S.E.C.R.E.T. to reignite her sexual flame and find the confidence to risk her heart again with another man.  

     As Cassie worries that the right time will never come for her and Will, she finds inspiration helping Dauphine in S.E.C.R.E.T. Both women navigate the rocky path between their hearts and their passions, hoping to discover what they truly want in life and in love. S.E.C.R.E.T. Shared is a romantic, adventurous, and sexually charged sequel to one of the hottest new series in erotica.”

 =============================================================

“Nullum judicium. Non limitat. Nulla verecundia”.

(No judgment. No limits. No Shame)

This is the second S.E.C.R.E.T. book and although it could be read on its own merits I would advice anyone to read the first book before starting this one.

I am so glad that L. Marie Adeline decided to write a sequel to “S.E.C.R.E.T.” Not only because Cassie’s story clearly wasn’t finished when the first book ended. What I really appreciate in this book is that it illustrates that just because we go through a certain process and come out at the end of it successfully doesn’t mean that all our old issues have suddenly disappeared. While Cassie, in the first book, certainly discovered sides to herself she never knew existed and starts looking at herself and her needs and wants in a new way, that doesn’t mean that she has suddenly gotten rid of all the insecurities that hav been bothering her for years, if not her whole life. Growth is a life-long journey and insecurities only release their hold with reluctance, as Cassie comes to realize as the story progresses.

While it seemed, for a few pages at least, that Cassie would end up with everything she ever wanted near the end of the first book, a shocking revelation destroyed all her hopes and dreams and tore her apart from Will, her boss and the man she loves. What is more, there appeared to be little or no hope that she and Will would ever have the opportunity to be together, regardless of their feelings for each other.

When this book starts Cassie has decided that she will stay with S.E.C.R.E.T., the secret organization run by and for women that undertakes to liberate women through a process that has them push their boundaries by participating in nine sexual fantasies.

When Cassie meets Dauphine she knows that she has found the ideal candidate for the S.E.C.R.E.T. process and once Dauphine accepts the challenge, Cassie is only too happy to act as her guide.

Dauphine is in desperate need of a shake up of her (love) life. Dauphine is as stuck in her life as it is possible to be. Betrayed by her boyfriend as well as her best friend eight years ago and very insecure about her curvaceous body she has taken a tight hold of every aspect of her life. Dauphine needs to be in control of everything that happens to and around her and her refusal to take risks has all but paralised her. But, as is pointed out to her once she is introduced to the idea and the women of S.E.C.R.E.T

“That’s a tough one, control. (…) Too much and you never allow yourself to know others. Too little and you never truly know yourself.”

Dauphine has to battle all her self-preserving instincts but in the end realizes that, if she wants more out of her life than she has been getting so far – if she wants to stop being afraid – she has to grab this opportunity.

“Some things are fatefully divine and some are just divinely fated.”

And so begins Dauphine’s wonderful journey. A journey that will not only force her to face fears she didn’t think she’d ever overcome but will also teach her that she is beautiful and good enough. She has some wonderful encounters with equally wonderful men, although my favourite scene was the tango dancing one, taking place in Buenos Aires. And although part of me was disappointed that her journey got cut short – although the way in which was intriguing – it did make perfect sense in the story. By the time Dauphine returns from Argentina, she has indeed conquered the ten steps: surrender, courage, trust, generosity, fearlessness, confidence, curiosity, bravery, exuberance and liberation, even if she didn’t need all the steps or encounters normally required. And her reward more than lives up to everything she’d hoped for.

And I’m glad Dauphine got a happy ending since Cassie’s journey is proving a lot tougher. Although she knows that her hopes of a relationship with Will have forever been dashed she continues to work for him and can’t stop thinking and dreaming about everything that might have been. And just when it seems that maybe Cassie will be able to find happiness for herself, everything comes crashing down around her once again, leaving her dreams shattered but also bringing her to the realization that although she finished her nine-step program, she still has a lot to learn about being truly independent.

It is clear from the way this book ends that there is at least one more S.E.C.R.E.T. title to come and I will be looking forward to reading it. In fact, I can’t wait to get my hands on it because for once I’m not at all sure what ending I am hoping for when it comes to Cassie. I can see at least three possibilities and all of them have their charms as well as their down sides for me so I’m very curious to see where the author will take us.

This book was, like its prequel, a wonderful and very well written story. While “S.E.C.R.E.T. Shared” is definitely a very erotic story, it is so much more. This is a story about women helping and empowering women; a book with a very positive message for all the women out there who think that they are not (good, beautiful or smart) enough. It is great to read books in which women grow into themselves and everything they can be without the answer to their problems necessarily being a man in their lives. Yes, men play a huge part in the journeys these women undertake but they are only the means through which progress is made and not the reason why. For me it is impossible not to love a book that includes a quote like this:

“The word slut, unless employed by iron-clad feminists or ironically by irony experts, has no business coming out of a woman’s mouth, do you hear me. Not when she’s describing her own sexual behaviour and especially if she’s describing another woman’s. It’s the kind of word that can scar, Cassie”.  – Mathilda

VALENTINA ON THE EDGE

TITLE: VALENTINA ON THE EDGE

AUTHOR: EVIE BLAKE

Pages: 446

Date: 23/04/2013

Grade: 5-

Details: no. 2 Valentina

            Received from Headline

            Through the author

Own

“When you climax, it has been called the “little death”, and thus eroticism can actually be a celebration of life within the knowledge of our mortality.”

The first Valentina book ended with our heroine losing the man who loves her because she is unable to admit to her feelings for him. When this book starts, several months have passed and Valentina has had no contact whatsoever with Theo and no idea where he is. That doesn’t stop her from thinking about him and mourning the fact that she allowed herself to chase him away though. An opportunity to participate in a show of erotic photography in London could be just what she needs to distract herself from obsessing about the man she misses more than she could ever have expected.

Back in 1948 Maria Brzezinska leaves Venice and her two mothers for post-war London where she is to study contemporary dance. It isn’t long after arriving that Maria falls for the charming but significantly older Felix, a French filmmaker. When Felix has to return to his native Paris shortly after a rather disastrous dance performance by Maria, she begs him to take her with him. It is in Paris that Maria will discover love and passion like she never imagined, unleashing a side of her that she never knew existed. 

London in 2012 will be a place filled with revelations for Valentina. Not only does she discover that the father she hasn’t seen since she was a young girl lives there, she also finds herself face to face with Theo once again. But although all the signals he sends out seem to indicate that he still has feelings for her, the fact that he is going out with Anita, a burlesque dancer, point in a totally different direction. When Theo asks Valentina to trust him, she knows that this is her opportunity to prove to him that she does love him. Putting her trust in a man who appears to be dating somebody else may well be a demand too far for Valentina and her huge issues with commitment though. But while Anita may appear to be her adversary when it comes to Theo’s affections, she is also the means through which Valentina discovers a side to her maternal grandmother she was completely unaware of.

This is a very good sequel to the first book. Often a second book in a trilogy can feel a bit like filler material; a means for getting from the start of the story to the ending without any real value of its own. Not so in this case. This book really does further the story. Through the events in this book, both in the present and in the past, the reader gets a far better understanding of Valentina and her commitment issues. Mind you, Valentina is still a hard character to like and very insecure when it comes to men and commitment, especially for a woman who is supposed to be 30-ish. But, after what we learned about her great-grandmother (in the first book) and her grand-mother (in this book) and their passionate but doomed encounters with love, it becomes easier to understand why Valentina would be distrustful of lasting love. I’ve got a feeling that the third book will give both the reader and Valentina a closer look at Valentina’s mother. Hints in this book indicate that there is a lot Valentina doesn’t know about her mother’s life as well as her own past. I’m looking forward to finding out what exactly happened to make Valentina’s mother such a distant character and if discovering the truth will be enough to bring the two women back together and help Valentina trust her own feelings.

This book is filled with clever references. There is a tenuous link between the movies Felix makes and “The Story of O”. Also Evie Blake pays a nice tribute to the original creator of her main character when Anita dresses up to look just like Valentina:

“The angular perfection of her black wig and her heavily made-up eyes make her look like a graphic novel character more than a real woman.”

The Valentina as described in these books is, of course, based on an iconic Italian graphic novel character created by Guido Crepax. 

And then there are the names. Theo’s surname is Steen and we discover that Valentina’s father is called Rembrandt. Both names create a wonderful and inspired link between Valentina’s story and the important role art plays in these books. I am sure there are more clever references and links, but these are a few that stood out for me.

While this is still a very sensual and at times sexy story, sex plays a different role in this second book. Valentina is no longer trying to discover her boundaries, no longer driven to see how far she is willing to go. In this book it is Maria who is constantly pushing her sexual boundaries but although she does get adventurous, her experiences are beautiful and enticing rather than shocking. In fact, as much as sexual freedom was the theme for the first book, this second instalment seems to reverse direction. Relationships without boundaries may have been fun, but they are not without their problems as various characters discover.

I said it in my review of Valentina, and I’ll say it again here: Noelle Harrison, the author behind the name Evie Blake, is a wonderful writer. She weaves her stories rather than tell them. Her words are at times almost poetic, creating a tangible atmosphere which allows the reader to not just observe events as they take place but also experience them. In fact, I’m convinced that I wouldn’t have felt as strongly as I did about Valentina’s character if it hadn’t been for the life-like fashion in which she is portrayed on these pages.

It breaks my heart that I now have to wait until November before I find out how this story ends. Between the hints about Valentina’s mother and the cliff-hanger this book ends on, it is going to be hard to contain my curiosity. The title of the third book, “Valentina Unblocked”, makes me hopeful that it will all end on a positive note though.