Having long since given up on the formulaic Harlequin lines in favour of more cutting egde romance, I was brought back through a friend who urged me to give this new line a try. This first foray was more than satisfactory, the writing superb and the story was engrossing. Even her descriptions of Sebastian's GTO were excellent, making it into an almost living entity rather than a machine.The sex, while definitely off the Richter scale for Harlequin, was still pretty vanilla. I will say, there are shades of Robin Schone in Ms. Kent's emotion-filled scenes, and that's not a bad thing. I especially liked the opening masturbatory scene with Sebastian in the shower was highly erotic and very well-written without being judgemental of his motives.I throughly enjoyed Sebastian Gallo/Ryder Falco. He was a definite paen to the handsome, brooding heroes of gothic romance novels. The descriptions of him, his clothes, what he thought, made him very real. As a writer, I can completely sympathize with the capriciousness of the creative process. He is a man whom one has to earn the right to love him, since he doesn't love easily. He wasn't quite an alpha male because he definite had his own code of honor when it came to dealing with Erin Thatcher. I would love to read an entire book about his life, especially his time spent in behind bars.I did NOT like of Erin Thatcher. Actually, I hated her guts! She was/is everything about a female character I simply can't stand. Anal, insecure, a trust-fund baby with no sense of direction--was she really the kind of brazen and ballsy woman to engage in a torrid affair with her sexy neighbor? Most of the book was spent in her feeling sorry for herself and not being able to decide whether owning an upscale bar in Houston was her life's work. And, talk about reinforcing the notion that women cannot tell the difference between sex and love, Erin Thatcher is the poster child. I give this book 4 stars because of the secondary characters: Tess and Samantha (the e-mail friends with the good advice), Cali and Will. Their romance would also make a good book, though I was rather disappointed that Cali didn't stick to her guns at the end in terms of the screenplay project. At least Will came to his senses, but still.
I read this book as part of the Blogger Bundle IX from the readers at Dear Author. This book was included in the bundle because of the steamy shower sex and yes, the shower sex was, well, steamy and well written. The rest of the book? Not so much. All the words meant what the author thought they meant which is always a struggle for Harlequins so it wasn't a complete wash. No pun intended. Okay I intended the pun. Although I'm finding most of the Blaze books I read are better edited and written than some of the other lines.I gave it two stars because it was written by an author who knows her spelling and grammar more than the story contained in the e-ink. I didn't like the dueling love stories of Erin with her man and Cali with hers. Tell one story to the finish while alluding to the other going on simultaneously and sell another book. Have you never read a Julia Quinn, Ms. Kent? That woman is the Queen of weaving enough teasers into a book to get the reader to jump on the web to find out when the next one is going to be released.Also all the characters were too damaged to be real then they did things out of character for them. How did I know it was out of character? The character said so. "I never tell anybody about my tortured childhood so I think I'll tell this complete stranger I've got naked in my bathroom." I mean honestly, dude, she's already naked you don't need to work the sympathy angle. All the guilt and hand wringing of every character over their individual made up neurosis got old really quick. Don't get me started on the emails to NPCs who doled out useless pop culture psychobabble at the heroine's every irrational meltdown.Another problem is the instantly rosy resolution. No talking for six months and then bam back in the shower no questions asked. They said I love you so that must make everything instantly fixed. I'm going to try that with my credit card company. "I know my payment is late, but I love you. Now raise my limit and waive the late fee."This is the first book by Alison Kent I remember reading and while I didn't like the story, she might be worth looking up some of her other work. We'll see.
What do You think about The Sweetest Taboo (2002)?
It was an okay short-read and very sexy. Still, there were some things I just didn't understand. In all good one-shot romances, the two main lovers have some big disagreement or something that stirs their emotions and makes them separate and then later realize their love for each other. After reading so many, I'm still not tired of it. x](view spoiler)[However, in The Sweetest Taboo, Erin got angry when Sebastian showed up at her nearly-doomed bar/restaurant as the famous author that he is. Erin
—Layla Shear
Sex without consequences? No guilt or worries? No emotions? This is what Erin Thatcher wanted. Too bad someone didn't tell her to be careful she wished for. Her neighbor, Sebastian Gallo, is a dark, deep character who hides his painful past by penning sinister stories of a fictional hero named Ryder Falco. He is not an emotional man and he does not love easily. There is something very haunting about his character and I would love to read more about him. Unfortunately, the HEA was just too rushed. Erin was not a likable character - she was too uptight, anal, insecure. Her grandfather's wine bar was willed to her, and yet she had no real direction in her life. (I've been having issues lately with some of the horrible female characters I've been reading about. I'm sure they are meant to be written as strong and independant, but to me they are simply a pain in the ass.) The secondary characters, Cali and Will, were much more interesting and their romance was a sweet one.THE SWEETEST TABOO is a spicy romance - I'll give it that much. Without giving away any spoilers, half-way through the book I was ready to run out to Home Depot and start remodeling my bathroom, shower and all!
—Tammy
If you like your heroes tall, dark, handsome and mysterious, this is the book for you. The author has created a compelling mystery man here, and he's sexy as hell to top it off. The heroine can't resist taking a chance and gets to know her enigmatic neighbour. The result is a very steamy romance and you also get two romances for the price of one, with an entirely different type of a couple in the sub plot. Alison Kent writes hot romance for readers who want more confident, sexually-charged characters.
—Saskia Walker
