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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Holt fan for sure - but this one was a little empty, May 21, 2003
This review is from: Absolute Pleasure (Mass Market Paperback)
The half Italian - half English, hero of Absolute Pleasure, Gabriel Cristofore, paints portraits of rich English ladies. He researches his future clients well - assuring that the next lady chosen will provide him not only a fee for her portrait, but also extra payment in the manner of jewels or other valuable items. Why would these ladies pay more than their portrait fee? Yes, you guessed it. Gabriel provides these chosen ladies with another service that requires great discretion. He finds painting a lady, servicing the same lady, and receiving multiple payments from said lady, is a fine way to earn a living. Elizabeth, the heroine, is a rather plain and obedient daughter of a harsh, autocratic earl. She has not married because her father has needed her to head his household and has, therefore, selfishly made her into a mid-twenties spinster. Now her father has remarried and Elizabeth finds she is no longer required to manage her father's home and she has time on her hands for the first time in her life. She is a very sensible and kind young lady and cares greatly for those around her (with the exception of her new stepmother). Gabriel has researched and chosen Elizabeth as his next potential portraiture (or should I say victim). He successfully arranges meeting Elizabeth at a public gathering and casts his net upon her. She falls for it and shows up at his home to discuss his painting of her portrait. Thus the foundation is laid for Gabriel and Elizabeth's romance. I have enjoyed many of Holt's books and really looked forward to her newest publication. This book, however, is a little sterile. I love good writing and romance combined. But books that tend to have words holding together a string of sensual scenes scarcely hold my interest. And I am afraid that Absolute Pleasure almost slips into that category. However, Holt saves this book from that category in that she holds to the premise that the romantic leads must be faithful to their relationship. These sensual scenes are not sex for the sake of sex. There are deeper feelings involved and - though not spoken - fidelity for the span of their relationship. This book did not impress me as a great book. The leads' relationship seems contrived for at least the first 100 pages. When I found myself finally believing that there might be something positive come from Gabriel and Elizabeth's romance, all hell breaks loose. I had to actually make myself pick up this book and read it because I found myself dreading the next possible scene. As the reader, you don't want Elizabeth hurt even if you believe her actions are foolish. Gabriel is repeatedly unkind to Elizabeth and ruthless in his behavior towards her. Although we discover later that Gabriel believed he had her best interests in mind, it still tastes of revenge and meanness. His cruelty occurs too often for my tastes. It is a stretch for me to understand how Elizabeth could believe in Gabriel so strongly and love him. After all, Elizabeth has done her research too and knows that Gabriel is a swindler, defiler of women, and insincere. I wish I could have given Elizabeth a copy of "Women Who Love Too Much" to read. She is immature in her expectations of him. This book has received criticism for it's many sensual scenes. Yes, there are more of these scenes than in most romance novels. But those scenes are not graphic and hardly ever depict "the deed". I rate the sensual scenes about a 4.5 out of 5.0 (see More About Me for rating guidelines). Although several of Holt's other books sit on my keeper shelf, this one will not. There just wasn't enough substance to the story. Gabriel is not a hero I could connect with or even understand how Elizabeth could fall for him. Maybe I am getting more conservative with my reading requirements but there just wasn't enough good old plain love for me to remember the story line fondly.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
BLECH!!, March 10, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Absolute Pleasure (Mass Market Paperback)
I've read a few of Cheryl Holt's books and was obviously pleased enough to read this one, which I have to say was a real disappointment. The hero, is completely unlikable. I can't imagine what the heroine sees in him, other than eye candy. Secondly, while I like the idea of 3 different stories happening at once (hero/heroine, heroine's father and obnoxious teenage bride, hero's father/housekeeper), I felt like none of them were developed properly. The hero/heroine plot is flimsy at best. I could care less about either of them and think they deserve each other. The hero's father/housekeeper plot could have been engaging, but they went from having 2 conversations to groping each other in a carriage, to marriage so quickly that I had to read it twice to see what pages I missed the first time around. Unfortunately, I didn't miss any. Forget the heroine's father/obnoxious teenager storyline. My tastes don't tend toward the prudish, but this was quite simply, gratuitous [...]. But my biggest complaint is that same cookie cutter pattern she's used in the last three books: Innocent, "Quality" female meets unsuitable, reticent male. In an inexplicably short period of time, they have reached the point where the male has described, in explicit detail, everything that can/would/should happen during numerous sexual acts. After which the female, mesmerized by the recitation, decides to throw caution to the wind and succumb to her irresistible hormonal urges. Fair enough. But, of course, they fall in love--she willingly and he, not so willingly. Eventually, the only way she can get him to admit his feelings is to break down his masculine walls by turning herself into a wanton seductress. It may work for one book (as it did with Love Lessons), but this is one too many for me. I feel as though she's just rewriting the same book, without even bothering to check her thesaurus. If I have to read "virgin's blood", "haunting groan" or, "bigger than most" one more time, I'll demand a refund.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
One of the worse books I've ever had the missfortune to read, December 25, 2003
This review is from: Absolute Pleasure (Mass Market Paperback)
I think this definitely does it for me. After this I won't be buying any more of Holt's books. The "hero" was an insensitive, cruel, callous bastard, and as if this is not enough, a pimp. He seduces rich woman to swindle money out of them. Sorry, but after reading so many novels, that feature such wonderful heroes, I can't respect or like this one. The heroine I think I could have liked, in a different book. In this one, all I could feel for her was pity. Cheryl Holt has a very dislikable tendency to create male characters that behave in a completely and utterly dispicable way, but in the end, it is always the woman who comes back to him and seeks a reconciliation. If you like books where the female characters are week and abused, and where women are treated like garbage, read this one.
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