Customer Reviews

The Art of Desire

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Cherie Feather has written a deliciously erotica tale about two unlikely pairs of lovers separated by over 100 years yet connected by similar passions of love, art, and desire.

In The Art of Desire the two sets of lovers are connected by an old journal chronicling the love affair of Catherine, a high born London society girl turned bohemian artist and Atacar her outlaw Apache Indian lover in 1895. She comes across Atacar in the wilds of America, in the Texas countryside. Her life is never the same after she meets him.

In the modern day story we meet Mandy, the good bad girl, and her sexy cowboy lover Jared who is ten years younger than her. Mandy is the director of the Santa Fe Women's art Museum and Jared is a favorite patron of the arts, wealthy from his horse farm and wild by nature.

Mandy has a painting of Atacar at the museum that was painted by Catherine. Mandy is fascinated with their story, almost obsessed with Atacar. Jared is Atacar's descendent. Mandy wants to find the journal that Catherine is rumored to have written about her affair with Atacar. Unfortunately is seems to be lost. Of course we are privy to the tale as The Art of Desire goes back and forth between the steamy affair between Jared and Mandy and the heated love affair between Catherine and Atacar as written in her journal.

Cherie Feather has written a compelling tale uniting the two worlds and making them believable and moving. It is hot and steamy, but with heart, a surprising tenderness lies underneath the eroticism that really reaches out and touches the reader. Catherine and Atacar's tale is a forbidden romance doomed from the beginning and of course ends tragically but Mandy and Jared, there lies hope. That hope runs throughout the novel, making the reader want them to go on to something more than just a wild affair.

I was pleasantly surprised at the depth and emotion that lies within The Art of Desire. The characters are complex and complete. They live and breathe on the page, you feel their desire and their suffering, and the story - believable, hot and touching. Catherine and Atacar's story leaves you sad and full of heartache knowing the story doesn't end well but Mandy and Jared's story...that's a wild ride. They are so erotic...and the things they do...you'll need something to keep you cool while reading this steamy tale.

Mandy and Jared's tale is like a wild ride, that high you get when you first start dating someone and you are having sex like rabbits on ecstasy. You know that exhilarating feeling when all you want to do is be lost with that other person, lost in their touch, in the feel of them. You never plan to fall in love, then when you feel yourself on the brink of it you get scared but still can't get enough of them... that's Mandy and Jared, though they might be a lot hotter and a little kinkier than the average couple. This is a book that is passionate, full of aching desire, and oh so naughty.

Catherine and Atacar set the stage for love, loss, longing and hope. We know their scorching story ended far too soon but how will Mandy and Jared's end? Will Mandy get over the past and let herself love? Will Jared get past his fears and realize that it is OK to feel something other than lust? Can they dare to love? Or will their affair also end much too soon?

This book is full of almost non-stop sex yet somehow Cherie mixes that all in with love and longing and creates a story that will not only make you hot and bothered but it will touch your heart as well. This was a great read extremely well written. I look forward to more by this author.

© Night Owl Romance 2008

Cherie Feather's The Art of Desire is a highly unusual tale of seduction, desire, and love. It moves back and forth between passages from Catherine's journal and Mandy & Jared's lives. Part of what makes it so incredibly different is its languid, mesmerizing pace.

Mandy & Jared are fantastic characters, neither as simple as their public images suggest. They're fresh and appealing, highly erotic, with plenty of explosive chemistry. Jared is Mandy's addiction, and Mandy is Jared's obsession. He drives her to try ever wilder and crazier things with him, pushing the boundaries of her experience and comfort. Meanwhile, Atacar and Catherine's story is both tragic and sweet. So many fascinating details from the past come into play (such as the 'language of flowers'), but they're woven into the tale so beautifully that not a single one feels like a lesson.

The Art of Desire is a creamy liqueur that goes down smooth and heats you up you from the inside out. It's seamlessly seductive, erotically steamy, and deeply romantic. It might not be what you expect, but it's almost certain to be what you desire!

Mandy Cooper, a museum director, knows that her outward appearance has nothing to do with the woman she is on the inside. On the outside she is confident, formal, and appropriate, however on the inside she is an erotic woman unafraid of her sexuality. The only person she allows to see the inner "Mandy" is her lover, Jared Cabrillo. With Jared, Mandy is able to let loose and set her sexuality free. A fan of Catherine Burke, a nineteenth century artist, Mandy is almost fanatical about finding Catherine's diary - she wants to confirm Catherine's relationship with Atacar, the Native American who was supposedly Catherine's lover. Unbeknownst to Mandy, Catherine's diary is closer than she thinks.

The Art of Desire is so hot even I blushed! While not specifically a time travel book, The Art of Desire, utilizing Catherine's diary, lets readers into Catherine and Atacar's world and love affair. Readers are treated to passionate, soulful, and erotically charged love scenes featuring Mandy and Jared as well as a look into Catherine and Atacar's relationship. Neither Jared, nor Mandy ever expected the feelings they had for each other - they each thought their affair to be easily finished. How wrong they were.

Cherie Feather knocked me over with a feather for sure with The Art of Desire! Each touch, kiss, and scorching glance weaved its way around me and I was a goner! Don't miss Ms. Feather's next Berkley Heat release, Masquerade, coming next year. I have already pre-ordered it!


Talia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

In the mood for a steamy erotic romance that crosses time? Cherie Feather's The Art of Desire will have you licking your lips because this is a steamy and luscious tale of desire that will not be denied!
Mandy Cooper is having an affair with Jared Cabrillo but it was never meant to be anything more than just sex. Mandy works as a museum director and could never have thought that her inner desires was to have dirty sex with a younger man until she met Jared. She is also very fascinated by the painting of Jared's ancestor, Atacar It would be a coup for the museum if they were able to find the journal Mandy is sure Catherine, Atacar's British lover, kept that chronicled their relationship. Mandy has no issues indulging in `adventurous' sex with her young lover. But will she be able to keep her heart separate?
Jared has had many women and enjoys being with them, Mandy in particular, but has no interest in settling down. But her sweetness calls to him, and Jared finds himself doing unexpectedly romantic things to make her happy.
Jared is determined to use all of his wiles on Mandy. In return, Mandy is trying very hard to keep their affair light and carefree. The Art of Desire is a sexy romance with a bit of mystery added in. As Jared and Mandy's relationship blossoms, it mirrors the past relationship between Atacar and Catherine, so readers get two stories in one.
This is close to an erotic fantasy as you can get, so have the fan handy when you pick up this engaging read.

Katiebabs

This book was a lucky find. Super erotic and I've re-read it quite a few times. I've even read excerpts to my husband and let's just say they had the desired effect!

Just as her other work, Cherie Feather grabbed my attention again with Art of Desire. Erotic yet tasteful. Excellent.

Santa Fe Women's Art Museum Director Mandy Cooper looks forward to satiating her addiction for "dirty sex with a dirty boy". The prime and proper Mandy knows that since she met artist and notorious celeb Jared Cabrillo that he is on her mind and body all the time. The only exception to her Cabrillo icon that consumes her brain is her obsession with the relationship between late nineteenth-century artist Catherine Burke and Native American outlaw Atacar; her lover's ancestors.

Whereas Mandy fears Jared will leave her for his next encounter; Jared hides the truth from her that he loves her out of his fear of the emotion. Mandy knows that her favorite painting by Catherine is her portrait of Atacar, the man the artist loved; she wishes Jared would do one of her with the same level of passion. However it is an 1895 journal kept by Mandy that wakes Jared up to embrace his deepest feelings, his love for Mandy before it is too late.

This heated contemporary romance uses a journal to tell a forbidden late nineteenth century love that becomes a matchmaker for the director and the artist. The two pairings are filled with warmth, passion and heat. All four key players seem genuine yet the two eras distinctive form one another. Cherie Feather provides an engaging hot tale of loves in 1895 and 2008.

Harriet Klausner