Customer Reviews

Bliss River

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1898 Bliss River Valley, South Africa, while visitor Charles Elliot teaches polo, the leader Moreton Estabrook assigns Georgiana Maitland, daughter of his lover Olivia, to have sex with the guest. Georgiana sees this as an opportunity to escape the promiscuous valley that she hates and join her father in England even if she has not seen or heard from him in almost two decades. However, though she is quite good at sex, Charles rejects Georgiana's advances.

Olivia receives a letter from her husband telling her he filed for divorce after an almost two decade separation. Moreton decides to steal the man's estate to establish a brothel there. However, Moreton's wife Lydia recognizes Charles as her son who was supposed to have died when Moreton led a deadly raid that freed her from her first husband. Lydia informs Moreton that Charles is her son. Moreton and Olivia kill Lydia and blame Charles.

Georgiana knows that her mother and Moreton killed Lydia. She asks Charles to take her to her father in England if she helps free him, but insists on traveling sex rules. They escape the compound while Moreton follows.

BLISS RIVER has an engaging concept of a remote African town settled by promiscuous English expatriates in which the pleasures of the flesh rule. However that community was never explored below the epidermis. Instead a lot of unnecessary profanity and sex seemingly for shock value abounds even when the lead characters flee across the desert with Moreton in pursuit. The African geography also feels inaccurate. Simply Thea Devine's book is erotic romance aimed for the hard core fan.

Harriet Klausner

Meet the in-laws: Mom was a doormat, Auntie is a psycho, and Stepfather is...Or is he her uncle? Nevermind. You'd need a flow chart to track the family relationships in meandering Bliss River, and at any rate they exist mainly to provide our Tormented Hero with a motive for his intense - and intensely childish - dislike of his new girlfriend. Don't get me wrong - Thea Devine's sex scenes are always entertaining, and Bliss River is a pleasant romp. But something's missing. In my favorite Devine book, "Secret Pleasures," there are some plot similarities (bad parenting, murder, revenge) but I actually LIKED that couple and felt anxious about the outcome of their relationship. In Bliss River, I couldn't help thinking that they should consider dating other people. This novel falls into the increasingly familiar rut of "Boy Meets Girl; Boy Hates Girl But Agrees To Have Sex With Her Anyway; Boy Is Faced With Evidence That He Was Wrong About Girl, But Boy Is Too One-Dimensional To Admit It..." It gets old. As I said, enjoy the sex scenes. And hope for well-drawn, believable characters next time.

This book was what I have come to expect from this author. My very favorite of hers is Secret Pleasures. As far as I'm concerned none of her other books are nearly as good but this is still an okay read. I found it to be a little too unrealistic about the colony where free sex ruled. I simply could not ever imagine such a place where women would not occasionally "have a headache" and want to say "no" not tonight. I felt the story could have been a lot better if there had been any real liking or strong emotions felt by either character towards the other. I never felt like they were in love enough(or at all) to want to marry. All that was portrayed was lust, lust, lust bordering on obsession. I love the lust but like mine tempered with a little love or at least liking/affection. I just never felt these two otherwise great characters connected like two people should that choose to be together romantically. If this author ever writes a book where the characters have more feelings for each other than mere lust it will be one great book. I will still buy anything this author writes.

"Bliss River" was the first book that I had read by Thea Devine while the book did live up to its Erotic genre, the Characters were did not impress me very much. They book seem a little shallow to me. But if you are a fan of either Ms. Devine or of the Erotic genre you will more than likely enjoy this book.

I must admit to the fact that I did not care for either main character so I had a hard time in liking the story or the idea benind it. I must admit to not having read any other stories by this author so I have not much to judge on what is considered good or bad and her work.

The story is set in Africa in a colony that is set up for the explicit joy and need for sex. With murder, a flight across the desert with the bad guy close behind, Charles and Georgie indulge themselves with each other. I feel that the main storyline suffers and as a result it is hard to understand where the storyline is going and where the sex is important to the story. I realize that this is an erotic story but I have read other stories of this nature by other authors and the storylines have not suffered. Sex for the sake of sex is not a story.

I agree with the reviewer who said this is another in the trend of Man who Hates Woman but Has Sex with her Anyway. These two had nothing in common, indeed, rather hated each other, and I hated both of them. There was nothing that would categorize this as a "historical" romance--the few details of setting she gave us might as well have indicated the year 2004, though she mentioned a lorry which is a word not coined till 1900. Oh, and I also don't categorize these types of books as "romances" when the H&H can barely abide each other. I like there to be affection and, god forbid, LOVE!

I also didn't know there were Bedouins in South Africa. And...Aren't Charles and Georgiana COUSINS?? This book just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

In case you haven't caught on, in today's romance novel language, "erotic" is another word for "porn." Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Thea Devine is the most explicit "erotic" romance novelist. Be prepared for sex scenes that go beyond what any other romance novelist is writing today. The plot, such as there is, exists only to move from one sex scene to another.

Okay, I have read every single thing from this author I could get my hands on. She is fantastic and her books are super hot (sizzling). This was not one of my favorites (Try Sinful Delights) but if you like this author you should not miss it.

Ok so being a devoted Devine fan I snatch up all her books, and will continue to whether in the end they are wonderful or not so. This book is not one of her better reads. It has wonderfully erotic sex but the plot is not so great. Come on, the Victorian era actually having a hedonistic cult? It would be more believable in this day in age. However it is fiction so I went with it, and even though the idea was absurd, Ms. Devine was still able to hold my attention. The idea of kissing cousins wasn't a wonderful idea either.

This is the second book by Ms. Devine that I read and it was much better than the first. The story line was simple but the detailed love scenes lid up the pages. Great read for a Sunday afternoon.