In the Flesh (Black Lace) [Paperback]

Emma Holly (Author)

Book Description

Series: Black Lace | Publication Date: July 2000

Chloe is better at being bad than anyone David Imakita knows. To keep her, he is willing to risk everything, but will this unrepentant temptress overturn her wild ways, or will the secrets of her past destroy them both?

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'LIP-CURLING STUFF FOR STEAMY DAYS AND NIGHTS' THE GUARDIAN 'Sizzling...the most sexually explicit reading material available' Cosmopolitan" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Emma Holly is the author of Beyond Innocence, Beyond Seduction, Catching Midnight, Cooking up a Storm, Courting Midnight, The Demon's Daughter, Hunting Midnight, and Kissing Midnight. She was a finalist for the Romance Writers of America RITA award for Best Paranormal Romance.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 282 pages
• Publisher: London Bridge (Mm); paperback / softback edition (July 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0352334983
• ISBN-13: 978-0352334985
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,086,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Emma Holly is the USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty very hot romantic books, featuring werewolves, faeries, and just plain extraordinary ordinary folks. Her favorite things are reading, coffee, long daydreamy walks, plus whatever show she's currently infatuated with on tv. She loves sinking into the worlds of her stories and hopes you do too!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not so much erotica as romance with explicit sex, March 18, 2002

By 

Marchez Vite "marchezvite" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Flesh (Black Lace) (Paperback)

This is the first Black Lace book I have read. I was expecting (hoping?) that it would be essentially erotica, but I found it to be mostly a romance story with some explicit sex scenes. These sex scenes I found hottish - not amazingly sensual and creative, but sufficient to warm me up a little. I did not find that the sexuality moved the story along (as I would expect in quality erotica), but rather the story stopped when the characters became sexual.

The story itself concerns Chloe DuBois, an exotic dancer, who is rescued from some dimly imaged fray by David Imakita, a multi-millionaire executive of a computer games company. I suppose when you have beautiful people with lots of money, your plot can go most anywhere...I didn't really buy the plot, but I decided this wasn't intended to be Great Literature, and just kept reading.

It's interesting that the author, Emma Holly, apparently did a fair amount of research on Japanese culture to write character David Imakita. I respected this, but was disappointed that it was not really woven into the plot in an integral way. Neither does she really tackle the issue of an interracial couple.

Black Lace books are marketed as erotica for women, written by women. I would have thought that I'd find myself really in sync with the female protagonist, but instead I found her, while sympathetic, a simple "type," plucked from a made-for-TV movie. On the other hand, I was really intrigued by the male characters -- David and his bodyguard Sato -- and wished she had gotten into their heads more.

This book was not so compelling that I raced through it, but it was interesting enough to finish. I found the erotic element rather ho-hum, but not dreary enough to keep me from trying another Black Lace (or Emma Holly) book again.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad, September 25, 2000

By 

Dirty Bird - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Flesh (Black Lace) (Paperback)

Like most people, Emma Holly is easily my favourite Black Lace author. Her ability to mix good characters with strong plotting and sexual variety is unparalleled.

And the two lead characters in this story make an intriguing match. David Imakita owns a successful computer games company, maker of the popular Laura Fleet game. Chloe Dubois is a stripper - the model for the aforementioned game. But Chloe is not all she appears to be. She has a sound business mind (which David is unable to see) and a privileged background. Whilst David, as an Asian-American, struggles to fit into an Asian lifestyle that he was not born into, Chloe (without compromising) endears herself to the very people that he is trying to impress (its classic Pygmalion / Pretty Woman stuff).

So a great couple of characters and an intriguing plot, concerning Chloe's background and the for the two main characters to rescue each other.

So why is it that you either love this book or hate it, and I have only given it 4 stars (brilliant for most books, but shocking for an Emma Holly!)?

Where the book seems to fall down is in the sex. Emma Holly's other great talent is hot varied sex, but with only three characters 'doing it', the variety isn't there. Also I am afraid to say that the traditional Asian reserve does leave me somewhat cold.

But, a good plot and top-notch characters. By any body else's standards an excellent read. Hopefully the restricted sex thing was just an experiment that didn't quite work.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ten Stars!, July 5, 2000

By 

K. Hewitt "kahtt" (Bronx, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In the Flesh (Black Lace) (Paperback)

In The Flesh is excellent! Holly has paired together two of her best and strongest characters to go head to head in a tale that is a romance as well as erotica. Like all EH books the storyline is seamless and well written, but I may have to call In The Flesh my favorite. After Velvet Glove I was not looking for a story that mixed in elements of light bondage, In The Flesh does that perfectly. Actually it is barely there, and it is intrinsic to the romantic theme in the story. I keep underestimating Ms. Holly's ability to top herself and every time she proves me wrong.