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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Steamy romance, January 30, 2009
FREE PASS tells the stories of three young couples, all friends, all coming up on their seventh wedding anniversaries. In order to keep their marriages fresh and romantic, the wives hatch a plan to allow their husbands a "free pass" for a one-time sexual dalliance. Of course the pass works both ways, and the women aren't lacking for attention! While there was some hesitation at first, everyone is soon willingly involved in carnal pleasures!
Cherisse and Wesley take a beach vacation where they discover that their love for each other is incredibly strong and will continue to grow.
Melanie's reason for wanting Thomas to accept the pass runs a little deeper and while Thomas isn't initially crazy about the idea, he realizes that Melanie needs to see that his love for her is never ending and that he doesn't want, or need, anyone else.
For Debra and Gordon, having only been with each other, the idea of sharing each other with others is more than a little forbidden and oh so exciting!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
2.5 stars. Thought provoking, a lot of sex, weak on emotional build up, bad format due to stories interrupting each other., January 24, 2009
STORY BRIEF:
Three couples have been happily married for 7 years. The women are friends and decide that all six partners should have a one-time-only free pass to have sex with a stranger. The three husbands decide to go along with this. The book is then divided into three stories, which I'll call couple A, couple B and couple C. Couple A is on vacation in Miami. Cherisse meets a younger man, a lifeguard, actor and model. Wesley sees a woman in her apartment through his telescope and follows her to meet her. The wife of Couple B, Mel, owns a fitness club. She meets and is attracted to traveling businessman Richard who is working out at her club. Couple C is on vacation in Greece and meets a married couple from Russia.
The stories are how the individuals meet the strangers, their uneasiness about proposing the affairs, how the actual affairs happen, their feelings afterwards, and being glad to be back with their spouses.
REVIEWER'S OPINION:
The format was bad for me. The author broke up the stories in a way that frustrated me. There are three stories, divided into six parts each. The stories are told as follows. Couple A for 14 pages, couple B for 17 pages, couple C for 17 pages, then back to couple A for 16 pages, to couple B for 16 pages, to couple C for 16 pages, etc. I'm reading about couple A, I want to know what will happen, and then I am interrupted for 34 pages. When the story gets back to couple A, I've forgotten parts and need to flip back through a few pages to recall what was going on. My memory is not that good. This felt like an annoying TV commercial but worse because the interruptions lasted so long. I would much prefer the author tell the complete A story for 94 pages and then move on to the B story for 96 pages, etc. After reading the first six parts, I used post-it-notes to keep track of things and read the rest of each couple's story in its entirety by skipping chapters. This kept my interest better.
About the stories, they were thought provoking. They reflected what might happen in real life. This was sex with no emotion other than feelings similar to nervousness and guilt. As a result something was empty for me. I actually felt sorry for Richard, the traveling businessman. He ended up feeling like an unwanted third wheel. In the traditional romance novel, a couple meets and there is anticipation of a relationship, which brings emotion into the mix. In this story, the married couples are already together so there is no anticipation there. The anticipation that does exist is for meeting and connecting with strangers, which wasn't emotionally satisfying for me. However, some readers may find this desirable as a change of pace. This book is full of a lot of explicit sex scenes both within the marriages and without. Sex scenes include ménage a trios (two men 1 woman), one scene with two women, rear door activity, bondage and whipping.
DATA:
Story length: 293 pages. Sexual language: strong/erotic. Number of sex scenes: 22. Total number of sex scene pages: 106. Setting: Minnesota; Miami, Florida, and Greece. Copyright: 2008. Genre: erotic contemporary romance.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A controversial plot, handled responsibly and thoughtfully by Elizabeth Scott, December 16, 2008
As three couples near their seventh wedding anniversaries, each become conscious of that fabled `seven year itch'. The wives devise an unorthodox plan to stave off the possibility of sexual boredom in their husbands by offering a one time only `free pass'. While on vacation, each husband will be allowed to dally with a stranger of their choice.
Of course, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander...
When I first read the premise of Elizabeth Scott's book FREE PASS, I honestly wasn't sure I wanted to read this one. The blurb on the cover smacks of infidelity, something I couldn't believe I would be able to easily read.
But I've read this author's work before, numerous times. She has always come through with tales I at least like and often love. So I decided to continue to trust her, given her track record thus far, and settled in to read FREE PASS.
From the start, I have to say I was impressed that the author did not go the route I was so afraid she might by making it easy for the characters to `cheat' on their spouses. From the very beginning of the story, each of the six friends struggles with the idea of spending a night outside of their marriage beds. Indeed, this struggle continues throughout the story, easing my mind a great deal.
Are the characters titillated by the idea? Yes, for the most part. But they worry over the effect these trysts will have on their significant others and ultimately, their relationships. Even so, they all harbor reasons why going through with this idea is more tempting than it should be.
For Debra and Gordon, the fact that they were both virgins when they married certainly makes them curious about the idea. When they spy some sexy exhibitionist neighbors making love on their nearby patio, neither Debra nor Gordon can look away. Striking up a friendship with the other couple reveals that their new friends are more than just exhibitionists - they happen to be swingers, and they are more than interested in playing with Debra and Gordon.
Cherisse and Wesley each find partners who help affirm their desirability to the opposite sex while vacationing at the beach. Although their desire for each other has never waned, that affirmation ramps up their mutual attraction even more. Their flings serve to remind them how much they truly love each other and how lucky they are to have found their soul mates.
As for Melanie and Thomas, things are a little more complicated. Thomas has no desire to use the free pass that Melanie offers him, but swiftly realizes his wife needs this experience to help her deal with her ongoing fears concerning the stability of their relationship. Plagued by insecurities caused by her father's abandonment, the free pass scheme might be just the ticket to prove his devotion and commitment to her once and for all.
With each of the three couples, their motivations are admirable, even if their methods may seem a little misguided to some of us. They each want to keep their marriages fresh and exciting, and believe that giving each other a taste of what the grass is like on the other side is the best way to curb the sexual wanderlust that destroys so many relationships. To these couples, they aren't cheating because they have a `FREE PASS' from their partners sanctioning the act.
Having now read FREE PASS, I have to say that I am impressed with how Elizabeth Scott handled what could have been a very offensive plot. She never lost sight of the fact that these people are doing something that many of us can't easily abide, and she never glorified it. She showed these characters' internal issues as they deal with the ramifications of their flings and how they work through them together.
And she did all that while delivering some really hot love scenes... *grin*
**Courtesy of Wild on Books**
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