In the Garden of Sin (The Hidden Grotto Series) [Paperback]

Louisa Burton (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Hidden Grotto Series | Publication Date: July 14, 2009

Two linked tales are set in an ancient castle where four exquisitely beautiful beings who thrive on carnal energy entice and ravish their human guests.

Hannah Leeds is The English Courtesan, a seventeenth-century maiden who apprentices herself as a courtesan-in-training to Venetian nobleman Domenico Vitturi, offering her body in exchange for his patronage. Don Domenico has resigned himself to a life without love, his once-handsome face having been disfigured by the scars of war. He brings Hannah to the Castle of the Hidden Grotto to be tutored in the arts of love by its insatiable and inventive residents, little knowing that she has come for more than just an erotic education….

In Hunger vampires Anton Turek and Galiana Solsa satisfy their voracious erotic appetites while feeding on their prey. Weary of playing lapdog to the powerful, sadistic Galiana, Anton renews his quest to possess Lili, the beautiful succubus with whom he’s been obsessed for centuries—while Galiana sets her sights on the godlike, sexually ravenous Elic, whom Lili loves but can never make love to. Desire and vengeance reach a fever pitch at the Castle during an invitation-only Renaissance festival with a BDSM twist.

Louisa Burton invites readers to indulge in their most sinful fantasies with these two thrilling and edgy new tales of eroticism and romance.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A very sexy bit of Victorian erotica to entice the mind and senses." — Romance Reviews Today

About the Author

Louisa Burton, a lifelong devotee of Victorian erotica, mythology, and history, lives in upstate New York.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; Original edition (July 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553385313
• ISBN-13: 978-0553385311
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #702,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Louisa Burton is a painter, writer, and collector of rare books who travels extensively, but whose home is in New York. She is a lifelong devotee of Victorian erotica, history, and mythology. Of particular interest to Louisa are the beings known by demonologists and mythologists as Sexual Demons: incubi, succubi, satyrs, djinn, and vampires, among others. With the Hidden Grotto series, beginning with House of Dark Delights, Louisa is weaving those passions together into an epic work of erotic fiction.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another keep from Louisa Burton!, July 14, 2009

By 

Consequences Schmonsequences "Daffy" (The Isles of Langerhans) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Garden of Sin (The Hidden Grotto Series) (Paperback)

In the Garden of Sin (The Hidden Grotto Series) Louisa Burton has created a wonderfully erotic world in her Hidden Grotto series, populated with a fantastic assortment of sexed-up mythical beings. (My favorite is the shapeshifting incubus.) After reading the first three books, I couldn't wait to get my hands on In the Garden of Sin, and I was not disappointed! All the books in this series are composed of short novellas that take place in various time periods but have in common the mysterious Hidden Grotto and its immortal occupants. I was sucked in to this outrageously erotic world from the very beginning. It just gets better and better.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hot Hot Hot, July 21, 2009

By 

suze72 (boston, ma usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Garden of Sin (The Hidden Grotto Series) (Paperback)

In the Garden of Sin (The Hidden Grotto Series) is the latest installment of the fabulous Hidden Grotto Series. Ms. Burton has a talent for knowing what her readers enjoy in terms of erotica. These novels, or series of novellas, are well written and researched (I've tried to find mistakes in the historical references and I cannot). I especially enjoy the way she weaves history with erotica - I think this sets her apart from the other writers of erotic fiction. The stories have a realistic feel to this reader. I hope she writes many more books.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable erotica, August 18, 2010

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: In the Garden of Sin (The Hidden Grotto Series) (Paperback)

A continuum runs from pure romance, through erotica, and beyond. This one belongs somewhere in that wide 'eromance' range, where the characters and their lives matter as much as their luciously described intimacies. The first story, "The English Courtesan", stays well to the romantic end of that scale. In it a nervous virgin presents herself as a student in the ways that bodies can please each other. Somehow, though, she never really throws herself into the spirit of the work - her reason for being there lies deeper, closer to the heart. The second of these two stories, "Hunger", develops a vampire mythology of its own. It explores, among other things, how the 'little death' can become the big one, depending on the vampire's mood. It also examines the psychology of a grudge - the kind that last for generations, but just generations of time in one near-immortal mind.

As with other books in her 'Grotto' series, the stories in this take place at widely separated times, as if she's filling in the whole timeline of the Grotto's history by presenting points on that line at random. A few constants tie the pieces together, including the Grotto itself. The manor on the property dates back at least four hundred years, but that's still many hundreds less than the magic of the land on which it sits. (I'll be fascinated to read anything about the ages before the buildings were built, should they ever reveal themselves to Burton.) It's also many hundred fewer than the ages of its longest-lived visitors and inhabitants, including a satyr, a few clades of vampires, and a time-shared androgyne, who surely have histories as noteworthy as that of the Grotto itself..

One common criticism of erotica, the kind with a story, is that it rushes through the scenes of character and plot to get to the steamy bits. Depending on the reader's expectations, this could be accused of the opposite. A few sensual encounters seem rushed, as if elbowed out by the story-telling, when a more lingering examination of the couplings (or triplings, or more) could have suited some tastes better. But, not all works suit all tastes, especially when the subject is as subjective as love and loving. Still, I'm sure that this will suit quite a few.

-- wiredweird