Customer Reviews

Gorgeous As Sin (Berkley Sensation)

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

 

 

Susan Johnson is an accomplished writer of erotica and has penned over thirty novels and many short stories. Her writing runs the gamut from historical to contemporary but she's most well known for her scorching sex scenes and smoldering heroes and heroines. I classify her books as erotica because the sex plays a major part in her plots. I would go so far as to say the sexual acts and resulting sexual connection between her heroes and heroines is so important to her plots it's almost a characters in and of itself! Her heroes are Alphas to the core--dominant, arrogant, profligate, and most other appellations ascribed to this type of man. Her heroines are usually women who find themselves in an unhappy situation who fall for the hero in spite of themselves...and these heroines also become almost slaves to their libidos. It's that almost involuntary pull that sometimes makes me want to toss her books against the wall. So be warned before you pick up one of her novels.

"Gorgeous as Sin" is Susan Johnson's latest historical (is that an oxymoron?) and her characters and plot run true to form. He's an almost despicable womanizer, a Duke, vastly wealthy, and 'gorgeous as sin'. She's a widow whose book store is the only thing standing in the way (literally) of his latest construction project in 1890s London. Although they begin as antagonists, it doesn't take long for them to connect sexually and become almost addicted to each other. The rest of plot revolves around their affair and their business...and neither runs as smoothly as either would wish.

In the end, I didn't fling "Gorgeous As Sin" against the wall. Instead I finished it. There were no surprises, but the Duke did finally 'evolve' into something less despicable and more palatable. This isn't a book that will go on my keeper shelf, but it did provide me an afternoon's entertainment and several sweaty moments!

In 1891, his Grace the Duke of Groveland George Montagu Fitz-Robbins Monckton, left the countryside and his latest married paramour at the urgent request of his barrister Prosper Hutchinson. Prosper explains that if a Mrs. St. Vincent refuses to sell her bookstore on Monckton Row, his project would fail and His Grace will be out at least 90,000 pounds. The lady is obstinate.

To save his project, Fitz visits the lady in question who refuses money. He likes her courage and stubbornness so different than all the women he knows who do whatever he asks of them. He changes plan from cash to seduction as no female can resist his lure. Rosalind knows her adversary is GORGEOUS AS SIN and desires him, but she knows he will break her heart so rejects her need of him and his enticement leading to an immovable force colliding with an irresistible object.

This engaging late Victorian heated romance stars two enemy combatants insisting it is only passing lust that will go away like gas does. The gender war makes for a fine historical as Fitz and Rosalind feel they have good cause to motivate them to fight and win the battle while ignoring their respective seditious hearts and other body parts. Although the plot is a bit thin, Susan Johnson provides an enjoyable late nineteenth century romance because of heated hostility between the lead couple.

Harriet Klausner

A day after reading this book I still can't shake the images of the hero and heroine. I smile everytime I remember a passage from this book.

Rosalind St Vincent is a widow and bookstore owner. The Duke of Groveland is determined to buy her out of business for a building project he has in mind. She is determined to stay, and he is determined to convince her one way or another to sell. He seduces her, and the game is on! When the Duke discovers Mrs. St. Vincent writes erotica under an assumed name he vows to use it against her, but in the mean time he didn't expect to become totally and unexpectedly infatuated with her. Afterall, he is the most notorious rake in England. The dialogue, and endearing qualities of the Duke and Rosealind make this a must read. A delightful and sensual escapade that is trademark Susan Johnson.

I have been reading Susan Johnson novels for years. When I discovered her, I read all of her backlist of historicals as quickly as I could find them and still have a few of them on my keeper shelf. However, something about her writing changed for me with several of her newest releases that kind of put me off reading her for while. When I first learned about Gorgeous as Sin I was on the fence whether or not I would read it, but then I heard that this newest historical was similar to her older novels and would appeal to her disillusioned fans (apparently I was not the only one with these sentiments). So I thought, why not give it another chance before removing her from my reading list. I almost never do this, as everyone always deserves another chance...right?

Well, in this case, wrong. I didn't like it....at all. I thought the plot was predictable, which is not a "sin" as long as the journey with the characters is enjoyable, but I didn't like the characters either. Fitz, The Duke of Groveland, is an enterprising, scheming, selfish, entitled aristocrat who is used to getting his way, no matter what, or how much it costs him. Money is no object for him, and morals do not exist. He uses coercion, deception, manipulation....anything, even his own body, to win.

Rosalind is a widow who is on the forefront of the suffragette movement. She is progressive, independent to a fault, stubborn and self righteous. When Fitz and Rosalind first meet sparks fly (but not in a good way), as in:

Fitz: "I hate you, [...]! You're costing me time and money all because of your stupid and insignificant little book store",

Rosalind: "Not as much as I hate you, you philandering rake, no amount of money can buy what I offer the community with my shop".

Of course, this is not exact quote from the book, but I feel that it is a great summarization of the beginning of the book. Love and Hate are definitely two sides of the same coin for Fitz and Rosalind. I was a little put off at the beginning because of this, but thought that maybe their dialogue and actions towards each other would change as they fell in love, but they didn't. Fitz calls Rosalind a "[...]" throughout the book, and not in a playful way, but in a derogatory way. Other than their attractiveness to each other I failed to understand what compelled their almost obsessive behavior to have an affair that eventually led to their "falling in love", and I use that term loosely.

Some reviews I read did not like Fitz because they felt that he "cheated" on Rosalind when he slept with several other women during their brief affair. This did not really bother me because I felt that it accurately portrayed who he was and the type of life he was leading prior to meeting Rosalind, in addition, he and Rosalind were not in a committed relationship (neither wanted anything from the other except sex). It also had the added benefit of leaving A LOT of room for him to grow and mature as a character.

Their entire relationship is based on sex. I failed to comprehend how two people who acted the way they did, used, and treated the other person the way they did, fell in love. Fitz has investigators break into her home to find evidence of her illegal writing, uses estranged family members to try and convince her to "do the right thing", inadvertently has her arrested and put in jail for writing erotica, and is willing to use any means necessary, including sex with him, to convince her to sell her property to him. Rosalind uses Fitz for the sex, after all she is a widow, and uses their affair as inspiration for writing her popular erotica serial. Both characters were flawed, and their story lacked any kind of intimate passion. I felt they each had a lot of room to grow, and was willing to accept them as they were written at the beginning, hoping that they would redeem themselves by the end, but it just didn't happen.

Does this sound like a love story to you? It wasn't for me. After reading this book the only thing I came away liking was the cover. I am hoping that my next historical read, The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley, will renew my love of historicals (I've heard a lot of good things about it, so keep your fingers crossed).

This book, and many more reviewed for Seductive Musings.

It's all been said before, I just can't understand and accept that other reviewers think that being unfaithful is okay, or will be in the end, that the Heroine has to just accept this and he will work himself out and everything will be okay. Why does it allways have to be the Heroine who suffers all the time, why don't the readers demand more from the authors, like love stories should be about love, not about how much pain and agony the hero can inflict on the heroine in the space of the book and then in the last chapter tell the heroine that he loves her and then everything is okay. Once a cheater always a cheater, I wouldn't trust this guy as far as I could throw him, but boy does he need to be thrown right out of the book, and a proper hero in his place. If you love someone you don't sleep with everyone up until the hour you tell the person you love them. When you love someone you respect yourself and the person you love by remaining faithful to that person, otherwise it's not true love and she's better off with someone else who truly loves her. It's not I love you so much even though you were unfaithful I will still love you, sorry if you loved them you wouldn't cheat in the first place, no if's but's maybe's, just no cheating, it's simple, respect love trust is all gone and you end up with nothing. I know they weren't married but if your sleeping with someone you really don't sleep with anyone else, no excuses. Can someone explain to the Authors what love is.

I really didn't like Fitz. Rosalind was okay. She was a bit independent and strong willed, which I liked fine. My problem was with how quickly they fell into bed together and the fact that he kept sleeping around with other women. Not just an ex-mistress which he acts like he can't stand but also a less than . . . I think you know where this goes. It's almost as any ole woman would do. Didn't matter if he liked her or not if she was available he would take her up on it. That being said it made it less believable that he would care for Rosalind. Really she didn't seem to love him either. Seemed like it was just a roll in the hay and nothing more. I don't know maybe womean of the 1890's were that free, probably not!

He plotted to have her arrested and then she forgives him after staying in that nasty prison overnight, puhleaze!!!

The icing on the cake is when he tells her that because of her he wasn't interested in sex. That he was at a loss without her. He claimed that no women looked even remotely interesting. And something about it unnerving him but not enough to actually climb in bed with anyone. He acts as though he hadn't had sex with anyone else since meeting her. Yet he did! With at least two other women. Not only is he a womanizer he is a LIAR too!!!

Really couldn't stand him and can't believe that she would be gullible enough to buy this, hook, line and sinker!!!!

Well, I have to say I love anything SJ writes. This was a hot one. I like how SJ does not cut any corners at showing how doggish the hero (Fitz) really was. Most books may say the hero is a rake or a scoundrel... but you never really get a glimpse of it in the story. I love the way she breaks him down in the end. Very well done. As for the heroine (Mrs. St. Vincent) I think she was a little too forgiving. I mean the hero was really a true dog. The plot was pretty good. This is a fast read. You all know SJ does not hold back. So if you decide to read this you are in for a real treat.

Accustomed to A privileged life style and Gorgeous As Sin, Fitz, Duke of Groveland is a man who always gets what he wants. Women falls at his feet, while men run to do his bidding. When one of his business ventures is threatened to go awry because of an infuriating bookshop owner who won't sell, he sets out to confront the lovely widow himself. Instead of Rosalind falling at his feet the way the ladies of the ton does, she slaps him and says the word he's never heard, "NO"! Little does Rosalind know that the Duke finds out about her other side job of writing erotica's and is determined to have his revenge in one BED or the other. Little does the Duke know that he will never want to leave that BED!

Susan Johnson writes the best rakes hands down! Fitz is everything you would expect from a rake. He's Gorgeous, he's spoiled, he's rich, he's a great lover, and other women can't get enough of him. He's also extremely elegant with a very dirty mouth. I loved him! I really appreciated SJ's ability to make Fitz stay true to himself until the very end. You are kept in suspense of his true feelings because through his character development, you will understand why he is called a rake in the first place, but when he finally falls in love he is everything you would want in that reformed rake! I also loved the way the plot of the bookstore never overshadows the romance, it just sets the stage for the hero and heroine to antagonize each other while falling in love.

Rosalind was a good match for Fitz but I just couldn't relate to a woman who wouldn't sell A bookshop when so much money was being offered. I wanted to smack her sometimes! The marathon love scenes were many! So many in fact that I actually wanted a little less love making and more quality time spent with the hero and heroine doing other things, but they were some very HOT love scenes indeed! Overall, this book was definitely above average. It was a fast paced and fun read and Susan Johnson still remains my favorite author! I can't wait for "Sexy As Hell"!

I found this book far fetched and typical of what many romance authors are writing these days.

The author has the typical antagonism between the hero and the heroine, she has the sexual chemistry...but it is so far fetched I won't destroy the story for those who plan to read it but I found the story frustrating and was ready to start scanning pages early on in the book.

I could not stand the hero in this book. He may have been ungodly handsome and built like a stallion but he was a pompous, arrogant, vengeful, spoiled whore-man. I didn't fancy the heroine much either as she was spineless and stupid enough to desire and lift her skirts for the jerk from the start. Ack.

***Spoiler***
Case in point..the day the heroine meets hero they have a heated and threatening conversation --each hates the other...by evening they are back together and he stays the night and they have sex --it is a ridiculous and poorly written scene. I understand playacting and the sex act but..I found the writing of this scene totally unbeleiveable and dijointed -- the conversation that takes place between the pair seemed so out of character for either the heroine or the hero. Oh, and of course when morning comes the pair hate eachother once again. Just typical of many historical romance books today; conflict and sexual reward, conflict and sexual reward throughout the book and then marriage in the final chapter...blah, blah, blah.

P.S. I came back a month later and reread this review and added this edit, "having thought about this book since writing the first review-if I could change the rating I would give it 2 stars I disliked it that much.

I guess, from reading all the other reviews, that you either love or hate this book. For me ... I loved it! It is, for sure, staying on my "keeper shelf", to be read again another day.

I totally "got" the characters and thought they were limned perfectly. Reformed rakes are my favorite, especially when the heroine isn't making an overt play for him. The dialogue was intelligent and witty ... and the love scenes were delightfully steamy and inventive. I also really enjoyed the historical time that this story was set; the feminine movement just beginning to make some waves.

Gorgeous As Sin (Berkley Sensation)