Customer Reviews

Innocence

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Not what I expected. Filled and I mean FILLED with too many characters to make much sense. The secondary characters filled way too much space in the story that the reader loses interest. The main characters do not get enough 'screen time' to fully develop and you're left feeling empty and as if you've missed a few chapters somewhere along the way.
Disappointing...
The plot of the heroine being an ex-nun got old and tedious after the author kept harping on that fact and reiterating that she was so 'innocent' and sweet and somewhat of a martyr. I lost interest in her character and never really got to know her much better later on.
The hero was too messed up to be interesting and needed a serious shrink, not an ex-nun to heal his wounds. I never bought the back story on his reason for S&M and the torture chambers that filled his basement.
I never could accept that the heroine would find him interesting or sexy in any way. I was left feeling befuddled and confused in the end.
The things he does to her would make any woman run, but not 'martyr-Saint-Mary Frances', the heroine of this tale. I also never bought the fact that she would go under cover as a callgirl to find her sister's killer and that no one would think it was weird.
All in all, I had a very hard time finishing this book and thought the author had great promise with the plot, but should've taken out the side characters and really focused on the main characters and showed us why we should love them, instead of disliking them.
By the way, this is marketed as more of an 'erotic romance', it isn't. Just thought I'd let that out for all those interested...
Innocence is all Mary Frances Murphy has. An ex-nun and the only one who can find her sister's killer, she poses as a call girl and infiltrates a secret ring of deception, prostitution and murder.
The one thing that will stop her? A man known for his 'torture chamber' in the basement and violent history with women. This is the man she must seduce and trick to find her sister's killer. A man so frightening, the service she works for is intimidated. A man named Webb Calderon. Known for his weird and dangerous sexual appetites and the last person who was with her sister...
An empire that can't be toppled and the one person too innocent to understand the depraved depths it goes to to stay secret...
can the dangerous Calderon heal his soul with one touch of her innocence?

Tracy Talley~@

Ok, as a word of warning, this book is not for everyone. But, there are some of us out there who absolutely revel in the darker side of love. For some, there are certain scenes in this book that may be a bit extreme but all I could think while reading it was "where has this book been all my life!?". The plot is amazing with just the right (for us extremist) amount of the forbidden, not to mention a rather engaging subplot. The main male character is every woman's worst nightmare and every woman's secret desire. A man we can all want as much as we fear him: we feel exactly as the heroine does. The suspence had me biting my pillow and the sexual tension had me devouring this book in one giant gulp. If you like the tamer stuff, then don't go anywhere near this book. If you go for the wilder side of life and love (at least in you fantasies :)), then you will feel like you found your new best friend. Thank you, Suzanne Forster!

I agree with the reviewers who labeled this book sick and offensive. The "hero" abuses the heroine. Also she acts so stupidly, you don't really care what happens to her. Save your money and your time.

I bought this book because I read a book by Ms Forster in the past and it wasn't bad. But this book was obscenely bad. How can someone love a man who ties you up, drugs you, cuts you with a blade, and throws you to his enemies? On top of that the guy can't have normal sex.... The story line was not believeable the characters were horrible and weak. Don't waste your time or money on this book...

This is confused, muddle-headed romantic suspense.
The Author starts with a simple love and redemption plot.Then adds four potential lovers, two catholic vocations, one unsolved prostitute murder, a little international intrigue and finally some bondage and drugs. Then these items are shaken and stirred until you have a confused blend of The Flying Nun meets the Marquis de Sade.
Too many story lines. Unbelievable lead characters and situations. A cartoonish evil villian who is too inept to represent a threat to the hero and heroine. Uninteresting, unconvincing foreplay with knives.
Offensive Catholic stereotypes. Skip this one.

I have read most of Ms Forester's novels and while this on does not rate as the highest, it is still a page-turner. The transformation, or rather the manifestation of the inner being, the true being, of the female protagonist from would-be nun to the companion and lover of one of the most passionate men I have had the privilage to meet between the pages of a book, is indeed something to behold. The action in the book is racy and keeps a reader on his toes throughtout the novel. The addition of the secondary character Blue, and her unattainable love for the "good" revrend is a receipe for a sequel. I hope to read more about this character in a subsequent publication. I was loath for it to end, but end it did. I would suggest reading this novel slowly, if that is at all possible, to savour the book, because its difficult to find a replacement once one has finished it. Definately a keeper

For a book with a plot as dark and twisted as this one's, you couldn't possibly imagine there being an element of romance. But there is, and it works. And although I had a difficult time dealing with some of the more harsher and nastier scenes, I was rather surprised to find that as a whole, the book is very good.

Suzanne Forster must be a genius if she can weave romance in with sadistic characters and chilling scenes, and actually create a thrilling and suspenseful book. It works, though.

I'd recommend this book, but not if you're squeamish or into happy, perky characters and sunny plots. It's very angsty and depressing, but also erotic and suspenseful. Ms. Forster is a very talented author.

Yawn.
This book would make a suitable entry into the "Heroines Too Stupid to Live" romance subgenre.
The heroine, Mary Frances, is a failed Catholic Novitiate to St Gertrude's Holy Order. She discovers that her estranged prostitute sister, Brianna, has been murdered.
Brianna, a Cherries escort (call girl), was involved with rich, perverse Web Calderone.
Brianna's Cherries associate, Blue, believes that Cherries Escort Service is a front for industrial espionage, black market smuggling and murder. Blue asks innocent, unworldly, Mary Frances to go undercover (literally) as a Cherry girl to investigate Calderone and his activities.
I guess Mother Teresa wasn't available.
SPOILER ALERT.
There is a complicated plot. A failed postulant heroine, who is described as possessing an unconscious sensuality, a probable madonna/whore. A kinky, cold, cruel hero. Web indulges his lovers in drugs, bondage and knife-edged erogenous zones. And a villian, the psychotic son of a third world dictator.
This sounds promising, but it's a tease.
The plot wheezes with cliches and stereotypes. Hookers with Hearts of Gold. The Siren Virgin. Emotionally Scarred Alpha Hero uses Innocent Beauty as Sacrificial Pawn in International Intrigue.
Tormented Webb Calderone can be redeemed only by the love and compassion (pain) of a beautiful Catholic Submissive. Yeah, love hurts.
The tone of the narrative waivers between straight suspense and a weird, sexual coyness. This confused tone serves to slow the action.
The view of Catholic vocations is simplistic and uninformed. Mary Frances epitomizes every virgin/slut catholic schoolgirl stereotype.
There is a line where innocence crosses into idiocy. This story crosses that line.
Not recommended.

This book makes no sense.

As BDSM erotica, it's not bad, really. The smutty scenes are hot. Some readers have complained about them; I think the important thing to know going into this book is that they are BDSM sex scenes and not what one might be used to. I didn't mind them. Your mileage may vary.

The plot, on the other hand...

Well. We start out with a chapter that talks about how devastated Mary Frances's parents are when she leaves the nunnery. Except in the next chapter, her parents die years before she leaves the nunnery. Then she goes undercover as a high-dollar prostitute to investigate her sister's death. There's a disturbing and rather unrealistic scene where she goes to some super-high-tech beauty salon and is molded into the perfect beauty. Then she goes forth to seduce the reclusive and mysterious Webb Calderon.

What follows is a confusing tangle of plot, involving Mary Frances doing a weird physical trick (one that has the potential to kill her) to supposedly save the day, except that instead it almost messes everything up by making Webb have to rescue her instead of enacting the original plan. I still don't quite understand the sister's motivations, either. I think most of the characters could use a good shot of common sense.

This is my first book by Suzanne Forster and was excited to read it but I didn't enjoy the book at all. Firstly I loved the concept and the darkness of it but my main problems were: 1.) Very little "page time" with the main characters. 2.) The secondary love story took up half the book. I wanted to read more about the main characters, not them. 3.) Too wordy and introspective...there was very little dialogue in the book. Too much description. If a character asked a question, the other character answered it --one and half pages later! 4.)Webb was not developed enough! I couldn't get a sense of WHY he loved this woman...I couldn't understand why Mary Frances loved him???
5.) The priest and the hooker plot bored me to tears, not enough sizzle between them.

Basically I was lost in the book (and not in a good way). Confused was more like it. The Golden Needle thing was not believable.