Customer Reviews

The Passion

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

"The Passion" by Nicole Jordan

This story takes you on a passionate ride! The scenes Nicole Jordan presents are breathtaking, poetic, beautiful, erotic, intoxicating, bold, and passionate! The reader learns about Aurora and Nicholas as they learn about and discover each other as well as about themselves. Their fire is ignited from the very beginning of the book as Aurora and Nicholas gaze into one another's eyes, then fire becomes a roaring blaze when they kiss. When they realize passion and love are one in the same the fire is fueled uncontrollably! Both characters are strong individuals that have and can endure what life expects of and deals them. They learn about true courage, commitment, desire, passion, and love. Aurora has always been what society expects of a "proper" woman, but yearned to be passionately free. Nicholas is a man who chose to be free from society's expectations and lives life to the fullest. They are separated for a short period of time after their wedding night, and each discovers something different. After reading an erotic journal that Nicholas entrusts to her, Aurora believes she has learned all she needs to know about desire, passion and love but feels she should never open the heart to love because it will only be broken. And vows she will never allow that to happen to her. Nicholas discovers differently. During their time apart he realizes that his feelings for Aurora are stronger than any he has ever felt for a woman. He thinks at first those feelings are simply desire and lust. However, after spending time and getting to know her he realizes he wants Aurora's heart and now must convince her. The book is heart wrenching, suspenseful, surprising, & tearful from it's beginning to it's VERY passionate ending! This is book two in "The Notorious" series by Nicole Jordan. I highly recommend this book as well as book one in the series, "The Seduction"! Nicole Jordan is an amazingly talented author and you will not be disappointed.

I LOVED this book. From the beautiful Prologue, until the very end, you are given a story with wonderful main characters, great secondary characters (Nicole makes secondary characters as fun and interesting to read about as the main one's), a wonderful story, and some really sensual love scenes. Nicole's writing at times, seems poetic, and the lush love scenes are so beautiful, they leave you breathless. The Passion starts off exciting and is a thrill from beginning to end. I couldn't put it down.

Lady Aurora Demming meets Nicholas Sabine as he is about to go to the gallows. They make a pact, and share a glorious night of passion before he is to be hung. Aurora marries Nicholas to avoid marrying the man her father betrothed her to, and Nicholas marries Aurora so that she can become the guardian of his sister. You'll enjoy the story of Aurora and Nicholas, and their sensual journey to love. I did.

Where to start? This was the first book I'd read by this author. It started off quite well, with an interesting, if somewhat far-fetched premise. However, if one can suspend disbelief (and I usually can), this book captured the reader's interest...at first.

I blasted throught the first 100 pages. The book was shaping up well. The characters were likeable, and I cried a little when Nicholas "died", even though I knew he wasn't really dead. The plot was moving swiftly, and the focus appeared to be firmly on the relationship between hero and heroine. That's just as is should be. So far, so good.

But then the book started to fall apart. Aurora really began to get on my nerves. She was lamenting about how much she missed Nick and what might have been. Then Nick returns from the dead, and suddenly she doesn't want him anymore. Then she doesn't want a true marriage with him (kind of late for that, chickipoo!) unless it's based on love. So then he falls in love with her, and admits it to her, and again, she changes her mind and decides that she doesn't want him anymore. Then she realizes she's in love with him too, but casts him aside for someone else based on some pretty lame excuses about honor and duty. Then she wants him again. Arrgh! As my English mother would say, "changeable as the bloody wind!" I wanted to smack her and tell her to make up her stupid mind already--choose the man you love, the one who's name you already share! I'd started out liking her, but this pretty much killed any warm feelings I had about her.

And then there was the overabundance of sex in this book. I'm no prude, but it got to be ridiculous. There had to be at least a dozen sex scenes in this book, and most lasted for almost 10 pages. I was starting to roll my eyes and mutter, "Oh, for Pete's sake, are they doing it AGAIN?" It seemed like they were either fighting or screwing (mostly screwing) for the last 2/3 of the book. I was like, get on with the story. Where's the love, the romance in my romance novel? If I wanted erotic fiction (I don't), then that's what I'd buy. I started skimming whole sections of this book, and skipping scenes entirely because I was getting bored.

I was barely able to make myself finish this. If I can borrow another book by this author from the library, I might consider trying it. Otherwise, I'll save my money. Unless you're a die-hard fan of this author, I'd suggest you save your money and skip this book.

At a friends reccomendation I purchased the last Nicole Jordan "Seduction." I liked it enough to purchase "The Passion." Wow, what a difference one books make. This is a powerful book, both in the "steam" factor and in the story and plot factor. I have never read an erotic romance that had a better story based upon love and respect. The two character Aurora and Nicholas, draw you into their pain and confusion over this new passion. This book in fact brings to mind "The Duke and I" by Julia Quinn. This is much more steamy, but the story is as fresh as "Duke." Get a big cup of coffee on a cold winter night and enjoy this wonderful story! Good Reading!

I have never despised a female character so much! This is my second book from Nicole Jordan and it'll most likely be my last. I had to force myself to finish this one (hoping it would get better). The introduction of Aurora's character was so far afield from what she regressed into throughout the novel. Initially she struck you as an interesting if not courageous personality... then she became self-righteous and over-dramatic, going around and round for CHAPTERS with the same insecurities and arguments about the type of person she thought Nicholas was. Literally CHAPTERS are spent in Aurora's emotional angst over how adventurous, "violent" or at the very least interesting Nicholas' character was to the detriment of Aurora's "independence" (i.e. living by herself fearing what everyone thinks-striving for a boring and shallow life). In fact shallow is a great adjective to explain the overall plot. The explanation of her physical and emotional abuse by her father was so weak that it didn't really substantiate the melodrama that ensued as a result of it. And once her father was introduced, the entire situation was not as dynamic as one would have expected. I can't believe that such a strong male character evolved while the female character regressed into such an irritating drama-queen. All in all, quite a disappointment.

I won't rehash the plot. Everyone has already done that. I will, however, say that if you loved The Seduction as much as I did, don't automatically assume you will love this one the same. The sizzle just isn't there. Ultimately, there was very little push-pull between the characters, no chemistry that made you hold your breath. The Seduction was memorable in every way. The Passion, for me, ranked among the very ordinary. It wasn't awful; it just wasn't gripping. Frankly, I expcted more.

This book started off with great promise. Now, I've read and loved other books by Ms. Jordan, but I'm not sure where she went wrong with this book. I was fully involved with the hero and heroine - witty dialogue, chemistry jumping off the page ... but then when the book returned to England, it was like a completely new book started. The heroine changed from a take charge kind of person, to a wimpy 'I don't know what I want.' kind of person, and it just lost me as a reader. I put it down and moved onto something else. This book had great promise, but didn't live up to it.

I was thoroughly disappointed by this book. I truly enjoyed The Seduction and was looking forward to The Passion. I had a hard time relating to the characters and following what little plot there was. I found it very difficult to finish the book. I have read several of her other books and find this one falling way below her standards as good reading material.

THE SEDUCTION by NICOLE JORDAN was a magnum opus - and now THE PASSION continues to enthrall with her unrivalled passionate style and a tenacious love between Lady Aurora Demming and Nicholas Sabine. In terms of sensuality, THE PASSION is overshadowed by her more indulgent style in The Seduction, but in THE PASSION, Ms. Jordan more than redeems herself in her narrative and the poetic journal entry of a tragic love paean left behind by Sabine's mother which makes the read more personal and erotic.

Struggling between passion and decorum, Lady Aurora Demming braves the wrath of her abusive father to wed to Nicholas, who is to be gullotined for a naval crime. The wedding was a marriage of convenience and lasted only for a day - but little did she know that Sabine had escaped execution. He returns to stake his claim on Aurora, but Aurora will not allow passion to rule over her when the clamoured independence and security she sought so hard for could be abandoned for reckless passion to Nicholas.

As usual, both Aurora and Nicholas are characters which are flawed and fiercely protective of their loved ones. It's a passionate tour de force with moments of poignancy, especially when the dilemma was waged in Aurora's head and how she convinced herself to follow her heart.

THE PASSION still manages to scorch but compared to THE SEDUCTION, it lacks the former's sensitivity and avant-garde fiery scenes. Nicole Jordan with her deft characterization, opens up the story with a journal and that is very refreshing. The readers are held captivated by the intense dialogue and tight pacing, and will most certainly relish in Aurora's go for a stake in a heart-wrenching passion with Nicholas.

THE PASSION is still undoubtedly one of the best in spicy narration. For all its breathtaking passion, one of the journal entry sums up my verdict: There is no escape from the shackles and bonds of THE PASSION.

In 1813 in St. Kitts, British West Indies, English visitor Lady Aurora Demming objects to the military's treatment of condemned prisoner Nicholas Sabine. The English know him as the pirate Captain Saber while the Americans consider the merchant fleet owner a privateer.

Nicholas worries about what will happen to his half-sister Raven. He persuades Aurora to marry him, consummate their vows, and serve as Raven's guardian as the latter makes her London debut. With the urging of her cousin and his wife, Aurora agrees to this one-day marriage of convenience as opposed to marrying her father's choice of spouse, the arrogant, odious Duke of Halford. However, neither Nicholas nor Aurora expected him to survive the gallows and come to England to claim his bride.

With over a dozen best-selling historical romances, readers know Nicole Jordan is a sure winner for readers who like their romances a little spicy. THE PASSION is a seductive tale that contains all the fire and conflict the audience expects from a novel written by this talented author. The story line centers on two strong charcaters struggling between their love for one another and the War of 1812 interfering with their relationship. Ms. Jordan has written one of the best romances of her career.

Harriet Klausner