Personal Assets (Berkley Sensation) [Paperback]

Emma Holly (Author)

Book Description

Series: Berkley Sensation | Publication Date: September 6, 2005

The owner of an infamous Parisian boutique opens a new one in Manhattan, giving her and her best friend the chance to branch out both professionally and sexually—bringing their wildest fantasies to life.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Emma Holly lives in Minnesota where the winters are long and people will use any excuse to warm up. According to Emma, humanity’s best inventions are hot showers, the printing press, coffee, chocolate, and bicycle shorts for men. She can be reached at [e-mail] or P.O. Box 2591, Minneapolis, MN 55402-0591.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (September 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425199312
• ISBN-13: 978-0425199312
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #360,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Erotica > Adult Fiction
  • #95 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Erotica > General

More About the Author

Emma Holly is the USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty very hot romantic books, featuring werewolves, faeries, and just plain extraordinary ordinary folks. Her favorite things are reading, coffee, long daydreamy walks, plus whatever show she's currently infatuated with on tv. She loves sinking into the worlds of her stories and hopes you do too!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Romantica at its best, May 1, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Personal Assets (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is similar to Emma Holly's erotica stories originally published by Black Lace, but this one has been marketed as a romance novel by Berkley.

This definitely pushes the limits of what we think of as romance, and I congratulate Holly for that. This story is a blend of romance and erotica, better known as romantica. There are multiple explicit sex scenes in every chapter, multiple characters having sex with different partners, even some menage a trois and male/male sex. And yet the story focuses on the growing love between two different couples, and the plot itself that ties the whole story together is well-thought out by Holly.

I have always appreciated Holly's open-minded attitude toward human sexuality and erotica, as well as her expertise at crafting very steamy and diverse sex scenes. The fact that she has been able to successfully translate all of that into a book that is considered a romance novel is noteworthy.

The only reason I give this book 4 stars rather than 5 is because in my opinion the ratio of sex scenes to story plot is skewed a little too much in the direction of the sex. Since this is a romance novel and not pure erotica, I would have liked to have seen a little more storytelling to round out all those sex scenes. As it was, there were just little snippets of plot bridging explicit scene after explicit scene of very hot sex.

But let me repeat, what Emma Holly has accomplished with this book is a benchmark in the romance genre, and I hope she will continue to push the limits by writing more romantica in the future.

68 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious and insatiable erotic romance!, January 21, 2004

By 

CoffeeGurl - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Personal Assets (Mass Market Paperback)

I am officially hooked on Emma Holly! Having read Menage, a rather spicy Black Lace offering, I couldn't wait to get my hands on another book from this author. Personal Assets is one of the steamiest, insatiable and wonderful erotic romance novels ever written. Parisian boutique Meilleurs Amis (Best Friends) exudes elegance and eroticism. Beatrix trusts that her young and hot British stepfather Philip will look after her late mother's business. Bea has always loved Philip and she seizes the opportunity to seduce him. But in the midst of seduction, her best friend Lela falls for Simon, a powerful and good-looking businessman who threatens the future of Meilleurs Amis. Will carnal and heart desires get in the way of the aforementioned dilemma? There are various twists throughout the novel.

The erotic scenes keep the juices flowing and your senses in full alert. I loved the scenes that centered on Bea and Philip. The sex scenes between Lela and Simon are also wonderful, but the sexual tension isn't as palpable. The man-woman-man menage a trois in Italy is my favorite scene. The romance in the novel is also wonderful. Emma Holly sure knows how to write erotic romance without the formulaic bells and whistles that accompany said genre. Her writing is sharp, the sex scenes downright explicit and the story is memorable. I shall read her other novels with gusto. Are you in the bargain for a book that contains pure animalistic passion? Pick this one up!

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 *s Passion, Sex and even Love! Classic Holly, January 21, 2004

By 

baltimore0502 "Hon!" (BALTIMORE, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Personal Assets (Mass Market Paperback)

Now this is Emma Holly! I enjoyed her historicals (BEYOND INNOCENCE & SEDUCTION) however; I did not care for her paranormal CATCHING MIDNIGHT (I didn't even bother with HUNTING MIDNIGHT). But this book is my favourite by this author so far (I may just have to check out COOKING UP A STORM). Sure I expected the steamy erotica, but what I didn't expect was that I would care so much about these characters! The story surrounds four people all with some connection to exclusive Parisian boutique Meilleurs Amis (Best Friends).

Beatrix Clouet is the estranged daughter of the boutique's founder, Eve, who has recently passed away. Philip Carmichael is Eve's much younger husband and CEO of the chain of shops. Parisian society has long believed (with some justification) that Philip was nothing more than Eve's boy toy. But now that she's gone, Philip is determined to prove that he's more than a pretty face - that he is a CEO to be reckoned with and that he can successfully run the company without Eve. Beatrix has been in love with Philip since she first saw him (he's only five years her senior after all) but Philip has always treated her with the kindly attention of a doting stepfather. Now, with her mother gone Bea can no longer hold her feelings back and she and Philip share several steamy encounters that, though he enjoys them, he feels are wrong. Though he obviously has feelings for Bea, the fact that she is his stepdaughter holds him back. Can Bea convince him that a relationship between them is not wrong and that they belong together?

Meanwhile, Bea's American best friend Lela Turner puts herself forward to be manager of the New York shop, though she has no experience. She gains a one-month trial from Philip and off she goes. Lela is confident that she can succeed in managing the shop, but a month to learn the ropes may not be enough time. One day a dark haired businessman enters the shop and an electric connection is palpable between them. Turns out he's Simon Graves, CEO of Graves Department Stores who, unbeknownst to Lela, is planning to buy out Meilleurs Amis! Their obvious mutual attraction leads to a seemingly cold deal: he teaches her about management and finance and she becomes his mistress. But it quickly becomes apparent that there is more here than just sex. Lela's blithe and streetwise exterior hides a vulnerable desire to belong, to have the family she was denied growing up. And Simon turns out to be a kindred spirit, but a lucky one in that a wealthy but warm couple adopted him, saving him from his unhappy life in an orphanage. Will each finally find the contentment they seek in the other?

Of course the fate of Meilleurs Amis, Philip's future as CEO and Lela's as manager of the New York store must be sorted out but will these two couples survive the upheaval? Obviously, there is plenty of sex here, including two threesomes, so if edgy sex offends you, you probably should not be reading Emma Holly in the first place. I enjoyed this story of sex and love and hopes and dreams and I highly recommend it for those who like this type of story. Bon appetit!