Customer Reviews

Personal Assets (Berkley Sensation)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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!

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!

I stumbled across Emma Holly's "Beyond Innocence" a couple of years ago, and since then, I've been hooked! I've bought any older book of hers that I can find, and I always look forward to something new. With "Personal Assets," Emma does NOT disappoint. While so much erotica is all about the sex, Emma manages to deliver steamy sex scenes as well as a wonderful story. Actually, "Personal Assets" has two great stories about people falling in love, despite their insecurities, doubts, and preconceived notions. And again, the sex is HOT! Fans of Ms. Holly will not be disappointed. If you have not read any of Emma Holly's work, "Personal Assets" is a great way to start.

Nasty Evangeline Clouet was the driving force behind the success of elite Meilleurs Amis Boutiques found around the world in spots for the jet setting rich and famous. However, Evangeline pushed a lover too far and he killed her. The business is run by Evangeline's boy toy husband Philip Carmichael while her daughter Beatrix stays away preferring to paint.

Bea arrives at the office and abruptly kisses her stunned stepfather Philip who she has loved since she met him as a teen. Soon she is under his desk playing with his wang as he listens to an accounting report that tells him the New York store is in trouble. Unable to resist Philip comes, but afterward tries to return to prim and proper. However, Bea knows she has the upper hand as he cannot ignore her lure. As they fall in love, a hostile takeover of the business occurs that places Bea best friend pulled between loyalty to her buddy and her lover, leading the takeover.

Readers who enjoy erotic romance that does not wait to turn up the heat will appreciate this sex in the boardroom just don't read in a public place unless you want to be considered Meg Ryan in the restaurant scene of When Harry Met Sally. The story line is either boudoir but not always in the bedroom or at the boutiques' offices though none of the key players except for Evangeline comes across as a business barracuda. Fans will gain immense pleasure with this sex anywhere is convenient tale.

Harriet Klausner

After her libertine, wealthy and well connected mother's untimely death, our young heroine, Beatrix, decides that she absolutely must find out what her mother really saw in that young man she married. More than being a 'trophy' husband Beatrix also had to find out if the company of exclusive boutiques will survive in his control and hands.

As in real life, keeping a thriving business profitable after suffering such a catastrophe of the founding "mother's" death, the author manages to weave a plot of secret relationships, intrigue and insecurity that keeps the reader more than interested in the outcome.

As with Emmas other works the author continues to surprise by bringing up new pictorals of real world erotica that are interspersed in the novel exactly where and when they should be. Simply delicious.

The scene and description in the back seat of a taxi ride home between Philip and Beatrix was so real that the reader actually feels that they are vicariously part of the sizzling action .. Yummie yummie ...

Incredibly erotic writing (read hot s*x) and plot don't generally go together. Emma Holly makes it work. She creates characters we care about who have daring s*x. It's an amazing work of erotica and I highly recommend it -- unless you want your s*x scenes to be completely heterosexual.

No one does it like Emma Holly. She really is the only author I've ever read who can neatly balance hot, hot sex and realistic characters and relationships without sacrificing either one. Bea and Phillip, Bea's best friend and her lover, Simon are all superbly drawn. The sex scenes are all spicy and scorching (make the appropriate preparations beforehand), but none are really gratuitous. Each develops an aspect of personality or connection that keeps the reading of PERSOANL ASSESTS from feeling hollow.

I have wide tastes in reading. A non-fiction history book that is well written excites me as much as good fiction. It's the power behind the writer's vision, their voice that sees the prose come alive. When you get into the Romance genre, it's voice and vision, but it's also a headier mix - romance, anticipation, and an understanding of human nature. The best romances are written by someone who appreciates men and women, their indocincrosies, and relishes that indefinable magic, which makes a person individual, special. Often, I see writers writing men as they want them to be, rather than appreciating the male animal as he really is. No matter how beautifully written a tale is, if the writer does not have a good understanding of men, it shows. One thing you can say of Emma Holly she has the knack. She knows men, warts and all, yet adores their intricacy, understands them, and is able to put that into crafting savvy tales with characters so strong they come alive. Personal Assets is Holly at her very best. It shows Holly's understanding of women and men. She breathes life into her characters so when you finish reading this book, you just did not enjoy these two men and two women, you feel you know them. They are your friends! It's hard to think of Bea, Phillip, Leta and Simon as just fictional characters.

I especially I heap high praise on her Multi-POV (Point of View). I have long maintained this writing style is so much freer, fuller, you get to know the characters, their immediate reactions, then and there, instead of having to wait for the confining "stay within a single character's POV for a whole chapter". Comparing Mutli-POV to enforced Single-POV is the difference between staring at the Mona Lisa and then looking at a painting done with paint-by-numbers! I hear people call Multi-POV "head-hopping" and say it takes them out of the story. Sorry, if you are worrying about "whose head" you are "in" - you were never in the story in the first place! Holly has a strong mastery of Multi-POV, and she uses this so well to bring her characters to life. You are able to become acquainted with her four leads so well. I knew each of them, their quirks, their fears, their vulnerabilities. This style of writing is vital, it's immediate. And Holly shows how it should be done!

This tale is red hot, so know that going in. But it's more than the sizzling sex - it's the people. Holly is simply a master at human understanding, a master of taking that comprehension and being able to put it into words. She is a powerful writer. She evokes, provokes, teases and opens your heart to loving the people she conjures.

Bea Clouet lived in the shadowed of her beautiful, dazzling and powerful mother, and a similar grandmother. Her grandmother founded Milleirs Amis, a small, but exclusive boutique in Paris. Her mother pushed it to the limit, expanding it worldwide. When Bea was 12, her mother married Phillip Carmichael, a beautiful Englishman twenty years her mother's junior. Phillip tried to be a friend to the lonely Bea who never lived up to her mothers expectations. Bea's father was Irish, and Bea favored him. She is a big lass that carries a few too many pounds in a town of half-starved models. Bea generally rebuffed the friendship with Phillip because, as she grew she knew she loved him, and not as a stepfather. Now 23-years-old, she is coming into her own, and since her mother was killed six month before by her latest lover, she decides to push the limit and see if she can push Phillips buttons or at least try to get over him.

Leta her college friend is in town. Leta was orphaned when she was young, and never adopted so she has learned never to trust anyone and to depend only on herself. Bea is one of the few people she has ever been close to, so she treasures her friendship. When trouble arises in the New York store, Leta immediately begs Phillip to give her a chance to run the store. He refuses, but does say she can go learn the store, give him a report of what she thinks could improve it, and if she does a good job, he will consider hiring her as manager. Leta's former boyfriend Andrew pushes his boss Simon Graves and Leta together knowing they will click. And they do! Only, Leta is unaware Simon is starting the ground work to take over Meilleurs Amis, and that it could cost Leta her friendship with Bea. Both romances have so much heart, compassion and understanding. The complexity of the story, the characters - well, it's just brilliantly realized under Holly's marvelous talent. Count me a dyed in the wool Holly fan from now on!

2004 Reviews International Organization Award of Excellence Finalist

This has been my favorite Emma Holly book to date! In her latest novel Ms. Holly takes us on a rollercoster ride while we follow the ups and downs of two best friends while they live life and find love in the least of unlikely places. Set in Paris, and New York this is a story that takes you from one extreme to another with the end result of two very different women finding just what they each need in their special someone. One should be warned in advance that Ms. Holly's reads are erotic but with that in mind the love scenes are not gratuitous in nature and are really part of the storyline.

Ms. Holly is a very talented author and one that highly recommend!!!!