Secret Pleasures [Paperback]

Thea Devine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2001

Marrying a much older man against her will, innocent Lady Genelle Tisne has little knowledge of true passion or few escapes from her unfulfilling life, until she becomes the prime suspect in her husband's murder and is swept into the arms of seductive private detective Rulan Roak. Original.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Kensington (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758202997
• ISBN-13: 978-0758202994
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #916,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the time, September 22, 2000

By 

Kelsey (Mineapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Pleasures (Paperback)

I haven't read very much of Ms. Devine's work, but if it's all like this, no thank you. The reason I read this book was because of the favorable reviews, so I'm here so others don't waste the time and money.

The 2 biggest problems with this book were: 1--her excessive use of italics. Yes, I understand that it was to denote the central characters thoughts, but I felt it was ineffective because 1-half the novel was italicized, 2-the characters thoughts were also expressed in unitalicized sections, and 3-often they were very fragmented, trailing off (...) without finishing the thought/sentence. 2--genre confusion. Devine starts out with a sexy idea, a woman accidentally stumbles onto a sensual realm she didn't know existed and goes on to discover new sides of her own sexuality. But from that point on, things go south. This novel would have been better served written as erotica because the constraints of the romance genre, e.g. emotional intimacy, only having one sexual partner, etc. limit what could have been a good piece of erotica. The lack of emotional connection between the main characters and scant plot in this book cannot be overcome by sheer number of sexual encounters. If you want explicit sex scenes with good plot, try Susan Johnson, Virginia Henley, and the earlier work of Bertrice Small, but stay away from this book.

The plot is sketchy and convoluted at best. bizarre. And what is with the overuse of the word "ramrod." That's not sexy, not a turn-on. Overall, "Secret Pleasures" is an unsuccessful attempt to combine the erotica and romance genres.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My first Thea Devine read, August 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Secret Pleasures (Paperback)

Having never read Thea Devine before, I didn't know what to expect - and couldn't help but compare this author to my other favorites: Brenda Joyce, Virginia Henley, Susan Johnson, Laura Kinsale, etc. The relationship between the two characters was strange and seemingly impersonal, until you got to the amazing intimacy that they only shared behind facades of fake names and forbidden houses of pleasure. This was a very interesting way to see the main characters interact, but although its extremely erotic, I wouldn't call it "romance". Its definitely hot enough to keep your attention throughout the entire book, but you must wait until the very end to find any real emotional connection between the characters. This was a little disheartening to me. However, I will definitely pursue more of Ms. Devine's writing, and hope to see a deeper connection between characters than just amazing sex.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Thea Devine Has Written, May 12, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Secret Pleasures (Paperback)

I found this book exciting, thrilling and wonderful. It was one of Ms Devine's better novels. Ms Devine has always written juicy novels that are on the cutting edge of romance and pure unadulturated sex. Her character Roark is both intelligent and sexy to a fault. He is the type of man any women would love to be romanced by. His shrewd powers of deduction along with his innate sexuality is a force to be reckoned with