Customer Reviews

Sexy As Hell (Berkley Sensation)

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

 

 

What can I say other than the plot line of this story is the same as any other recent Susan Johnson. The story started out interesting enough with the heroine using the hero to purposely ruin her reputation. At this point I thought 'Yay! Strong heroine, strong hero there's going to be spark and passion!". Alas, no. The heroine and hero do get married, however Johnson does not develop the relationship of the characters at all. The characters retain the feel of strangers who just happen to be compatible in bed.

Of course once the characters are married, Susan Johnson's repeats her overly used plot line that we've seen in tons of her past stories: hero has lots of sex with heroine, hero thinks he's starting to fall in love with heroine, hero doesn't like the idea of falling in love so leaves and renews a sexual relationship with a former lover, heroine finds she's fallen in love with hero but pines away for him, heroine decides to stop pining and returns to town, heroine catches hero cheating on her, hero feels bad, apologizes, heroine forgives him right away, and they lived happily ever after.

There's no resolution of the hero's infidelity. The heroine simply accepts it. Her character did a complete 180 from the strong willed character I saw in the beginning of the book. Plus there's nothing romantic in one spouse cheating on another.

This book is definitely not a keeper. I'd say check it out from the library if you really want to read it and save your $8 for a different book.

Just FYI/Spoiler. Ther heroine is typical Susan Johnson, a bit strident and anooying, but mostly good. The realy problem with the story is the hero. He is really young at 22 and maybe that's the excuse for his behavoir. He leave his wife and goes back to his mistress and then gets rid of the mistress and spends a night with his wife then goes back to cheating on her with other women. Yes he sometimes calls the other women by his wife's name, but since the reason for him leaving is never really explains more than being commitment-phobic. He's also an alcoholic who never stops drinking something for every meal. I mean, alcoholism is a serious problem that causes lots of health problems. Also, he never feels guilt that he cheats on his wife or remorse even though she admits it bothers her that he did it. Also he says he loves her at the end of the story, but actions speak louder than words and his actions do not show love and even his wife doesn't think he means it when he says he loves her, but she feels he will mean it "with time". Yeah, it's a bit of a frustrating story so I'd stay away from it if I were you. Oh, and the end is really quick. It goes from him having dinner with a woman he's also sleeping with who runs a house of prostitution and within a few pages he has a complete turnaround because his wife is pregnant and suddenly he wants to be involved. There's no explanation given or closure. He just decided he wants her back after ignoring her and drinking all his meals and sleeping with innumerable women and he comes back and says he loves her and that's the end of it and the story is other. Literally the wrap up is like 5 pages.

I loved Susan Johnson's earlier books. Her heroes, rogues all, were romantic and redeemable; her heroines, spirited but likeable. I'm not sure what has happened, but I wish Ms. Johnson's editor would start actually editing. Johnson's latest book, "Sexy As Hell" features a spoiled, narcissistic, alcoholic hero and a grating, possessive heroine who, after reluctantly agreeing to a quick marriage of convenience, turns into a jealous shrew. How her overbearing possessiveness makes her different from all the other women he has seduced and discarded, I don't know. But the most bilious part of this story is when, knowing their marriage is a sham, knowing he doesn't love her, the heroine refuses to remove herself from him when they are having sex (Johnson's couples never make love anymore), despite the fact he is tied to a bedpost, losing control, and has made it clear he doesn't wish to impregnate her. Of course, she becomes pregnant, whereupon he runs back to London and resumes his affair with a former amour who, incidentally, is another bitchy possessive shrew. No wonder the man drinks. Despite this story's requisite happy ending, the hero is never fully redeemable and the heroine is a shallow, petty shadow of Johnson's earlier heroines.

I was soo looking forward to reading this book and I came away dissapointed. I did not feel the connection between the Hero and heroine, there was no love or emotion, even the sex scenes were not that hot. I love Susan Johnson and all her books until this one. I will still read whatever her next book is, but this one was flat for me.

I would have given Sexy As Hell 4 1/2 stars if Susan would have written an epilogue. The story did end good, but it would have been better had Susan added an epilogue.

First off I must say that Sexy As Hell reads like most of Susan's other historical's. Either you love them or you hate them. Her hero's always drink a lot and her Rake's are truely Rake's that have slept with many woman, married or not. The hero in this book Oz is no different. He drinks to excess because of the loss of loved one's in the pass and uses sex also to forget. He is very young, handsome, and has a lot of money. He drinks to much, and love's sex which he is very good at. Of course like any of Susan's hero's he has the body of a god and a rather nice package that he can use all night long, lol!

The heroine Isolde is a wealthy Countess in her own right but she has a Male relative who wants to marry her to get control of her money because he has gambling losses he needs to pay off. Oz marries her to save her from his evil clutches. It is a marriage of convenience and they plan to divorce as soon as they get the cousin totally out of her life.

Isolde figures out quickly that he is a rake and understands that this is just a business arrangement. She can't help but want him as all the other woman do and of course this bothers her. She does not however gush all over him. She figures she will take what she can while she can because Oz is just too good to pass up.

Just like many of Susan's historical's, they part at one point and he does carry on with several other woman at this point. So if you don't like the hero bedding another woman, this book is not for you. He does realize at the end of the book that she is his everything. I really wished Susan would have had that epilogue though.

I'm looking forwards to Susan's next historical romance, Sweet As The Devil.

First of all I have to say Oz (hero) was a drunk. He was very disgusting, sleeping around with whores and married women while his wife was pregnant. So what there marriage was one big mishap. He was just vulgar and unrepentant throughout the entire story. Why would an author create such a character for a romance story? Ok... he apologizes on the last two pages of the book. But he was stupid drunk when he did. Therefore the sincerity of his repentance was unbelievable. Isoldes's (heroine) character was underdeveloped. Besides her just being a rich, country girl doormat heroine, there really was not a whole lot to say about her personality. This was a bunch of craved sex scenes that really did not make any kind of sense. Damm I expected so much more from SJ.

What would you say about a historical romance male character who has slept with enough women to make him a walking STD, a proud alcoholic who is not ashamed to admit that he can drink five glasses of brandy each night and uses sex to manipulate the heroine into having feelings for him or forcing her to do what he says? Does this scream what a romantic hero should be? Apparently, Susan Johnson thinks so with Osmond, the so-called hero of Sexy as Hell. This man has all these traits which is the farthest from what I believe a hero should be.

Osmond, Baron Lennox, known to his friends and lovers as Oz, has a great deal of luck on his side. His one redeemable attribute, even if you can call it that because it's just thrown in haphazardly, is that he spends his time translating rare manuscripts. Oz loves to drink massive amounts of alcohol, so much that the amount he gulps down would cause a normal man to have alcohol poisoning. But this is not the case because remember, Oz is the dashing rakish hero, so he gets a free pass! Not only is he skilled at cards but very good at pleasuring many married women disillusioned with their own marriages.

His latest paramour is waiting for him at a hotel in London's Soho Square. Oz ends up in the wrong hotel room, thinking the woman in the bed is his mistress. But this case of mistake identity leads to a better night in store for Oz. The woman Oz meets in the darkened room is Isolde Perceval, Countess of Wraxell. She thinks Oz is an actor she's paid to pretend to be her lover. She wants to be caught by her barrister and some of the employees of the hotel. This will stop her selfish and dastardly cousin Frederick from marrying her so he can gain access to her funds.

Oz finds the whole situation hilarious and since he and Isolde have already been caught in bed, why not spend the night together? He comes to the conclusion, and rather quickly that Isolde is special because he feels, "curiously alive for the first time in ages". He has no explanation for why he feels this way but because of that one line Johnson assumes it is enough for the reader to believe Oz and Isolde are soul mates and all the bed play can commence regardless of the countless times Oz has done it before. You must take everything at face value, just because Oz is so skilled and you know the sex he and Isolde have will be scorching hot.

Isolde finds Oz to be a bit odd, but welcomes her ravishment. Both have a wonderful night together. Oz isn't ready to let Isolde go, because again there is just something so special about her, and offers a solution to her family problems. He recommends they have a marriage of convenience and pretend to have fallen madly in love with one another. After some time they will get a divorce.

This marriage of convenience is a very unexpected for both because they can't keep their hands off one another. These two do not make love in any shape. Readers, what Oz and Isolde have is plain old hard core sex. But through this physical activity Oz begins to care for Isolde in ways he has never cared for another woman. Isolde can't help but feel jealous over Oz's past lovers and wants his attention exclusively on her. These two desire both to the point of madness but there is still a question of trust and Oz's own growing jealous over a past love of Isolde's who thinks she is open to an affair with him now that she has married a well known libertine.

Isolde runs hot and cold and is not afraid of voicing her opinion about Oz's past, his issues with alcohol and reasoning for things. She reminded me of a shrill harpy and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why Oz wanted to be with her. Oz lives in the moment and for pleasure. And if he doesn't get what he wants right away, he uses coercion, which Isolde can't help but succumb to. And because of that, their relationship is in tatters and honestly, the way things ends makes me believe these two will never be happy with one another. I can see Oz cheating on Isolde time and again. I am at a loss on how this can be considered a romance.

Susan Johnson does have a very particular audience and if you are fine with an alcoholic, spoiled man cheating on Isolde with a one-dimensionally written ex-lover, as well as insulting Isolde because she denies him sex, then Sexy as Hell may be book for you. Oz constantly uses sex as an excuse to overpower the annoying self righteous Isolde. I really had to hold back from throwing this book against the wall, when Oz cheats on the Isolde with his former married mistress just because the Isolde was honest with Oz about his spoiled attitude and lifestyle. I would never, ever recommend this book to anyone. Sexy as Hell is one big eye rolling train wreck.

Katiebabs

I usually pick up a Susan Johnson book, but I'm not too sure I will be in the future. The fact of the matter is, you can take each hero from each book, change the name, and you couldn't tell the difference. The guys are all the same. They say the same things, they make love the same way, they all have the same attitude, etc. There is just not much that is new or different from one book to the next when it comes to the character profile and depth. I could probably take words from one book and find the same words in the next or earlier book.....yawn.

In 1892, after winning at cards, Baron "Oz" Lennox rushes out to the Blackwood Hotel to meet Nell in a tryst before her spouse returns from Paris. He enters the agreed upon room, but instead of a red-head he is greeted by a blonde who ignores him and turns to her barrister Mr. Malmsey to insure he will serve as a witness.

Thus Oz's luck with the ladies has changed as he asks Isolde Perceval what she wants from him. She calmly explains she wants her reputation ruined so she is not forced into an unwanted marriage. Oz offers a different plan as he too would like to continue his wastrel ways without threats from the marriageable biddies. They agree to marry with plans to divorce soon. However, they prove quite compatible in and out of the boudoir. When Isolde becomes pregnant, Oz leaves for London, but the rake finds no enjoyment without Isolde, who misses him too. She follows him, but his many enemies see her as the heel's Achilles' heal.

Filled with action especially of the erotic kind, Sexy as Hell is an intriguing Victorian romance. The lead couple indulging selfish behavior makes them refreshing as they are atypical of the usual honorable noble. Fans of Susan Johnson will enjoy their hedonistic escapades although the story line is emaciated outside the boudoir.

Harriet Klausner

I am a long time fan of Susan Johnson's historical romances. I am thrilled with Georgeous as Sin and Sexy as Hell. Her historical romances are a guilty pleasure for me, unlike the contemporary romances. Sure the heroes are rogues, but I can tolerate it from the Victorian era, whereas today, no. I was surprised at the age of Oz in Sexy as Hell. Wow. That explained a lot about his actions, imho.

I plan a re-read of her early historical romances very soon!