Customer Reviews

Thoroughly Kissed (Five Star Romance)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just finished one of the best fantasy novels ever. "Thoroughly Kissed" was simply awesome. The story of the "true" Sleeping Beauty, Emma Lost who is alive and kicking in the modern world after a thousand year sleep. Emma who has had to learn everything about the past and present history from the scratch has become a distinguished professor at a University has found out she has come into her magic a lot sooner than she expected and it is completely out of control and she needs help in reaching Portland in order to learn how to control the magic she now possesses. Did I mention, Emma is a witch. The new chairman of the history department, Michael Found is immediately smitten on his first sighting of the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, Ms. Lost but has his doubts about her teaching capabilities and wants her gone from the University but he soon realizes that magic does exist and finds that he is willing to do anything to help Emma Lost as he has already lost his heart to her. Emma Lost and Michael Found are the definite made for each other but of course they have to go through all the hurdles before they realize they are truly meant for each other. Emma makes the ultimate sacrifice and gets the man she desires. The only bad thing which occurred after reading this wonderful novel was that I found out there was a previous novel "Utterly Charming" which I should have read before reading this one, which may or may not have given me more insight into the life of Emma and her teacher Aethelstan "Alex" Blackstone. But you must know I ran out and purchased "Utterly Charming" before I finished "Thoroughly Kissed". Don't pass on this novel cause it's one of the best romance novels to hit the bookstores in recent times. Believe me you will receive great pleasure from reading this fantastic story.

Emma Lost and Michael Found...Lost and Found...is a great premise for the story of "Sleeping Beauty" and how she is found. The title does throw one off, however, cause there isn't much kissing going on in the book, nor anything else of that nature...but this book was very enjoyable as a fantasy read. The humor was entertaining between the cat, Darnell, Michael, and Emma. I especially loved it when "The Ghost of Christmas Present" showed up, or whoever he is. I see he is going to have his own book next, "Completely Smitten". That I will certainly buy!! Now I just have to go out and buy "Utterly Charming"!!!! But anyone who loves fantasy, fairy tales, and good escapist reading, I recommend this book wholeheatedly!! I finished it in one day. Good reading!!!

Thoroughly Kissed is Kristine Grayson's sequel to the hilarious Utterly Charming. The book picks up with Emma Lost ten years after Utterly Charming left off. Emma is now a professor in the history department at a university in Madison, Wisconsin. Emma is a witch and all female witches come into their magic after menopause. Now Emma believes that she is only 30, (she was in a magically induced coma for 1000 years after she was kissed) so she hasn't been apprenticed yet and has no idea how to control her magic when it suddenly comes into her life.

Michael Found is the new Chair of the History department and he thinks that Emma isn't fit to be a teacher and has gotten by on her incredible good looks, not her ability (she was the basis for Sleeping Beauty afterall). When her magic goes awry at work, he gets caught up in some of the spells and is talked into driving with her to Oregon.

The book deals with Emma's journey to Athelstan's home in Oregon to learn about her magic and also her growing romance with Michael--even though she has sworn off kissing. This book was funny, smart, and one of those books that leaves you with a smile on your face and believing that true love really does exist!

This was a really fun book. The characters were so appealing and right for each other in important ways. The romance clicked, along with the humor and the paranormal elements. The cat is hysterical. Overall, this was a great light read. It's the first book by Kristine Grayson that I've read, but I'll be sure to find others.

For the first time ever I threw a book in the compost bin. If I could, I would give it zero stars. A beautiful woman and a beautiful man fall in love. Been there, done that, too easy. I liked Michael when he said he usually didn't fall for a woman based on her looks, but the author kept harping on Emma's fabulous beauty. And, Michael fell for her beauty anyway. True beauty comes from within, and Emma was a pain in the you-know-where, no inner beauty. With her bad attitude I couldn't believe that Emma was the great teacher and writer that her creator claimed. The magic was boring and there wasn't much kissing, either. And the big build up to a love scene that never happened? That's okay, I didn't like Emma or Michael enough to care. I've read mystery novels that had better love stories than this. I'll stick to whodunnits.

I'm a sucker for fairy-tale retellings, so I was intrigued by the idea of the "real" Sleeping Beauty living in twenty-first century America after her thousand-year sleep. The Sleeping Beauty of this novel is Emma Lost, who has, in the ten years since she awakened from her legendary slumber, adapted splendidly to modern life, going from an illiterate with a fear of running water to a bestselling author and popular professor of medieval history. Emma loves her quiet life, and looks forward to another couple of decades of quiet living before she comes into the magical powers that are her birthright. Her biggest problem is with the new department head, Michael Found, who thinks Emma is an academic fraud and wants to see her fired. When she wakes up one morning with full-fledged powers she's never had a chance to learn to manage, however, her world is turned upside down in short order - with Michael along for the ride.

If Kristine Grayson had stuck to the Sleeping Beauty legend, this could have been a very enjoyable book, but there's no rhyme or reason to the weird collection of mythologies she has thrown together here. In addition to fairy tales, Grayson draws on Greek mythology, Charles Dickens, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. It's a tangled, messy, unsatisfactory hodgepodge. We've got curses, time travel, dreams and cliches turned magically into reality, and a cat that seems to possess human intelligence and sometimes turns into a talking lion. Emma's magic isn't the only thing out of control here. Even the "rules" that supposedly govern the magical world seem like nothing so much as a transparent contrivance of the author to force the plot into the way she wants it to go, no matter how improbable or ridiculous.

Emma is far too cranky and immature to make a sympathetic character. Michael is much more appealing, but it annoys me how he claims he values intelligence more than beauty in a woman, then falls for Emma on the basis of her looks even as he berates her for her second-rate scholarship. Another character's insinuation, which the author implies is true, that Michael's previous girlfriends, for all that they stimulated him intellectually, were all "dogs" with whom sex was "a real chore," offended me. Also, for all his supposed skepticism, Michael comes around to believing in magic awfully fast.

There are some genuinely entertaining moments in this novel, but they're not worth wading through a contrived and nonsensical plot to find. Those who like their fantasy over-the-top may enjoy it, but if you're at all parsimonious with your suspension of disbelief, skip this one.

I thought this book had a really great premise. But, I wasn't into the book very far when I began to jump ahead looking for the romance. I thought the idea of the Professors Lost and Found was tremendous, but, for me, it never panned out. Out heroine spent more time with her cat and more pages were devoted to it than to Michael. I realize Emma was afraid to risk kissing, but on the whole, I was really disappointed. I felt the book could have been a whole lot better. I just didn't like it. Of course, that is just my opinion, but I feel the author squandered a really good plot by not devoting a little more attention to the romance between the lead characters. I realize not every romance has to be filled with a lot of overt passion to be a good book, but after reading this, I sort of feel like I read a book about witches and magic with a little(very little!) romance thrown in.