Customer Reviews

Words of Silk

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

What does New York,an elevator,a blackout,a good looking guy and clausterphobia have in common. Laney McLeod. All of those single things lead to a one night stand. What a suprise ten weeks later when Laney goes to the doctor,for what she thinks is the stomach virus. And learns that shes pregnant. She can't beleive it. At first shes in shock. For when she was thirteen she was told that she would never have children.
When she gets home she begins to accept it. She actually is happy about it. Now she will have someone to love and get that same love in return. She thinks about how she is going to tell the school principal and the superintendant. For she is a kindergarten teacher and is single.
She comes up with a pausiable story. Her and her husband have legally seperated. And they had got together for a weekend to try and reconcile,it didn't work out and she was pregnant.
Now that Deke Sargent has spent weeks looking for Laney, and learns that she is pregnant. He wants to be in her and the babys life. But Laney wants nothing to do with him. She wants him to leave and let her and the baby be. Will Deke be around for the Laney and the baby. Or will he do what Laney expects him do. LEAVE.

This classic love story is a great book. When you open the first page you won't want to put it down until it's done. It's fast paced. You'll love it. Sandra Brown does a great job. Enjoy.

I now am completely versed in lovemaking and all the words that go with it. Sandra Brown has written a love story that is completely about two people in bed. While she has the beginnings of a GREAT story, the focus of Words of Silk was mainly on how many times Deke and Laney could find themselves entangled in a hot passionate embrace.

The story begins in a 10 minutes black out in an elevator in New York City. The sparks that ignited between a very claustrophobic Laney McCloud and Deke Sargent are the makings of a story about a gentleman to the rescue of a damsel in distress. He takes her back to his apartment to help her calm down and they end up in bed. OK, a great way to start a romantic novel. But for the next four and a half CDs, every other sentence is about them in bed. There are small portions of Laney's life as a kindergarten teacher and Deke's as a lawyer but the main focus of the book was how hot they were for each other.

I kept hoping that Ms. Brown would expand on their lives and how they worked out their two vastly different lifestyles. I was hoping that Ms. Brown would allow Laney's character to want to find her father and expand on that subject matter. I was hoping that Ms. Brown would expand on Deke's large family and loving chaos that goes with it. Unfortunately, none of this happened.

In short, this is a bedroom book and the story line goes lacking. In Ms. Brown's book, Hello Darkness, she wrote a wonderful plot and the characters didn't find it necessary to fall into bed at every turn. In Envy there were a few references to bedrooms scenes but there was a plot and she developed it. Seduction by Design was a book that sounded like it would be totally involved in the bedroom but was not. And, finally The Switch was a murder mystery involving twin sisters. Again, none of these books involved a total commitment to sex. I had hoped Ms. Brown would continue to write in this manner in Words of Silk but was disappointed.

This book thoroughly annoyed me. It was originally written back in the 80's and it shows. The heroine, a naive kindergarten teacher, manages to land herself in an elevator during a blackout with a handsome older guy. She has a fit of the vapors (or something) and he ends up carrying her back to his apartment where he thinks it would be a grand idea to soothe her with some brandy (and some good lovin' for good measure). Naive, innocent and virginal!!, our brilliant heroine ends up downing two drinks and begging this stranger to have sex. She wakes up conveniently forgetting everything and scurries away while he's showering (or something ~ my mind was wandering a bit I'm afraid). Of course, she ends up preggers.

This all happens in the opening chapters and what follows only serves to annoy and irritate me further. The "hero" spends the next few months tracking this strange woman down through some stealthy detective work and quickly insinuates his way into her life with very little subtlety because he fancies himself in love with her and the baby to be. As irritating as all of this may be, do you know drove me over the edge? This guy rubs her belly and calls the kid "skooter". That just drove me absolutely nuts. What kind of guy calls an unborn baby "skooter"?

As he continues to take over her life, she puts up the token resistance but then he touches her and, ooooh, ahhhhh, all thoughts of fighting are over and the sex begins anew. Ick. Who is this creep and who the heck does he think he is? Anyway, to sum it up? No matter how OLD the book, all sex, no relationship = an irritated me. There were lots of good romantic romances written in the 80's and this isn't one of them.

That's all I can really say about this novel. SIMPLE! It doesn't deserves to get any stars. ZERO, NADA, NONE! Plot is weak, and very unrealistic, not to mention dated (I'm 26, but I can't imagine any woman falling for this caveman-stalker-bully even in the 80's) No way. If you're looking for a fast read, try The Rana Look or 22 Indigo Place. They have a little more depth.

First let me say I am not a feminist with a bone to pick, or anything like that. I am not a crusader. I am not religious, and the sexual nature presented in this book did not offend me in theory. This book, however, disgusted me on so many levels. It made me literally sick to my stomach all day.

First, we have Laney, who in her drunk/terrorized state had sex with Deke. She was in too debilitated of a condition to offer consent. Deke merely kept badgering her-fondling and stroking and groping-until she gave in. Last I checked, this is known as RAPE.

Then, we have Deke (whose name is merely a contraction of the words Domineering Control Freke) who violates Laney's medical records, tracks her down, and moves into her house without permission. He threatened to tell her employer she was an unwed mother to make her lose her job if she didn't do things his way. This, ladies, is known as MENACING. She repeatedly (what? Fifty times? More?) asked him to leave her alone. Begged him to leave her alone. Told him to get out. He refused and further badgered her. Last I checked, this is known as STALKING.

And he ranted on and on and on and on until in her weak, pregnant state she let him stay because he made her powerless to do anything else. Badgered her and fondled her and rubbed and squeezed and prodded the pregnant woman till she gave in (probably just too exhausted to fight off her attacker! Yes! Her attacker! any longer.) Last I checked, this is manipulative, abusive behavior.

Badgered her until she admitted her mother didn't love her, and insisted this was the reason she "refused" to love him. More psychological torture and manipulation.

Insinuated that he would take her baby by flaunting his power and money, eliminating all possibility of her making any decisions whatsoever. This is another example of a form of abuse-intimidation by an authority figure.

He chose EVERYTHING for her: her bed which he slept in without her permission, her dishwasher, her cleaning lady, even her nightgown and bedspread. The creep even made her choke down breakfast when she wasn't hungry (oh! But he convinced her that she WAS hungry!) He chose their house, sight unseen. He chose her car, sight unseen. He demanded that she leave her home, town, and job. She refused to join him in New York. She said no...but by then she was so "enthralled" she decided to give in anyway. Last I checked, this is known as the alienation process-that sick knowledge that you have no 'say' at all-and that you will be abandoned by the only one that "loves" you if you don't do things their way-that takes place in cases of spousal abuse.

Huh! Even at the very end of the book, after mutual love has been professed, he badgered her into having sex on the back lawn. The word NO means nothing to this Neanderthal idiot. He is a revolting pig of an abusive spouse. All of this iron-fisted control is supposed to be OKAY...because he's generous, rich, and handsome.

Her responses throughout the book were classic of a domestic abuse situation: Too tired to argue anymore. Not worth fighting about. Might as well go along with him, it's easier that way.

You, dear reader, are wondering by now why I finished this book if I hated it so much. Honestly, I hoped she'd stand up to him-just once! Or, better yet, see him for what he was and shoot him or something. I was hoping I'd come along the knowledge this was intended to be a sick parody of a love story. That never happened. Instead, the abuse was made acceptable by presenting it with a happy ending.

I also don't expect Helpful Votes...I've had my say, and that's enough for me.

Honestly, I have all kinds of respect for books but I am literally going to burn this one. ZERO stars.

I like Sandra Brown. This book starts out with a great plot idea but for me fizzled out in the end. Deke was too silly to be believeable. Some may like this book. For me...Eh, I would not recommend it to my friends. There are too many other good Sandra Brown books out there to waste your time with this one. (in my humble opinion that is)

The beginning of this book is what got my attention the most. Two strangers meeting in elevator during a blackout-typical for most people. When they head back to Deke's, they make love. Sandra Brown is a very good writer when it comes to love scenes. She gets the reader "in the mood" also. Through the course of the book Deke tries to get Laney back when he finds her with child. Most of the book covers the getting back together--it dragged some. But in the end, I wont give it away, all is good.

I usually like Sandra Brown books but this is one exception. Words of Silk is one book that just couldn't keep my attention. I can't count the number of times my mind wandered, and during love scenes too! That's just sad. The book did start out good and I thought it was a good premise too, it just didn't pan out well, and went downhill...fast.

The two main characters, Laney and Zeke, aren't very likeable, you can't even call them a hero or heroine. Zeke says later in the book that Laney can't see reason, when he is the one that can't in his dictatorship mind. Then Laney infuriates me with what she does next! Ugh! Maybe infuriate is too strong a word for characters I don't even like.

I would have stopped reading, but I hate to leave a book unfinished, and there is always the hope that it will get better, too bad it didn't.

If I were you I'd skip this one, get one of Ms. Brown's far superior books instead, like Eloquent Silence, the Switch, Tomorrow's Promise, Above And Beyond or even Sweet Anger. If you absolutely have to read this, I'd suggest getting it at the library, you'll be better off.

If you're taking time to read reviews, you obviously want the truth. Here it is; Don't waste your time with this book.

The plot and the characters were completely underdeveloped and unrealistic. I didn't "feel the love." There weren't any romantic scenes, and the love scenes were few and far between.

The only good thing about the book is that you can read it in one day. Most likely you'll skip ahead peeking to see if it gets better and it doesn't!

While driving for my job, one of my favorite things to do is listen to books on CD. Sandra Brown is a particular favorite. Her novels are suspenseful yet light enough that I don't have to think too hard to lose concentration while driving. However, while listening to "Words of Silk" I am pleased to say that I was able to keep my vehicle on the road while laughing so hard at this dated rendition of a love story.

I wont get into the plot, because there really isn't much to say. Basically, this tale consists of a heroine that is TSFW (too stupid for words) and her stalker one-night stand. Being a virgin, the heroine stereotypically gets pregnant after one night of pleasure even though she is supposedly barren from a mysterious "secondary infection." After that her life is invaded and she is pretty much stalked by the uber-hairy, macho older man to whom she gave her virtue.

I realize this novelette is 20 years old, and interestingly enough it kept my attention. In today's world a man like Deke is not only repulsive, he's downright scary. He's a STALKER!

All aside, giggling and laughing to phrases like "the lush delta of her femininity," and "gripping her fingers in his springy patches of gray chest hair," was enough to keep me listening through the whole thing. I am sure other drivers, seeing me laughing out loud either thought I was nuts or were really envious of how much enjoyment I was getting on Sandra Brown's behalf.