Talk about evil...it's also hot erotic and eventually romantic...review to come.Talk about evil...it's also hot erotic and eventually romantic...review to come....more
I am delighted to tell one and all that reading this book has been the highlight of my summer reading for so many reasons! It is my first taste[image]
I am delighted to tell one and all that reading this book has been the highlight of my summer reading for so many reasons! It is my first taste of the very accomplished author, Leyla Attar. I know…Where the heck have I been? And… “taste” is actually a very apt metaphor considering the male protagonist in this wonderful story and his “magical” abilities. Wait…I’m getting ahead of myself.
Moti is the quirky female protagonist who begins with the story of who she and her family are as her cousin… more like sister…is celebrating her engagement with their East Indian family and her Greek fiancé along with his wedding entourage and family in Chicago. It is an amusing and interesting introduction into a family that is rooted in the traditions of India. This family also having embraced part of the Western culture of the US and Europe.
“Your parents are from there, but they live here. You are born here but will forever straddle the boundaries between here and there.”
Moti has very explicit expectations placed upon her in choosing who she will eventually love and marry by her mother. Failing to meet these expectations is a life or death matter for her mother. Her mother withholds so much praise for and affection from Moti, as well as, she is unwilling to allow Moti any personal agency in her life. Her mother resorts to hysterical behavior when things do not quite go her way. As a result, Moti feels manipulated and somewhat socially awkward and insignificant to the people around her.
She finally meets the man who matches the qualities expressly described by her mother’s fortune teller in India when Moti was born and Moti prepares herself to meet her fate with with this destined man again on the private wedding cruise that will include him and her entire family around the islands of Greece. Interestingly enough, there does seem to be some spark between the two and their dynamic becomes intriguing as Moti begins her campaign and quest to capture her life’s destiny as was foretold to her mother.
Along the way… there is a wonderful transformation that is taking place on this voyage of marriage on the Aegean sea . Moti begins to bloom while falling in love and of all things learning to swim. Moti discovers magic in the form of getting to know herself and her real limitations…her true desires. There is a dreamweaver on board who speaks, delights, seduces and holds, not only Moti, but her entire family in thrall with his culinary creations.
“His food spoke to us. It whispered to our deepest desires and stoked our deepest fears.”
It is a wonderfully rich and layered story with fully developed main and supporting characters. There are exquisite moments of tenderness and heat and some terrifying and challenging moments as well. The book is rich in story, description and culture. Ms. Attar’s faculty with language at times reads like poetry. There is suspense and true laugh-out-loud moments.
I felt refreshed and renewed after I read the story. Initially, I was looking for a different kind of ending. After considering everything, I finally came to the conclusion that the ending is fitting because it is real and the “fading of the footprints” means that Moti let go of her past and began soaring into her future while reliving her best memory.
I promise you, that you will be absolutely charmed by the alchemy in this gorgeous story. Don’t hesitate... just go for it!
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I was honored and happy to be a part of the SHH (F)BR.
I thoroughly enjoyed this read and it is not even a genre to which I am normally drawn. Being open to reading anything and everythin[image]
Courage
I thoroughly enjoyed this read and it is not even a genre to which I am normally drawn. Being open to reading anything and everything when given a bit of nudge can yield some wonderful surprises in life. This is a writer’s debut effort of not simply an independently published book, which is an out-of-this-world story sprinkled with eroticism; but, the creation of another world with its own unique history, customs, a manner of speaking, goals and aims, even deities and creeds, saga that progresses through a series of books, seven of them, by my count.
The writer starts you off with an outline of the society in the world you are about to enter. Before each action chapter is writing from ancient texts which flesh out the picture as you read through the story. There is also a comprehensive reference at the end of the book. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about this new world in a new imaginary place formed from the experience of our own universe. Similar but entirely different. The characters, for the most part, are endowed with human emotions, fears, and advanced intelligence. Therefore, they become more and more relatable as you read through the book.
Not to forget that there is plenty of hot, hot…inventively hot...sex between the Hero, Lucius and the heroine, Lillian. What? We know what makes this world go ‘round and apparently it makes the “Twelve Systems” hum…this and ambition, greed, power. Although, it is not all bad. Despite the fact they have an almost religious class-based system, there is the “American” ideal that if you work hard enough and smart enough you can achieve a great deal of wealth and power. Also, cleverly, Ms. Manetti has included an alternative to the dogma of classes and the warrior code.
This “warrior code” has determined that Lillian must forsake her former elevated status as a warrior and become a bond slave to one of the most powerful warriors, Lucius Mercio. She is suffering this misfortune not because of any wrongdoing on her part but because of the “sins of her father”. Yet, Lillian will always be a warrior at heart. It is endearing to see how carefully, almost painfully she follows the new rules of the system she has been placed.
Lucius is written as the enigmatic (I really tried to resist this alliteration 😂) luscious Alpha male. We often hear his thoughts but usually after we are surprised by the interaction between Lillian and him. A nice effect.
While this is a series, this first book was a complete episode unto itself well written in the third person while the reader hears the thoughts of both Lillian and Lucius…although we mostly hear from Lillian's POV. There is even a gem of wisdom that I tucked into my mental pocket, and this has to do with the courage to humble oneself in service to their loved ones and/or the greater good.
You see Lillian had a choice when it was determined she and her sister were disgraced by their father’s misdeeds. She could have accepted painless suicide or become a bond slave with no status and derided by society for this “fall from grace”.
“‘It is hard to go from giving orders to taking them, from having servants to doing for oneself. It is beyond difficult to yield control of one’s will to another, to have small transgressions carry severe penalties. It is humiliating to be treated as nothing by those who once honored one. It is unpleasant to be viewed as a coward. In the end, the reward is commoner status and the opportunity to improve one’s circumstances.’ It is not difficult to comprehend why many would choose not to face such a trial and why they pretend that they have chosen the more courageous path.’” – Lillian
Lillian chose her path because of her love for her little sister with hopes of keeping her safe, picking up the pieces of their former life and moving onto a better future. This takes real courage. There is a beauty in this courage that is an example for us all.
I look forward to the development of the Lucius/Lillian (Master/slave) dynamic unfolding and more examples of Lillian's brilliance and inner light and goodness vanquishing the darker competing forces against her and her allies as the saga continues.
My wholehearted thank you to E.G. Manetti for the book. This was a phenomenal May Book of the Month, BOTM read with the dynamic discussion group on Goodreads, “Some Like it Hot!”
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