April 13, 2014

Guest Review: Hotelles by Emma Mars

Hotelles (La trilogie Hotel #1)

Author: Emma Mars
Genre: Adult Romance/Erotica
Release Date: April 8, 2014
Publisher: Harper Perennial

Description:

Paris, a hotel room, the middle of the afternoon . . .

So begins the story of Annabelle, a young escort in Paris who has accepted her final proposition before marrying the powerful and generous man of her dreams, media mogul David Barlet. But the mysterious handwritten notes she has been receiving--notes that detail personal fantasies no one could possibly know--don't prepare her for the fact that her new client is her fiance's brother, Louie. Through visits to the Hotel des Charmes, where each chamber is dedicated to one of French history's great seductresses, Louie awakens Annabelle's body and her psyche, delivering her to heights of ecstasy and fits of passion.He pushes her beyond her limitations to tap into her deep seductive power--and she discovers that true freedom comes only when you fully surrender to desire.

Funny, sensual, candid, and revealing, Hotelles is a titillating novel of mysteries and surprises by a radiant new voice.
  


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18090118-hotelles?ac=1

Hotelles is the first book in a new romance/erotica trilogy that features not only steamy sex scenes, but a story full of intrigue and mystery as well. The story follows our heroine, Annabelle "Elle," who is about to marry the incredibly handsome and wealthy David Barlet. Elle has been working as an escort to help pay the bills and takes on one final client before her wedding. Things begin to take on a mysterious air when handwritten notes and small gifts begin appearing for Elle - telling her to go to a specific room in the Hotel des Charmes, a place known for it's historic replications of the great seductresses of French history. During these visits, Elle begins to uncover her secret desires and finds that both her mind and her body are being awakened in a way she never thought possible. When Elle finds out that her fiance's brother, Louie, is her client and is responsible for the notes and the hotel experiences, she starts to question what is really happening and why. What she finds will be nothing she ever could have suspected along with the one thing she never thought she'd find.

This was a well written novel whose plot had lots of twists and surprises that kept the reader guessing almost the entire book. The story was intricate and the small details that the author left as clues only heightened the intrigue and accentuated the mystery of the novel. Elle was a great heroine for the novel - she's smart and determined to have a good life, but she's also not easily fooled and has a strong will that she didn't know existed until she was provoked. The brothers in the book, David and Louie, were interesting characters with distinct personalities and fascinating personal histories. All of the characters were well rounded and easy to connect with, which allows the reader to really immerse themselves into the story. The setting of the book was in Paris and the author included lots of French words and landmarks that not all readers would be familiar with. I myself am not familiar with any of the landmarks and I found myself struggling to pronounce the various streets and places - which only served to pull me out of the experience of the novel. This is a personal issue and one that not all readers will encounter when reading the book. I felt that because I had to work to understand the French, which I ended up skipping over most of the street names and other landmarks, I wasn't able to fully immerse myself into the story. Again, this is only because I myself am not familiar with the French language or history and other readers may not have this issue. All the twists and surprises in the story kept me eagerly reading to find out what was really going on and how things would end. The author created a fantastic mystery that caused Elle and the reader to question what was real and who they could trust. Along with the well crafted story were steamy erotic scenes that helped to punctuate the plot. It seemed that the book was more of a mystery/intrigue novel with some erotic scenes mixed in rather than an erotica novel with a bit of a suspense plot. Overall, the book was well written and fans of the genre should definitely pick up a copy for themselves.





* Guest Post by Diane *


A big thanks to the people at Harper Perennial for sending a copy of the book for review!


 

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