I've read Shana Abe before. My mom accidentally picked up a borrowed copy of "Smoke Thief" before I got to read it. She was bored at first, but then I noticed she couldn't put it down. :) The funny thing was that I asked her about it later and she said it was the most sexually explicit or risque thing she'd ever read. So I had to read it after that shining endorsement. I had to know if my mom's sensibilities were more sheltered than mine. (Of course)
A friend wanted to know -- was this book as risque as those Drakon books? My answer: Yep.
I think a lot of it just has to do with the author's preferences. Yes, some of it is gratuitous but other parts are used to make a point. Since sexuality happens to be a rather large part of life anyway...
The plot of this one is fairly medieval (I must be on an unconscious kick). The main character (whose name escapes me because it was hard for me to say so I always glossed over it: Amalgarin?) a plain girl infatuated with the Tristan (easy enough to remember) is arranged to be married to him. Tristan didn't really want to get married and so leaves immediately after the wedding for France to fight in a war after doing the whole consumation thing.
Eight years later he returns to the castle where he left his young wife to find only one woman remaining - a beautiful girl named Lily (also easy to remember) who claims to be the cousin of his late wife. 'Late' because she died of the plague. Yes, that plague.
They both get sick and there is a lot of personal history backtracking for them. Which is a bit annoying really. Also Tristan seems to be bipolar. A lot. He's all melancholy about his lost wife but is all hyped up about Lily.
It's readable and even enjoyable in parts, but I definitely liked the Drakon series much better. I'll have to try the Mermaid one to see if the pattern holds or if this was a fluke...
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