Sunday, December 15, 2013

Review: The Dining Club by Marina Anderson


Previously published in eight digital parts - now available as the complete story and in print. You are invited to the Dining Club. If you pass the challenges we set, a world of pleasure awaits you. He is everything she never wanted: brooding, secretive, rich - and far-removed from her care-free artistic lifestyle. Yet David has a power over Grace that she cannot resist, a power that comes from his darker, passionate side. And now he is ready to truly reveal himself. Inviting Grace to a weekend at the Dining Club, David offers her the opportunity to discover his deepest desires and to find pleasures far beyond her wildest imagination - but only if she if willing to play a series of sensual games. Grace faces a choice: give in to her doubts and retreat to her quiet life, or truly embrace happiness with David and win over her mesmerising lover forever.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to review an ARC of "The Dining Club".

Woohoo, this book is soooooooo spicy!  It is hot, hot, hot, and not for the faint of heart!  If you cannot handle the idea of menage type scenes, then this book is definitely not for you.  If you are looking for something a bit twisted and different in your erotic reads, however, give "The Dining Club" a go - you won't regret it!

One thing I really liked about this book is the writing.  It seems a notch above what a typical romance or erotic novel has, and very British to me.  (I don't know about you, but whenever I read a British book, I read it with a British accent in my mind, ala Gwynneth Paltrow!)  

The characters are fleshed out well enough to give us a taste of who they are - gotta say, David creeped me out the entire time!  I never warmed up to him at all, but I don't think it was the author's intention to create a likable character in him.  Grace is so intrigued and infatuated by David that she is willing to undergo anything in order to keep him with her.  At times, I wondered why, if Grace was so scared and uncomfortable with the tests, she would go through with them - this was justified by her realizing that David would leave her if she didn't.  So, even though she's consenting to everything, it's still like she's being forced into it.  Bit of a conundrum!  

Then we have the secondary characters, Amber and Andrew.  Andrew seems like a better fit for Grace - he's definitely kinder and not as slimy as David, and Grace admits to a certain attraction to him, if only to herself.  Amber is the manager of the Dining Club, and she is an interesting character.  Because she is in direct competition with Grace for David's affections, she makes passing the tests that much more difficult for Grace.  The author lets us into the minds of these two secondary characters briefly, so the whole book is not from just Grace or David's point of view.

All in all, "The Dining Club" was quite the ride.  There is a bit of question at the end as to which direction things will go, leading me to believe there will be a sequel.  I'm certainly interested enough to read more by this author!

My rating:  3.5 stars!







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