Sandy M’s review of Bound in Moonlight (Hidden Grotto Book 2) by Louisa Burton
Erotica novel published 26 Dec 2007 by Bantam Books
I wasn’t sure what to make of this book when I first started it. The back cover blurb didn’t quite make it clear to me what the the book is comprised of, leading me to believe I would be reading about three couples and their erotic escapades all in one story. However, it wasn’t until the abrupt end of what I suddenly realized was the first story and start of the second that it hit me this book is comprised of three short stories all revolving around a couple of common denominators.
Tutelage
The first story is conveyed through letters from Emmaline Townsend to her lover, Remy, who is still in France while she recuperates from a skiing accident in the United States. The main story is taken from the book Emmaline herself wrote when she found her fiancé at Grotte Cachee engaging in acts of carnal knowledge that the castle is famous for.
You get a hint that secondary characters Inigo and Elic, plus the reclusive Darius, are not exactly what they seem and that’s all you get for quite sometime. They do know how to please a woman, though. Emmaline becomes a woman who, because of her unfaithful fiancé, discovers she loves to have sex any way she can get it and vows never to marry. Hence, her continuous declining of Remy’s proposals.
I have to admit the end of this story was a twist I didn’t expect and it was a little abrupt.
Slave Week
The next story revolves around Caroline Keating, a young woman down on her luck and disowned by her father. After a botched suicide attempt, Caroline finds herself in the hands of David Childe, Lord Rexton, barrister and procurer of women to be auctioned as sex slaves for a week at Chateau de la Grotte Cachee. Caroline is aghast as such a thing, but later, when her options are nil, she relents and makes her way to the castle.
Rexton slyly outbids a lecher for Caroline’s company. Caroline later discovers that Rexton doesn’t want anything intimate from her. When they are in mixed company they follow the rules of the game, but Rexton doesn’t embarrass her as the other men do their slaves.
Caroline eventually lets Rexton know she is willing to learn more about what goes on between a man and woman and wants to do it with him. They have intense sex and Caroline’s feelings begin to grow for Rexton and he notices her change. Warning her that he is not what he seems, he continues to push her away until his last act leads to near-tragic results.
This story had a very satisfying ending.
Magic Hour
In the third and last story we meet the owner of Chateau de la Grotte Cachee, Adrien Morel, and the daughter of the castle administrateur, Isabel Archer.
Even though it’s been 20 years since she’s visited the castle, nothing has changed. Isabel arrives early and walks in on a ménage à trois in the library. This is where we see Inigo and Elic, et al., once again and we also find out their story.
Isabel discovers her father is ill and is putting things in order, making Isabel the administreur after he’s gone. Isabel refuses the job. She knows she can’t spend more time in Adrien’s company because he was the reason she fled years ago. And, just as it happened then, Adrien pulls away from Isabel after becoming too close.
The ending to this story irritated me. I turned the page expecting the story to continue, but that was it. Nothing more. Huh? I was so baffled I got online to check Ms. Burton’s website to see if perhaps there’s another book on the way that will tie things up. Nothing.
Once I got over this – as best I could anyway – I still enjoyed the book. I liked the common denominators that meshed all three stories together, and the characters were all very likable and interesting.
Grade: B
A sheltered heiress is horrified by the licentiousness she encounters at Grotte Cachée, until the beguiling Inigo frees her from her Gilded Cage by tutoring her in the arts of love.
A rector’s daughter, in despair over being ruined and impoverished, allows herself to be sold at a slave auction for a week as the sex slave of an aristocratic master with kinky tastes in exchange for enough money to turn her life around.(Read an excerpt.)
The daughter of Grotte Cachée’s administrateur, long-smitten with its gardien, Adrien Morel, arrives at the chateau to find a porn film being shot there.
There really needs to be more hours in the day… I checked the ARC against the final and they end the same. Sorry.
I can see how the end to Magic Hour would annoy. But as you said this is fiction (surprised it wasn’t labeled erotica but I think the back copy is pretty clear). And man, she packed a punch in such a short story. You might be happy to know she is working on the 3rd book titled Whispers of the Flesh I checked her blog and don’t see much on it.
There is an excerpt for it in the finial copy of BiM. It opens with a young man talking to Elic, Lili, Archer and Inigo and ends with a letter to an Archbishop. Looks like it will be great and makes me wonder if I want to wait to read all three together.
I admit to loving Ryan’s historicals, the few I have read I think I have about three still to be read and a two of her Desires as well. From what I have read I this seems like an excellent series of novellas if you like Erotica and don’t mind open endings.
I am still hoping to get back to this one and to the first book House of Dark Delights. It will be interesting to see if WotF is the end or just another step…
Great website and blog if you haven’t checked them out you should.
I didn’t think the end of the book would change. It was just frustrating because I didn’t get it. They had a history together, she’s back, they’re still attracted to one another, they comfort one another, and I thought if they stayed together perhaps she would take over her father’s role so they could be together. LOL, guess that’s why I’m not the author! I’m trying to find House of Dark Delights and thanks for letting me know about the third one. I would suggest reading them all together, but have no idea if that would have made a difference for me.
I love Google Alerts, which lets me know whenever people are talking about me and my books. It’s great, listening in on readers, because I learn so much!
I really need to get it out there that the Hidden Grotto books are a =series=. There will be at least four (I’m starting the fourth now), and hopefully more, if the series continues to do as well as it’s been doing. The important story arcs are kind of leapfrogging from book to book, some being resolved as others crop up.
Sybil, you’re right–the series is “Fiction,”–and erotic fiction, at that–not “Romance.” But you know, you can take the writer out of the romance genre, but you can’t take romance out of the writer. Most of the stories–certainly the main arcs starring our major characters–will resolve happily in the end.
Sandy, that’s why Adrien and Isabel’s story wasn’t tied up in BOUND IN MOONLIGHT–there’s more to come in WHISPERS OF THE FLESH (Oct. ’08), and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. 😉 Oh, and the reason Isabel didn’t want to stay on as administrateur in order to be near Adrien was that she would have been responsible then for finding him a wife with “the Gift.” I don’t know about you, but the last thing I’d want to have to do is play matchmaker to the love of my life! If that motivation didn’t come across, it’s because I didn’t give it enough weight. Live and learn.
From what I’m reading here, it’s clear to me that I have to emphasize on my website and in my blog that we’re talking about a whole series of books so as not to confuse my readers. I’ll try to get to that this weekend. Sybil, thanks for posting the links. And thanks to you and Sandy both for letting me know this is an issue.
Here’s hoping everyone is having a warm and wonderful holiday season.
Louisa
Hey Louisa!
I almost emailed you but I figured with the holidays and with as packed as my email box is if you were kind enough to answer I might miss it. LOL
Glad you stopped in. I was soooo hoping that was what you were getting at with Adrien and Isabel! Very cool to know. And I have to admit that was my first thought having only read the excerpt for WotF and then MH BUT then I thought well… sybil that is just the Romance reader in you.
Yes I often have conversations with myself. 🙂 I even went back and read the excerpt again to see if I could find clues for A/I in it. LOL I spent a good hour flipping back and fourth and than looking on line for info.
I will so have to get to these now, the biggest issue was time, because there is soooooo much to read that it is harder to squeeze in the ‘other’ stuff. Since I have books randomly showing up on my door I often find myself reading things I never would have picked up, and I get distracted by the shiny.
So as a lover of the romance genre and a sometimes fan of erotica, your prose completely won me. I love how everything seems to come together. Knowing the series will wrap up with a HEA for the main characters makes me know I need to make time to read this series.
Thanks again for stopping in, do let us know when the excerpt is up for Whispers (the one in the book is just FAB) and I think would grab a lot of paranormal romance fans. Of course I found the whole idea of who the young man was and what he was there for just too interesting.
Louisa, thanks so much for the update. And it’s true, the romance reader in me wanted that happy ending and that’s why I checked to see if there was another book coming, which I’m so happy to find out there is. I love the whole concept of the storyline, and once I realized it was part of a series, that made more sense to me. Sorry that realization didn’t come until after the review was done. I also love the characters and the paranormal aspect of the book, it was just the frustration at the end that got to me. LOL, I’m impatient that way.
I agree with you about playing matchmaker to find a wife for someone you love, so I’m especially glad to know Whispers with more of Adrien and Isabel is on its way. I love those two characters! You’ve made me think about all of it again, and as soon as I can get my hands on House of Dark Delights, I’m reading them all in order and one after the other to really get the feel of it all!
Thanks for stopping by and updating us, Louisa! Have wonderful Christmas.