UK Publishing Date: 31 Oct 2015. 328 pages.
Five Steps is quite a difficult book for me to review. I found it quite cumbersome and slow at times and if felt like a book that didn’t really know what genre it was aspiring to be. Part crime thriller and part erotic romance it was a bit like 50 Shades meets Rizzoli and Isles.
Catherine is newly widowed and throws herself into a murder investigation trying to find the killer of two young women. Her primary suspect is the arrogant and handsome Lord Nicholas Redthorne. After a number of police interviews with him she is placed on compassionate leave after he complains about police harassment. Lord Nicholas sends her an invitation to become part of his harem. At this point it all goes a bit 50 Shades with concubine contracts and hard limits. And I got a bit bored. I didn’t find Lord Nicholas sexy or interesting. He was just a bit of a twat really.
Catherine didn’t feel “right” either. It felt like it would be really out of character for her to agree to something like that out of the blue.Her convictions seem to be swayed far too readily and is soon brain washed into accepting Nicholas is innocent. Of everything. Ever.
The language seems a bit stilted too. It makes it feel a bit old fashioned and odd. The way that Nicholas talks just made me laugh out loud at times and I don’t think that was the desired effect.
If you are after a romance story with quite a lot of erotica thrown in you’ll think this is wonderful. It didn’t quite hit the mark for me and it was a struggle to get through it.
Supplied by Net Galley and the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.
You can buy the book here: Five Steps To The Harem
Categories: 2 Stars Book Review
angelnet69
Prolific reader, enthusiastic theatre and movie-goer and ex-Olivier Awards judge who spent twenty years working in the music industry in London. Sharing my house with a gorgeous cockapoo called Harry who has taken over completely.
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