Sin
Grade : D

Can an erotic romance have too much sex? I didn't used to think so, but I do now. Sin has so much sex and so little plot that it went from arousing to boring, the death knell of any erotic novel.

The impetus for the non-sexual action in Sin comes from Lydia Harcourt, a Harriet Wilson-type aging courtesan who, like Harriet, decides to ensure a comfortable retirement by means of blackmail. She mails her former lovers offering them a chance to not appear in her memoirs by buying her silence. Sharon Page even has a military hero duke utter the Duke of Wellington's famous response to Harriet Wilson: "Publish and be damned." Besides Wellington, Page also includes characters that are obvious Beau Brummel and Lord Byron clones. Why not just use the actual historical characters? Why the coyness?

One of Lydia's newly acquired secrets is the fact that the famous artist Rodesson has been unable to paint for years and his last few erotic picture books have really been illustrated by his illegitimate daughter, Venetia Hamilton. Venetia has done the drawings to support her mother and sisters and she actually likes the work and the independence it gives her. Unfortunately, the man in all of her drawings looks exactly like Marcus Wyndham, the Earl of Trent, giving him the reputation as London's greatest libertine. Marcus has bought up Rodesson's vowels and as repayment demands that the illustrations cease and desist. He is surprised to learn that Venetia is the artist, and offers to help her find commissions as a portrait artist to replace her lost income.

However, Venetia receives one of Lydia's blackmail notes, asking for £1,000 to keep her secret. Lydia has also sent a note to Marcus demanding £10,000 to keep the secret that his deceased father's infamous debauching also included the sexual abuse of Marcus's sister. Lydia leaves town for a wild orgy country party and Marcus and Venetia attend to confront Lydia and destroy her manuscript.

The centerpiece of the book, which takes up a full third of the word count, is the orgy and Marcus and Venetia's first night there, where she poses as his masked lover. An orgy seems a fairly clichéd setting and an easy out for an erotic novelist to take, for this allows for all kinds of sexual voyeurism and escapades, if not any actual plot advancement. But the constant descriptions of the sexual acts taking place got to be ridiculous - what sex toy was not named and seen used, what impossibly acrobatic position not employed? The constant bombardment got boring after a while and then funny as an air of desperation for position ideas pervaded the writing of the orgy. The scene where a woman was dangling upside down by a chain from the ceiling, while men inserted multiple candles and wands in every available orifice, had me howling. Not the reaction one wishes to elicit from an erotic romance, I'm sure.

And how was the romance? Well… it consisted mostly of Marcus and Venetia being aroused while watching the orgy participants and then experimenting. Marcus is determined that Venetia emerge from the house party a virgin, and while she does hang on to her precious hymen a good, long time, there is no way that this girl who has been pleasured by four other women - at once - and had oral and anal sex with Marcus could be considered un-debauched. I have no problem with the acts themselves, though I'm not terribly fond of reading anal sex (and there is a lot of anal sex in this book - a lot), but the whole idea that it's okay to use anal sex toys, but for-goodness-sake-let's-preserve-that-hymen-so-she's still-a-virgin was taken to ludicrous lengths. I don't consider her a virgin after all she's enthusiastically participated in, and she's even more ready than I am to get it all over with, but Marcus has his standards! Eventually, they do fall in love, but I never felt that the emotional connection was stronger than the physical one.

And the blackmailing Lydia plotline? After following her to the orgy, Marcus and Venetia take great pains to avoid Lydia every time they run into her. They plan - several times - to search Lydia's room for the manuscript, but somehow wind up having sex instead. Finally somebody murders Lydia and they can't avoid that plotline any longer, but by then, it seems just an afterthought.

Boring sex, a flimsy plot, and a giggle-inducing orgy. I'm afraid I cannot recommend Sin to anyone.

Reviewed by Cheryl Sneed
Grade : D
Book Type: Erotic Romance

Sensuality: Burning

Review Date : September 13, 2006

Publication Date: 2006

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Cheryl Sneed

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