One of my personal fantasies involves a lover discovering my journal, filled with my experiences and personal thoughts, and literally getting to know me like a book. So when I heard about Private Fantasies, a steamy romance about a man who discovers the private journal of a woman he’s been unsuccessfully pursuing for six months, I jumped at the chance to read it. Did it live up to my expectations? Sort of. . . but sort of not as well.

Bar-owning hunk Kyle Stevens lives in the condo across the way from interior decorator Jade Stephens. Their mail keeps getting mixed up, and Kyle would like more involvement with Jade than simply exchanging mail in the lobby. Trouble is, Jade wants nothing to do with Kyle, or any man for that matter – she was badly burned in a relationship three years before.

Kyle finds Jade’s private journal mixed in with a box of books at her garage sale and buys it, thinking its contents might help him figure her out and get him a date with her. As he reads the journal, which contains her sexual fantasies, he does indeed start to figure her out. He does indeed begin to date her. He falls in love with her as he fulfills her fantasies one by one, and she begins to fall in love with him too.

Terrific premise, right? Indeed! But here are the problems. Kyle, ex-Marine bad-boy, father of an illegitimate child, is now a paragon. He keeps a picture of his daughter’s mother and adoptive father in his condo and has a strong relationship with his daughter. He fulfills Jade’s fantasies and gains an understanding of her that would have made sense were he a psychologist. He’s simply too good to be true, but then, romance is fantasy.

As for Jade, the man who mistreated her turned her off to men for three years. No doubt he did mess with her self-esteem, but her reaction seemed extreme – three years is an awfully long time to gain back control of your life. And some of the things she does to feel in control and gain back her self-esteem seemed strange. Yes, I can imagine wanting to spread my wings if my lover constrained me, but Jade went over the top with her halter tops and high heels. Jade dresses more like a member of the oldest profession than that of a professional woman.

Finally, you might have guessed that the conflict occurs when Jade discovers that Kyle duped her. You would have guessed right, and therein lies a quibble. Just once wouldn’t you like to read a romance that turned the tables at such a juncture – instead of Jade pitching a fit, couldn’t she have been incredibly flattered that Kyle went to such lengths to get to know her, that he fell in love with her by learning her most intimate thoughts?

If you can set aside these problems, you will enjoy Private Fantasies. They were always in the back of my mind, and yet the power of Kyle’s seduction seduced me as well. The love scenes are loving and filled with passion; you’ll need a cold shower after you finish the book. Jade’s relationship with her family was a nice touch too.

I’m going to read the first in this duo next; it’s about Jade’s sister. I don’t normally give a second chance to authors whose first book earns less than a “B” from me, but the inventive premise in Private Fantasies, as well as the power of the seduction warrants me giving this author another shot.