At the very beginning of the story, Emmaline is fighting for her life as she floats alone on the ocean, the only survivor of the ship bound to India. She almost wishes to join her parents, who were already pulled under by a wave of water, but something inside her resists the temptation to let go. She is not ready to die yet.

May, 1857 Delhi. Nor is she ready for the chilly reception she receives upon being rescued and brought to India, where her military fiance' currently resides. Emma is disappointed to discover society is just as restrictive here as it is in England, if not moreso. As a woman, she cannot even travel with a female companion without being accosted, and the heat and vividness of this unusual country are having a strange effect on her. She keeps crossing paths with the Marquess of Holdesmoor and future Duke of Auburn, Julian Sinclair. And her fiance's cousin.

Of both English and Indian descent, Julian is a man who doesn't truly belong anywhere, always slightly away from the crowd, yet grudgingly demanding respect for his elevated position in society. He notices Emma right off, senses her stillness in the crowd, not quite sure if he finds her beautiful, but is struck by her all the same. Their conversations are more honest than the ones she shares with her fiance'. But Emma is no longer that innocent girl she was in England, and she is resigned to her marriage, despite her growing fascination for Julian, knowing it is what is expected of her, and what her parents would have wanted for her. She soon learns, however, that Marcus is not the man she thought he was, and seeks to end their engagement. She decides to run off with Julian, who has promised to take her away from her controlling fiance'.

The English who reside in India are arrogant, smug in their belief that despite rumblings to the contrary, the natives wouldn't dare stage a revolt. However that is exactly what happens, and it is a bloody, violent army of mutinous soldiers who are eager to exact the type of treatment on the British that has been done to them, in their own country. Julian, on his way to the Residency to meet up with Emma, later catches up with her as she flees on horseback, and rescues her from unimaginable horrors. Together they leave the city, and Julian tries to bring her somewhere safe, somewhere a British woman won't be harmed, as he must leave her and tend to his Indian family and try to do what he can for them before it is too late. Despite Emma's fears, he reassures her that he will come back for her because he loves her, and she believes him. There are weeks of quiet existence, until one day the sepoys arrive and it is no longer safe for Emma to stay in the sanctuary Julian brought her to. Once again she flees, this time alone....

I hesitate to continue any further with the description of the book at the risk of giving away important details so I will stop there. However from start to finish, I was completely engaged in Julian's and Emma's story. It did falter a bit for me around the last fourth of the book, and I felt the ending was too abrupt for my satisfaction, but other than that, I really LOVED this story. I found the settings in India to be fascinating, the relationship between Julian and Emma to be fulfilling and heartbreaking, and I definitely felt it was time well-spent with these two lonely people who didn't fit in anywhere but together they built their own world.

My heart ached at their long separation, and I had to wonder how they would ever truly find their way back to each other. It's evident that the love they had for each other in India is much different than the love they had many years later, and that was a little sad, but I don't think there could have been a way for Emma and Julian to be together in the same way as they had been in India. They had both been away from each other for too long, their lives changing so much, that they had to work out a way to accept what they'd become, as they were no longer the same people they were. They'd experienced too much, lost too much, to hide away those memories in a closet forever. Emma was strong throughout, but broken, numb, incapable in some ways of forgiving Julian for leaving her. Julian was not the rake you might imagine him to be, considering his position in English society; instead there was a stillness about him, a deep well of emotion that made him recognize Emma, knew her to be the one woman he could not live without, but must learn to do so all the same. Finding a way to break through her walls proved to be near impossible, yet he loved her still. Oh, I just get teary-eyed thinking that they'd come so far yet couldn't be rid of the pain that still endured.

This was Meredith Duran's first novel, and if this is an example of the burgeoning talent she possesses, you can be sure I will be snapping up her next release as soon as I can get my greedy little hands on it. Bravo Ms. Duran, for creating such a captivating story that even now, days later, I still cannot get out of my head. Parts of the story I re-read, including the ending, which did feel more satisfying the 2nd time around. Definitely one of my favorite reads of 2008.

(And stay tuned for a contest to win this book....)

Rating: ****1/2 out of *****

Brenna works as the personal assistant for Carl Jenkins, CEO of Blue Night Records, an indie label that's going places. When her boss offers her the opportunity to go to Vegas and mentor with the company's popular and very sexy A & R Rep (artist and repertoire) Damon Andros, she jumps at the chance. Only there's a catch...

Damon never glanced twice at Brenna before, but now her new sexy look and a bit of confidence definitely captures his attention, and while this is just a business trip, it turns out to be a lot more about pleasure. He's enjoying showing her the biz, scouting out new talent and watching her honest and refreshing reactions to everything she experiences. Her unguarded responses intrigue him, and he feels himself falling under her spell, even while he fights it every step of the way.

Brenna hates that she has a secret she can't share with Damon, especially since it involves him, but she came to Vegas to do her job, and that's what she's going to do. That, and enjoy the sensual awareness between her and Damon, which leads to some pretty hot encounters. Brenna is opening up in ways she never imagined, and feels freer and more at ease with her sexuality the more she gets to know Damon. But eventually she knows that this week of sin is going to come to an end, and it just mind end up breaking her heart.

I love Lacey Alexander's books, I really do. They are so hot and can make you feel sexy, and she explores some of the less kinky yet still exciting and forbidden fantasies a lot of women share. I love that about these books a lot. Her books are like potato chips mixed with some decadent chocolate. Can't get enough. And I love that Lacey wrote about the music industry, which is fascinating to me as I just love music and found it cool to see how bands and singers are approached by record companies. Plus, Damon was one majorly hot, hot, HOT guy, and what woman wouldn't just love to spend one night, much less a week of them, reveling in outrageous sin with such a gorgeous, sexy man? Sign me up please! I so need a Damon in my life.

Brenna was likeable, a woman I could relate to, and I totally got her insecurity issues, yet she seemed to place a little too much importance on Damon's opinion of her as a woman and was always trying to prove she could be bolder, sexier, wilder for him. The only person she has to impress is herself, imo. I also felt that she was a little too much like Laura, the heroine in "Voyeur", inhibited and easily shocked by some of the sexual acts she would witness or participate in. Now I loved that book, and I enjoyed "Seven Nights of Sin" very much. This time around it just felt like it's been done before. I would have liked to have seen Brenna more assertive, and more interested in fulfilling fantasies because that was what turned her on, not just because she wanted to please Damon. I was a little disappointed at her feeling like she was a dirty girl because the way she talked about it didn't sound very sexy or freeing. I felt more like she was submitting to things more for Damon than for herself, even if she did end up enjoying them. I think I would have respected her more if she had fulfilled her own private fantasies and to hell whether Damon liked them or not. Their affair was supposed to be a hot and temporary week of pleasure, not a life-long commitment. This was Brenna's turn to do her own thing, not to worry about impressing someone else.

The other thing that bothered me was her passive behavior once the secret she was keeping finally was revealed, albeit unexpectedly, to Damon. Come on girl, be brave, not a wuss! She should have confronted Damon, said her piece, and he could take it or leave it. Instead she crawls away with her tail between her legs. Yet I couldn't really hate her, not when she was a genuinely nice person, and she realized what she really wanted out of life, and her job, in the end, and it wasn't all about fame and money. What a shocker (and I mean that most sincerely). There are just too many "bitch" heroines in books these days, so to find a genuinely nice one, even if she's a bit too meek, I still liked her. In a lot of ways she still retained her sweetness, and I was glad about that. If she became selfish and hardened, she wouldn't have been the woman Damon started to fall in love with.

Overall, "SNoS" is a sexy book, one that explores Sin City in some of its most decadent, luxurious and forbidden hideaways that the average person probably will never see, where the music industry and beautiful people collide, and anything goes, and then some. That in itself might be a fantasy, to experience such lavish accommodations and meet famous people, all while exploring your sexuality and see how far you're willing to go for pleasure.

Yet as sexy as it was, this book wouldn't have worked if there wasn't the elements of romance to it. Brenna and Damon could have had their week together and went their separate ways, happy to move on to the next adventure. Instead, their emotions were engaged, and that's what kept me interested, and made me care for these characters, even when I was at times exasperated with Brenna. Wondering how they were going to find their HEA is what always will keep me coming back. To watch them fall in love, by actually talking to each other and becoming closer emotionally and not just though sex, is why I read romance novels. That's the big pay-off for me.

Labels: Lacey Alexander, reviews