Behind The Red Door
Author: Jackie Barbosa
Publisher: Aphrodisia/Kensington
Pub. Date: June 1, 2009
Retail: $13.95
304 pagesForbidden fantasies and hidden pleasures are waiting. Enter the Red Door, a most exclusive brothel, where men enjoy all the sins of the flesh and women surrender to their own secret desires…
Wickedly Ever After
Known for his wicked ways, the Marquess of Grenville is far from marriage material. But when Miss Eleanor Palmer tries to tell him so, she quickly finds the heat of his kiss melting her determination to say “no” into an uncontrollable desire to say “yes…”
Scandalously Ever After
Most men who visit the Red Door brothel enjoy sampling the variety of feminine delights, so Calliope is surprised when Captain Jack Prescott claims her for a week of passion. But satisfying his every sexual desire provides them both with complete carnal pleasure…
Sinfully Ever After
Lady Jane St. Clair loves her fiancé, but Gerard Nash is a notorious rake who likes adventurous women. Wanting to show him just how bold she can be, Jane masquerades as a young ingénue at the Red Door where she and Gerard experience sinfully erotic ecstasy…
~*~*~
BEHIND THE RED DOOR if is a collection of loosely connected short stories that gets better with each turn of the page.
When I first began BEHIND THE RED DOOR I wasn’t sure if I would like it. I had some serious issues with Wickedly Ever After. The POV shifts weren’t smooth. They happened in the middle of paragraphs and I had to constantly go back and re-read so I could get grounded in what was going on. I also didn’t feel there was anything between the Greenville and Eleanor besides strong sexual chemistry, and couldn’t understand how the Marquess of Greenville was under his father’s thumb when he had his own independent income.
Some background: Nathaniel (the Marquess of Greenville) fiancée runs off with Eleanor’s fiancé. Nathaniel has always been attracted to Eleanor and needs to get married so that he’ll be able to increase his income and get out from under his father’s thumb. Eleanor wants nothing to do with Nathaniel because of his wild reputation, but Nathaniel has a secret, he’s not as wild as everyone assumes. Nathaniel tries to push Eleanor’s buttons in ways that would spoil the plot if I told you what they are.
Speaking of despoiling, I was seriously annoyed with where Eleanor’s deflowerment occurred. That reinforced my belief that there wasn’t anything between the hero and heroine besides lust. I also had a problem with the historical time period. I didn’t feel rooted in the time period. However, I’m positive I only felt that way because prior to opening the BEHIND THE RED DOOR, I had just finished two historical romance novels where the authors are well known for rooting their reader into the history.
Once, I got over my need to compare what I had just finished reading, I found myself really enjoying BEHIND THE RED DOOR.
In the next story, Scandalously Ever After I loved the fact that the heroine is a prostitute. Her hero is a war hero who comes into an unexpected inheritance. I found it original. I was also able to buy into the relationship more, as well as the conflict. My only complaint with Scandalously Ever After was the POV Shifts were still jarring.
Sinfully Ever After was my favorite story. It was the tale of a “plain” Jane who has been love with a man all of her life. A man who sees her as a “friend” only. He proposes to her because he feels if he has to get married, he might as well do it with his best friend. Of course, Jane is tired of just being a friend and takes lessons on how to please her future husband. Gerald believes he’s breaking in a new courtesan but what he’s really doing is falling in love with his wife. The characters were well drawn out, the motivations and conflicts were believable and it was the only story in the bunch where I completely bought into the happily ever after.
Despite the problems I stated, I’d recommend BEHIND THE RED DOOR, it keep my attention more than all the other books I attempted to read around the same time. This is an author I’d try again!
Rating: 7 (Good)
Heat-Level: 6 (Erotic)
Good review Lynette
Thanks and I cringed when I saw the typos. I’ve been having problems with my home computer. The laptop keyboard jumps all over the place when I’m typing and I can’t figure out why. It’s been driving me batty!
Hi Lynette,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful review. I love hearing how readers react to my work, even if their response isn’t 100% positive.
I’m sorry, in particular, that the POV changes were jarring for you. When I originally wrote these novellas, I did delineate each POV change with a scene break, but they were eliminated during the editorial process whenever the scene itself didn’t actually change. I did try only to change POV at the beginning of a paragraph and to make it very clear when I did change, but obviously I didn’t succeed for you. I’ll have to try harder next time :).
Take care and thanks again for taking the time to read and review BEHIND THE RED DOOR.
I enjoyed reading your detailed review Lynette! I enjoy reading erotic trilogies and this plot looks very interesting, (set in a brothel), not to mention sexy. 🙂 I’m not familiar with Jackie Barbosa’s books, and visiting her site I didn’t realize she had such a backlist of books. I will look out for her in the future.
I hope everybody has a GREAT day!!!
Well done review. These stories aren’t my cup of tea, but I can appreciate a good review. The story lines are good, I just don’t do erotica.