3 member(s) found this review helpful.
This book certainly doesn't waste any time. It begins with Jeremy Walker, a famous 44-year-old illustrator of children's books spotting beautiful sixteen-year-old Belinda smiling at him in a San Francisco bookstore at one of his many book signings. Dressed in a short Catholic school uniform he's already mesmerized by her, wondering what it would feel like to reach under her plaid skirt and... against his better judgment he sleeps with her during his press party only to awaken and find her gone. Unable to get her out of his mind he brings her into his home once found again, fascinated by who she is and where she comes from. As they grow closer he starts to photograph and paint her with a passion he's never felt before. Belinda is extremely carefree and uninhibited so most of them are taken nude (or partially so), but always with some kind of theme that many would deem kinky yet they consider to be art...a celebration of the body and the sensuality of their love. He soon discovers she's got many secrets, though, and is determined to learn what they are, despite her threats of leaving if he does...
Enchanting story! I loved it! The narrative was elegant and the characters so three-dimensiional, I suffered with every blow to either of the two lead characters in their battle to be together. The erotic/sexual encounters were handled masterfully. The descriptions were stimulating without being lewd or crude in any way. The age of the girl was always a part of the story, naturally, and obviously that was a key part of the erotic nature of the book, the stigma of having sexual relations with an underage child, no matter how mature in other ways, but it was the love these two had for each other that gave me the greatest satisfaction. Highly recommened.