Search - Bound by Your Touch

An emotionally powerful & engrossing effort by Meredith Duran, but it lacks some of the punch, and much of the originality, of Duke of Shadows. Duran is a brilliant, gifted writer, but this book felt somewhat like watching an immensely talented aerialist opt to use a safety net. Where DOS was daring & innovative, Bound by Your Touch felt all too familiar. However, it's almost petty to quibble about something so clearly exceptional, simply because it wasn't what I expected, and this story is certainly head & shoulders above nearly anything comparable. Where it reminded me a great deal of Jo Goodman's If His Kiss is Wicked, it was also clearly superior to it as well.

Grade: A
Sensuality Rating: R

The first 90 pages are downright boring. Lydia is a blue-stocking and lectures everyone on Egyptian antiquities. James is a drunken libertine just out to have fun and cause trouble. About halfway through the book, when James and Lydia finally start verbally sparring, it gets interesting. At this point it had me and I couldn't wait to see how it would end. Though I'm not sure if I'd read this author again as it takes her forever to put any life in her novel.

Meredith Duran writes a quiet, introverted novel. There is something different in her style and prose that sets her apart from other romance authors. There is much inner dialogue and soul searching in the characters and while she always has some sort of intrigue, it is not edge-of-your-seat mystery. Things happen but you feel a bit removed from the action.

Considering how much time we spend in the heads of the characters, you still don't fall in love with them. I liked them, cared a little about them, but wish I was more invested in them.

As to the intimacy in the book, Duran's love scenes are like the rest of the book - the style of writing and prose makes you feel very removed from the action. Although she takes a page or two to describe it, I would still not describe it as steamy.

3 stars

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this story. I loved the characters. Their strengths and weaknesses were very apparent to the reader. In my opinion, it was a very cool love story.