Search - The Lover

Absolutely outstanding gothic erotic thriller, but not for the faint of heart.

Intense erotic thriller with some disturbing themes. Involves Michel de Anges, a career male prostitute named for his ability to make women "see the angels." Michael was disfigured in a fire 5 years ago and no woman has wanted to touch him since. He is surprised and delighted when 36 year old virgin spinster Anne Aimes wants to pay 10000 pounds for one month of his services.

He has longed to touch a woman since the fire, but none have wanted him. He suggests to Anne that she live with him for the duration of the month she is paying for because he is lonely and longs to spend more time with her and experience more intimacy. Anne doesn't want to die a virgin and longs for a man's touch, but doesn't want to marry so chooses an expert male prostitute to ensure that she'll find a man who gives her pleasure. Unknown to Anne, Michel/Michael needs her just as much as she needs him. Michel/Michael is being tormented by an evil villan who kidnapped and tortured his last girlfriend, after which she killed herself in a fire (Michael was scarred trying to rescue her and has never forgiven himself). Michael is very much the tortured hero. Not only is he physically scarred, he's emotionally scarred by the previous girlfriend's death and seeks to "lose himself" in a woman to assuage his pain. He is redeemed through Anne's love and almost can't believe that she wants him to touch her despite his disfiguring scars.

Michael is hiding a terrible secret, however, and the villan who kidnapped and tortured the previous girlfriend threatens Anne and this results in a very emotional and horrifying kidnapping and torture, from which she is rescued by Michael and his lifelong friend Gabriel.

Very graphic, emotionally intense novel with some disturbing scenes. If you're looking for a "sweet" harlequin-type romance, this isn't it. However, if you're ready for something more intense and mature, you will probably enjoy it.

This is the first book I read by Robin Schone so I don't know if all her books are like this or just this one. It was strange. The sex was great. The main characters were good. The storyline, for the most part, was good but the rest of the storyline was, well, disturbing. I don't want to give anything away - so I'll just say that the things that happened in one of the main characters past comes back to haunt them. I just have a weird feeling about this book. I should mention that I skipped over some of the blah blah blah part (how beautiful the garden looked and the roses were.....). I liked the ending though. :-) I think I would recommend this book - like I said, overall the story was good and the sex was great and I liked the ending. Hope this helps.

I find it hard to follow the dialect in this author's books. The sex scenes are hot but the story is hard to follow. I love the flawed hero but this book was just okay for me.

Unique, dark, sad story and highly erotic. It is the story of two souls lost to pain, loneliness, and torment, finding each other. The book is sexually graphic but similar to a painting of a naked woman rather than a naked woman in a playboy magazine.

There is a very cryptic mystery involved and played out through the book. The “man” behind the mystery is what compels Michel’s thoughts, fear, and actions. The writing style of the author was different and the mystery elements were even more difficult to decipher by this quirky style. It took a bit of time to get used to this style but I did.

I have book 2 and I will definitely read it. I think I will need time just to think about this book and absorb everything that happened in it.

A mystery with a lot of very sexual content. Not for faint of heart. Seeing the advances society had made in that century was fascinating.