Strange Attractions

I have two main comments about Strange Attractions:

1. I have read hundreds of romances, a decent amount of erotica - and I can honestly say that this is the first book of the lot to really give me ideas. Strange Attractions is more useful than most sex manuals.

2. It is incredible, yet true, that even though almost everything that happens in the book is explicitly sexual, the characters are fully fleshed out, three-dimensional, human. It's got a story, it's got emotional intensity, it's got complex and shifting relationships that go along with the complex and shifting physical contortions that spice up almost every last page.

I picked this book up because although I was a bit dubious about the whole menage-a-trois aspect, I have been show more very impressed with other Emma Holly books. Sure, threesomes are hot - but I imagined it would be really emotionally messy and unpleasant, or just...impossible to make emotionally satisfying. Boy was I wrong. The relationship between the three characters was perfect - loving, respectful, with different personalities, different talents and flaws, that strike a perfect balance as a triple rather than a couple.

A couple of things are a bit botched.

One is that Holly doesn't dwell on the part of the book where Charity agrees to the "game" and there's not much adjusting going on - one second Charity is offended that Eric is propositioning her, whatever the proposition may consist of, the next she is in up to her neck and her sexual inhibitions are ancient history. I didn't mind - I, too, was happy to jump straight to the fun parts & I'd frankly rather do without fifty pages wasted in whinging and feeble protestations. But, still, the transition was awkward.

The other thing is that B.G. is supposed to be a genius physicist and there is this kind of ridiculous subplot involving quantum mechanics and ghosts. Now, one of my best friends happens to be a bona fide theoretical physics super-genius-prodigy, and although I realize that all genius physicists are not the same, because of my knowledge of my friend & certainly what I've learned from him about his work, certain things about B.G.'s character (let alone his science) seemed really jarring and out of place to me. So if you are a scientist, know a lot of scientists, or just read a lot of science magazines - be prepared to heave a disdainful sigh or two. But read the book anyhow. It's totally awesome. show less

This book is erotica at its best. Warning - there is male on male action. This is definitely not a book for everybody.

Emma Holly weaves an intense tale between three people who truly know the difference between emotional pleasure and physical pleasure. Most of the book is filled with graphic sex scenes, but the love between the characters really shines through, so much so that one cannot help but cheer them on their journey of discovery.

I enjoyed this story even though it was unusual for a romance. The main character was very open and easy to like. All three voices of the main characters came through. The descriptions of the scientific world were a distraction from the story, but otherwise this was a unique tale of love and acceptance.

Holly is a good writer, the sex is sexy, and the characters are interesting, but the paranormal element here is really ridiculous and distracting.

caliente