"A dark sexy, itchy tale that gets under your skin!"
Anne Stuart is the Queen of creating those dark and
dangerous, complex alpha/gamma rogue males that have black
hearts and even blacker souls. They are a wonderful mix
of sin, sexy, power and control, the threatening Bad Boys
that mothers warns darling daughters against, but
daughters ignores all, pulled to them by the very things
that scare her. Stuart has given some memorable books that haunt you long
after you put them down, such as MOONRISE, NIGHTFALL, TO
LOVE A DARK LORD and SHADOWS AT SUNSET. The male is
always a lethal, arrogant, will do anything to win, a man
who will use everything and anyone to get what he wants.
Yet, Stuart gives them that special redeeming spark, which
makes you love them just as her characters do. More
importantly, though the dark heroes are of the same mold,
they are NOT the same character done over and over. Each
one is as individual as they are mesmerizing and
threatening. But in RITUAL SINS she has created one of her darkest
heroes. Luke Bardell. I buy Stuart on name alone and
know I will get an utterly thrilling read whether
Harlequin series romance, Historicals or menacing
contemporaries. Yet, I had to admit the story line of
this one was very off putting. The hero being a James
Jones Cult-type leader did not make one want to rush out
and get this. It shows Stuart's strong craft, her
hypnotic storytelling that you are hooked from page one. Luke Bardell is the center of this dark, itchy tale or
murder and bilked fortunes. He is a master conman with a
very shady past, a charlatan that preys on desperate women
and who cares less what anyone thinks about him as long
as they don't get in his way. Rachael Connery just made
the mistake of stepping right in the middle of Bardell's
path. And she is about to regret that move. Rachael and her mother shared a shaky relationship, but
even so, she is completely floored when Stella suddenly
died. Yes, she had cancer, but there was no reason she
should have died so quickly. Worse, her whole fortune is
left to Luke Bardell's new age commune called The
Foundation of Being. The Foundation is set up in the
middle of the desert - all the better to isolate and maybe
brainwash the very wealthy clients that come to him to be
healed. Rachel is appalled that her mother would name The
Foundation i.e. Luke Bardell to receive her fortune. But
beyond losing the vast estate that would have been hers,
Rachael fears Luke murdered her mother and she is going to
prove it. Luke claims Stella Connery was of sound mind, even though
dying of cancer, when she made out her new will. Rachael
does not believe this and sues Luke but the courts up
hold Stella's new will. Rachael is determined not to get
this go, and will dance with the devil to find evidence
of Luke's guilt. Luke is displeased and annoyed more than
anything with Rachael's one-woman war. He is arrogant,
convinced of his overpower charisma, and views Rachael as
a challenge instead of a threat, and issues the invitation
to Rachael to come stay at the Foundation, see what they
actually do, and do her worst if she is still a mind to
do so. Rachael is not his taste in woman. He thinks her too
skinny, too upright, and enslaving and controlling Rachael
is just the sort of sick games Luke enjoys. Only, he does
not count on Rachael having so much passion locked insider
her, nor getting caught in his own web. As Luke's goals
shift, he begins to feel both Rachael and he are at
peril. But will she listen? Despite her hatred, her
anger and even the hurt over her mother's betrayal, in the
face she fully believes Luke is a high priced snake oil
salesman, she finds she cannot resist him. She may be
pulled into his sexual thrall, unable to stop him from
bringing out her most darkest passions, but she is not
stupid enough to trust him but in order to save both
their lives, that is just what Luke will ask of her.
Reviewed by DeborahAnne MacGillivray
Posted April 6, 2003
|
