"A hot tamale"

Her best friend Anna worries about young widow Fallon Gilchrist as the latter has become a recluse since her much older husband Powell died. Not that Fallon can claim Powell was her great passion, but at least to Anna's disconcerting eyes her friend seems in a depressing funk. To get her out of her despondency, Anna provides Fallon a special gift of hunk Montague Bridgeman for one week to do whatever she wants with him.

Reticent Fallon is shocked by Anna's proposal. Sexually repressed, Fallon is unable to play the role of mistress though she finds her toy quite attractive. Still he belongs to her for seven days so Fallon decides to use him as her model while she paints. However, his haunted eyes hook her into believing there is more to him than just stud fee. Unable to resist his lure on several levels, Fallon falls in love with Bridge. Even more shocking he reciprocates. However, she cannot believe he would settle for one woman especially a sexual rookie like her and he refuses to accept that one week of avoiding the tediousness of his life in Boston could so profoundly change how he feels.

TABOO is an engaging erotic romance in which the plot will remind older XXX aficionados of the movie The Devil and Ms. Jones though Bridge is more like an imp than someone truly evil. The key to this tale is the intelligent evolution of the relationship between the lead couple. Though Bridge in some ways is too perfect (except down there where too perfect is okay silly), sub-genre fans will appreciate this entertaining tale of a "Still Man in Motion" whenever his beloved is at his side.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted October 24, 2003

Summary

Darling, You've been cooped up alone in the middle of nowhere far too long. I'm arriving to relieve your tedium. And bringing a very big surprise... The surprise is Montague Bridgeman -- and, courtesy of Fallon Gilchrist's dear friend, he's hers to do with whatever she pleases for one week. An inexperienced widow, Fallon is shocked at the idea of a private plaything. Shy and repressed, she decides to use him as her model and start painting again; he is a rather spectacular specimen of a man. Bridge, however, is hell-bent on awakening the reclusive Fallon to the sensual world, and she soon quivers under the force of his desire -- and her own. Yet even more intense than these heady pleasures of the flesh is the haunted look in Bridge's eyes -- a look that suggests he's much more than a lover-for-hire, and that seven days and seven nights might not be enough...for either of them.