Daphne's Adventures

Kimber Edgington is a virgin with a crush-on a pop star with a penchant for threesomes. Determined to prove that she's woman enough for singer Jesse McCall, Kimber turns to bodyguard Deke Trenton for sexual education...lessons that include his super-sexy friend Luc. Though she's saved herself for Jesse, Kimber soon learns that he's not the man adept at stoking her aching, endless need. That's Deke, and he can't resist when Kimber begs for more-and more.

Ever since I read her first book, Wicked Ties, I've been waiting for this second one to come out. You don't need to read WT to enjoy this one, but for those of you who did read it, you probably remember Deke Trenton as the third in Jack and Morgan's menage. While WT was primarily focused on BDSM, Decadent is targeted toward threesomes (Two guys, one girl).

If you're in the mood for a steamy erotic ("cookbook" as I like to call it) where you're not too concerned about superb plot and storyline, Decadent is right up your alley.

Kimber is a virgin saving herself for her long-time crush, Jesse the popstar (think Justin Timberlake). He's known in the tabloids for his wild sexual escapades and threesomes, and Kimber feels like she's not experienced enough to light his fire. She turns to Deke, who years ago worked for her father and protected him. Now of course Deke has always lusted after her but also held back because of her age. Kimber is older now and bravely asks Deke to "tutor her" in the ways of menage.

Deke is living with his supposedly sexy cousin Luc, who is a chef. Now you're just going to have to take the author's word for it and believe he's sexy, because other than that, I don't see any reason to be excited over a gourmet chef. Luc overhears Kimber's offer to Deke, and immediately walks in and offers to be her other "tutor."

There's lots of sex right away, and I'll admit, it's pretty hot. There's just one little catch though... Kimber doesn't want to lose her virginity because she's saving herself for Jesse. So they have fun in "other ways." Kimber is up to the challenge and manages to be a good student for Deke and Luc's sexual cravings.

She then takes off to try out her newfound sexuality on Jesse. She attends one of his concerts and backstage feels very uncomfortable with the atmosphere. It's like one big drug and orgy fest in the break room and Jesse's drummer offers to be her third. But I guess the difference between the drummer and Luc is that this guy was a total jerk and treated Kimber like a piece of meat and nothing more. Meanwhile, Jesse admits that he only wants Kimber in his life because she's always been the "good girl." He needs her to correct his bad boy ways. Kimber says no thanks and leaves Jesse.

Only to return to Deke, who at this point still hasn't taken Kimber's virginity. He's afraid that once he does, he'll fall in love with her and won't be able to let her go. Another weird thing about Deke, is that he can't have sex without Luc being present. I think there's a scene where Luc goes to the bathroom to dispose of the condom and Deke shouts "Get back in here!" I think the explanation was that Luc is the gentle one, and he doesn't want to ever be alone with Kimber or else he'll be too rough on her. Whatever.

The story then gets a bit lame because someone blows up her father's house and now Kimber's life is in danger. The trio head over to Jack/Morgan's place in the the swamp (remember from Wicked Ties?) where they can protect Kimber. They have more sex while they're there, and Deke finally takes her virginity.

The stalker/killer finally gets busted in the end (pretty obvious who the killer was), and Deke overcomes his fear of having sex alone with Kimber. Hah! So Luc is out of the picture now and Kimber and Deke live happily ever after.

Again, the story isn't the best, but there's still plenty of steamy sex to make up for it. I'd give this one a 3 out of 5, simply because it was enjoyable as a whole.

So I finally finished this weekend. I gotta say, it wasn't THAT bad. I'll explain in a minute. But first, let me get to the obvious bad stuff... Vishous storyline. I can't go further without spoiling anything, so stop reading if you don't want to hear spoilers.

In Lover Revealed we saw hints of V possibly being gay or bi or just straight up confused. Here we pretty much confirm it... not only is he in love with Butch, but he straight up admits he wanted Butch physically. *ahem* And I quote...

As V ignored the jab, he found himself focusing on Butch's lips. In a very quiet voice, he said, "You know... I totally wanted to have sex with you."
"I know." Butch's head twisted around, and their eyes met. "Past tense now, huh."

Well, spit. That pretty much seals the deal right there. Now here's the thing. I'm not bothered by the fact that V said that, or feels that way about Butch. What bothers me is that we're then supposed to believe that he just got over these feelings because of Dr. Jane Whitcomb? I really don't think so.

While I don't have anything against Jane, I just didn't feel the chemistry between her and V considering a) she's described as manly looking *gag* b) she thought V and Butch were lovers, and what? she just brushed that aside? *rolls eyes* c) her retarded oatmeal story didn't seem comparable to his story, so I don't know see how that 'connected them' *rolls eyes again* d) it was hard for me to believe she didn't have any problems with V's dom-style sex

So basically, I was pretty meh about V's storyline, and I'm sure everyone else has beat that gay/bi/Butch thing to death, so that's all I'm going to say. Some other quick things I didn't like about the book: 1) Wrath again being totally useless and not helping anyone out. I swear all the guy ever does is call meetings together, where he takes off his wraparounds and massages his temples because he's frustrated. 2) Z seems kinda different than how he was in his book. I can't put my finger on it, but it's just in the way he's sorta become a father figure to John and how whipped he is by Bella. *shrug* 3) John bitchin about 'when am I going to go through my transition?' and then finally does, but still acts like a freakin pussy. I swear his storyline is partially what kept me reading only to find that I'm still frustrated with him.

Let's get to what I did like about the book. First, I liked that there was no stupid Mr. X storyline crap. I usually skip those parts so I'm glad I didn't have to read that. Second, I really like Phury's storyline. I'm upset with him that he caved in and experienced his first with a prostitute, but at least he pulled out. Hah! The one thing I'm afraid of though, is that it's sorta becoming a theme of JRW.... to introduce her characters as being in love with someone else, then giving him/her their own story and forcing us to believe he/she now loves someone else. Let's recap for a sec.... Marissa loves Wrath, now she loves Butch. Butch loves Marissa but drinks V's blood and knows V loves him but apparently doesn't care. V loves Butch, now he loves Jane. Phury loves Bella, then he'll love Cormia. Hmmmm.. I see a pattern here. Why don't we all just have one big orgy and drink each other's blood? *sigh*

So there you have it. Sorry I'm all over the place with my thoughts, but just had to jot them down before I move on with my life and forget this book completely. Again, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, only because for some weird reason, despite everything, I still like V. Go check it out for yourself. I'm giving this one a 3 out of 5.