Genre: Erotica, Classic Retold, Romance
Format: Kindle
Published: 23 January 2012 & 8 April 2012
Publisher: Avid Press
Series: Yes {serialized fiction}
Price: $0.99 & $2.99

Synopsis: {via GoodReads}

ENTWINED

When not-as-proper-as-one-would-think Victorian woman Jane Clemons convinces her father to take her on an expedition in the jungle, her only goal is to find her lover Jonathan, who disappeared three years earlier. She and her father, along with Jonathan’s trusted friend Kellan Darkdale, set off on their journey. But shortly after their party arrives on the coast of Madagascar, Jane finds herself enthralled not only by the freedom and beauty of the lush jungle, but a reclusive wild man who seems to be fascinated by her. ENTWINED is a novella (about 80 pages). It’s the first in a series that will follow Jane Clemons and her explicit, erotic adventures in the jungle.

ENTANGLED

The erotic adventures of Miss Jane Clemons in the jungle of Madagascar continue in this second installment.

For mature, over-18 readers only.

Review:

I've been a fan of Colette Gale since reading Bound By Honor, An Erotic Tale of Maid Marian, in 2010. As a fan of classical romance, and the classical tales, these erotic re-tellings are right up my alley and I've enjoyed every book she's written! This, I admit, is no exception. The most awesome thing about them is that both Entwined and Entangled are really quick reads. That's a huge thing for me right now because as I race to finish up my master's thesis I have almost no time to put aside for casual reading--I think it may have taken me two hours to read both of them. Awesome!

The Characters:

As an erotic re-telling of an older story, the characters are all a very familiar part of our collective culture. We all know the story of Tarzan & Jane, so the characters are cozy from the start. Jane Clemons, the main character, is bright, young, and vibrant. She's fun and much more sexually liberated than most Victorian woman. What I liked about her is that although she has a very clear understanding that some of the things she's doing are culturally unacceptable for a good English girl, she doesn't much care.

Tarzan, on the other hand, is both Tarzan and isn't.  He's the perfect (sexy) Tarzan archetype, but his name is Zaran. She spends most of the book calling him "wild man" and lusting after him, which is quite believable. He's also incredibly sympathetic and there are moments when his mix of intelligence and innocence are very touching.

The other characters are a mix of good and bad. Jane's long-lost fiance, Jonathan, is not a nice guy but Jane can't see that. Meanwhile, his business partner, Kellan Darkdale is troubling and handsome, and while I get the feeling he's supposed to be a sort of bad-guy, I actually like him. I'm attracted to the darker guys, so it works for me, except for the fact that he's a little too sexually aggressive, and not in a good way, but you get the idea that he actually cares about Jane in his sick way, which, again, works for me.  Jane's father and her maid are also alright, but they're the only characters in the whole story I feel are stock archetype characters. They're okay, but not my favorites.

The only character issue I had is actually with Jane's maid, Effie.  In the first book, Effie has a dialect about her speech. In the second book, her dialect is all but gone. The change in her speech is really noticeable when they're read back to back, and while it's a small issue, it was pretty distracting.

The Plot:

So far, the plot is really good, but since this is only two of a serialized series it's hard to say what the future will bring. The frame of the story is pretty simple, but works brilliantly. Jane goes to the jungles of Madigascar with her butterfly hunting father and Kellan Darkdale, where they reside in an old "treehouse" built by, and abandoned, previous occupants. There Jane hopes to find her long-lost-fiance, Jonathan. Overall, I think it took longer to get to the sexy fun in this story than it has in any of her previous novels of this type, but when it does it's worth the wait. There are a few awkward moments, but the plot flows well from one point to the next and is believable.

The Verdict:

Rating: 5/5

I'm really, really looking forward to the next installment. The one thing I don't much like about this series is also the one thing I think is really neat about it: the serialization. Victorian literature was often serialized, so this works in the fashion of literature of the time. However, waiting months between installments is brutal. I want the rest of the story now, but there's no clear idea of how many installments there will be or how long it will take to publish the whole story. All in all, I definitely recommend this story to anyone who enjoys erotica, but it's definitely for audiences 18 and older.

Edited and cross posted from my personal blog, Pretty Pessimist.

I sat down to read Colette Gale's Bound by Honor last night and couldn't put it down. I read the first 190 pages before 1 a.m. rolled around and I had to go to bed. The first thing I did when I climbed out of bed this morning, after getting cleaned up, was to pick up the book and finish reading it. I absolutely loved this book!

So, onto the review, shall we?

From Amazon:

"Maid Marian, now Lady of [Morlaix], is sent to the court of Prince John-not to take part in the debauchery of his Court of Pleasure, but to spy on him for his mother. Little does she know that her secret mission will thrust her into a whirlwind of intrigue, terror, and carnal temptations.

At court, Marian is torn between her duty to the queen and her desire for two men: one, the mysterious highwayman the peasants call Robin Hood, and the other, the dark, cold Sheriff of Nottingham. Given an impossible choice, she must submit to the carnality of Prince John's court in order to fulfill her duty and maintain her honor. But in the end, there is only one man for whom she will risk her life and give her heart."

My Review:

From the very beginning, I felt like I was reading historical romance. Gale has excellent historical voice, while leaving enough room for modern understanding. The familiarity of the characters renders this novel comfortable, and Gale expertly takes an original turn on the whole story that left me extremely satisfied. The subtitle, "An Erotic Novel of Maid Marian" is very much the truth. This is Marian's story, not Robins of Locksley's and not William de Wendeval's (Sheriff of Nottingham). There is no mistaking this novel, however, this book is very much erotica. There is explicit sex involved and if that's not your thing, this is not your book. For those who enjoy it, or are at the very least not offended by it, Gale has sensuality down to an art.

The narration is third person and jumps around frequently -- following Marian, Robin, Will, and Alys. Still, it's extremely easy to follow and lends a multi-dimensionality the story couldn't have had, had it followed Marian alone. It allows us to understand all of the characters and how they feel, which is important to how the story turns out in the end. Had readers not been able to see things from more than Marian's perspective, the way things unfold simply wouldn't have worked as well as it does.

I simply cannot say enough good about this novel. I found myself smiling like an idiot more often than not, and when I closed the back cover, the smile didn't go away. I love that this story isn't traditional, that it's not predictable, and that the characters are original despite their historical relevance. Unfortunately, to say too much more would utterly and completely give the story away which is simply not something I would want to do. I recommend this book, but only to adults, and only those who don't get insulted by erotica. While the book is technically considered historical fiction, it skirts all the way to the brink of what's allowable as romance.

When I bought this book, I also got Master: An Erotic Novel of The Count of Monte Cristo by Colette Gale and after reading Bound by Honor: An Erotic Novel of Maid Marian, I simply cannot wait to pick that one up and see what Gale does with it, too!! If I like it, I'll be getting her first historical romance, Unmasked: An Erotic Novel of The Phantom of the Opera.