Bound in Moonlight

Bound in Moonlight Another excellent book by Louisa Burton. If you enjoy well-written erotica interwoven with a large dose of mythology that slips into the real world, both past and present, you'll enjoy this book. Written in three parts, from different perspectives, at different points in time, it will be a difficult book to put down. Interesting characters, use of language and description that provides a quality read. Highly recommended.

I'm not wholly sure what to make of these short stories, partly because they vary so much in tone. All of these stories center on a secluded estate where supernatural beings of un-natural sexuality have romped for a few recent millenia. The first starts with a familiar plot: he and she pretending disinterest in each other, they fight off romantic interest until the very end when romance blossoms along with something steamier. Starting with that plot, Burton turns it on its head: they begin with a steamy encounter, then fight off romantic interest until romance blossoms and something more staid emerges. The second story features a maiden (well, almost) in distress, who sells her body but not her heart, so she can use the money to open her own school for children. If she didn't know just how much of her body she sold, well, she'll find out. Despite harsh moments, this ends happily. The third and final story has no real erotic content, except sometimes in the background. Burton has created a small but complex world of supernatural erotic fantasy, which can be seen from many angles. As in her first collection, I found the finish to be the weakest of the set. Burton's second book strikes me as an improvement on her first, but similar in some ways. In particular, her erotic energy didn't last to the end of the book - or did some other vision of the chateau intrude into this writer's mind and redirect it? Erotic romance has a wide audience, as does romantic erotica. The two readerships don't always overlap, though. -- wiredweird

I loved the variety in which these story snippets were told, as well as the addition of an actual love story. Once again, the eroticism was not over-the-top yet still retained a high level of titillation. Louisa Burton is definitely an auto-buy for me!

Enter into the Château de la Grotte Cachée (the castle of the hidden grotto), a secluded castle in France. It is the administrateur's job to provide carnal nourishment for the immortals or Follets, which live there; a djinni (shape shifter), a Nordic elf, the Goddess of the new moon and a satyr. Sex from mortals is something they can't live without. But because of their delicate status, they also require a protection and privacy of sorts. This book contains three short stories detailing three different individuals' experiences at the Grotto at different times. Tutelage - Emmeline goes to the Grotto in search of her fiancé only to find him in flagrante delicto with two women. Disillusioned, she promptly breaks her engagement, but the weather and her curiosity have her remaining at the castle for a few more days. She is taken under the sexual wing of the satyr, Inigo. Her story is told as she reminisces the time in letters to her current lover. Slave Week - Caroline Keating has been disowned by her family and is now penniless and homeless. When she is rescued one night by Lord Rexton, he tells her of a scandalous event, giving her an option in what looks to be a hard life. In an act of desperation she agrees to auction herself off for a week of sexual slavery at the Grotto. Magic Hour - the present day Grotto's administrateur brings his daughter to the house in order to prepare her for her role as adminstrateur when he passes on. It has been an Archer family job, passed down from one generation to the next, for nine generations. A role she is not ready, nor does she want to take. Each erotic tale is as unique as the heroine it is written about. Each story saturates the reader in a heavy dose of the sensual and the sexual, and this erotica is detailed, explicit and titillating. Nothing is taboo in the Grotto, anything goes, and the stories are definitely not for the prudish. While I like to think of myself as an open minded and audacious kinda gal, there were a few scenes in Slave Week that were a little too much for me; they edged a little too closely on the Sadomasochistic side for my tastes. It did not, however, ruin my enjoyment of the story, or the book on a whole. I found I liked each individual story for its own merits and when the third one ended I was more than bummed that this sinfully sexy ride was over. I have gone ahead and ordered the first book and look forward to reading the third. Ms. Burton is a gifted story teller, for sure. Cherise Everhard, June 2008

"Tutelage". In 1902 New York heiress Emmeline Townsend is escorted by Lord Hardwyck to the Castle of the Hidden Grotto in rural France that she thought was his French abode. She appalling finds her host's face buried in the legs of a voluptuous female while another big-chested woman tasted his shaft. Wanting out Emmeline finds every door leads to debauchery and depravity until she meets Darius the djinn and then Elric the elf who focus on Emmeline's Emancipation. "Slave Week". In 1817 Caroline Keating, a rector's daughter ruined two years ago by a soldier, has no prospects as her father tossed her out or money so in spite of remaining an innocent she agrees to be sold at auction as a sex slave for a week. Lord Rexton outbids an irate Lord Riddell for a week to do whatever he wants to his sex slave. He behaves like the immortal monster he is, but she sees otherwise. "Magic Hour". In the late 1980s when she was sixteen, her mom went on vacation with her latest boy toy while her dad invited her to spend Christmas with him and his associates at Chateau des Freaks as she dubbed the Hidden Grotto. She had not retuned for nineteen years, but Isabel Archer is back as her dad, the castle's adminstrateur, asked her to come; he needs to persuade his offspring to accept her responsibility as she will replace him as adminstrateur like he replaced his parent, etc. After greeting dad, the reason she avoided the castle Mon Seignor Adrien Morel says hello. This sequel to the delightfully erotica fantasy HOUSE OF DARK DELIGHTS contains three well written heated tales of forbidden star-crossed love. Readers will enjoy the sexcapades of fully developed lead couples as Louisa Burton provides a strong follow up anthology that will have fans wanting another tryst at Chateau de la Grotte Cachée where your inhibitions are left in Paris. Harriet Klausner