Her Every Pleasure: A Novel (Spice Trilogy)

This is a great book. I recomended a lot. I love all of gaelen foley's books.

Gaelen Foley doesn't disappoint. I'm not big on princess stories most of the time, but the last time I was book shopping I made two exceptions, and this was definitely the better one. As with all of her books, the characters are endearing, the intrigue is suspenseful, and the chemistry sizzles. Her pacing is perfect - no unnecessary lulls, but both the romance and the suspense are allowed to develop without feeling rushed. Her conclusion to the Spice Trilogy might well be the best of the three, and provides a perfect partner for the last Knight sibling.

I LOVED this book! I couldn't put it down. You can tell Gaelen took the time to do extensive, comprehensive research for this novel. It's amazing, and you'll understand once you've read it. It is well appreciated after reading a lot of frivolous novels that are put out to meet deadlines and fail to deliver a decent storyline. I absolutely adored Gabriel, our hardened war hero, who has experienced death in India, taking an arrow meant for his brother. He has resolved to lay down his arms after a vision he had after he took the arrow and was medically proclaimed dead. Living in solitary on a farm, back in England, he meets Sophia, an exiled princess from a Greek Island chain who is trying to return to her throne. Unfortunately, there are many people who do not want her to make it back and she finds herself the target of an assasination attempt. She turns to Gabriel for his extensive military knowledge and background to help her get back to her country and her throne. Gabriel believes nothing can come of their relationship as he is just a "commoner" and she's a royal princess. Believe me there is nothing common about Gabriel. At 6'4" and tall, dark and handsome with a dimple, to boot, I'd take him all day long! ha! Sophia tries to put her country before her desires as a woman and realizes that there are sometimes, you just have to be a woman first. You go girl! :) What I love about Gaelen Foley is that while each of her heroes is strong, they are vulnerable in some way, too. They are rich in character and we are always along for a wonderful story of how their lives change and develop into something more. Her heroes are strong; yet are human. Her descriptions make me feel as if I truly know these people and I find myself crying (which rarely happens to me reading a book!) alongside them in their desolation and cheering for them when things finally turn for the better. Sofia is a strong, born leader, and yet, she too, has her struggles and doubts about ruling a nation she hasn't stepped foot in since she was three, and that is now torn apart by internal strife. The chemistry between Gabriel and Sofia is genuine and the story itself was a true page turner. Gaelen Foley is consistently one of my favorites and I will continue to purchase her books on her reputation and her name. She always delivers a riveting story and she doesn't "dumb down" her writing. She presents a story with multifaceted characters against rich and historically accurate backdrops that take you away to another place and time. And that, is exactly why I read historical romance novels.

I'm a huge sucker for princess/bodyguard romances, and this one was no exception. In terms of the characters, Gabriel was a hero to die for, and Princess Sophia was a strong queen to-be and every bit his equal. I like that there was some jealousy and tension on both ends during certain parts of the story, but no Big Misunderstanding, and that the characters were able to communicate with each other and resolve these issues rather quickly. I give this read 4.5 stars (rounds up to 5) because it is a beautifully written love story that is a strong stand-alone read on its own. Not 5 stars because I'm biased and have already read a story with a very similar plot by this author before (Princess -- think Darius and Seraphina, this princess' name even starts with an "S," she also happens to rule a small made-up kingdom somewhere in the Mediterranean, also happens to have the dark/exotic look, except I liked Sophia's character much better than Seraphina's). Also, I didn't care much for the author's depiction of the secondary characters in this story (mainly, the villains) because they seemed rather one-dimensional, so I ended up skimming over those parts. However, what really made Her Every Pleasure memorable for is that it deals with serious issues like death (and what happens thereafter), destiny (or pre-destination), things that I don't think Foley has directly touched upon before. Also, I thought a couple of the love scenes were quite creative and included some hot stuff I haven't read from her before, so I applaud her for that as well. Pick this one up if you haven't already, especially if you haven't already read "Princess" by this author -- it's definitely better than a lot of the other stuff out there. Happy reading =)