Pure Sin

I was instantly seduced by Susan Johnson's Pure Sin after the first chapter. I absolutely couldn't put it down once I started it. The unconventional characters of Flora and Adam absolutely amazed me. I was also amazed at the strength and depth of caring each character brought to the book. The native american theme that intersects the plot intriged me and made me want to discover our american indian heritage.A great book full of emotion, adventure, and erotic romance. I highly recomend it.

This book ranged from heart rendering to heart pumping. It was extreamly well written and all the "flavors" of the book came through wonderfully. Adam and Flora were the perfect couple! They both knew what they wanted out of live and were definatly not afraid to grab life by the tail. Flora, being wealthy in her own right and SINGLE!, knew how to be independant yet sophisticated and she was not afraid to let her sexuality out to play. Adam, the half breed Comte de Chastellux, was her equal in almost every way. From almost the beginning of their relationship he began having jealous thoughts concerning her sex life but, of course, that just added to his appeal. The love affair that took place in this book seemed so real that the reader could actually see it happening. Great Book, SJ! I have every SJ book there is to be had and this is by far one of my favorites!

Pure Sin was my first Johnson book and I was pleasantly surprised. I thought her to be in the same league than Schone and writing mainly about sex, but this wasn't the case. There was surprisingly a romantic love story in there. Although the book started quite steamy with a hot encounter between the heroes in an open carriage (shortly after the "How do you do" introduction)the merely lust-based relationship soon developed into something more substantial. I liked Flora, the heroine. She was a lot different from the typical romance novel virginal spinster or sexually frustrated widow type. She was the exact counterpart of the usual Regency and Victorian rogue type: Single, rich, titled, very independent, urbane, sophisticated, free-loving and proud of her sexual magnetism , skilled in the art of seduction. I found it very amusing when Adam Serre, Comte de Chastellux, the sexy half-bred hero who is in every way her true match asks himself jealously what sort of experience Lady Flora has made and how many lovers she had had, and if she did that sort of thing with another man before. Usually these are the questions the anxious virgin in a typical romance novel asks herself about the roguish hero. What I also liked about the heroine was that she was the true beau ideal of the Victorian era: Voluptuous and curvaceous and that men went mad about her exactly because of that. And also the side information Johnson gives about time, place and habits seem to be historically correct. The footnotes contained interesting historical information about e.g. marriage laws in France and Montana.

Before reading Pure Sin, I read one or two other books by Susan Johnson, but I fell in love with this book. I read so many historical romances, sometimes five or six a week, and although I enjoy many of them, very few actually stand out in my mind. This is one of the few that do. I think what struck me the most was the struggle that Adam went through to actually commit to one woman. Although that is a typical theme in many romance novels, that struggle was very well described in this book. You could see him fighting his attraction for Flora, grudgingly admitting that he did care for her and then trying to figure out what to do about it. And you could believe that Flora was perhaps the one woman in the world who could make Adam want to change his life. I also like the way the author transitioned Adam and Flora from a couple in lust with one another to a couple deeply in love with one another. The transition was extremely believable and, ultimately, very sweet. Since reading this book, I have immediately purchased every Susan Johnson book. Unfortunately, although I have enjoyed some of them, I have not found any of them nearly as engaging as Pure Sin. The characters haven't been as interesting, and it sometimes seems as though the characters merely exist to provide people to engage in the great sex described in detail in the book. The connection between the hero and heroine just doesn't seem as poignant, and the sex scenes seem to be recycled from book to book. They just don't seem as fresh and exciting as they did in Pure Sin.

I've read all of Susan Johnson's books and this one if one of my favorites. All her books sizzle with the sex scenes, but I liked the fact that they knew there was a connection between them from the beginning.Flora's character is the type of heroine anyone would strive to be, and Adam was the perfect "gentleman" all throughout the book. The power of unity is evident in this book...although they had many obstacles, they were able to overcome them together.I really wish Ms. Johnson would go back to writing more about the romance between the hero and the heroine, though. For some reason, she's been going back to her original roots--that of the historian--more and more. Don't get me wrong, I like to read the historical events in her books, but I would love to read more about the characters themselves and less about the history in the future. I hope her new book, LEGENDARY LOVER is more about the relationship between the characters and have the hero stay faithful to the heroine. After all, it is a romance.S.