Historical
Simply Sexual
By Natasha Smith
Feb 18, 2008 - 8:58:21 AM

If being a sex slave in a Turkish brothel taught Valentin anything, it was that he could only depend on pleasures of the flesh. In the ten years since he was rescued and returned to England , his craving for sex has only increased. When it is time for him to marry, the daughter of the man that liberated him catches his eye. Having not felt such sexual longing in a while, Valentin is determined to make her his. Thus, for an exorbitant amount of money, Sara Harrison becomes his wife and bed partner. The fact that she is willing astonishes Val, but he also knows that Sara has no idea his true desires. And if he has anything to do with it, she never will.

Sara Harrison can’t help herself. Instantly attracted to the man that her father rescued years ago, she knows that as a lady she shouldn’t seek him out alone.  She catches his eye, and when they come together behind closed doors, she is ecstatic to realize her desires her as well.  It’s too bad her father doesn’t want her to marry him because Sara knows that if she was Val’s wife, he would never have cause to turn to another as so many men of the ton do. She wants to be the one to satisfy his wants and his needs.  Lucky for her, Val is a rich man and therefore becomes her husband.

Val and Sara embark upon an arranged marriage not unlike the rest of the society in which they live. As much as Val strives to keep his inner sexual demons hidden from Sara, she does her best to be the woman he needs. Val wants their marriage to be SIMPLY SEXUAL; Sara wants their marriage to be a love match – and thus does her best to be the wanton that Valentin craves.  

It’s a good thing I am reading SIMPLY SEXUAL in the dead of winter because it was hot enough to cause a fire.  From the first scene with Valentin and Sara to the last, I blushed, squirmed, and fanned myself from the hotness and pure sensuality of both characters.  Sara is exactly the type of heroine Val needs to learn to love, and her patience is above and beyond what a normal woman possesses.  Many times I wanted to smack Val’s forehead and shake him, but in one single scene with his wife and best friend by his side, I began to see underneath Val’s persona to the man he kept hidden.  He still needed to heal from his experiences and Sara was the woman to help him.

SIMPLY SEXUAL is not termed as a homoerotic historical but readers should be aware that there are some instances of this type of behavior.  Without them, I feel the plot would have fallen short of my expectations and so therefore I can’t see SIMPLY SEXUAL being written any other way.   That aside, SIMPLY SEXUAL by Kate Pearce is one of the most arousing and enigmatic historical novels I have read this year. I hate that it ended and have since gone back and reread certain scenes. SIMPLY SEXUAL is happily ensconced on my keeper shelf!