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Pages: 55
Goes Well With: Red wine and French cooking
Author Louise Delamore knows how to create a sensual scene, filled with a delightful sense of expectancy. She opens her short novel, Redemption’s Kiss, with the beautifully provocative sentence: “The hotel doors slid open with a sound as soft as a lover’s expectant inhalation.” And the rest of the tale certainly lives up to expectation.
Lauren has to find David soon; she has needs that she’s put off too long, and she doesn’t want the risk of drinking from a stranger, but David seems to have plans of his own. And now there’s the mysterious fair-haired stranger, Rhys, who’s caught Lauren’s eye. The reader begins to guess what Lauren might be, wonders about David, wants to know more about enigmatic Rhys.
Injured in some untold accident, Rhys is sure that no woman will ever look at him. The author sketches his emotions perfectly—his need to hide his features in the dark, his nervous gaze, the way he touches his face. He watches Lauren from behind as they climb the stairs, his gaze fixed on the skin at the back of her neck and his thoughts all awry. Even if someone should fall for him, will he ever believe that it’s love and not just pity?
As it happens, true love’s not the only thing that Rhys might find himself learning to believe in. There are other unfortunate souls in the world who might be afraid that the truth will turn lovers away. Will attraction turn to true love and feed Rhys and Lauren, or will suspicion turn to horror and fear?
Trust requires action, and for Rhys and Lauren, trust is something that doesn’t come easily. Luckily, true love breaks down all barriers, where simple attraction or need might fall apart. Different viewpoints and the slow release of information as the tension builds, releases, then builds again, making Redemption’s Kiss an intriguing and enjoyable read.
