Review: Sugar and Spice by Leda Swann

Leda Swann was one of the authors who joined us for Avon Red Week. I completely fell in love with the cover for Sugar and Spice. Sadly this turned out to be one of those times where the cover was the best part. Genre: Erotic Romance (I think... could be Erotica) Grade: D- Sensuality: Burning Jane Meter: SKIP This an ever popular anthology, although it is a single title. It has an interesting set up and is somewhat different. Each of the stories involve an already married couple struggling to find their HEA. They all end up at a 'naughty house' in Cornwall that caters to married couples and is ran by a Mrs. Bertram. Click for rest of review Our first couple - Gwendolyn and Adam are unhappily married but have great sex. Just about every night, or at least Adam is having great sex, Gwendolyn thinks she is just a convenient fuck. She lied and 'forced' him to marry her and Adam is holding something of a grudge. Hard to have a happy marriage with the groom thinking the bride is a lying, manipulative bitch. I loved the set up and the first scene with the Turkish slave girl setup is great. Adam is very much the man as he lays there thinking a hand job isn't 'really cheating' until it dawns on him if he is there... where is his wife. The two play out a list of fantasy and find their way to sharing their true feelings. The stories biggest downside is it is too long and the very played out ending. Obsessed gets a C. Lillian and Felix have a very Mary Balogh tradition regency plot. They got married. A few months later he gets bored thinking his wife is cold and doesn't want him. Felix starts to fuck around and Lillian tries her best to ignore it. After Felix takes off to Mrs. Bertram's with his newest 'soon to be mistress', Lillian is blackmailed by the Mr. of 'soon to be mistress'. After a chorus of 'Hail, Hail the Gangs All Here' there is a great scene where Lillian give Felix a piece of her mind. And after he figures out how badly he screwed up with his virgin bride - SIX YEARS ago - Felix does the only thing any good regency hero would do. He decided it is a good time to teach his wife to blow him and stick his fingers up her ass. I was never able to get over the thought that she would have been better off leaving with Gareth. Enslaved gets a F. Speaking of Gareth the hero of the last story and over all good guy. I liked him except for he spends most of the story being a doormat for Cora. In case you forgot, Cora was the woman who went off for a week with Felix. She is... hell really I am not sure what Cora is suppose to be. At one point she is mad because he married her to have door opened for him in socially At another point she is mad because she married him because he is in trade, so she figured she would never care for him but does. At another point it seems she thinks she can never make him happy and has a secret that would hurt him. Or some such thing, really by this point I just wanted the book over. I guessed the end pretty early then decided I was wrong (turns out I wasn't). I think Exposed is the shortest of the three and the most sexually adventurous. They confront the big bad thing, learn they can deal with it together and Cora figures out Gareth will stick by her no matter what. Exposed gets a D. I think the biggest disappointment I had with Sugar and Spice is it could have been so much better. It had a different plot than you normally get in today's historicals and I was willing to go along for the ride when I normally run from anything that deal with adultery. Maybe that is why I got hung up on Felix's character and his actions. He has this big 'ah ha' moment and handles it so stupidly. I would have just closed the book and walked away, if I was the type to not finish books. And Cora was such a horrible character. I understand we are suppose to excuse her actions because of her big bad secret but Gareth was just too good. So over all the first story was the only I could say I liked and really not that much. Anyone else read this yet? Like it? Have any other thoughts on Sugar and Spice? Next: The Price of Desire is the next book by Leda Swann. I still have no clue what this is about other than it has something to do with a workhouse. Currently I am reading Pleasure Control by Cathryn Fox and liking it. Have you tried an Avon Red yet?