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Title: Gabriel's Woman by Robin Schone ISBN: 1-57566-698-7 Publisher: Kensington Pub Corp Pub. Date: September, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (57 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Absolutely Fabulous
Comment: Most of the other reviewers have summarized the plot quite well, with the ex-governess Victoria putting her virginity on the auction block at an exclusive men's club, known as the "House of Gabriel", and her subsequent unexpected sexual awakening. Gabriel, a man completely walled off by choice from his own sexuality, has become a sort of "voyeur" in his house of prostitution until Victoria comes into his life under suspicous circumstances. If you are looking for a sweet love story, this is not the book for you. The sex is hot, explicit, touches on the homoerotic and may be too much for some readers to handle . Mostly, the storyline is a mesh of the erotic/romance genre and is a sequel to Schone's previous work, "The Lover". I actually enjoyed "Gabriel's Woman" more than "The Lover", for I felt there was a bit more of a plot and I enjoyed the mystery/suspence aspects. The veiled references to the "second man" may be confusing to readers who haven't read "The Lover", and this is my biggest complaint about the novel.
The relationship that develops between Gabriel and Victoria is something quite refreshing and unusual. Victoria is a virgin who once is awakened, becomes a tigress. This is the one aspect of Schone's novels' I have found a bit repetitive, as does her constant mention of the length of the man's penis size. The relationship shifts then into different sexual realms. However, it is the breaking down of all of Gabriel's sexual walls that make this novel so interesting and different from my usual romance fare. Gabriel's variety of inner demons made me literally cry.
The "friendship" between Michael, the protaganist in "The Lover" and Gabriel seems to be hotly debated. For me, this was not homesexual, but there were shades of homoerotocism. The very existence of this is the essence of Gabriel's torment, so if anything, it really gave me something to ponder after I read this novel. By the end of the book, in my opinion, it is my conclusion they are friends who love each other, but there is a fine line btween homo and heterosexuality both men have resolved.
I am shocked at readers who did not see the love between Gabriel and Victoria. Considering all the changes in Gabriel's life after he became involved with Victoria, and how he became able to recieve love and touch from another human being, their love was clear to me. I'd love to see more of them in Schone's future works. I've read all her novels/novellas and her growth as a novelist is wonderful.
Rating: 3
Summary: No Real Passion
Comment: And by that I mean no real passion between the hero and heroine, although there are plenty of sex scenes, and passion seems to exist between Gabriel and Michael.
Gabriel, who we first met in The Lover, now gets his own story. Like Michael, he is a former male prostitute. He now owns the House of Gabriel, and is constantly on his guard, awaiting "the second man"--trust me, you don't get much more insight than that until the last chapter. Gabriel's "love" interest is Victoria, a destitute young woman who decides to lose her virginity to the renowned prostitute. Just a couple of hitches--Gabriel does not allow ANYONE to touch him and, even if he did, did Victoria get sent to him by his nemesis?
I have read all of Ms. Schone's books, and aside from The Lady's Tutor (which belongs on EVERYONE's top ten list), each one has progessively gotten darker and more clinical than the last. Although I rushed out and bought The Lover in its first week, I did not write a review for it because to this day I cannot decide if I like it or hate it. What originally attracted me to her work was that the heroine was an older, more assertive character. She was average-looking, and no ingenue. In other words, she was unlike 95% of all female romance characters, and a refreshing change.
Since that first book however, Schone's heroines have mostly been virgins, and instead of dealing with and conquering their personal issues, they tend to just get sucked into the hero's pathos. In this book, for instance, Victoria needs to lose her virginity in order to avoid unwanted attentions; and although she is a gentlewoman, she has to work for a living because she has been cast out by her father. But almost immediately upon meeting Gabriel, all her issues get put on the back burner, and she decides that she must make it her mission in life to seduce him and help him deal with his emotional baggage. For most of the book, she is just an outlet for Gabriel's hurt and a tool to be used against him. What happened to the mature, complex women, Robin????
As I read Gabriel's Woman, the words "cold" and "clinical" came to mind often and, judging from the reviews here, I was not alone. Graphic sex scenes abound, and avid fans of authors like Thea Devine or Susan Johnson will love Schone's books. For those of us who prefer more plot development and sex scenes that reflect the characters' passion for one another, it is better to check this book out from the local library. The sex scenes are mainly used as a catharsis for Gabriel, and are calculated and mechanical instead of passionate and spontaneous. What is also a turn off, as some other reviewers have mentioned, is that many of the encounters seem to be uncomfortable or downright painful for Victoria. In most of them, her achieving sexual pleasure seems implausible as well as an afterthought.
In addition, Schone has adopted the style of giving the reader esoteric glimpses into the hero's conflict with the villain, and of not actually spelling it out until the end. While this is an interesting and ingenious concept, the passages are written in such a cryptic manner that they only make one feel left out, since the heroine and the reader are the only ones who don't know what is going on. I spent so much time trying to decipher Gabriel's past and defining different characters' roles in it that I continuously got pulled out of the story, which is never a good thing.
Usually when I look back on a romance novel, I can pinpoint the exact moment when each character fell in love with the other. I could not do so here; these two characters seem to be together because they have no other options, and although there is compassion, I could not really detect any love or need between Gabriel and Victoria.
Rating: 3
Summary: Don't read this unless you've read The Lover first
Comment: I get very disappointed when authors include characters from other stories but don't explain these previous characters or other story properly in their current story, and assume the reader has read the previous book. I was confused during the first half of the book just trying to piece together Michael's and Gabriel's relationship. I had no idea what happened to Michael, but it seemed to be very crucial to understanding Gabriel and "Gabriel's Woman". I had no real history about Gabriel's relationship with Micheal or what really happened that precipated the situation with the "first" & "second" man.
Though I'm familiar with Schone's erotic writing style, it was hard to accept Victoria getting anally raped during only her 2nd sexual experience with Gabriel. The phrase "a boy who wanted to be an angel" also begins to grate after the 20th time it's written and begins to lose it's meaning.
The story was decent (when I knew what was going on) and I loved the ending, but parts did seem to drag, and though filled with erotic setting, I didn't get as wrapped up in it as I did in The Tutor.
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Title: The Lover by Robin Schone ISBN: 0758204272 Publisher: Kensington Pub Corp Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Lady's Tutor by Robin Schone ISBN: 0758203926 Publisher: Kensington Pub Corp Pub. Date: March, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Awaken, My Love by Robin Schone ISBN: 1575669072 Publisher: Zebra Books Pub. Date: June, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Fascinated by Bertrice Small, Susan Johnson, Thea Devine, Robin Schone ISBN: 1575666065 Publisher: Kensington Pub Corp Pub. Date: October, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Beyond Innocence by Emma Holly ISBN: 0515130990 Publisher: Jove Pubns Pub. Date: 03 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.50 |
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