Ivory, Judith - Untie My Heart
Wed, Feb. 4th, 2004 12:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterI think this is my second favorite Judith Ivory book so far (after Sleeping Beauty). Unfortunately, I still get that disconnect with the characters that lets me read it and admire it but not really get sucked into it. I don't know why this is... I think I just didn't essentially like either of the two main characters for some reason. Well, I did like Emma Hotchkiss quite a bit, but I don't really get the appeal of Stuart Aysgarth. Too alpha-y for me, or something. I've found I've really stopped liking the alphas in romances nowadays.
Now that that's out... I really liked the sex scenes. I'm too lazy to actually search, but I'm pretty sure![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
oracne said something about how Ivory really uses the sex scenes for character development and to give the reader a real insight into the psyches of the characters. Very much agree with that. And I loved the entire bit on con games, even more than I loved the con games in Crusie's Faking It. I also liked how Emma is nicely round and how Stuart enjoys that ;).
More not so good things: Didn't much like the climax or the resolution -- her getting Stuart thrown in jail seemed a bit out of blue. Or maybe not, because at this point I wasn't paying enough attention to the book (sick). And then Stuart doesn't much care at all and what with the "untie my heart" proposal? His heart was tied? Huh?
I think I may also be getting a bit sick of in control heroines afraid to let go during sex because of losing control and the sexually experienced extremely sexy hero loosening her up. While I think Emma was painted much less flat than a lot of heroines who go through that (the corollary to this being the heroine afraid of sex because of so and so traumatic past), I kind of wanted to kick Stuart for knowing right off the bat that all she wanted was a good screw/losing control without having to ask for it. And I get how this factors in with a lot of fantasies (mine included), but am getting a bit sick of reading it... how come we never get a sexually uptight hero loosened up by a sexually experienced heroine? I think this is why I liked Sleeping Beauty so much. Coco slept around, had made peace with herself with it, and didn't really care.
I really hate it when I talk about books that I did like and the only thing I can point out is their flaws =(. I feel like Ebert giving mild praise of Lord of the Rings while saying the entire time that it's adolescent fantasy and not Real Art blah blah blah. Because I did like the book, but these things just seem to be popping up in my head afterward.
Now that that's out... I really liked the sex scenes. I'm too lazy to actually search, but I'm pretty sure
oracne said something about how Ivory really uses the sex scenes for character development and to give the reader a real insight into the psyches of the characters. Very much agree with that. And I loved the entire bit on con games, even more than I loved the con games in Crusie's Faking It. I also liked how Emma is nicely round and how Stuart enjoys that ;).More not so good things: Didn't much like the climax or the resolution -- her getting Stuart thrown in jail seemed a bit out of blue. Or maybe not, because at this point I wasn't paying enough attention to the book (sick). And then Stuart doesn't much care at all and what with the "untie my heart" proposal? His heart was tied? Huh?
I think I may also be getting a bit sick of in control heroines afraid to let go during sex because of losing control and the sexually experienced extremely sexy hero loosening her up. While I think Emma was painted much less flat than a lot of heroines who go through that (the corollary to this being the heroine afraid of sex because of so and so traumatic past), I kind of wanted to kick Stuart for knowing right off the bat that all she wanted was a good screw/losing control without having to ask for it. And I get how this factors in with a lot of fantasies (mine included), but am getting a bit sick of reading it... how come we never get a sexually uptight hero loosened up by a sexually experienced heroine? I think this is why I liked Sleeping Beauty so much. Coco slept around, had made peace with herself with it, and didn't really care.
I really hate it when I talk about books that I did like and the only thing I can point out is their flaws =(. I feel like Ebert giving mild praise of Lord of the Rings while saying the entire time that it's adolescent fantasy and not Real Art blah blah blah. Because I did like the book, but these things just seem to be popping up in my head afterward.
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