@Susan: Sorry about that! It’s kind of interesting in the way it screws up, though. Not that that is much consolation, but it’s not unreadable by any means. It really only went fully off the rails for me in the last third to half of the book.

Roy is a very, very common French surname… never would have guessed/assumed it could be Indian.

I thought about Volume 5 a lot, and it’s difficult to see how it could have been done differently without substantially changing the structure of the installment and/or adding another volume. Maybe it’s just that I wanted the denouement and conclusion to be longer and more drawn out. I think the storyline is really clever, I just had to suspend more disbelief. Which sounds silly when you think about the OTT aspects of some of the parts that came before!

It says something about how compelling the whole series is that it’s only at the end that I start to complain about realism.

@Cara Ellison: Thanks, I appreciate that! It’s a strange blend of good writing and bad author choices, in many ways.

And oh, I was incorrect in my answer to Ann Bruce: she has at least FOUR pseudonyms, when you include the Nina Lane one. That seems like overkill, especially since three are for erotic novels and one of for historical romance. The Nina Roy one is interesting because Roy is an Indian (Bengali) surname, so it can give the impression that the author is of South Asian ethnicity. She may well be, but the historical inaccuracies are there regardless, and I’d hate to think that because the author’s last name is Roy a reader is more likely to assume that this is all historically accurate/authentic.

@Kim T.: I thought about DNFing it, but I was determined to get to the end. When I hit the unbelievable WTFery that was the epilogue, I was determined to review it.

Ugh…sorry about my typos. I should really re-read my stuff before I post.

Also, an older book by Kathryn Harvey called “Butterfly” which isn’t really complete BDSM, but more of a book about a Beverly Hills brothel that makes women’s fantasies come true.

You have put your finger on my one discomfort – Stefano’s unilateral decision-making which has implications for the ending of the story – you can’t take the Boss out of the Boss?

I loved these stories and my own rating matches yours Sunita.

I always enjoy your reviews, particularly ones with Indian characters or backgrounds. Your knowledge about the history is inspiring. I enjoyed your review of this one too, though the book doesn’t sound like anything I’d pick up.

As for those who don’t want to spend $12 for copies of her older books, they are often available at the library or at a UBS.