With a new screen background, the mood of romance is set to begin on my first review in a couple months; Sara Curran-Ross’s Sleeping Love. After a fight with the Adobe suite on the computer, I’m thrilled to be finally sitting down to this. So, with another cup of coffee, I relax, and indulge in the wonderful web that Sara weaves as a story-teller.
A sense of fairytale romance with veins of possible danger was an instant and intense picture that is painted from the first words. Sara has managed to describe scenes in high detail with the right amount of words to not be rambling. Even the vocabulary contributes, not something that all authors can achieve. I found a smile tugging the corner of my lips on numerous occasions, while part of me melted at the thought of the leading man, Raoul in any number of outfits, or lack thereof. The imaginative scenes inspired by Sleeping Love are wonderfully distracting, originating from a solid story that is romantically foggy at the edges, just like a glamour photo designed to provoke beautiful feelings. When Sabrina and Raoul finally give in to the heat, it’s cataclysmic, sensual and exciting. I've read quite a few stories filled with hot scenes, and I must say this is one of my personal favourites. The delicate balance of sweet romance and primal desire is a delicious dance that Sara purveys with incredible skill.
Each scene dripped decadent indulgence, and had me wistfully wishing for a mansion like Chateau Valoire. I did notice a few editing errors, but it is rare for any published work to be entirely error free, and the generous lavishing of luxury made the few errors miniscule in importance. The imperfections are what make something so glorious more tangible and within reach. Sabrina’s thought patterns sometimes swapped from “you” to “I”, or “you” to “him” in one breath, so to speak, and could sometimes created a slight hitch in the otherwise smooth story, but again the overall luxurious feeling overpowered such hiccups. And to be honest, I find myself swapping from second and third person in my own thought patterns, so really it made her more relatable, at least to myself.
Overall, the flooding emotions as Sabrina fights to regain her memory of her life with Raoul are strong and a mix of emotions are directed at the man himself; pity for the loss of his wife for seven long years, and indignation at the force he uses to keep her in his sight until she remembers. His protective attentions are vivid, and as he tries to seduce her memory back, I couldn't help but tilt my head and respond along with Sabrina.
A captivating tale of memories and a life lost, and the struggle to regain the Sabrina that once was. This will most definitely be going in my “to read again” pile! Well done Sara, you’ve outdone yourself with Sleeping Love!
If you’ve read Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels series, you might find the emotions and sense of danger similar, or Sabrina’s struggle to remember herself might also appeal to those who have read The Fire and Ice Series by Australia
