Fantasy Lover

Okay, so I have to admit the Greek mythology thing was pretty cool. I am not normally a romance novel fan. A few of the conventions in the genre really get under my skin. It's not the predictability that bothers me: as I've been trying to convince my nearest and dearest for ages, there is predictability in every genre, even our coveted "literary fiction." It's just that the predictability in the fantasy genre (namely that it will adhere to the guidelines of the heroic medium) is something I look forward to; whereas, the prediction that somehow the new boyfriend will run into the old boyfriend who mistreated the woman involved and fight him is not something I look forward to. It's a personal preference, but...I digress.

The main plot of Fantasy Lover is that Julian, a Macedonian general son of another general and Aphrodite, is trapped as a love slave for all eternity by his older brother Priapus(?). Grace Alexander and her friend Selena conjure him from his book where he has been imprisoned for over a 100 years. Grace doesn't believe in magic and thinks the whole thing is a joke until Julian actually appears in her house. She is shocked to find the demigod wanting nothing other than to please her, and she rejects him entirely for a bit. A sex therapist by training, Grace insists that Julian tell her about himself. When she realizes how torturous the curse is and how little Julian cares for his lot in life, she can't help but want to help him. The book is the story of their attempt to break Julian's curse in the month he is staying with her. Obviously, they also fall in love.

What did I like about it? I liked the fact that the Greek gods and goddesses we meet were very much like the personalities you find in any other book of mythology. Vain and arrogant, they walk the earth messing with each other and the humans they encounter. It's amusing. I also liked Grace, either because of or despite her ridiculous need to help people and her inexperience in bed (yes, I did say she was a sex therapist). I liked Julian. He was stoic and insanely masculine, but caring and tempered by his imprisonment. I even liked the main plot. The idea that there could possibly be a man sex slave who didn't enjoy it was laughable and yet somehow realistic.

What could I have done without? Rodney Carmichael. One of Grace's temporary patients who stalks her without reason in the middle just to give Julian the chance to act the hero. Peter, or whatever Grace's ex's name was. He was an extraneous feature in a book that should have been about Julian's development.

Would I recommend it? If you like this sort of thing, sure, pick it up. Then get a copy of Jennifer Cruise's Faking It. Now that was a fun romance novel.