This is about a young woman's self-discovery. Selene is a 'success story', having become a top journalist, while retaining her dazzling looks. However, in the past she has had unhappy relationships, and feels she has missed out on hedonistic fun. This she obtains, firstly with a young stranger on a beach, and finally with enigmatic Hudson: tryst is preceded by cultural tourism, and careful sizing up of minds. Afterwards Selene returns to her 'I stand on my own' attitude.
While she is on holiday, her mind is free to ramble, often into Selene's chequered past. Flashback blurs into the present, past-rooted interior monologue into direct observation. The dialogue is sparse. Selene is a cautious, premeditative type, in whom thought, reflection and analysis outweigh direct action.
Selene’s subtle, monitoring mind coolly observes and controls all the events. Maybe she is super-confident, or perhaps has a deep, underlying insecurity. She is many things to many readers.
March 25th 2010
Selene’s subtle, monitoring mind coolly observes and controls all the events. Maybe she is super-confident, or perhaps has a deep, underlying insecurity. She is many things to many readers.
March 25th 2010
Self's Blossom eBook: David Russell: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
Self's Blossom eBook: David Russell: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store.
Self’s Blossom is unlike any story I’ve read before. It is very lyrical and abstract. A kaleidoscope of reflections on past and present woven throughout Selene’s journey in a dreamy disconnect.
I sometimes felt like I was watching a foreign film or an art house movie and the story was beyond my grasp. I finished this book uncertain as to what the heroine had discovered about herself. But I could still appreciate the beautiful pictures the author paints with his words and his unique narrative approach.
The story is all about Selene and her long awaited, scrimped and saved for, holiday. I connected with Selene on a few levels. She’s a workaholic. She’s single and busy moving through life. And I admired her desire to seek out new experiences and learn new things. I didn’t always like her. But I appreciated her intelligence and that she was unashamedly confident in herself and determined to follow through on her decisions.
She uses her vacation to try and break out of the rut she feels her life has become and fling caution to the wind. To have adventures and a passionate affair… or two. Her stay is at a resort in Central America. There are beautiful descriptions of the ocean waves and the lush paradise and how they relate to life and love, lust and passion. And then there are all the characters she meets on holiday and how they help or hinder her journey.
I sometimes felt like I was watching a foreign film or an art house movie and the story was beyond my grasp. I finished this book uncertain as to what the heroine had discovered about herself. But I could still appreciate the beautiful pictures the author paints with his words and his unique narrative approach.
The story is all about Selene and her long awaited, scrimped and saved for, holiday. I connected with Selene on a few levels. She’s a workaholic. She’s single and busy moving through life. And I admired her desire to seek out new experiences and learn new things. I didn’t always like her. But I appreciated her intelligence and that she was unashamedly confident in herself and determined to follow through on her decisions.
She uses her vacation to try and break out of the rut she feels her life has become and fling caution to the wind. To have adventures and a passionate affair… or two. Her stay is at a resort in Central America. There are beautiful descriptions of the ocean waves and the lush paradise and how they relate to life and love, lust and passion. And then there are all the characters she meets on holiday and how they help or hinder her journey.
Review in The Book Tart
Self's Blossom is a story that should be in the Tate Gallery, were the Tate a gallery for literature as opposed to art.
With this story, you are getting a highly unusual and in-depth style of writing that you don't usually find in the erotica genre. Some people may regard it as abstract, although in truth it is actually very detailed. (Just like many of the paintings in the Tate -- you see where I'm going with this?)
It took me a while to get into this story, and I think it's because when reading erotica, I've become accustomed to an "easy" read -- a book that you can open and, wham-bam, there you are in the story. While some readers may have that experience with this, I can't say that I did at first, and I suspect that most will not. There is an array of back story and character development from page one, and I'm glad I found the patience to stick with it, because I enjoyed the read.
It's the story of Selene. She's an intellectual. She's independent. She's seeking freedom because she's an adventurer at heart. Or at least, that was my interpretation: for me, this was a story about the search for freedom, through sexuality, sensuality and emotions of the heart.
I dare say that not everyone will take to Selene, but she's very real. She's a restless soul, and she is not the "flouncy" kind of heroine you usually get in erotica novels, but can be quite blunt and analytical in her thinking. Yes, it's unusual, but when I got into the story and her character, I found it refreshingly so.
The male lead is likable and patient, giving her the space she needs to learn and grow throughout the story, but there is a two-way exchange here, and he learns from Selene as well.
This book is prose at its best. The language used is eloquent and intelligent. You won't find crude words or phrases here, but a rhetoric that is closer to that of Charlotte Bronte (yes, I did say Charlotte Bronte -- well, if she wrote erotica that is....) The narrative is highly descriptive and even a little "gothic" in some places. Here's a brief example:
"Each, to the other, became universe god and goddess. After so many times in their pasts when the brakes had been applied, when both had been frozen by reticence, or had their yearnings derided -- the universe's currents now galvanized their bodies. Now words could be uttered in acceptance of total immersion. With their slow speed, they generated maelstroms. Their every part revealed with deep exuberance, two bodies showing themselves as two complete presences."
Maybe it could even be considered poetry.
If you want an easy read that gets to the point, hard-hitting, direct language and a lot of instant action, this book is not for you. If you want a different, eloquent and intelligent erotic story, that indulges in every emotion and thought from the characters, that works towards a specific goal of self discovery, this is the book for you. I urge you to read the sample chapters from eBook retailers. If you can accept that it's a different style of erotica, you will not be disappointed with it.
I received a free copy of this eBook from the author, in exchange for an honest review.
With this story, you are getting a highly unusual and in-depth style of writing that you don't usually find in the erotica genre. Some people may regard it as abstract, although in truth it is actually very detailed. (Just like many of the paintings in the Tate -- you see where I'm going with this?)
It took me a while to get into this story, and I think it's because when reading erotica, I've become accustomed to an "easy" read -- a book that you can open and, wham-bam, there you are in the story. While some readers may have that experience with this, I can't say that I did at first, and I suspect that most will not. There is an array of back story and character development from page one, and I'm glad I found the patience to stick with it, because I enjoyed the read.
It's the story of Selene. She's an intellectual. She's independent. She's seeking freedom because she's an adventurer at heart. Or at least, that was my interpretation: for me, this was a story about the search for freedom, through sexuality, sensuality and emotions of the heart.
I dare say that not everyone will take to Selene, but she's very real. She's a restless soul, and she is not the "flouncy" kind of heroine you usually get in erotica novels, but can be quite blunt and analytical in her thinking. Yes, it's unusual, but when I got into the story and her character, I found it refreshingly so.
The male lead is likable and patient, giving her the space she needs to learn and grow throughout the story, but there is a two-way exchange here, and he learns from Selene as well.
This book is prose at its best. The language used is eloquent and intelligent. You won't find crude words or phrases here, but a rhetoric that is closer to that of Charlotte Bronte (yes, I did say Charlotte Bronte -- well, if she wrote erotica that is....) The narrative is highly descriptive and even a little "gothic" in some places. Here's a brief example:
"Each, to the other, became universe god and goddess. After so many times in their pasts when the brakes had been applied, when both had been frozen by reticence, or had their yearnings derided -- the universe's currents now galvanized their bodies. Now words could be uttered in acceptance of total immersion. With their slow speed, they generated maelstroms. Their every part revealed with deep exuberance, two bodies showing themselves as two complete presences."
Maybe it could even be considered poetry.
If you want an easy read that gets to the point, hard-hitting, direct language and a lot of instant action, this book is not for you. If you want a different, eloquent and intelligent erotic story, that indulges in every emotion and thought from the characters, that works towards a specific goal of self discovery, this is the book for you. I urge you to read the sample chapters from eBook retailers. If you can accept that it's a different style of erotica, you will not be disappointed with it.
I received a free copy of this eBook from the author, in exchange for an honest review.
(Review by Dianna Hardy in Erotic Flashes Review)
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