Author: Talya Blaine
Genre: Erotica - Romance - Women's Fiction
Publisher: Talya Blaine Books - Copyright 2022
Publication Date: December 6, 2022
Read: November 27, 2022
Disclaimer: I received a digital advanced reader copy from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Synopsis from Publisher: Her needs, his limits. White-hot chemistry and anguished desire. The promises and costs of a shared future
Award-winning novelist Quinn Layborn lost her muse the day her husband died. Still mourning more than a year on, the last thing she wants is a second chance. At writing or romance.
Tonight, as dinner guests gossip in her breezy beach house—her agent's well-meaning intervention—she arms herself with a full glass of red wine: Don't come close.
Until a raw and undeniable craving shatters her isolation.
Cable network travel-show host Jonathan Jaines still struggles with the terrible mistake that ruined his marriage. Tonight, he watches Quinn move among the guests like a ghost. His heart aches for her. The vivacious woman he knew from the movie set a few years ago? Gone, replaced with a grieving widow.
When she stuns him with the words she whispers in his ear, he cannot—can not—say no.
One brazen move. Two simple rules.
From an eastern Long Island hamlet to a posh Manhattan dungeon, Quinn and Jonathan push boundaries: between pleasure and pain, control and surrender, trust and forgiveness. But as feelings and the risk of heartbreak grow, as their pasts and potential future collide, just how far will they go?
Fast-paced and intense, Silently is a story about devastating loss, primal need, and the unexpected bonds that help us heal.
Told in dual points of view, the story features a beta hero and characters over 40, mature themes, past cheating, strong language, and super-steamy bedroom scenes.
- Alternating hero-heroine points of view
- Main characters in their 40s
- High emotional intensity, low melodrama
- Super-steamy first in series
Silently launches the Transformation Series. The books should be read in order.
Review: Silently by Talya Blaine is billed as "Fast-paced and intense, Silently is a story about devastating loss, primal need, and the unexpected bonds that help us heal." I found it to be none of these things. Yes, it's a quick read at only 161 pages, but the only time it becomes "fast-paced" is when Quinn, the main female character, has a very brief encounter with an unsavory character outside of a private club.
While the subject of losing a spouse can indeed be a heart-wrenching and devastating loss, Quinn comes across as more whiny than someone caught in the throes of devastating depression. As for the primal need, I didn't see it because I felt no connection with Quinn, Jonathan (main male character), or any other character in the story.
Yes, I understand Silently has been classified as erotica as well as romance and/or women's fiction. However, I feel that it doesn't live up to the standards of other books in these same genres. In order for a book to be considered a romance, there must be some, actual, romance. There is none between Quinn and Jonathan. No flirting. No real attraction. No tension. Their "relationship" consists of so-called "mind-blowing sex." Sorry, but I've read more intensely sexual encounters in young adult fiction that didn't even include intercourse. The characters are two-dimensional, have no chemistry, and there is no plot in the book to help drive the story or the character toward and/or away from one another.
Silently is the first installment in a new series; however, after reading this one, I won't be continuing the series.
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