Kiss and Dwell Book

Definitely a unique set up happening here. The Vicknair family has always had the adult generation be mediums, to help wayward spirits cross to the other side. Once their kids are adults, that generation then takes over. Monique has always outwardly disliked being a medium, but is proud of the work she does. This time she's unhappy because it's getting in the way of her achieving a rock-your-world orgasm with a guy. But then her ghost ends up being manwhore extraordinaire Ryan Chapelle who has spent the past 14 months in limbo helping women achieve their dream fantasies. In order to help him cross over, Monique has to get him to learn how to love, when she has never been in love herself. The attraction between the two of them is sizzling, but the rules state that there is to be no touching, so the two of them find a way around that. So alternative sex by night and by day, Monique is trying to get Ryan to romance and fall in love with a female spirit - but it looks like the only one learning how to love is Monique.

So I really like the setting, with New Orleans and the plantation house and the background of the family. Their responsibilities were pretty unique. The rules for being a medium were a bit convoluted, what with the no touching, the privacy veil, etc. The characters themselves are pretty modern - no demure virgins here and they all openly talk about their sex lives. I wasn’t completely enamored with Ryan. Sure he might have been hot, but it skeeved me out a bit to know that he went around flitting into people’s bedrooms and giving women orgasms while they think they’re dreaming. Monique is appropriately disgusted when she thinks he’s having sex with them...but when she learns he’s just pleasuring them, it’s okay, especially since he only pleasures those women who dream about being pleasured by a guy like him. He takes that as consent and Monique seems to agree. Meanwhile, I’m not sure that’s where I’d draw the line. Because I’m sure that if I woke up and a ghost was pleasuring me without my express permission, I’d feel rather violated. I think the key here is that the women THINK they’re dreaming, which has different rules from reality, and Ryan is pleasuring these women in reality. I also didn’t care for the fact that Monique is so desperate for sex that she’s willing to subvert herself to Ryan’s massive ego and arrogance just to have an orgasm. Once we get past the beginning part where they’re getting to know each other and Ryan is getting on my nerves with his arrogance and objectification of women (and Monique’s objectification of men - she looks at Ryan as nothing more than a means to an end too), then it got better. With the two of them actually having a friendship and relationship and the angst of his having to cross over. That was the good part. You’ve just got to hold out for it.