The Pleasure Palace Book

Ok story, but I didn't like the heroine.

I was also angry with the author toward the end, which I describe below under spoilers. Several ideas in this story reminded me of some previously published books written by Jaid Black: The Empress' New Clothes and stories set in the underground Viking world. The ideas were good, but Jaid Black did them better. Some ideas that were similar were: humans sold on the auction block as pleasure slaves or wives, a world that required women to wear see through clothing, and sex acts in public being the norm and expected. I have no problem with authors writing about similar characters and plots, for example, there are thousands of books about vampires and werewolves. It's just that in this case, I kept thinking about the way Jaid wrote.

CAUTION SPOILERS:
I did not like Shaina, the heroine. She is a recently trained cop. She volunteers for undercover work, but she is incompetent at it. She loses her weapon on her first assignment and needs to be rescued by Ty (the hero). On her second assignment, she almost blows her cover due to being nervous (pg 109 & 114). She is a virgin. She is shy, embarassed and nervous about sex. She knows she must do sexual things in public for this assignment but she keeps saying to Ty "please don't hurt me, you won't hurt me will you?" She reminds me of a shrinking violet growing up in the 1950's. Not at all appropriate for a cop. She is so irresponsible that she forgot to get her birth control shot before their trip. This was a mandatory birth control law and not just personal preference. She and Ty had to do something sexual in public to keep their cover. It is recorded and played back at breakfast the next day for all the guests, which is normal on this planet. She is embarassed, and again almost blows her cover. She immediately leaves the room, and this means Ty doesn't get any breakfast. She is inconsiderate toward Ty. On another occasion, she does something to Ty which turns him on, then she says to him in her shy way "I'm so sorry I don't know what got into me" (pg 81). Shaina and Ty have been injected with symbiots which means they can read each others' thoughts. Shiana desires Ty physically, she knows that he knows this, yet she keeps denying it out loud to him. This is lying for no good reason. I did not enjoy reading about her.

I was angry to see this author using one of my pet peeves: creating conflict through vague communication and inaccurate assumptions. After Shaina and Ty return from their mission, they separated because each one thought the other didn't want them. Ty later explained that he was afraid he would scare her away if he admitted his feelings. Shaina said "I thought you thought of me only as a coworker" (pg 276). This was so unbelievable! They were injected with symbiots so they could read each others' minds. They were having sex. Each one risked his/her own life to save the other. This author had no respect for her readers.

DATA:
Sexual language: strong/erotic. Number of sex scenes: more than thirteen. Setting: in the future on earth and on planet Syrus Six. Copyright: 2007. Genre: erotic science fiction romance.