by Ava Zavora
However, what I did not find authentic was the insta-love relationship that developed. Insta-lust, quite natural. The sexual chemistry between Jax and Devon was hot enough to burn the pages of my book. The steamy scenes made my ears red, to be frank. But pledging eternal love after two weeks of nothing but sexual escapades is just not what I define as romantic. For instance, one of the pivotal scenes in the book occurs right after a romp at a truck stop. ("I'll just die if you don't take your pants off this minute and stick it to me!" "Ooh, baby I love you so fucking much!)
Perhaps I'm too old-fashioned. When I think of romantic, I think of Jane Austen. I think of deep conversations, the exchange of heartfelt letters, a meeting of souls. What was lacking in this romance novel, for me, was quite simply - the romance.
So Cassie, now that I've read Beautifully Ravaged, I am throwing the gauntlet. I triple-dog dare you to read Persuasion by Jane Austen.
COMMENTS:
Micha {Page Turner}: You read a romance novel?! *falls in a dead faint*
Cassie {The Library Eclectic}: Yipeeee!!! Haha, my plan for world domination is coming together. I'll take your Persuasion and raise you a Pride and Prejudice. Care to further your romance novel education??? Beautifully Obsessed is beckoning...
Erin {Bibliology}: I’ll get the smelling salts for Micha.
Alice {The Bluestocking}: Just looked out the window. Yep, pigs are flying.
"Got Intrigue at Istanbul by Jonathan Frasier in the mail. Yay!"
@bookbohemian Intrigue at Istanbul is a decent book. Frasier reminds me of Le Carre, increasingly.
Eden smiled when she got an e-mail alert that @adamagelast had replied to her morning tweet. Whoever @adamagelast, she was more than happy to talk about literature with him.
@adamagelast Decent only? Not so thrilled now. I was lured by the Guler photo on the cover & the setting, perfect for espionage.
@bookbohemian Gripping in parts. Slow in parts. It depends what you compare it to in the same genre. It stands on its own, more or less.
@bookbohemian Certainly more entertaining & worthwhile than Beautifully Ravaged
Although she didn't read contemporary romance novels as a rule, @adamagelast's comment hinted of a sexist literary snobbishness that instantly got her hackles up. She started sharpening her knives.
@adamagelast Oh? Have you something against romance novels and the silly women who read them. Like me?
@bookbohemian You can probably be called many things, but silly would not be one of them. Discriminating. Venturesome. To name a few.
@bookbohemian I just happen to share your view that romance means something infinitely more meaningful than a truck stop dalliance.
Just as instantly, Eden's hackles went down and she was disarmed. Besides, if she was going to do battle with a stranger over a book, that book would not be Beautifully Ravaged.
@bookbohemian Although I am not a romantic at heart, but a cynic, so I am not well-versed on the subject. Perhaps you could instruct me.
She was not only disarmed but blushing now. She felt slightly unsure of herself. She could trade barbs across any medium without hesitation, but overtly flirtatious exchanges made her shy. She decided to ignore his last tweet.
@adamagelast I don't usually read spy novels, so I'm very excited to start Intrigue.
@bookbohemian If venturing into that genre for the first time, it should be Le Carre. Perhaps I'm being harsh, but it didn't bowl me over.
@adamagelast It's that unremarkable?
@bookbohemian No, no, but I'm inebriated with great novels I've recently consumed, so I'd say it's good, but it doesn't make me feel bashful.
Eden chuckled. There was such brashness in @adamagelast’s replies that she suspected bashfulness was a foreign concept to him.
@adamagelast What great novels are these that so intoxicated you?
@bookbohemian Angel’s Shadow, A Storm in Madrid. Piano by Jean Echenoz, and Hemingway's Boat, albeit nonfiction.
Ah, Hemingway. Of course. She was getting a fuller picture of @adamagelast now. Bold, with very masculine taste. A man of appetites?
@adamagelast A Storm in Madrid looks most appealing. My favorite Spanish city.
@bookbohemian It said on the cover: "If you like...Valiente, you'll like this." They were right.
@adamagelast Comparison with Valiente sets high expectations.
@bookbohemian Lower them. Nothing compares.
A big laugh escaped from Eden. She covered her mouth with one hand and looked around outside her cubicle entry to see if anyone had heard her guffaw. She was still smiling as she typed.
@adamagelast Valiente should be proud to have such staunch admirers. Let's serenade him with Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares 2 U.
@bookbohemian Peculiarly, I was just thinking the same thing. Disconcerting.
Disconcerting indeed. Who was he? The next tweet only fueled her growing excitement.
@bookbohemian I sent you a DM.
She’ll soon find out. It felt as though having met at a great, big party of strangers, she and @adamagelast were now moving into a more intimate area – a room of their own.
(@adamagelast) Where are you from?
(@bookbohemian) San Francisco Bay Area. And you?
(@adamagelast) Italy by way of the UK aka Broken Britain. What do you do for a living?
(@bookbohemian) I am a legal secretary when I’m not blogging or tweeting on the sly.
(@adamagelast) I am a businessman but my passion is writing, and I am lucky to have a deal with a major publisher...
(@adamagelast) ...for my first novel. It's about my life thus far, with some poetic license
(@bookbohemian) Congratulations! You must be excited and nervous about being published.
(@adamagelast) I don't really have any fears, but I have a strong distaste for fame. I will publish with a nom de plume, and all character names...
(@adamagelast) …will be fictionalised.
(@bookbohemian) Why is that? Are you writing about dark secrets? Will your friends and family be upset with your novel?
(@adamagelast) I want many to read it, without actually knowing I wrote it. It's been a complicated process making it a reality, but now I am...
(@adamagelast) ...certain it will come to fruition. So long as people will buy the book.
Eden sighed. So this was why @adamagelast was paying such a particular interest in her. A prelude to a request for her to review his book.
(@adamagelast) Unfortunately, unless you and I become close friends (I have 4 close friends in total) you will never be able to read my book...
(@adamagelast) Unless you happen across it by accident
The disappointment which had started to build instantly vanished. Did he want her to beg to read it? Fat chance. But something about him confiding that he had only four close friends moved her. Was he lonely?
She clicked again at his avatar and brought up its full size. If the drawing was true to life, he was a middle-aged man, balding, with a big nose and double chin. Not attractive at all. Physically anyway. But otherwise …
Eden was surprised to realize she did not mind at all. @adamagelast was worldly, well-read, funny, and intelligent. She was charmed by his formality - so out-of-place in the casual, disposable texting culture. It was like speaking with someone from another age.
Not to mention that he was a writer. Could a budding flirtation ever be more promising than this?
(@bookbohemian) How will you promote your novel if you don’t want anyone to know who wrote it?
(@adamagelast) Well, I've worked in "the arts" since I was 16, and I've known a few authors along the way. Some of them are especially well known now...
(@adamagelast) ...Upon reading a first draft, some of said authors have agreed to endorse the novel, and even promote it on my behalf
(@adamagelast) And I have one or two other tricks up my sleeve.
(@adamagelast) Promotion is not a concern.
(@bookbohemian) You’re ce
rtainly lucky to have friends in high places. Now I don’t feel as bad, having met Valiente.
(@adamagelast) Why don't you feel as bad? You should.
(@adamagelast) I know it sounds like I am lucky, but the journey to this point, well, retired men have said to me in years gone by they are thankful ...
(@adamagelast) ... not to have lived my life.
(@bookbohemian) When will it be published?
(@adamagelast) Next January if I have my way. Before Christmas if the publishers have theirs.
(@bookbohemian) You feel your novel isn’t ready yet?
(@adamagelast) The publisher said my first draft is publishable. I disagree, and I want to do more work on it.
(@bookbohemian) So do you have a lot of say in when and how your novel is published? That’s rather unusual.
(@adamagelast) I have a say, within reason. I have a very unconventional arrangement with my publisher. Though in that regard I can't say any more.
(@adamagelast) Only that I have leverage on the business end.
(@bookbohemian) I see, then you have more signs of success, knowing so much about the business part. Still everything rests of the quality of the book.
(@adamagelast) The quality of the book is exceptionally high.
Eden laughed out loud again. This time she didn’t bother to cut it off. He certainly didn’t lack for confidence.
(@adamagelast) I'm not sure of my success. I keep being informed it is likely to be a success. But I don't really care about the success per se...
(@adamagelast) ...I am, however, hopeful that a good number of people will read it.
(@bookbohemian) Most people measure success by being financially self-sufficient through their endeavors. But you don't have the same concern re this book?
(@adamagelast) I have been financially self-sufficient since I was 25, and I will retire at age 30. This book for me is not about money, in any way.
(@adamagelast) Then I intend to have a family. Should a lady cross my path whom I connect with in the next few years.
Retire at 30? She clicked on his avatar yet again. That must be a typo. She suddenly remembered something she read from one of Valiente’s books, which seemed particularly apt at the moment.
(@bookbohemian) Retire at 30. Now it is my turn to dislike you. "Inferior minds fall prey to jealousy."
(@adamagelast) Your quote reminds me of another.
(@adamagelast) Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and small minds discuss people.
(@bookbohemian) Where is that quote from?
(@adamagelast) Eleanor Roosevelt I believe.
Eden raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t quite swooning yet. But she was close.
(@adamagelast) May I ask your age?
Eden was relieved he had finally asked. Might as well lay it all out on the table before they starting talking earnest. If that was where this was headed, she reminded herself.
(@bookbohemian) I am 35. I will forgive you for asking such a question. But not if you then ask me how much I weigh. I will never speak to you again.
(@adamagelast) I am 28.
Eden read the short sentence several times. She scrolled up and down all his messages. He must be lying. To be so mature and formal and worldly – he had to be much older than 28. Why would he lie though? She just revealed how old she was, not at all the young woman her picture showed or what most people assumed she was by looking at her. But if he were lying, wouldn’t he choose an age closer to hers at least?
Seven years difference. And she thought Troy, who was three years her junior had been too young. She had hated it when her brother called her a “cougar."
She told herself to calm down. He’s not asking her out. They’re just talking. In Twitter for heaven's sake. Besides, if he was to be believed, he’s in Italy, nine hours time difference away.
(@adamagelast) How much do you weigh?
(@adamagelast) I jest.
(@bookbohemian) You're definitely not politically correct. But you quoted Eleanor Roosevelt so I will not hold it against you.
(@adamagelast) I am not very politically correct, excuse me. I take issue with political correctness. I believe it's rife in The US.
(@bookbohemian) And do you take issue with Americans in general?
(@adamagelast) I don't take issue with Americans in general, only the ignorant ones, but that applies to all nations
(@adamagelast) I know your age, your profession, one of your interests. You have a family? By that I mean husband and midgets.
(@bookbohemian) I have an ex-husband and an almost grown up, strapping son who is most definitely not a midget.
(@adamagelast) You are young to have a giant son
(@bookbohemian) He's a giant to me. But them I'm quite short. Isn't it late where you are? Or very early in the morning?
(@adamagelast) It's 01:53 here, and you? I'm a night owl, ala Edward Hopper. Great painting.
(@adamagelast) I believe it's 16:53 in San Fran? Aren't you at work? I'm in bed, and I can smell lemons.
(@bookbohemian) I'm at work so thank god we're DMing. It's been slow today and I'll be off in a little bit.
(@bookbohemian) Do you have lemon trees nearby?
(@adamagelast) Yes, a plethora right outside. My house here is a mill from early 1900s. It was left disused after the 1960s until I bought it this year.
(@bookbohemian) You probably want to get some sleep so I will say good night/good morning. I've very much enjoyed our conversation and laughed
(@bookbohemian) too loudly in the office.
(@adamagelast) Glad to be of service, my dear. If you give me your email address I'll send you a poem I wrote.
Not only a writer, but a poet. Looks be damned. @adamagelast had her very much intrigued.
(@adamagelast) It's something I do as a form of self-medicating therapy.
I never publish said poems.
(@bookbohemian) If you want to share your poetry, I'm at [email protected]. That would be a gift.
(@adamagelast) I equally enjoyed it. Alas, I shall retire to the land of sleep. I bid you farewell, my short maiden. A bientot.
Eden smiled. It felt like @adamagelast had spotted her from across a crowded room, approached her, then whisked her away to somewhere private where they could talk. And now he had just asked for her number.
Chapter 3
Promptly the next morning, soon after she got into work, Eden received an e-mail from Adam. The subject read, “A Poem." Her excitement immediately turned to dread. What if his poetry was terrible? Then she would have to politely lie and he’d bombard her with more, each one worse than the last. She didn’t want to open his e-mail now.
She won’t lie. She’d just be respectfully critical. Or be so reserved in her comments that he’d take the hint.
Resolved, she opened "A Poem."
----------
From: Adam