Secrets In The Stone
Posted by Editor Alexandra Wolfe | Filed under Book reviews
Title: SECRETS IN THE STONE
Author: Radclyffe
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books, 2009
ISBN 10: 1-60282-083-X
ISBN 13: 978-1-60282-083-8
Rated: 3 stars
Genre: Romance
Three women caught in a web of secrets and dark desires—
Rooke Tyler lives a solitary life in a small town on the Hudson River, carving intricate headstones in an exclusive cemetery for the county’s wealthy families. At night she pours her dreams and desires into the figures she sculpts—waiting for the woman she senses in the stone.
Adrian Oakes knows there are things in life that defy rational explanation—she has spent her life avoiding casual contact with others, because sometimes what she feels draws her into a world of dangerous attractions and dark desires.
Melinda Singer, a beautiful seductive art dealer, wants both women and will stop at nothing to have them. When fate brings the three together, passion and destiny ignite.
This book caught my attention with the paranormal tilt of ‘touch-telepathy’ integrated into the main character, Adrian. She can see a glimpse of images and feel some emotions from a simple touch. Her own emotions and sensations flow raw and ready through her body as she spends more time around Melinda and Rooke. I love the way Radclyffe builds her good/bad or hot/cold characters and in Secrets in the Stone there is no exception. Melinda is a sensual creature who seems the exact opposite of Rooke’s cold demeanor. But the outside examination of the two women just doesn’t do justice to the complexity and suffuse of imagery Adrian finds on the inside.
I found the book sexual, sensual, and slightly suspenseful. The plot was strangely coincidental for the characters and how they all find each other. But life can be that way. The read was a pressure-filled tension full of possibilities of sexual situations. Melinda doesn’t seem to have many issues on that front. Her sexual exploits seem all too easy. Adrian and Rooke are subject to the building enduring foundation of their relationship together. Just like the stone Rooke bends to her will.
I kept thinking I am missing something in seeing Adrian’s dark side. Or was she not supposed to have one? And I feel as if I am missing some of this story from the first read. If I reread it will I understand it more?
All in all I found this book to be a good read but it left me in a lingering state of having questions not answered. Radclyffe is definitely trying to go somewhere on this but I am not sure she reached her destination.
REVIEWED BY JEANNE NICHOLAS
Tags: bold strokes books, radclyffe, romance fiction
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