Rating: 
Summary: A story that mixes eroticism and poignance
Review: Sometimes Robin can be a little technical when she writes her seductions and lovescenes, but that's part of her on the edge style. This tale was really cutting edge because it involved straight male prostitutes who wanted love, and found it through lust. Michael and Anne are two people battered by their own insecurities and their needs and find that when you admit to both the most marvelous things happen. There is a subplot that is supposed to add an edge of danger, but you lose interest in lieu of watching true love blossom between Michael & Anne. They love each other because of their faults as well as virtues. It'll do your heart and your libido good to read this one twice.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing, sensual, with menacing overtones - unputdownable
Review: Robin Schone is certainly very different from the majority of romance writers. While this book is a romance, it's also an erotic novel and a suspenseful thriller. It's also told in the 'closed' style, in that the reader is mostly in the dark as the plot develops. We don't know who Michel/Michael is afraid of, or whether Gabriel is on his side or that of the enemy. And we don't know exactly why Anne came to Michael for help. But then, isn't it sometimes frustrating when you know every element of the plot but you see the characters still fumbling around in the dark?I enjoy tortured heroes, and as such Michael was right up my street. Some dreadful occurrence in his youth led him to become a prostitute at the age of 13, along with his best friend Gabriel. And for 22 years, until Michael is scarred as the result of a fire - in another horrific incident, laden with menace - he pleases women who pay for his services. Now, at 40, he has to pay women to service him - as long as they don't have to touch his scarred face or hands. Anne, a 36-year-old virginal spinster, had a disastrous come-out at 18, after which she nursed her elderly parents until they died almost a year ago. Now an heiress, she wants to know what sensual pleasure is like, since she's aware that she's unlikely to marry. So, through her solicitor, she makes contact with Michel des Anges, and the bargain is agreed. There are some very good, and very sensual, scenes in which Michael teaches Anne about sexual pleasure and male and female desire. What was even more moving was the morning after their first encounter, when Michael asked Anne to alter their status to lovers, rather than that of prostitute and client. There lies a major shift in their relationship. The romance is more subtle and, as some other reviewers have noted, not entirely resolved by the end of this book; however, there is a sequel, which will please readers who were, as I was, intrigued by Michael's friend Gabriel. As for the thriller aspects, this is a very dark novel in some respects, and yet - though I don't care for thrillers - I wasn't repelled by it. By that point in the book I simply wanted to know what had happened to cause Michael so much pain. Minor niggles: as usual, inaccuracies as frequently found in novels by American writers who haven't captured English speech rhythms and so on. And one really irritating repeated error: Schone, it's a chaise LONGUE, not a chaise lounge!
Rating:
Summary: A mysterious erotic tale
Review: The plot is dark, gloomy and gothic and sometimes painfully erotic. It's definitely not a romance but a fascinating erotic obsession of two people who eventually become lovers...I wasn't appalled at all by Shone's realistic (finally someone who describes contraception methods in a sex scene)and graphic description of sex but some practises seemed to be too far-fetched for a Victorian spinster who had just recently lost her virginity. I know many experienced women of today (including myself) who wouldn't like to try one or two of the mentioned practises...and I think even a very passionate and love-starved woman as Ann would have her limits where she said: "No, I don't want that!" or wouldn't have liked it after having tried it-the latter would add to the realism. Most people do not like everything in bed. But even those kinky acts where described beautifully and tastefully. It was definetly an unsettling read but I nevertheless devoured it within one day, unable to lay it aside. As a erotic novel I would give it a five star review. Only one thing: I don't think a woman can be aroused by some chinese balls stuffed in her secret place under those horrible circumstances-nobody normal could be sexually aroused with pure mechanical means under the threat of death.
Rating:
Summary: Not too bad.. but not too good either
Review: This was my introduction to "erotic romances" and I think it's not quite what I was expecting. Indeed, there was a good deal of sex, but there wasn't a lot of what I felt was intimate bonding between the characters. I was not expecting a lot of real "romance" to begin with, but when by the end of the book, the characters still felt like intimate friends... I was a little disappointed. There's love and attraction, but it felt secondary to the sex. I have to agree with the earlier reviewer who mentioned "the man" was a bit overused. The mystery just wasn't as intriguing when *everything* tries to be mysterious. Michael's past, Anne's past, "the man's" past, Gabriel's past... I felt like I was piecing together a huge puzzle and still coming up short a handful of pieces. To each their own, I suppose. If you're looking for lengthy and steamy (and not to mention kinky) sex scenes, you might find what you're looking for in this book. But if you're looking for love, intimacy, and electric chemistry in *and* out of the bed (so to speak), you may want to look elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: The Lover
Review: This was a total disappointment. It was a horror story and not a love story. Ugh!
Rating:
Summary: I agree with one reviewer calling this book Vomit-inducing
Review: Definitely vomit-inducing. The author tried to make the hero appear as troubled and as tortured as possible - that he experienced the worst and most disgusting things that could happen to a human being, even as low as eating maggots. It was gross to say the least. The heroine paid a lot of money to experience sexual pleasure for a month, what she experienced was'nt pleasure at all. The sex scenes were devoid of any tenderness and emotion. They were so clinical, a sex ed teacher could have done a better job. The plot is not romantic, more horror than love story.
Rating:
Summary: Flat - this book even makes sex boring
Review: Unbelievably flat characters and dialogue - I kept reading hoping it would get better - but the contrived situations and stilted prose never ended. Wow - a waste of time!
Rating: 
Summary: Another wonderful book!
Review: Robin Schone has done it again! She has created another set of wonderful characters who touch the reader's heart from the first page. Mrs. Schone's heroes and heroines are real people, not Ken and Barbie. They are not twenty year olds with perfect bodies and unfettered pasts. Michael and Anne are 40 and 36 years of age with imperfect features and painful pasts who see beyond these imperfections to each other's true beauty. They illustrate that love and romance are not just the province of the young and flawless. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is finding it harder and harder to relate to 18 year old beautiful heroines. Actually, I strongly suggest that anyone who wants an exquisite love story buys this book...you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: A different kind of romance
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It has some unusual main charactors in it. The leading lady is in her thirties, and the leading man has been in a fire, with the scars on his face and hands to show for it. She decides that she is going to get some sexual experiance, and then move on with her life. She had seen this man 17 years before, but he never saw her, because she was to plain. When she sees him again, under some unusual circumstances, she doesn't see his scars. She sees him. There is an underlying plot that was somewhat confusing until the end. I like the fact that it had a story line and the characters seemed to love each other. So often in these types of books, the author gets so involved in making sure there is enough sex, that they forget the story. That is not the case here. It is graphic, the abuse that he took as a child is told in detail, and is pretty disgusting. But then that is what has shaped him to be the kind of man he is. I can't wait until the book on Gabriel!
Rating:
Summary: INDUCES VOMITTING, NOT SEXUAL AROUSAL!
Review: The premise of a 30-something spinster (Anne) paying an "accomplished" 40-something male prostitute (Michael) to show her a month of erotic ecstasy, never reaches it's full potential through Schone's deficient writing. Although the "tutorial" scenes are sexually explicit, they are not at all what I would consider "erotic." This is because all the sex scenes are completely mechanical and devoid of any rich, uplifting emotions. Michael seems more inclined to inflict physical and emotional pain on Anne, than to shower her with tender, sensual (and CON-sensual) pleasure. Michael is a cold-hearted, self-centered, jaded manipulator who dominates Anne throughout the entire novel, controlling all of her actions and decisions. Therefore, if Schone is trying to portray her heroine as a sexually liberated (or otherwise liberated) female, Schone fails beyond words. The heroine is a reactor, instead of a proactive character, which contributes much to the dullness of the story. Since the heroine is so one-dimensional, Schone could at least develop her hero more. However, Schone only begins to give the reader some insight into Michael's secondary dimension in the last 40 pages or so. By that time, Michael has elicited so little sympathy from the reader, that the new insights can hardly add much to the reader's pre-existing, shabby impression of Michael. The climax scene with the villain goes way beyond disturbing and truly makes me sick to my stomach. I have read "disturbing" novels before (i.e. "Back Roads" by Tawni O'Dell), but though "Back Roads" truly was a beautifully written novel with flawed characters, and some erotic scenes, the disturbing scenes in "The Lover" are just gratutitous, heinous, and vomit-inducing. Don't waste your time and money on this very poorly written book!
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