Rating: 
Summary: Too luscious for words! Very highly recommended
Review: At twenty-seven, Lady Elizabeth Harcourt remains a virginal spinster, devoting her life to her father's demands. Her place in society as the only child of the Earl of Norwich assures Elizabeth protection from unsuitable encounters. Then unexpectedly, Elizabeth finds herself momentarily in contact with a bounder of the worst sort. Artist Gabriel Cristofore presses his card into her hand as he departs, leaving a lingering memory of outrageous flattery. With her father's remarriage to the unpalatable seventeen-year-old Charlotte, Elizabeth finds herself with time on her hands. Tired of the petty squabbles and temper tantrums of her new stepmother, Elizabeth boldly follows her fancy and approaches Gabriel's studio for a portrait. She mistrusts the sincerity of his compliments, but yields to the forbidden in long afternoons of exploration and growing sensuality. Gabriel Cristofore enjoyed his superficial, rather capricious life, never troubled by his conscious; that is, until Elizabeth came along. Suddenly his career of chasing aristocratic women, luring them to his bed and extracting the means to support his household holds little appeal. Enamored with Elizabeth's stunning originality, Gabriel knows their affair is only temporary. But for the first time, he finds himself longing to linger with this newly awakened siren who has stolen his heart. Author Cheryl Holt sketches an intriguing view of Elizabethan sexuality in ABSOLUTE PLEASURE. She displays a gambit of possibilities from the most repressed to the most liberal, from the happiest to the most miserable. Specifically, Gabriel gleefully leads Elizabeth through a journey of self-discovery, replacing her repressed sexuality with delightful outrageousness and sensuality. His father John likewise discovers the joy of love and passion with Elizabeth's housekeeper Mary, demonstrating that love comes to mature characters just as passionately. Meanwhile, Elizabeth's father finds marriage distasteful with a woman young enough to be his granddaughter, proving that dissipation and greed reaps what it sows. (Note: some readers may be uncomfortable with the description of a marital rape.) Such a strong cast of characters, fabulous eroticism, and a subtly complex plot demonstrates Cheryl Holt's beautiful story telling ability. Holt's scintillating gift for tapping into secret fantasies satisfies readers who enjoy the combination of the sexually explicit with a heart stopping romance. Add this one to your keeper shelf; it's an absolute pleasure! Very highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book!!!!!
Review: Cheryl Holt does it again. She is one of the best historic writers with an erotic edge. She creates well rounded characters that can never be viewed as all good or all bad. And just when you start to hate a character in the book you get just a glimpse of vulnerability that makes you feel sorry for them. Now I just have to wait for her next book - she is definitely on my automatic buy list.
Rating: 
Summary: It could have been 5 star but felt ending was too rushed
Review: Cheryl Holt is one of my top five favorite authors and I have read all of her historical romances set in regency period. I waited all year for this book to be released and although I felt it a bit hard to get into in the beginning - I got caught up in it rather quickly. The secondary characters are a great addition to the book. I would have given this a 5 star rating except that I felt she wrapped the ending up too quickly and I didn't feel like the couple really had a chance to reconcile and that if this was real life - a relationship with them wouldn't work. Also without giving too much of the story away - I just wonder what happens with her father and his 17 year old bride they are a major part of the book and their storyline is completely dropped at the end leaving one to wonder what happens to them. The book needed another chapter to resolve everything - instead of feeling completely satisfied with finishing the book - I feel somewhat cheated. Don't get me wrong she is still a great author and the book is highly entertaining and I will surely read her next one.
Rating:
Summary: Renewed faith and pleasure
Review: Cheryl Holt's style has tangibly ventured out of the comfort zone with more erotica-than-romance reads such as Love Lesson and horrid misses like Total Surrender. Absolute Pleasure as her eighth novel clearly has stayed clear of debauched orgies and unconscionable heroes, restricting its intimacies between her central couple Elizabeth and Gabriel. The sexual scenes however are by no way tame and one shouldn't expect an alpha male. In fact bleedheart lothario Gabirel Cristofore is a gifted artist moonlighting as a social escort who offers carnal pleasures to bored widows and wives. His conscience is pricked when he is after Lady Elizabeth Harcourt, daughter of the social hypocrite Earl Norwich. At 27 and still a virgin, she conceals a sensual radiance which Gabriel is strongly attracted to and succumbs to temptation despite knowing that Gabriel isn't the material for love. Holt's romance is ugly but at once brutally honest. Charlotte as the young stepmom of Elizabeth is spiteful and seethingly jealous of her stepdaughter but surely does not deserve the fate of being bounded to the violent Norwich who abuses and rapes her for a heir. Mary Smith is refreshingly worldly as Norwich's servant and secret mistress who later falls in love with Gabriel's dad John and regrets her earlier misplace of passion. Elizabeth is deprived of freedom and independence while Gabriel is spurned as a by-blow by his mother's relatives. Cheryl Holt's explicit sex scenes unflinchingly flash out the evil, flaws and naked pleas to be loved and understood. Absolute Pleasure, as such, is a straight hate-it-or-love it affair that is certainly out of the mainstream romance. However unlike the bleak Total Surrender, we appreciate Gabriel's redemption and the hope of love found here. Ms. Holt redeems herself beautifully with this effort that gives renewed faith and pleasure over her work once more.
Rating: 
Summary: No substance
Review: I couldn't wait to finish this book - just so I could put it away. The characters had no substance, just physical attraction to each other. Even that seemed forced for the sake of having something to write about. The plot was too contrived, with appearances by outside characters thrown in an effort to move things along. I didn't understand why these characters got together or why I should care about them. I just didn't see the point of Ms Holt writing this book. I have not read anything else by Cheryl Holt, so I don't have other experiences to compare it with. I'm sure there are better books on the market.
Rating: 
Summary: Problematic and Rushed!
Review: I have read several of Ms. Holts books in the past so I bought this one sight unscene and without looking at reviews. So I was disappointed by what I ended up reading. This book really has three different storylines running at the same time. There is the relationship between Gaberial and Elizabeth, Mary (Elizabeth's servant) and Elizabeths father, and then the father and his spoiled brat of a bride. While all of these storylines were entertaining I felt that it may have been too many for one book. Gaberial is not a likeable Hero. Normally her hero's are dark and brooding, looking for the one that will change them, this just was not the case, he seemed more of an opportunist and less as a hero to me. Elizabeth for all of that was just too unbelievable for words. The end of the book was rushed and as a result the reason I feel that I came away feeling cheated not only by the story but by the author. She has done so much better in the past. Don't let this one put you off totally and if it is your first by this author pick up one of her later titles to see why I fell in love with her writing to begin with. I hope her next effort is worth the wait.
Rating:
Summary: 1/2 stars....Sexy and fun!
Review: I have to say that I expected a lot more from this book. The hero, Gabriel, is refreshingly diffrent from the dukes and earls that abound as heroes in all historical romances. Elizabeth, the heroine, too is diffrent, in the sense that she pursues Gabriel more forcefully...generally it is the hero who wears down the heroine with his persistence, but in this case it was the reverse. It was fun to read a novel where the heroine takes the initative.
The sex scenes were raunchy and erotic, and frankly I enjoyed reading them, only wished they were longer!
What I didn't appreciae was that there were three stories involving three couples in the book. I felt the author wasted too much time on secondary characters, and frankly I was interested in reading only about the H&H.
The worst thing in the book was that for the last hundread pages of the book, there was only one chapter devoted to Elizabeth and Gabriel, and that was really frustrating.
The book would have been more believable and enjoyable if there was more interaction between the lead pair. I still have to read Love Lessons and Total Surrender, and I hope Ms Holt has devoted more time to the primary characters than the secondary ones!
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderfully Sensual Regency
Review: I read numerous reviews before buying this book and clearly it was a - love it or hate it type of book - I wanted to see for myself, bought it, read it and I find that it was an 'absolute pleasure'. Gabriel Christofore, the male lead ' and by no means a hero, was a scoundrel; his life shaped clearly by the father he adored, the fourth son of an earl, who was also a scoundrel! Gabriel's Italian mother, who was the love of his father's life, had been murdered so that this father and son relationship was extremely close as they only had each other. Lady Elizabeth Harcourt, was targeted as a 'mark', for Gabriel, an accomplished and gifted artist, as well as a master in seductive arts. Lady Elizabeth, at the age of 27, has never been romanced; for years her father's personal secretary, hostess, etc. her life was mundane and having known none other, content ' until her father married a young girl of 17 who was turning her life into hell. The outrageous appeal of this handsome, outspoken, and flamboyant artist was a temptation that held appeal. Elizabeth soon realized that the painting was secondary in nature to Gabriel's true mission but just as he awakened a passion in Elizabeth, she did the same to him which would end up consuming them both. One would think that you should dislike Gabriel, but through the author's deft characterization, you see that he was not all bad ' outrageous at times ' but not a bad or evil person. When he soon realized that he came to care deeply for Elizabeth, he tried to break it off and remove himself from the situation but Elizabeth wouldn't let him and what follows was an extremely sensual downfall of this scoundrel ' and his father as well. Yes, as a secondary romance, even Gabriel's father was struck by Cupid's arrow. This was a very good story ' I thoroughly enjoyed it and except for a warning to the very faint hearted as to the explicit sexual content I heartily recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: An absolute pleasure to read
Review: I read numerous reviews before buying this book and clearly it was a - love it or hate it type of book - I wanted to see for myself, bought it, read it and I find that it was an 'absolute pleasure'. Gabriel Christofore, the male lead - and by no means a hero, was a scoundrel; his life shaped clearly by the father he adored, the fourth son of an earl, who was also a scoundrel! Gabriel's Italian mother, the love of his father's life, had been murdered so that their relationship was extremely close as they really had only each other. Lady Elizabeth Harcourt, was targeted as a 'mark', for Gabriel, an accomplished and gifted artist, as well as a master in seductive arts. Lady Elizabeth, who at the age of 27, had never been romanced; for years her father's personal secretary, hostess, etc. her life was mundane but having known none other, content - until her father married a young girl of 17 who was turning her life into hell. The outrageous appeal of this handsome, outspoken, and flamboyant artist was a temptation that held appeal. Elizabeth soon realized that the painting was secondary in nature to Gabriel's true mission but as he awakened a passion in Elizabeth, she did the same to him which would end up consuming them both. One would think that you should dislike Gabriel, but through the author's deft characterization, you see where he was not all bad - outrageous at times - but not a bad person. When he soon realized that he came to care deeply for Elizabeth, he tried to break it off and remove himself from the situation but Elizabeth wouldn't let him and what follows was an extremely sensual downfall of this scoundrel - and his father as well. Yes, as a secondary romance, even Gabriel's father was struck by Cupid's arrow. This was a very good story - I thoroughly enjoyed it and except for a warning to the very faint hearted as to the explicit sexual content I heartily recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderfully Sensual Regency
Review: I read numerous reviews before buying this book and clearly it was a - love it or hate it type of book - I wanted to see for myself, bought it, read it and I find that it was an �absolute pleasure�. Gabriel Christofore, the male lead � and by no means a hero, was a scoundrel; his life shaped clearly by the father he adored, the fourth son of an earl, who was also a scoundrel! Gabriel�s Italian mother, who was the love of his father�s life, had been murdered so that this father and son relationship was extremely close as they only had each other. Lady Elizabeth Harcourt, was targeted as a �mark�, for Gabriel, an accomplished and gifted artist, as well as a master in seductive arts. Lady Elizabeth, at the age of 27, has never been romanced; for years her father�s personal secretary, hostess, etc. her life was mundane and having known none other, content � until her father married a young girl of 17 who was turning her life into hell. The outrageous appeal of this handsome, outspoken, and flamboyant artist was a temptation that held appeal. Elizabeth soon realized that the painting was secondary in nature to Gabriel�s true mission but just as he awakened a passion in Elizabeth, she did the same to him which would end up consuming them both. One would think that you should dislike Gabriel, but through the author�s deft characterization, you see that he was not all bad � outrageous at times � but not a bad or evil person. When he soon realized that he came to care deeply for Elizabeth, he tried to break it off and remove himself from the situation but Elizabeth wouldn�t let him and what follows was an extremely sensual downfall of this scoundrel � and his father as well. Yes, as a secondary romance, even Gabriel�s father was struck by Cupid�s arrow. This was a very good story � I thoroughly enjoyed it and except for a warning to the very faint hearted as to the explicit sexual content I heartily recommend it!
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