The Yearning by Tina Donahue
December 14, 2010
Erotic Paranormal Romance
E-Book
Samhain

Reviewed by Mandi

This is one crazy book. The beginning made my eyeballs pop out of my head. The middle is written pretty well, and the end was kind of a let down.

I’m not even sure why I continued past the 25% mark, except for the fact that the first epic sex scene in this book is so off the wall, crazy that it amused me. (It definitely didn’t make me lust after any of the characters) After this ridiculous beginning, I actually  enjoyed this story. Jasmine has been cursed. A witch, Desiree became extremely jealous that Jasmine had eyes for the man she was after. After stalking Jasmine ruthlessly, she finally catches up with her, and curses her – saying Jasmine will  now feel the lust she felt. She makes Jasmine crave men – but it can’t just be any man. It must be a man that is somewhat out of her league that Jasmine would normally have a little lust over. This curse has caused Jasmine to “pick” men who end up abusing her in the past. So she is very wary of who she takes home. But she must have sex to feed this curse. She has two sisters who follow her around trying to keep her safe, and a good friend, Ben who lives with this crew who also is there to protect her to the best of his ability.

Michael is a former Secret Service Agent who also has a telekinetic gift. He once used that gift to stop a bullet from hitting him, that then hit his partner, killing him. Devastated by this, he has repressed this ability. He meets Jasmine at a bar and is ready to take her home to show her a good time, not knowing that this curse picked him and she now has no choice. If she doesn’t slake her lust, it will become completely out of control.

From here, we start the epic sex scene. And it is not only a sex scene, or actually a series of sex scenes that all run together, but sex scenes that are in no way sexy. The prose is so over-the-top it became hysterical rather than bring up any feelings of lust. Let’s have some examples:

Her tongue found his galloping pulse, wandering over it, loving it as she drove her slender fingers through his hair. His rod thickened in gratitude, prompting a pleased growl.

….he slanted his mouth over hers. His tongue burrowed inside. Sheltering heat greeted him, along with the taste of beer and female submission.

She tasted a hint of beer he’d drank, along with his flavor, which spoke of cleanliness and good health.

His tongue probed her inner recesses, lapping her salty dew, indulging his appetite, while ignoring hers.

At the pressure of containing him, her breathing picked up, jiggling her breasts. With unyielding purpose, his male organ squeezed through her narrow walls, commanding shelter and obedience.

That is quite a command…..

For me, these phrases are just too silly to be taken seriously. I never had a problem with Jasmine having sex, even lots of sex with Mike because of the curse. But it is just the way it is presented that did not work for me. After this sex scene, the rest of the romance in this book worked. This just seemed very out of place.

But like I said, this curse interested me. It had a somewhat eerie tone, especially with her sisters and friend Ben who are all living at the house with her waiting for violence to erupt. They are all so desperate to break this curse, which is slowly killing Jasmine. And what I find interesting is the curse takes a somewhat backseat to the new “threat” Mike. With Jasmine’s last pick an abusive man, everyone is so convinced Mike will eventually turn abusive as well. So while Mike slowly learns about this curse, and truly wants to help, the people surrounding Jasmine won’t allow him any freedom.

I think the characters are written well, and I quite enjoyed the book after the you know what scene. I did think the curse was broken in a somewhat anti-climatic way, I would have liked to see Desiree more of a threat at the end. But the conflict she causes Jasmine throughout the book definitely kept my interest.

So back to my original statement – this book is kind of crazy. Not sure if I can recommend it – but I did want to finish it.

Rating: C

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