Deborah Breach Breach itibaren 09760 Tütüncüler Köyü/Bozdoğan/Aydın, 土耳其 itibaren 09760 Tütüncüler Köyü/Bozdoğan/Aydın, 土耳其

Loved this book. I fell back in love with the Old Religion all over again!

As a huge fan of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical which I have seen on Broadway twice, I was very interested in reading the book. With the novel, you get to know the real phantom - a creature; a frightening being that kills. Webber's phantom in both the play and the movie, you find yourself routing for the phantom to win the heart of the heroine Christine over his nemesis Raoul. I have fallen in love with the phantom in both the play and the movie (especially the movie as Gerard Butler is HOT)! Reading Leroux's classic novel finds you in an almost entirely different story altogether.

Envy is the third novel by Sandra Brown I've read and she's rapidly earning her way onto my list of "go-to" authors. Her novels always manage to surprise once or twice and certainly entertain from cover to cover. Envy is the title of the book within the book and it's the lure that brings Maris Matherly-Reed to a remote Georgian island to purchase the rights to a novel. What she doesn't realize is that she's been lured into an elaborate scheme of revenge long buried in the past. There are excerpts of the fictional Envy included as interludes between some of the more emotionally charged chapters. They are there both as background information and as a character building device to better understand Parker, the author Maris has gone to see. Frankly, these chapters aren't necessary and serve as a distraction to the meat of the book. I suggest saving them until the end to read as bonus material. Envy has three major story lines: Parker's past, the romance between Parker and Maris, and Noah's machinations to sell Maris's publishing company out from under her. Noah Reed, Maris's husband and her relationship to him is the glue that holds Envy together. What I liked best about the novel was Parker. He's wheelchair bound but by no means "handicapped" nor is he seeking sympathy or special treatment. He's rough, crude and fowl mouthed and tempered and yet he's a very believable and oddly likeable character. It's clear that the wheelchair isn't the cause of his "bad" traits; it's just another part of who he is. It was refreshing to meet characters like Parker who weren't obviously built up from a series of checked boxes on a character sheet.