Jean Ross Ewing

An Indecent Proposal by Julia Ross
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 1/5 stars
My Review:

I really hate ending the year on a low note where my beloved books are concerned, but Julia Ross’s An Indecent Proposal has left me without much of a choice.

Make no mistake, the cover, title, and synopsis for An Indecent Proposal has everything I love in a book. The promise of a love triangle or, even better, a threesome, two totally different personalities in the men, and a young, beautiful woman caught in the middle of a lot of sexy awesomeness. I only wish the plot and characters had delivered on such promise . . . .

From the very beginning, Sara is incredibly off-putting. When Sara comes to work at the lab where she meets Leo and Oscar, she is a bit of a mess. Her ex didn’t just leave her, he cheated on her with her friend and twisted the knife deeper when he told Sara she is, essentially, a most unresponsive and cold lover. Just what every girl wants to hear after finding her long-term boyfriend shagging her friend. For Sara to become so quickly attached to both Leo and Oscar is just madness as she is still reeling from her recent breakup. To make matters far worse, Sara is, even at 25 years old still incredibly immature and indecisive.

Sara is new to the lab, but Leo and Oscar are long-time employees which means everyone knows their business. There is always gossip about the two hotties and what the gossip says is that Leo had his heart viciously broken by a married woman (also an employee of the lab) which has left him in no state to pursue a long-term relationship, and Oscar is a man-whore who is always up front with the women he sleeps with. Like Leo, Oscar wants nothing to do with a long-term relationship and he is clear about that from the very beginning. In fact, both men are clear about their intentions when they offer Sara their proposal. One weekend of strings-free, commitment-free, sex at the end of which, everyone walks away with no regrets. Yeah, that’s going to work out . . . .

At every turn, Sara makes terrible decisions and behaves more like a child than a grown woman. She cries at the drop of a hat, she runs away when things get a little too messy, and she can’t keep her promises. Several times throughout the read, someone has to remind Sara to stop behaving so poorly, stop acting like a child, and to walk away from a situation if you can’t abide by the rules. Oscar (and myself!) have no patience for Sara’s crap, Leo wants to coddle her, and her best-friend is the only sensible one in the entire group. Sara’s best-friend clearly knows her well and advises Sara to really consider the men’s offer before committing to anything. Unfortunately, Sara once again makes a bad decision and while the sex is pretty outstanding, the emotional side is a hot effing mess that blows up in everyone’s faces. To make matters far, far worse, it all comes crashing down several years later at Sara’s best-friend’s wedding.

The Bottom Line: I wanted to like this read and so, I stuck with it to the bitter and ridiculous end. An Indecent Proposal has such promise in the title and the synopsis, but that it where the promise comes to a crashing halt as the story and the characters certainly don’t deliver. Sara is selfish and immature, Oscar is a brutally honest dick, and Leo is love-struck fool. Not a one of the characters has any business being involved in a relationship yet here they are, forging their way toward an ill-fated threesome. I found myself disgusted with each character’s attitude and behavior and the plot to be feeble, at best. As if this weren’t enough, there’s the ending which left me absolutely stunned, and not in the good way. The way this whole story plays out in the end is the height of silly and I found myself wanting to throw my ipad. I think we’re now all clear on how I really feel about this book.… (more)

Night of Sin was very lush and highly sensual but the prose was also poetic and lyrical bordering on purple and that's where Ross sometimes lost me. Some quotes:

"But she had not been wrong about his eyes, colored like winter forest shadows dappled with sunlight."

"Her hair smelled of lavender water and roses, the fragrance of a Dorset summer garden basking in the sun"

Oh, guess what Ross is talking about here:

"the rainbow tumult of their mutual release"

Some of the imagery was quite vivid but some of it was a bit over the top at times.

World traveler Lord Jonathan Devoran St. George, aka Wild Lord Jack, returns to England from the Far East in search of a valuable stolen fossil. He follows the thief who has stashed the fossil in an innocent woman's basket. Anne Marsh is the engaged daughter of a minister. After he finds the thief murdered Jack knows that her life is in danger and insists that she leave her home and accompany him to his family estate so that he can protect her.

Jack has learned all kinds of mysterious exotic sexual skills on his advertures in the Far East that were only hinted at. But he is ashamed of some of his experiences and the things he was forced to do. Anne, our virgin heroine, realizes that sexually-experienced Jack can teach her a few things and literally begs the hero to make love to her. What man would turn that down? You all know I'm a big fan of highly erotic or sensual romances but I think this plot with the innocent maiden pleading with the worldly hero to tutor her in the sensual delights has been done too many times before. After they make love Jack knows he has compromised her and so they have to marry.

Jack with all his secret shame was a dark complex character. Anne turns out to be a surprisingly brave and adventurous heroine despite her initial timidity and I liked her character even though I thought her behavior was at times implausible. The mystery/suspense was well done and did not overpower the romance. The entire story flowed pretty smoothly except for those moments when the purple prose and poetic style went over the top. (Grade: B- )… (more)