Arouse by Nina Lane Series: Spiral of Bliss #1
Also in this series: Awaken, Allure, Arrive, Adore
Published by Snow Queen Publishing on December 24, 2012
Pages: 406
Genres: College, Contemporary, Romance
Goodreads
"One day I'm going to touch you in a thousand different ways and show you how to touch me," he said.
And he did.
Struggling with a tormented past, undergraduate Olivia Winter once led a practical but isolated life. Then she met Professor Dean West, a brilliant scholar of medieval history who melted Liv's inhibitions and taught her the meaning of both love and erotic pleasure.
But after three years of a blissful, lusty marriage, Liv and Dean now face a crisis that threatens everything they believe about each other as dark secrets and temptations rise to the surface.
I wanted to reread the first two books in this series before the third installment came out. I realized I read the first two long before I began writing reviews. I only hope I can do this wonderful series justice.
The reason I ADORE these books besides being beautifully written, is they are real! They are about a husband and a wife and their trials, and how fight through them to find their way back to each other. We start with them already in their marriage and get these beautiful flash backs that show us how they met and we get to “watch them date”. Their attraction is magnetic. But it’s not insta-love, insta-sex that we often see in many romance novels. Rather, there is a very real period of getting to know each other that takes place…
“I badly wanted to spend time alone with him, this medieval history professor who was luring me with linear call numbers.”
“I wanted to touch you the minute I saw you,” he said, his gaze on my lips.”
These flash backs are important because they set the framework for the amazingly strong and wonderfully love-filled relationship that is their marriage. Without these little tidbits of beautiful, we would not understand why anyone would want to fight so hard to stay in a marriage facing such struggles.
“Don’t leave, beauty.”
This book looks at how one question, lies, and lack of communication threaten to rip apart what they worked so hard to build. What happens when no matter how hard they tried to fix their relationship, things continue to unravel, when doubt is allowed to creep in and that trust and admiration begins to slip away?
“We talk, but not about anything important. Not about us.”
“It’s that I’m uncertain about my own husband’s faith in me. In us.”
Can a couple whose foundation was built on friendship and love pull themselves out of the whole they are in and find one another again? Albeit differently?
“A strange calm settles in my heart. Maybe Dean needs to see me as more than his ever-faithful wife and the girl he needs to protect. And maybe I need to see him more than my ever wavering husband and the man who effortlessly takes care of everything.”
“I don’t want to lose you.”
“You’ll never lose me.” … “I’ll be here, beauty. Waiting for you.”
This is the first book in the series. It does end in an HEA and while there is not a cliff hanger per say, it does leads directly into book two. 5+++ stars!!’
About Nina Lane
New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Nina Lane writes hot, sexy romances and spicy erotica. Originally from California, she holds a PhD in Art History and an MA in Library and Information Studies, which means she loves both research and organization. She also enjoys traveling and thinks St. Petersburg, Russia is a city everyone should visit at least once. Although Nina would go back to college for another degree because she’s that much of a bookworm and a perpetual student, she now lives the happy life of a full-time writer.
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