Another good collaboration between Lise Gold and Madeleine Taylor
It’s not a secret that Lise Gold and Madeleine Taylor are the same person. A few years ago, Lise Gold started using the pen name Madeleine Taylor for her erotica books and later on, she combined the two in The Next Life, a novel with both elements of romance and erotica. In this book, she mixes the two once again.
I’d recommend not to read the blurb as it gives away quite a bit of the plot. As this author is on my automatic to-read list, I didn’t check the blurb beforehand and enjoyed the element of surprise. Let’s just say that fashion photographer Faith Astor books sessions with a personal trainer in a drunken haze. When Silva Carter shows up at her doorstep on New Year’s Day, Faith decides to accept the challenge. After a few interactions, they realize that they have more in common than they initially thought…
Ms. Gold is known for featuring serious issues in her books such as suicide, the MeToo movement, and addictions. This time she tackles the issue of body image and eating disorders which is done, as usual, with tact and authenticity. It’s great to see how her characters always redeem themselves through inner strength and love.
If you follow Lise Gold’s newsletter, you’ll see that she loves to travel around the world and most of her books reflect this. The settings in her novels are characters in themselves. In the Mirror is set in New York and Ms. Gold’s descriptions of the city are vivid and photographic. You’ll feel that you are there along with the characters.
As I mentioned above, the combo Lise Gold / Madeleine Taylor suggests an equal presence of romance and erotica. However, I felt that the erotica part wasn’t very strong here compared to The Next Life, which is a pity as Gold/Taylor writes sex scenes very well. I’m sure this won’t be an issue for most readers but I was expecting more heat in this book and I felt it lacked a bit in that department.
Tessa Stavers has narrated a few books by Gold/Taylor and, as usual, has done a very good job in producing distinctive voices and expressions of feelings. Her performance definitely improved my overall enjoyment of this story. 4 stars.
Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
