9780758209818, Kensington Fiction, 2008 (Aus, US)

So it begins and ends with sex, and there’s a whole lot of juicy business in the middle, but Seduce Me also has an intriguing storyline and vivid, memorable characters. Megan Clark utilises the characters’ sexualities to round them out – desires, fulfillments, vulnerabilities and disappointments.

Carissa has a perfect, sweet boyfriend – Oscar. She is wound tight in her commitments – work, a business degree, keeping fit, and planning a future with her man. One day on the beach she sees a couple that look as though they’ve stepped out of the 1920s. Benedikte (one of my favourite names in the world) and Charlotte are committed to a life of freedom, excess and pleasure. They are wordly, articulate, stylish – they dance and drink and make love with whomever they desire. Carissa is intrigued when Charlotte dives into the ocean, fully-clothed. Carissa’s boyfriend, Oscar, at first goes along with Carissa to events borne out of this new friendship, but Carissa’s hunger for life and for passion is growing, and she begins to feel stifled by the domestication around her. We then follow the characters to the romantically-described streets of New Orleans.

Of course there is much more going on behind the scenes of Charlotte and Benedikte’s fantastical existence. Revelations emerge throughout the narrative, often guessable, but with enough skillful intrigue and interest to make you want to read on.

This is a well-written, entertaining piece of genre fiction, and the character Charlotte made a real impression on my mind. Some of her wisdoms turn out to be false but I think most women would relate to the way she wants to emulate her idols, eat and drink what she wants, and appear confident and glamorous on every occasion. ‘[L]ife is too short not to dress up’ she says. We then also relate to Carissa, who wants to saw off her shackles and be free as Charlotte appears to be.

There are descriptions of heartbreak, jealousy, intimacy, relationships, and the many flickers and flames of desire. In terms of the sex, so deliciously interwoven, no two scenes are alike. Clark finds a variety of ways of expressing the act, seductive but emotionally satisfying, like the novel as a whole. A great pillow-side indulgence.