AROUSE (Spiral of Bliss #1) by Nina Lane

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release December 24, 2012

“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…and sex might not be enough to save them.

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REVIEW: Arouse is the first story line in Nina Lane’s new Spiral of Bliss contemporary romance series. Nina takes the reader on a journey of one couple’s spiral into a world of jealousy and betrayal, hidden secrets and the raw purity of first love. It is a story that will break your heart, shatter your dreams and fight for two people that belong together-above all else.

Dean and Olivia (Liv) have been married for three years but the day Liv asks the one thing of her husband that she had never asked before throws the couple into a vortex that widens and deepens with every hurtful word, and secrets from the past that are seen as an act of betrayal.

The ensuing story follows Dean and Liv as the tension between the couple threatens to destroy the love they have for one another. As Liv’s life slowly begins to unravel she is determined to find out why the love of her life is so adamant about not pursuing her suggestion only to discover he has hidden a secret that begins to destroy the very foundation on which their current life has been built. In the ensuing days, a breakdown in communication and the building animosity finds Liv and Dean searching for something that neither one was willing to face. Letting go is the hardest thing.

Many couples will face a time when the breakdown in communication threatens the marriage as well as the mental and physical health of the individuals. Nina Lane’s story of love and loss pulls the reader into the burgeoning chasm (of an emotional journey) that may be too large to overcome.

The story is told in three parts; first person POV in the heroine’s voice using present day and flashbacks to tell the story of Olivia and Dean’s love story and heartbreaking sorrow. Part three is written from both Liv and Dean’s POV as we are privy to Dean’s internal turmoil and dialogue and, watch as he slowly realizes that the secret that he kept may very well destroy the only person he has ever loved.

Nina Lane has written an amazing story that will resonate with every reader: from the deepest love two people could ever explore to the collapsing of a relationship.

Allure (Book #2) in the Spiral of Bliss series is due to be released in April 2013.

Copy supplied by the author.

Reviewed by Sandy