ebook, 110 pages
Published
October 2012
by AOS Publishing
Genre: contemporary romance novella, women's fiction
Rating: 5 stars plus
Daniel: "Léa - when a man climbs a glass mountain, it's not usually for the damn golden apple. It's for the person he gives the apple to."
Léa: "I gave all of me to you" she said, low, muffled. She had never even realized it before. All of her. To him. To everyone else. "And I didn't even get you back for it. You were too busy."
Daniel: "You've always made me feel like I was your whole world. To the point that if you stopped believing in me, I think I wouldn't exist. [...] You've got to admit, it's a beautiful irony, chérie. I gave myself up for you. You gave yourself up for me. And we're here scrabbling to find enough of each other we can hold onto."
How often in our married life we loose the ability to hear the words that are not spoken? How easily married couples grow apart and drift away from each other under the crushing pressure of hard work, business responsibilities and pursuit of success? How many times bonds and emotional connection between two lovers are shuttered because our hearts sometimes speak different "love languages" and the same emotions are expressed in different manners? Even the most solid love match may fall victim of mixed signals and heart-wrenching misunderstandings.
When a driven, dominant, perfectionist Daniel, and a yielding, generous and selfless Léa met, they were immediately drawn to each other, like an arrow to its target. Him, the young and ambitious kitchen protégé of an acclaimed three-star restaurant, all energy and unfailing will. Her, the owner's young and adoring daughter, creative and artsy, all sweet charm and pliant warmth. Love between the two teenagers was fresh and intense like a fragrant jasmine flower in bloom, unfaltering even under the overwhelming weight of Léa's father's death. A nineteen year old Daniel proposed to Léa right away, taking the reins of the restaurant and providing for his wife's younger siblings at the same time. Taking the reins of their lives and their family business with the same endless energy that has now brought Daniel, eleven years later, on the top of the culinary world as the most sought-after chef. Completely absorbed by their all-consuming topnotch restaurant, tv appearances and consultancies around the world, Daniel and Léa lose sight of each other. Too often it happens in a marriage that we take our partners for granted, as if they were the fixed stars of our personal constellation. Daniel's endless supply of energy, his unwavering dedication to his profession and the success of the restaurant, his very larger-than-life personality have always filled Léa's heart with pride, but over time those same things started to smother her, making her feel small and inadequate, even unable to pursue her own dreams of an artistic career and preserve her own identity. During one of Daniel's many travels overseas, a tired and atrophied Léa escapes to Tahiti to take a break and find herself, throwing Daniel's into a panic and a deep state of uncertainty:
"[He] realized she had been slipping through his fingers for months, like water he was trying too hard to hold. Panicked as if he literally would be wiped out of existence without that love".
He will follow her to the end of the world to make her understand that she is the driving force that fuels his engine, the reason of his accomplishments, the granite base on which his whole world stands on. Her nurturing love, her sweet and infectiously happy personality have a re-stabilizing influence on the frantic life of the renown top chef.
" He got through the day just on the promise that sometime that night he would be able to smell her hair. Oh, shit, he could not go home to an empty bed that did not smell of her. He couldn't. He couldn't do it."
So, in the exotic frame of a tropical paradise, surrounded by the luxuriant beauty of a French Polinesian island, Léa and Daniel will find each other again, finally turning up the heat of their relationship, giving shape and substance to unfulfilled erotic dreams, unbridling their passion in surges of sizzling sensuality and heart-tugging emotional connection.
Daniel: "You've always made me feel like I was your whole world. To the point that if you stopped believing in me, I think I wouldn't exist. [...] You've got to admit, it's a beautiful irony, chérie. I gave myself up for you. You gave yourself up for me. And we're here scrabbling to find enough of each other we can hold onto."
How often in our married life we loose the ability to hear the words that are not spoken? How easily married couples grow apart and drift away from each other under the crushing pressure of hard work, business responsibilities and pursuit of success? How many times bonds and emotional connection between two lovers are shuttered because our hearts sometimes speak different "love languages" and the same emotions are expressed in different manners? Even the most solid love match may fall victim of mixed signals and heart-wrenching misunderstandings.
When a driven, dominant, perfectionist Daniel, and a yielding, generous and selfless Léa met, they were immediately drawn to each other, like an arrow to its target. Him, the young and ambitious kitchen protégé of an acclaimed three-star restaurant, all energy and unfailing will. Her, the owner's young and adoring daughter, creative and artsy, all sweet charm and pliant warmth. Love between the two teenagers was fresh and intense like a fragrant jasmine flower in bloom, unfaltering even under the overwhelming weight of Léa's father's death. A nineteen year old Daniel proposed to Léa right away, taking the reins of the restaurant and providing for his wife's younger siblings at the same time. Taking the reins of their lives and their family business with the same endless energy that has now brought Daniel, eleven years later, on the top of the culinary world as the most sought-after chef. Completely absorbed by their all-consuming topnotch restaurant, tv appearances and consultancies around the world, Daniel and Léa lose sight of each other. Too often it happens in a marriage that we take our partners for granted, as if they were the fixed stars of our personal constellation. Daniel's endless supply of energy, his unwavering dedication to his profession and the success of the restaurant, his very larger-than-life personality have always filled Léa's heart with pride, but over time those same things started to smother her, making her feel small and inadequate, even unable to pursue her own dreams of an artistic career and preserve her own identity. During one of Daniel's many travels overseas, a tired and atrophied Léa escapes to Tahiti to take a break and find herself, throwing Daniel's into a panic and a deep state of uncertainty:
"[He] realized she had been slipping through his fingers for months, like water he was trying too hard to hold. Panicked as if he literally would be wiped out of existence without that love".
He will follow her to the end of the world to make her understand that she is the driving force that fuels his engine, the reason of his accomplishments, the granite base on which his whole world stands on. Her nurturing love, her sweet and infectiously happy personality have a re-stabilizing influence on the frantic life of the renown top chef.
" He got through the day just on the promise that sometime that night he would be able to smell her hair. Oh, shit, he could not go home to an empty bed that did not smell of her. He couldn't. He couldn't do it."
So, in the exotic frame of a tropical paradise, surrounded by the luxuriant beauty of a French Polinesian island, Léa and Daniel will find each other again, finally turning up the heat of their relationship, giving shape and substance to unfulfilled erotic dreams, unbridling their passion in surges of sizzling sensuality and heart-tugging emotional connection.
What an enchantingly sensual and romantic read this was! In her new novella, Laura Florand delivers another intense and insightful portrait of the workings of the human heart. Brace yourselves...this exquisite and love-filled tale will engage you and inflame your senses with heart-warming romance and steamy sensuality.
Laura Florand is the author of luscious and sensual romantic comedies. Her latest full length novel, The Chocolate Thief (read my review here), is the first installment of The Chocolate series. The Chocolate Kiss, book #2 , will be released on December 24th 2012.
*A complimentary e-copy was generously offered by the author in return of an unbiased opinion.
Laura Florand is the author of luscious and sensual romantic comedies. Her latest full length novel, The Chocolate Thief (read my review here), is the first installment of The Chocolate series. The Chocolate Kiss, book #2 , will be released on December 24th 2012.
*A complimentary e-copy was generously offered by the author in return of an unbiased opinion.
