Review: Pleasure Island by Angela Aaron

Pleasure Island by Angela Aaron

Publisher: Noble Romance
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Heat Rating: 3

Blurb

When Cassie Douglas unknowingly arrives at a sultry tropical island resort where the sole business is to provide the perfect pleasure fantasy, Cassie finds it difficult to overcome her inhibitions and join in the fun.

Ryan MacKenna isn't about to let the feisty red-head disrupt his life or his business. He lives firmly by his set of self-imposed rules which keep business and pleasure very separate. But from the first moment he meets Ms. Douglas, he is in danger of breaking every rule.



Denise's Review

I will admit: I chose this book because the summary reminded me of one of my favorite guilty pleasure books: Jaid Black’s Possession. The premise of both stories is a sexual getaway hosted on a luxury island. While the premise is a little hokey, it’s likewise injected with just enough hot, smoking fantasy to keep the reader entertained and enthralled.

Ms. Aaron gives us Cassie, the reluctant guest of Pleasure Island, and Ryan, the reluctant owner. Ryan receives correspondence from Cassie’s friend, Sophie, forewarning that Cassie won’t know where she’s going until it’s too late. Through a series of encounters, Cassie begins to unwind, and Ryan begins thinking he might want to play for keeps.

While I enjoyed PLEASURE ISLAND as a bit of brain candy, a few things continually pulled me out of the story. Ryan’s interest in Cassie seemed to come from nowhere, except she was a guest who didn’t really want to be there in the first place. Beyond her resistance to the island, the “she’s different from the other women” quality felt forced. I could understand a basic physical attraction, but for a man surrounded by women on a daily basis, I needed a little more to buy Cassie was something other than a temporary fixation. The author likewise told readers what the characters were feeling more often than those sensations were showed, and the conflict between Cassie and Ryan could have been cleared up quickly if they’d behaved like adults.

These are things liable to pull me out of a story, but that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad read. Conversely, for what it is, PLEASURE ISLAND offers a great, sexy bit of escapism. Ms. Aaron is a promising author, and I very much look forward to whatever she has next in store for readers.

3 Tea Cups!