I enjoyed Bianca Schwarz’s A Thing of Beauty. The details are vivid, the story arc is cohesive while still leaving room for a sequel, and the characters are well-drawn and three-dimensional. They surprised me at times, but in a good way. It kept the book from being too predictable.
The sex is very explicit but well done. Actually, as a writer, I’m somewhat in awe of people who write sexy scenes that are so detailed. It’s not what I do, but even if it was, I’m not certain I could pull it off this well.
I was occasionally distressed by the comma usage and the point-of-view shifts. The latter happened more rapidly than I like. However, I’m very picky about writing mechanics, and like all writers, I have my preferences, which happen to differ from the author’s.
Still, the story was engaging, and I read it through to the end in one sitting, and romance isn’t my genre of choice. The historical touches felt authentic to me, from what I know of the Victorian era.
In addition to the vivid lovemaking, there are also some detailed torture scenes. I skimmed a bit on those—it’s rather more detail than I want. However, it certainly established the antagonist as a definite villain.
If Victorian romance is a genre you enjoy, A Thing of Beauty would certainly be worth the read.
Full disclosure: I received a free Advance Reader Copy in exchange for a fair review.
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Avid writer and reader of Faerie tales and noblebright fantasy.
Cathleen Townsend 
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