Passion by Lisa Valdez

5 out of 5 stars
*All Time Favorite Book List*

To me, Passion felt like two completely different books.

For the first 10o pages or so, I found myself caught up in the incredibly vivid and passionate secret love affair between Passion Dare (the heroine's name is beyond silly, but I got used to it) and the intense Mark Randolph Hawkmore.

Literally from the first sentence of this novel, the sexual chemistry and heat generated by these two characters is enough to render a person speechless. Okay, it rendered *me* speechless at least. There is a lot of sex in this book, especially early on. And, as it has been brought up by nearly everyone writing a review for this book, the sex scenes are incredibly vivid and detailed, and they along with the language may bother some readers. This is most definitely an historical erotica novel, with a BIG emphasis on the erotica part.

And while I was thoroughly enjoying the passion and naughtiness of this story, something happened round about 200 pages in. This book became less about blistering sex scenes, and much more about the intense, bone-deep love that the two characters felt for each other. The last third of this book broke my heart, and literally reduced me to a weepy mess.

Now that I have read Passion I see why it means so much to so many people. If you take the time to look past the vivid sensuality of the early parts of this book, you will find one of the most beautiful and deeply moving love stories I have ever read. I hope more people will open themselves up to this reading experience, because I'm so glad I did and this will definitely be a story I will never forget.