Title: Fantasy Lover
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Series: Dark Hunter #0
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 31 January 2002
Source of my copy: I purchased it.
About the book (from Goodreads)
This book is part of the Dark-Hunter universe, but does not feature any Dark-Hunters, For that it's considered an introduction to the series hence the #0.
Being trapped in a bedroom with a woman is a grand thing. Being trapped in hundreds of bedrooms over two thousand years isn't. And being cursed into a book as a love-slave for eternity can ruin even a Spartan warrior's day.
As a love slave, I know everything about women. How to touch them, how to savor them, and most of all, how to pleasure them. But when I was summoned to fulfill Grace Alexander's sexual fantasies, I found the first woman in history who saw me as a man with a tormented past. She alone bothered to take me out of the bedroom and into the world. She taught me to love again.
But I was not born to know love. I was cursed to walk eternity alone. As a general, I had long ago accepted my sentence. Yet now I have found Grace - the one thing my wounded heart cannot survive without. Sure, love can heal all wounds, but can it break a two-thousand-year-old curse?
Julian of Macedon
Grace Alexander is a sex therapist who has heard everything and nothing can shock her anymore. Yet she has not had a relationship herself for years since she was hurt by her first love in college. Grace is a likeable character who seemed to me to come across as very genuine and down to earth, happy enough on her own for now at least. Her best friend, Selena, however has other ideas about Grace’s love life.
Selena has an unusual present for Grace’s birthday, an ancient book she claims holds sex slave Julian of Macedon who once he is called forth has to serve that woman for the next 30 days. The man pictured inside the book looks like a Greek God. Grace of course thinks this is ludicrous, yet jokingly calls Julian forth, never expecting him to appear naked in her house!
Julian of Macedon has spent forever in the book since he was last called but expects nothing different to every other time when Grace summons him. He gets a shock when she does not drag him off to the bedroom right away. Instead she wants to get to know him and feed him.
Julian’s character at first is very stereotypical, just what you imagine a sex slave would be. I liked how he developed and became an interesting and really quite deep character. The flash backs to when he was a General really bring him to life.
There is a lot of Greek mythology woven into this book but it is all explained clearly and it is assumed the reader has no prior knowledge. I like books where mythology is used and this did not let me down: the use of the various Gods works well, I was pleased to see they were not simply as they would have been two thousand years ago.
Grace would love to help Julian but there seems no hope. (Note might be a slight spoiler here) Cupid tells them the only way to break the curse is for a woman of Alexander to summon him and not consummate the relationship until the last day. Julian feels worse until Grace utters, “Julian, my name Grace Alexander”.
The cover of my edition (not the one shown, I couldn’t find it!) has an ancient heavy book with a picture of a stylised Greek God and a rose placed on it. Very different to the cover I’ve used and I think gives a very different impression of what the book will be about.
I really enjoyed Fantasy Lover and will definitely be reading more of Sherrilyn’s work. Although the Dark Hunters were not actually in this book I hope to go on and read the series, eventually there are so many, I enjoyed Sherrilyn’s style of writing and am sure I’ll like the Dark Hunters too.
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