MASTER
COLLETTE GALE
ISBN: 978-0-45122-4125
May 6, 2008
Signet Eclipse, a division of Penguin Group USA
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
Trade Paperback
$14.00/$15.50
352 pages
Erotica
Rating: 3 cups

Mercédès Herrera Mondego has always hoped her love, Edmond, would come back, but she cannot wait much longer. She hates to make her decision but knows nothing else to do. She knows Edmond is dead and that she must figure out how to have a life without him. It hurts, but she needs to go on. She soon finds out that the man she did marry may not have been the best man to marry after all. She wonders if she should have waited longer and kept her cousin at bay.

Edmond Dantès has no clue why he was taken to the prison. He just has to learn to live there and maybe one day get out. He wants revenge on the men who put him there. Dreams of his true love keep him going. The surprises that wait for him might have him reeling and unsure of everything he hoped to have in his life.

Being imprisoned for a crime he did not commit was very frustrating for Edmond. He was following orders, not knowing how they would backfire. And, had he not made a friend, he probably would not have survived. Visions of his beautiful lady back home only sent him into a deeper depression. After finally getting free, he decides to take the guise of the Count of Monte Cristo and have the revenge he always hoped and dreamed he might be able to get. It may take him a while but he would rather have them suffer as long as he did. He also has in mind to get revenge on the love of his life since she did not wait for him. He will possess her if it is the last thing he does.

Having never read the original Monte Cristo, this book had a huge impact on me. Although I found the storyline rather depressing, I still wanted to see what would happen to the people on Edmond’s list. Ms. Gale has an interesting story on her hands and the research was done wonderfully well. I just felt that at times it was overwhelmingly depressive. I am not sure if that is what she was going for, but I almost do not want to read Alexander Dumas version of the same story. I guess I had high expectations and while it was erotic, I really did not care for Edmond. I am curious to read her other work based on the Phantom of the Opera.

Krista
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romace
Reviewer for Karen Find About New Books