The writing style is quite detached, staccato even, and while it was certainly interesting and original at first, it didn’t help keep the story flowing. At the same time, this book was originally published anonymously because the author thought it too raw / honest / whatever to put her own name to – which puzzled me because although it is quite frank, there’s nothing in it I imagine you’ve not heard (or yourself thought) before, no ideas that really push the boundaries of what is considered decent. While her candid style takes some getting used to, it is at the same time fresh and contemporary, and I can imagine her garnering the fans that Ana Steele quickly lost through one too many conversations with her inner goddess. The wife, and I must call her that since we don’t know her name, is a complex character who is very much finding her feet in relationships, let alone marriage, but she is strong and wilful too, and definitely not subversive. Almost as if they’re there to tell it how it is, rather than turn you on. It is not especially erotic, more matter of fact, and although some of the decisions made could in themselves be considered hot, it seems like that is not the point of the story. The sex in this book is not the same as in Fifty Shades, and not just due to the absence of a red room of pain. For page after page I was wondering where this was going, and then suddenly, much like when you finally find your way out of a maze, it turned a corner and the (in this case filthy) escape was right in front of me. From there it’s back home to life as a newlywed, again with great potential to live out the title, and yet this bride and her husband don’t seem that bothered about ripping the clothes off each other. The prospect of heat is there, but it never extends beyond the heady climate of the city. The road is a winding one, too, starting with a honeymoon in Marrakech. This is a slow book – some would say painfully slow – that, a bit like certain males within the pages, takes a long time to reach its climax. But though it looks the part, I think those simply wanting another take on the current number one hit will be disappointed by this, because the similarities are few and far between. It has a sleek monochrome cover, fitting in with the aforementioned trilogy, and a blurb on the back that suggests a sexual awakening to rival Ana’s.

That she will need to take things into her own hands if she is ever to be satisfied in her new role as wife.Īlthough originally published in 2004, this book has been reissued to lap up some of the overflowing success of Fifty Shades Of Grey by EL James and its sequels. Discovering her husband is not all he seems. Summary: A newlywed discovers her husband's secrets, but they're not kinky (boo!) and her own follow up is simmer rather than sizzle.Ī young woman, newly married.

The bride stripped bare by anonymous