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Sultry Desire
Adrena Raja, a skillful nurse from New York, flew to Montana to seek justice for her fraternal twin sister’s horrendous death. She already has the suspects in mind, and labelled them as the Seven Deadly Sins.
The stars have aligned, and she found herself working for Ezequiel Calicius Vigilianco—the husband of the late Athena Arceli. In the steamy moments with him, Adrena now faces a great dilemma between her heart and mind.
And with the strange events in the Vigilianco Mansion, will she still be able to believe that the suspects are connected to the death of her beloved sister, even if they are dying one by one in an enigmatic death?
The stars have aligned, and she found herself working for Ezequiel Calicius Vigilianco—the husband of the late Athena Arceli. In the steamy moments with him, Adrena now faces a great dilemma between her heart and mind.
And with the strange events in the Vigilianco Mansion, will she still be able to believe that the suspects are connected to the death of her beloved sister, even if they are dying one by one in an enigmatic death?
187 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 2, 2021
3 people are currently reading
5 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 4, 2021
Mystery, psychological-thriller, dark romance in one book!
The plot of Sultry Desire is completely unexpected! I had no idea any of that was going to happen. As a Psychology major, I found this psychological thriller novel to be a mind-expanding read, and it was written in such a way that you'll never guess what happens next or why everything happened in the first place.Adrena Raja was a fascinating character, and the story is enhanced by her unique perspective on events. She’s not your typical protagonist because all I could tell you was she’s NOT ONLY THAT. It was also interesting to see how Ezequiel Vigilianco was described in this book, and how even though he is only a fictional character, he can still make you swoon. If you’re someone who’s into strong and powerful characters with an air of mystery, then this is for you. The combination of these two characters were oozing with chemistry. That is why the ending of this story was something of a shock to me. All of the events that has transpired in the story was something that no weak-hearted would be able to take. When I finished reading the book, my mind literally blanked out and all I could utter was “What?!” and “This is too short for me and I want more!”.
This book is highly recommended, especially for those looking for dark thrills and mind-bending stories to read in their spare time. This left me with so much feels and existential questions. It also raises awareness among those who do not study psychology that there are people out there like Adrena who require more understanding and support in their lives, particularly during their childhood, in order to be the best version of themselves. This story also reminded me once again that kindness and gentleness is all that it takes to form a wonderful and good individual and to avoid forming the opposite of these. All in all, I could say that the hours I spent pouring over this book is a time well spent. Thank you very much, author, for this fantastic story! I look forward to reading more of your exciting novels in the future!
The plot of Sultry Desire is completely unexpected! I had no idea any of that was going to happen. As a Psychology major, I found this psychological thriller novel to be a mind-expanding read, and it was written in such a way that you'll never guess what happens next or why everything happened in the first place.Adrena Raja was a fascinating character, and the story is enhanced by her unique perspective on events. She’s not your typical protagonist because all I could tell you was she’s NOT ONLY THAT. It was also interesting to see how Ezequiel Vigilianco was described in this book, and how even though he is only a fictional character, he can still make you swoon. If you’re someone who’s into strong and powerful characters with an air of mystery, then this is for you. The combination of these two characters were oozing with chemistry. That is why the ending of this story was something of a shock to me. All of the events that has transpired in the story was something that no weak-hearted would be able to take. When I finished reading the book, my mind literally blanked out and all I could utter was “What?!” and “This is too short for me and I want more!”.
This book is highly recommended, especially for those looking for dark thrills and mind-bending stories to read in their spare time. This left me with so much feels and existential questions. It also raises awareness among those who do not study psychology that there are people out there like Adrena who require more understanding and support in their lives, particularly during their childhood, in order to be the best version of themselves. This story also reminded me once again that kindness and gentleness is all that it takes to form a wonderful and good individual and to avoid forming the opposite of these. All in all, I could say that the hours I spent pouring over this book is a time well spent. Thank you very much, author, for this fantastic story! I look forward to reading more of your exciting novels in the future!
April 25, 2022
This book started so well. It was told from the POV of Adrena Raja. It was suspenseful and caught my interest. I wanted to ask for more until I reached the 100th page. The events in this book weren't that uncommon. As the story slowly progressed, it felt short on many levels. I had difficulty to connect in the setting and with the characters. It could’ve been longer chapters to make it more in depth to develop the whole storyline. Nonetheless, the book was still a page-turner for me.
I understand that its purpose was to entertain its readers. In effect, the author was able to achieve that in all fairness. But as an avid fan of psycho-thrillers and an adult reader, I found some parts of the story overemphasized to me. I can’t help myself to do fact checks on some elements of the story whether it was realistic or make-believe. I think it’s safe to say that the best thrillers for me are the ones grounded in reality that would throw me down to the rabbit hole of questioning humanity.
Overall, I think this book is a hit or a miss. But, I believe that the book has so much potential.
I understand that its purpose was to entertain its readers. In effect, the author was able to achieve that in all fairness. But as an avid fan of psycho-thrillers and an adult reader, I found some parts of the story overemphasized to me. I can’t help myself to do fact checks on some elements of the story whether it was realistic or make-believe. I think it’s safe to say that the best thrillers for me are the ones grounded in reality that would throw me down to the rabbit hole of questioning humanity.
Overall, I think this book is a hit or a miss. But, I believe that the book has so much potential.
May 17, 2022
What really drew me into this book, aside from the fact that this was written by a Filipino author, was the blurb and the genre. It was listed under mystery and psychological thriller category. I was intrigued so I signed up for a copy. The author was kind enough to even offer me a physical copy of his novel. Thank you so much for this, sir Ric.
Check out @ric_author 's bio on Instagram to purchase this book. ☕️
I liked that this book was short enough to read in one sitting. The story was intriguing and it kept me flipping the pages. I admit I was annoyed at the insta-love and the narrator's constant headaches and fainting spells but it made sense when I finally got to the twist. I must say I did not see that coming. I thought the main character was just annoying but it was really the author's way of building up the story's big reveal.
There were many repetitive phrases, typos, and some grammatical errors that I found distracting. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this book and I recommend it for people looking for short thrillers. I hope to read more from sir Ric soon. Let us support more Filipino authors. 🇵🇭
Check out @ric_author 's bio on Instagram to purchase this book. ☕️
I liked that this book was short enough to read in one sitting. The story was intriguing and it kept me flipping the pages. I admit I was annoyed at the insta-love and the narrator's constant headaches and fainting spells but it made sense when I finally got to the twist. I must say I did not see that coming. I thought the main character was just annoying but it was really the author's way of building up the story's big reveal.
There were many repetitive phrases, typos, and some grammatical errors that I found distracting. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this book and I recommend it for people looking for short thrillers. I hope to read more from sir Ric soon. Let us support more Filipino authors. 🇵🇭
March 13, 2022
First of all I want to thank the author for giving me the chance to enter the twisted world he created and for trusting me enough to hear my thoughts about his world.
The story started slow and quite cliché but already has some of interesting elements that would make you want to read on. The slow progress dragged on for a few chapters that sometimes it made me want to jump read because I'm too curious and nothing much is happening; to be honest this book has more more room for improvement and editing, don't get me wrong I love the whole idea and the whole setup, who wouldn't love a psychological thriller set in a massive isolated mansion right? But as I have said, it was pitched as psychological thriller and I didn't see that not until I've reached the last few chapters.
The ending is smart, I have to be honest it did surprise me despite my confusion, it was good and I did wished for this book to have a sequel or a special chapter just to have a more in depth explanation of the twist. I swear I didn't see that coming, it was definitely clever.
About the characters, I wasn't able to connect to Adrena nor to anyone in the story to be honest, it felt like I'm a spectator in their twisted little lives, there's so much description about each other's looks and little about their personality and their relationship towards the other characters. I am really curious about Adrena at the start of the book and really looked forward on how her plan to avenge her sister's death would play out and was actually a little disappointed when she got sidetracked and distracted from her main goal.
The writing, I understand that this is a debut novel and you can't expect books to be flawless and perfect all the time. Some choice of words irked me, some paragraphs took my mind off of what I'm reading because I continuously get distracted by marking every passage that I think could use a more thorough editing and paraphrasing. But don't let that doubt you from reading this.
Overall it's a good read, took me a few days to finish because I was busy but again thankful that I got to read this art. I'm really looking forward to read more of the author's works in the future,preferably of the same genre as this one.
The story started slow and quite cliché but already has some of interesting elements that would make you want to read on. The slow progress dragged on for a few chapters that sometimes it made me want to jump read because I'm too curious and nothing much is happening; to be honest this book has more more room for improvement and editing, don't get me wrong I love the whole idea and the whole setup, who wouldn't love a psychological thriller set in a massive isolated mansion right? But as I have said, it was pitched as psychological thriller and I didn't see that not until I've reached the last few chapters.
The ending is smart, I have to be honest it did surprise me despite my confusion, it was good and I did wished for this book to have a sequel or a special chapter just to have a more in depth explanation of the twist. I swear I didn't see that coming, it was definitely clever.
About the characters, I wasn't able to connect to Adrena nor to anyone in the story to be honest, it felt like I'm a spectator in their twisted little lives, there's so much description about each other's looks and little about their personality and their relationship towards the other characters. I am really curious about Adrena at the start of the book and really looked forward on how her plan to avenge her sister's death would play out and was actually a little disappointed when she got sidetracked and distracted from her main goal.
The writing, I understand that this is a debut novel and you can't expect books to be flawless and perfect all the time. Some choice of words irked me, some paragraphs took my mind off of what I'm reading because I continuously get distracted by marking every passage that I think could use a more thorough editing and paraphrasing. But don't let that doubt you from reading this.
Overall it's a good read, took me a few days to finish because I was busy but again thankful that I got to read this art. I'm really looking forward to read more of the author's works in the future,preferably of the same genre as this one.
August 20, 2022
Actual rating: 1.5/5
This is after A LOT of thinking.
I like the premise, I'm gere for the premise - a woman wanting to avenge the untimely death of her sister, but something strange is also happening in her late sister's house... you know make it Rebecca-esque
And that is where the 1 star goes.
I also took interest in this to show support to a fellow Filipino.
And that's where the .5 star goes.
Other than that.. I endured 14 chapters before skipping to the Epilogue then backtrack 2 chapters just to see where the plot twist happen if you know what I mean
So yes, I almost DNF'd this but the "task finisher" in me just couldn't and again the premise is good and I want to give this book a chance, but...
But, the author needs to get a better editor for his future works. This book has so many technical errors (already evident in the first chapters). Like if I had a red pen and I'm not lazy to annotate it's gonna be bloody
> overly descriptive for things that does not need it
> under(?) Description on those that warrants it
> grammatical error all throughout
It's sad that it was underwhelming for me, because I had high hopes!
We have mystery??
Then maybe some psychological thriller aspect??
But it was flat the mystery was not elaborated, her revenge plan.. idk if anything did happen beyond the 60% mark because before that.. nothing.
The insta-lovey trope was not even convincing.
The smut was like described by a pre-teen or teenager and we are reading from a perspective of a grown woman.
The main character's POV felt like reading from a perspective of a non-grown up woman but then again age is just a number so one can still act and think like a teenager while already in their late 20s or early 30s I guess.
It was like reading an early 2000s wattpad/fanfiction or re-reading a story I wrote during my grade 6 to highschool days.. at the moment it was good but now I see things that need work. That is forgiving, because only my friends read it.. this is a published work. And it's sad.
I really do hope that the author gets a better editor because the idea is there but the execution..
This can be done better.
This is after A LOT of thinking.
I like the premise, I'm gere for the premise - a woman wanting to avenge the untimely death of her sister, but something strange is also happening in her late sister's house... you know make it Rebecca-esque
And that is where the 1 star goes.
I also took interest in this to show support to a fellow Filipino.
And that's where the .5 star goes.
Other than that.. I endured 14 chapters before skipping to the Epilogue then backtrack 2 chapters just to see where the plot twist happen if you know what I mean
So yes, I almost DNF'd this but the "task finisher" in me just couldn't and again the premise is good and I want to give this book a chance, but...
But, the author needs to get a better editor for his future works. This book has so many technical errors (already evident in the first chapters). Like if I had a red pen and I'm not lazy to annotate it's gonna be bloody
> overly descriptive for things that does not need it
> under(?) Description on those that warrants it
> grammatical error all throughout
It's sad that it was underwhelming for me, because I had high hopes!
We have mystery??
Then maybe some psychological thriller aspect??
But it was flat the mystery was not elaborated, her revenge plan.. idk if anything did happen beyond the 60% mark because before that.. nothing.
The insta-lovey trope was not even convincing.
The smut was like described by a pre-teen or teenager and we are reading from a perspective of a grown woman.
The main character's POV felt like reading from a perspective of a non-grown up woman but then again age is just a number so one can still act and think like a teenager while already in their late 20s or early 30s I guess.
It was like reading an early 2000s wattpad/fanfiction or re-reading a story I wrote during my grade 6 to highschool days.. at the moment it was good but now I see things that need work. That is forgiving, because only my friends read it.. this is a published work. And it's sad.
I really do hope that the author gets a better editor because the idea is there but the execution..
This can be done better.
Read
November 21, 2022I tried to read this since the author was nice to send me a hardcopy of his first novel, but I have to say that I cannot connect to the character at all. Her motives and her personality seems to be off for what she aims to do.
I am sorry, Ric :'(
I am sorry, Ric :'(
April 22, 2022
You can check my full review on my blog.
February 17, 2023
I wish the chapters were longer and written in a different style. I still liked it. I bought the physical copy and a soft copy sent by the author. ❤️
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews