"A dark sexy, itchy tale that gets under your skin!"
Anne Stuart is the Queen of creating those dark and
dangerous, complex alpha/gamma rogue males that have black
hearts and even blacker souls. They are a wonderful mix of
sin, sexy, power and control, the threatening Bad Boys that
mothers warns darling daughters against, but daughters
ignores all, pulled to them by the very things that scare
her. Stuart has given some memorable books that haunt you long
after you put them down, such as MOONRISE, NIGHTFALL, TO
LOVE A DARK LORD and SHADOWS AT SUNSET. The male is always
a lethal, arrogant, will do anything to win, a man who will
use everything and anyone to get what he wants. Yet, Stuart
gives them that special redeeming spark, which makes you
love them just as her characters do. More importantly,
though the dark heroes are of the same mold, they are NOT
the same character done over and over. Each one is as
individual as they are mesmerizing and threatening. But in RITUAL SINS she has created one of her darkest
heroes. Luke Bardell. I buy Stuart on name alone and know I
will get an utterly thrilling read whether Harlequin series
romance, Historicals or menacing contemporaries. Yet, I had
to admit the story line of this one was very off putting.
The hero being a James Jones Cult-type leader did not make
one want to rush out and get this. It shows Stuart's strong
craft, her hypnotic storytelling that you are hooked from
page one. Luke Bardell is the center of this dark, itchy tale or
murder and bilked fortunes. He is a master conman with a
very shady past, a charlatan that preys on desperate women
and who cares less what anyone thinks about him as long as
they don't get in his way. Rachael Connery just made the
mistake of stepping right in the middle of Bardell's path.
And she is about to regret that move. Rachael and her mother shared a shaky relationship, but
even so, she is completely floored when Stella suddenly
died. Yes, she had cancer, but there was no reason she
should have died so quickly. Worse, her whole fortune is
left to Luke Bardell's new age commune called The
Foundation of Being. The Foundation is set up in the middle
of the desert - all the better to isolate and maybe
brainwash the very wealthy clients that come to him to be
healed. Rachel is appalled that her mother would name The
Foundation i.e. Luke Bardell to receive her fortune. But
beyond losing the vast estate that would have been hers,
Rachael fears Luke murdered her mother and she is going to
prove it. Luke claims Stella Connery was of sound mind, even though
dying of cancer, when she made out her new will. Rachael
does not believe this and sues Luke but the courts up hold
Stella's new will. Rachael is determined not to get this
go, and will dance with the devil to find evidence of
Luke's guilt. Luke is displeased and annoyed more than
anything with Rachael's one-woman war. He is arrogant,
convinced of his overpower charisma, and views Rachael as a
challenge instead of a threat, and issues the invitation to
Rachael to come stay at the Foundation, see what they
actually do, and do her worst if she is still a mind to do
so. Rachael is not his taste in woman. He thinks her too
skinny, too upright, and enslaving and controlling Rachael
is just the sort of sick games Luke enjoys. Only, he does
not count on Rachael having so much passion locked insider
her, nor getting caught in his own web. As Luke's goals
shift, he begins to feel both Rachael and he are at peril.
But will she listen? Despite her hatred, her anger and even
the hurt over her mother's betrayal, in the face she fully
believes Luke is a high priced snake oil salesman, she
finds she cannot resist him. She may be pulled into his
sexual thrall, unable to stop him from bringing out her
most darkest passions, but she is not stupid enough to
trust him but in order to save both their lives, that is
just what Luke will ask of her. Posted April 6, 2003
Reviewed by Deborah Macgillivray
Posted November 18, 2006
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