"a stylish and sizzling story"
Quinn White is a creative writing teacher at Durum College
who up until a few weeks previous had been living the
average life of an average man. That is before the dreams
of a dark-haired, blue-eyed woman in the mist started to
plague his sleep. Initially difficult to decipher, Quinn's dreams soon take
on more clarity and substance, the dark-haired woman
addressing him in a foreign but vaguely familiar name,
leading him to a stone door with an unfamiliar symbol.
Never in his wildest imagination, however, could Quinn
predict that his dreams would be far more than fantasy,
ultimately and physically dangerous. In walks Candy—"Just Candy"—a mysterious and beautiful
young blonde Quinn meets at a St. Patrick's Day party. The
sparks immediately fly between the two, Quinn feeling a
passion and synergy with Candy that he hasn't felt with
another woman, especially where the sex is concerned.
Candy is sexy, hot and uninhibited between the sheets and
out of them, everything a red-blooded man could ever ask
for. But the questions that Quinn should be asking
himself: is she everything he needs and what are her
motivations? During a monthly faculty conference Quinn recognizes the
symbol from the stone door in a history book of his friend
Mark, a Durum College professor. Desperate to find the
meaning of the woman and the door, Quinn relays his dream
to his skeptical friend and a request to find out exactly
what the symbol means. When Quinn wakes from one of his dreams seriously injured
by claw marks to his shoulder, it is Candy who is with
him, gets him to the hospital and gives the treating
doctors a plausible story for Quinn's wound, one plausible
enough to keep Quinn out of a forty-eight-hour psychiatric
hold. Convinced now that Candy means him no harm and only has
his best interests at heart, Quinn goes back to Mark more
determined than ever to, at the very least, find the
meaning behind the symbol if not get to the bottom of his
dreams altogether. In OPEN DOOR, H.H. Self paints an unconventional and
sensual picture of eternal love, his hero and heroine
physically separated for most of the book. This does not
in any way detract from the emotional intensity and
physical ardor of the story, indeed adds to it especially
in the scenes when Khaba and Nofertiri are finally brought
together. Not to mention the erotic and eloquently
realized love scenes between Quinn and Candy fairly ignite
the screen. Quinn is an engaging and strong hero, but even a more
pleasant and surprising upshot of the story is the part
that his friend Mark and lover Candy plays in the exciting
and suspenseful climax and solving the mystery behind
Quinn's past; this alone was worth the price of admission. H.H. Self has spun a stylish and sizzling story in OPEN
DOOR, a tightly-woven, fast-paced narrative that I'd
recommend to any lover of erotic paranormal romance,
mystery or suspense.
Reviewed by Gracie McKeever
Posted February 6, 2007
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