I discovered and fell in love with this series when the third book had just come out. She soon became one of my favorite writers. But it has definitely gone down hill--except for Obsidian Butterfly which is so good because she is away from St. Louis and there is no sex--and that's the reason why I read the book version in the bookstore before deciding if I would buy it (I didn't). I actually thought this book was a little better than some of the other recent stories because it didn't have as many sex scenes and the supernatural took a bit of a lesser role. To paraphrase from other comments, her sex scenes have become bad porn and not remotely erotic. She doesn't seem to understand the statement less is more. The sex scenes are actually more of an annoyance in the supposed plot than advancing it. While on some level ardeur is an interesting idea, particularly for a character who at first didn't have much sex and the repercussions on her personality and mental state, not every sexual encounter has to be described in such detail.
I liked Richard for the first couple of books. But she really has turned him into a real bastard. Like you said, it's annoying that he seems to have these breakthrough and then every book backtracks. While it is completely realistic that people lapse in their evolution she doesn't really portray him with any redeeming qualities. He never really moves forward and then its all Anita's fault. While this could be a convenient method to rehabilitate his character a bit it doesn't happen. Someone could argue that there's nothing wrong with him as a character having trouble sharing the woman he loves with other people and even realizing that he has to go back to Jean-Claude to deal with the ardeur before it gets out of control and abandoning Anita at the same time he even realizes it is cowardly, but since there is never any progress with his character from one book to another I don't have any belief in it. I guess it is no surprise that Richard is portrayed so badly because it does seem that she associated his with her ex-husband. When she was happy with him, he was a sympathetic character and then after the divorce he just goes down hill. Then, there is a new guy in her life and she magically is attracted to him with no real faults. I don't like Micah just because he doesn't seem to have much personality, he's just a yes-man.
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I liked Richard for the first couple of books. But she really has turned him into a real bastard. Like you said, it's annoying that he seems to have these breakthrough and then every book backtracks. While it is completely realistic that people lapse in their evolution she doesn't really portray him with any redeeming qualities. He never really moves forward and then its all Anita's fault. While this could be a convenient method to rehabilitate his character a bit it doesn't happen. Someone could argue that there's nothing wrong with him as a character having trouble sharing the woman he loves with other people and even realizing that he has to go back to Jean-Claude to deal with the ardeur before it gets out of control and abandoning Anita at the same time he even realizes it is cowardly, but since there is never any progress with his character from one book to another I don't have any belief in it. I guess it is no surprise that Richard is portrayed so badly because it does seem that she associated his with her ex-husband. When she was happy with him, he was a sympathetic character and then after the divorce he just goes down hill. Then, there is a new guy in her life and she magically is attracted to him with no real faults. I don't like Micah just because he doesn't seem to have much personality, he's just a yes-man.