Strange Attractions

by Emma Holly

Book Overview

Determined not to repeat her mother's mistakes, high school dropout and unrepentant heartbreaker Charity Wills jumps at the chance to attend college for free. There's just one little catch... She must travel to the estate of reclusive physicist B.G. Grantham, who likes to play sex games as exotic as the particles he studies-and is obsessed with the thrill of being refused the one thing he craves. But Charity is more than up to the challenge-especially...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425198219
• ISBN13: 9780425198216
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 311 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

impressive use of sexuality

Once again Emma Holly has written an intense story that involves some pretty hot sexual scenes. If you don't like a male to male love story, then this is not for you as it is featured prominently. There are of course other relationships in the story and they also engage in very hot, very specific sexual activities. I wish there was as much detail in the male/female scenes as there is in the male/male scenes. I must admit, it gave me new insight into male/male relationships.

oodles of very, very creative sex - and a satisfying romance, too!

I have two main comments about Strange Attractions: 1. I have read hundreds of romances, a decent amount of erotica - and I can honestly say that this is the first book of the lot to really give me ideas. Strange Attractions is more useful than most sex manuals. 2. It is incredible, yet true, that even though almost everything that happens in the book is explicitly sexual, the characters are fully fleshed out, three-dimensional, human. It's got a story, it's got emotional intensity, it's got complex and shifting relationships that go along with the complex and shifting physical contortions that spice up almost every last page. I picked this book up because although I was a bit dubious about the whole menage-a-trois aspect, I have been very impressed with other Emma Holly books. Sure, threesomes are hot - but I imagined it would be really emotionally messy and unpleasant, or just...impossible to make emotionally satisfying. Boy was I wrong. The relationship between the three characters was perfect - loving, respectful, with different personalities, different talents and flaws, that strike a perfect balance as a triple rather than a couple. A couple of things are a bit botched. One is that Holly doesn't dwell on the part of the book where Charity agrees to the "game" and there's not much adjusting going on - one second Charity is offended that Eric is propositioning her, whatever the proposition may consist of, the next she is in up to her neck and her sexual inhibitions are ancient history. I didn't mind - I, too, was happy to jump straight to the fun parts & I'd frankly rather do without fifty pages wasted in whinging and feeble protestations. But, still, the transition was awkward. The other thing is that B.G. is supposed to be a genius physicist and there is this kind of ridiculous subplot involving quantum mechanics and ghosts. Now, one of my best friends happens to be a bona fide theoretical physics super-genius-prodigy, and although I realize that all genius physicists are not the same, because of my knowledge of my friend & certainly what I've learned from him about his work, certain things about B.G.'s character (let alone his science) seemed really jarring and out of place to me. So if you are a scientist, know a lot of scientists, or just read a lot of science magazines - be prepared to heave a disdainful sigh or two. But read the book anyhow. It's totally awesome.

Site Rating 4 1/2 Hearts - No One Writes A Sex Scene Like Holly! Hot, Carnal, And Fresh!

Everything in life seems to be explainable when viewed through an ingenious mind. Mix in the many nuances of erotic forays; you get what is called Strange Attractions. B. G. Grantham is a secluded physicist that wants to know every thing that pertains to sexuality, and its effects. Whether it is group sex, men on men, women on women, or the traditional man and woman. One lucky lady, Charity Wills, has been chosen as a new subject for Grantham's latest carnal study. Charity will get a free college education and a whole lot more. Buckle up, because this book really gets rocking! Strange Attractions is by the highly acclaimed erotic author, Emma Holly. Ms. Holly can flat out pen an erotic stunner. From the moment you crack open this book; you are blasted with carnal heat. The characters are multi-dimensional and well developed. The premise is lusciously fresh and intensely detailed. Much like a set of silk sheets: luxurious to dwell on and highly arousing to the touch. Emma Holly is the erotic voice of today. Charity's character is spunky and bright, yet she still maintains a highly feminine allure to her persona. When it comes to sex, anything goes and does with her. When she gets a chance to have a free college education and have great sex, who is she to complain? But, watch out, Charity has a whole sexual arsenal she has yet to unveil. Charity's "keeper" Eric Berne is also Grantham's right-hand man. He has known Grantham before he became famous-- and these two men are quite tight, you could say. Grantham and Eric will get an eye-opening experience when it comes to Charity and her sexual escapades. This erotic contemporary leaves nothing to the imagination and every thing to satisfying the carnal hungers it generates while reading it. If you are not breathless and a little shell shocked after reading this book, then you have not read the same one this reviewer did. Nab a copy of Strange Attractions by Emma Holly today. Reviewed by © Janalee Ruschhaupt, 2006 Courtesy of Love Romances www.loveromances.com

flawless Multi-POV makes this brilliantly spellbinding

You never quite know what to expect from Emma Holly, which is obviously her intent. She is a writer that continually fascinates me. I don't choose erotic fiction as a matter of routine, because honestly, most of it fails to deliver on the one level I want most - makes me care about the characters. Recently in a debate about the levels of sexuality in Romance in general, some came down on the side of sizzling hot, some for chaste Regency Romances. I said, "Frankly, I don't care which road you ask me to travel; tell a good story, and I will enjoy it." And for me, that is so true. I enjoy Sandra Heath Regency tales as much as I enjoy Angela Knight or Emma Holly, two of the red-hot sizzling writers of today. Why Holly continually leads me down roads I'd travel less is she starts with the most important ingredient: characters. She creates very human, very alive people, reaches in and grabs your heart, and then proceeds to push emotional and physical boundaries like no other writer around. Once again, with her newest work, Strange Attractions, Holly delivers up a spicy, but emotional dish. An O.T.T. scientist is obsessed with knowing the why of everything. And the most elusive why to him is emotional response and feelings. When he is not being this era's Albert Einstein, Grantham unwinds by playing games with people - his very own human Kens and Barbies, trying to figure out what makes them react as they do. A one man Think Tank, B.G. Grantham very selectively chooses his candidates, looking for people that are strong willed, but flawed. His right hand is Eric Berne - Grantham's Man Friday and Ken doll rolled into one. It's time for Grantham to unwind from his more earth-saving pursuits, so he sends Eric out to find a new subject. Eric has chosen sexy, wisecracking Charity Willis. Charity immediately wins the readers over. She is a gal who loves being a woman, short skirt, tight tops. Coming from a less than spotless background of a mother who moved about, and "uncles" who moved in and out of Charity's life with the regularity of the Navy, Charity has learn to protect herself. She is wound, yet resilient; she won't take gruff from people who mistake her delight in being sexy as a come on to any Tom, Dick and Harry. But life has not given Charity any breaks. She means well, but she's been fire from more jobs than she had "uncles". She's bright, but little applies herself, because what's the point? Charity has seen Eric around the offices where she works, Future-Tech, even had the strange sensation he was following her on several occasions. She is attracted to the sexy man, but feels that a man like him would be interested in a girl like her for only one reason. When she's called to the personnel office, she at first fears getting fired for perpetually being late. She is ushered into the office by Eric who says he has a proposal for her. Charity steels herself for the usual, and is ready to put him in his place. Instead, Eric

Very strange, but very fun

Friends and lovers B.G. and Eric make and interesting proposition to self-described heartbreaker Charity Wills: participate in an erotic "experiment" and her tuition will be paid to any college she wishes to attend. She accepts, and the games begin. This book is classic Emma Holly: interesting,romantic, and hot emough to peel the paint off the walls. I highly recommend this book.