Envy

Sandra Brown’s Envy is one of those few novels that is simply unputdownable!!! The prologue is in the form of an initial draft submitted by a mysterious author to the publisher of Matherly Press which narrates a gripping incident near the marina. The author’s initials PME will haunt you right from here. The story is narrated in an alternating fashion between the past and the present. The characters of Todd and Roark in the past and Maris, Noah and Parker in the present will intrigue you with every situation and conversation. The alternating narratives are well connected and filled with suspense. You will find yourself abuzz with eagerness to try and solve the clues and patterns and find the link between the two periods. And in-between all this, the unexpected love story between unlikely individuals adds spice to the story. The themes of hatred that stems from jealousy and resentment are well chronicled by Sandra Brown!

Re-read Oct 7th 20203rd attempt at an audiobook which once again I failed miserably😢😢😢, so went back to my eBook. I read somewhere that the trick to improve your concentration while listening to an audiobook is to repeatedly trying it. So, this was my attempt at listening to Victor Slezak, who I should say has done a wonderful job, narrating ENVY one of my all-time favorite Sandra Brown novel.Recently in an interview Sandra Brown had talked about how much the concept of masochism has been beaten down and that men in our culture have been emasculated to the point that they are afraid to face their own shadows. But it is quite ironical that readers still enjoy the knight in shining armor protecting the damsel in distress stories.Envy was first published in 2001(Goodreads data). Most of SB books have the kind of heroes that readers fall in love with irrespective of the rude and offensive dialogues that are often uttered. Parker Evans is no different but what makes this story spectacular is that the whole game of revenge and justice is played out by a hero who is wheel-chair bound. The use of brains rather than brawn to gain the upper hand is so brilliantly done that one is left with a thunderstruck expression at the end of it all.The relationship between Maris and her father is another loving touch, the affection just pouring out of the pages. Sandra brown is also amazingly proficient in creating sexual tension between her characters using the ‘see but don’t touch’ technique which has been evident in many of her books.Parker says it best, “The Forbidden, the strongest sexual stimulant of all. What isn’t good for us. What we can’t have. What we want so badly we can taste but can’t touch”.Even being aware of every twist in the story, I loved re-reading Envy so much that I now have to stop myself from binge reading all my favorite SB novels.

Okay. Typical Sandra brown.

I love Sandra Browns writing. Excellent book

Enjoyable

A história começa de forma intrigante e você fica querendo juntar as duas história. Mas o romance é apaixonante e tem um final surpreendente!

大変おもしろかったです。女性(作者)の視点で書かれているからか、セックスシーンの描写は、あまり気になりませんでした。同じ作者の他の作品を読みたいと思います。

Envy is the third novel by Sandra Brown I've read and she's rapidly earning her way onto my list of "go-to" authors. Her novels always manage to surprise once or twice and certainly entertain from cover to cover.Envy is the title of the book within the book and it's the lure that brings Maris Matherly-Reed to a remote Georgian island to purchase the rights to a novel. What she doesn't realize is that she's been lured into an elaborate scheme of revenge long buried in the past.There are excerpts of the fictional Envy included as interludes between some of the more emotionally charged chapters. They are there both as background information and as a character building device to better understand Parker, the author Maris has gone to see. Frankly, these chapters aren't necessary and serve as a distraction to the meat of the book. I suggest saving them until the end to read as bonus material.Envy has three major story lines: Parker's past, the romance between Parker and Maris, and Noah's machinations to sell Maris's publishing company out from under her. Noah Reed, Maris's husband and her relationship to him is the glue that holds Envy together.What I liked best about the novel was Parker. He's wheelchair bound but by no means "handicapped" nor is he seeking sympathy or special treatment. He's rough, crude and fowl mouthed and tempered and yet he's a very believable and oddly likeable character. It's clear that the wheelchair isn't the cause of his "bad" traits; it's just another part of who he is. It was refreshing to meet characters like Parker who weren't obviously built up from a series of checked boxes on a character sheet.