verity1089's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
lindaunconventionalbookworms's review
4.0
This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
The Red is mysterious, scandalous, strange, and weirdly arousing.
If I had to put The Red into a genre box, I'd be in big trouble, as it's a great mix with the strongest part being erotica. As always, Reisz managed to draw me in from the beginning with her enticing Mona and the very mysterious Malcolm. There is a fairy tale feel to this story, there is something that is similar to magic, but not quite, and there is also some very erotic passages, where the lines between real life and something not completely real are blurred.
The Red follows Mona after she realizes that she might not be able to keep her death-bed promise to her mom. Keeping the gallery in the family is important to her, but there just isn't any more money left. When a mysterious, beautiful stranger enters the gallery late one evening, everything Mona has known up until now might change. He will save the gallery, but only if Mona makes him a promise. And that promise is what gives her a lot of pleasure, but at the same time makes her ask a whole lot of questions.
There are a lot of hot scenes in The Red, some of them are so enticing I felt like I was there, dancing and twirling in the moonlight. Others made me cringe a little bit, because things were just so very strange... mysterious and rather taboo. I loved the whole story, though, and as always, Reisz's way with words had me more or less spellbound from start to finish, it was impossible to put the book down.
"We'll play games, you and I. Or I'll pay them and you'll play along. You won't know realty from fantasy." "I'll know." "You say that now... but I'm very good at the games I play." This time he didn't smile. He smirked like shed' heard the devil does.
"They were scared," ... he countered. "A woman with power. A woman who owned her body and wasn't afraid to sell it. That painting is art because it terrified its first viewers. Art should be dangerous, you know. It should say something to society that society doesn't want to hear. Do you know what the opposite of art is? Propaganda. There's too much of that in the world. Not enough art. And certainly not enough of this..."
No man had ever made her feel so much as Malcolm did. Pain didn't cancel out the pleasure - it doubled it, trebled it.
The Red is mysterious, scandalous, strange, and weirdly arousing.
If I had to put The Red into a genre box, I'd be in big trouble, as it's a great mix with the strongest part being erotica. As always, Reisz managed to draw me in from the beginning with her enticing Mona and the very mysterious Malcolm. There is a fairy tale feel to this story, there is something that is similar to magic, but not quite, and there is also some very erotic passages, where the lines between real life and something not completely real are blurred.
The Red follows Mona after she realizes that she might not be able to keep her death-bed promise to her mom. Keeping the gallery in the family is important to her, but there just isn't any more money left. When a mysterious, beautiful stranger enters the gallery late one evening, everything Mona has known up until now might change. He will save the gallery, but only if Mona makes him a promise. And that promise is what gives her a lot of pleasure, but at the same time makes her ask a whole lot of questions.
There are a lot of hot scenes in The Red, some of them are so enticing I felt like I was there, dancing and twirling in the moonlight. Others made me cringe a little bit, because things were just so very strange... mysterious and rather taboo. I loved the whole story, though, and as always, Reisz's way with words had me more or less spellbound from start to finish, it was impossible to put the book down.
"We'll play games, you and I. Or I'll pay them and you'll play along. You won't know realty from fantasy." "I'll know." "You say that now... but I'm very good at the games I play." This time he didn't smile. He smirked like shed' heard the devil does.
"They were scared," ... he countered. "A woman with power. A woman who owned her body and wasn't afraid to sell it. That painting is art because it terrified its first viewers. Art should be dangerous, you know. It should say something to society that society doesn't want to hear. Do you know what the opposite of art is? Propaganda. There's too much of that in the world. Not enough art. And certainly not enough of this..."
No man had ever made her feel so much as Malcolm did. Pain didn't cancel out the pleasure - it doubled it, trebled it.
gemini_cole680's review
1.0
This book pissed me right the fuck off. I had such high hopes after reading the author's holiday Blaze novels. But this was just...
It's like by trying to push the envelope sexually, it stopped being sexual and just got weird. And the lack of chemistry between the characters was maddening to me.
AND THEN TO TOP IT OFF HE WAS A DAMN FUCKING GHOST THE ENTIRE TIME??? And then she's fucking his grandson (I'm sorry, her fiancé?!) in a limo 5 minutes after meeting him?
Ugh. I'm so pissed I bought this book.
It's like by trying to push the envelope sexually, it stopped being sexual and just got weird. And the lack of chemistry between the characters was maddening to me.
AND THEN TO TOP IT OFF HE WAS A DAMN FUCKING GHOST THE ENTIRE TIME??? And then she's fucking his grandson (I'm sorry, her fiancé?!) in a limo 5 minutes after meeting him?
Ugh. I'm so pissed I bought this book.
moirwyn's review
5.0
This review originally appeared on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2017/07/13/the-red-by-tiffany-reisz/
I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump lately. I’m 16 books behind on my Goodreads goal, and have been having a hard time getting immersed in books. In an attempt to get out of my slump, I hopped on NetGalley and downloaded The Red: An Erotic Fantasy by one of my favorite authors, Tiffany Reisz. I wanted a book that was like candy… no, I lied. I wanted the book equivalent of salty kettle-cooked potato chips, the kind of thing that’s satisfying and delicious and easy to devour in one sitting but makes you want more. That’s exactly what I found in The Red.
The color red becomes a constant theme throughout the book. Mona, the book’s protagonist, is a redhead. Her mother recently died, leaving behind a host of bills, and now the art gallery (called the Red) that Mona and her mother ran together is in the red. On her deathbed, Mona’s mom made her promise to do whatever it takes to save the gallery. Mona realizes that saving the gallery is impossible, and resigns herself to losing it.
Then one night as she’s closing up shop a handsome stranger appears in the shop, seemingly out of nowhere. And while Mona’s a bit freaked out, she rolls with it, and decides to hear him out. He makes her an offer–if she sleeps with him and submits to his desires once a month or so over the next year, he will pay her more than enough money to save the gallery. Against her better judgement, Mona agrees.
Each month, Mona finds a note from the stranger, a famous painting which he desires her to enact. And the first couple nights they end up acting out the BDSM-type fantasies that Mona was expecting. But then shit starts to get weird, not in a kinky way so much as a blurring-the-bounds-of-what-is-real-and-what-is-a-dream kind of way, and the book begins to resemble magical realism as much as it does erotica. And that’s where my summary will end for fear of giving anything away.
I enjoyed The Red tremendously. It’s artsy and trippy and sexy and most of all is the kind of book that you can dive into and escape from your own reality into a world where anything is possible. Through her monthly encounters, Mona embarks on a journey of self-discovery, and what started out as a way to save her art gallery ends up teaching her about what she wants and expects from a lover and partner. And seeing Mona move from grief to joy suited my mood so well, given that I’ve experienced loss in the past few months and am still trying to process my emotions from it. The Red is kind of book that reminds you why you fell in love with reading in the first place, and it came into my life at precisely the right moment for me to appreciate it most.
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2017/07/13/the-red-by-tiffany-reisz/
I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump lately. I’m 16 books behind on my Goodreads goal, and have been having a hard time getting immersed in books. In an attempt to get out of my slump, I hopped on NetGalley and downloaded The Red: An Erotic Fantasy by one of my favorite authors, Tiffany Reisz. I wanted a book that was like candy… no, I lied. I wanted the book equivalent of salty kettle-cooked potato chips, the kind of thing that’s satisfying and delicious and easy to devour in one sitting but makes you want more. That’s exactly what I found in The Red.
The color red becomes a constant theme throughout the book. Mona, the book’s protagonist, is a redhead. Her mother recently died, leaving behind a host of bills, and now the art gallery (called the Red) that Mona and her mother ran together is in the red. On her deathbed, Mona’s mom made her promise to do whatever it takes to save the gallery. Mona realizes that saving the gallery is impossible, and resigns herself to losing it.
Then one night as she’s closing up shop a handsome stranger appears in the shop, seemingly out of nowhere. And while Mona’s a bit freaked out, she rolls with it, and decides to hear him out. He makes her an offer–if she sleeps with him and submits to his desires once a month or so over the next year, he will pay her more than enough money to save the gallery. Against her better judgement, Mona agrees.
Each month, Mona finds a note from the stranger, a famous painting which he desires her to enact. And the first couple nights they end up acting out the BDSM-type fantasies that Mona was expecting. But then shit starts to get weird, not in a kinky way so much as a blurring-the-bounds-of-what-is-real-and-what-is-a-dream kind of way, and the book begins to resemble magical realism as much as it does erotica. And that’s where my summary will end for fear of giving anything away.
I enjoyed The Red tremendously. It’s artsy and trippy and sexy and most of all is the kind of book that you can dive into and escape from your own reality into a world where anything is possible. Through her monthly encounters, Mona embarks on a journey of self-discovery, and what started out as a way to save her art gallery ends up teaching her about what she wants and expects from a lover and partner. And seeing Mona move from grief to joy suited my mood so well, given that I’ve experienced loss in the past few months and am still trying to process my emotions from it. The Red is kind of book that reminds you why you fell in love with reading in the first place, and it came into my life at precisely the right moment for me to appreciate it most.
halcyon_rising's review
3.0
I've never read anything by this author before, and I'm pleasantly surprised by the writing. Most of these books are cringeworthy and make your eyes get stuck in upward position, but that did not happen in this case.
The story does not take long to get to the hotter parts, but for those of us who are wrongfully bothered by pants dropping as soon as page 2, it was not too fast.
The storyline itself sure was something different. Something very different. Honestly, the less said about that, the better. What is happening is very unique, and it should not be spoiled before you go in. It would ruin the entire experience. I did think it was a bit strange, so I'm taking my rating down from 4 to 3.5 stars, but I still think - especially if you like this author - that you should check out the book and judge for yourself whether you liked the ending, or not.
Happy Reading!
The story does not take long to get to the hotter parts, but for those of us who are wrongfully bothered by pants dropping as soon as page 2, it was not too fast.
The storyline itself sure was something different. Something very different. Honestly, the less said about that, the better. What is happening is very unique, and it should not be spoiled before you go in. It would ruin the entire experience. I did think it was a bit strange, so I'm taking my rating down from 4 to 3.5 stars, but I still think - especially if you like this author - that you should check out the book and judge for yourself whether you liked the ending, or not.
Happy Reading!
diaryofthebookdragon's review against another edition
2.0
Tiffany Reisz's novels are one of the most popular in erotic genre. I have already read some other vanilla books by her and enjoyed them. When The Red came out, the paranormal element of the story convinced me to give it a go, although I had serious doubt that I will like it.
As always, my hunch was right. Tiffany Reisz writes very well but the erotic scenes were too much for me. I will stick to her less known books that are not labeled as bdsm in the future.
As always, my hunch was right. Tiffany Reisz writes very well but the erotic scenes were too much for me. I will stick to her less known books that are not labeled as bdsm in the future.
sweetdee27's review
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
electricjuicebox's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25