Recommended romances by IndieReader.com
Website IndieReader.com offers recommendations for indie-published e-books that the site's reviewers have declared are pretty great.
Caught in the Net by J.G. Mère ($2.99)
Caught in the Net is a modern-day erotica/romance tale about Ellen Stiles.
A wife and mother of two, Ellen indulges her sexy alter ego in an online fantasy world, only to get caught in a net of deception and confusion, balancing precariously between what's real and what's not.
Author J.G. Mère effectively captures the protagonist's distracted stream of consciousness as she intermingles her experiences online with her day-to-day experiences and how the fantasy of her Internet world make her own life pale in comparison. But, Mère also reveals what happens when the Internet life comes to life, with sobering results.
Mère creates a sense of the protagonist's adrenaline rush and anticipation at meeting her online lover, through her erratic shifts from one thought to another, from her constant comparison of one world and another, but also conveys soft, smooth and dream-like moments when Ellen is lost in her own freedom of fantasy and imagination: "She felt as though she were tumbling through space, a woman without boundaries."
Though there are some monotonous moments in the chit-chat dialogue between the protagonist and her friends, repetitive sexual responses to her online lover, and confusion about whether the narrator or Ellen is speaking, the writing is mostly succinct and clear of typos.
Caught in the Net reveals the enticement of the Internet chat world, but also the reality of it in with candor and humor. When Ellen is chatting with her girlfriend about meeting Bennie, her online mate, Suzy reminds Ellen why online chatting is preferable to meeting the person:
"The three physical things people on the Internet don't have:
1 Bellies. 2. Bulges. 3. Open sores.
The three physical things Internet people do have:
1. Big breasts (women). 2. Manes of hair (men). 3. Lotsa muscle tone."
Mère effectively brings out Ellen's dilemma between wanting excitement and the freedom that her Internet fantasy gives her, but also the comfort that her familiar relationship gives her. She describes her relationship with her husband to her online mate: "We move slowly together, but we do move. Our pace is a life-long pace. This is very comforting to me. He is my cornerstone." Ellen's guilt is also well conveyed as it drifts in and out of her passion and lustful moments. Though the ending is not altogether unpredictable, it makes for a touching ending that is well woven into Ellen's transformation.
Caught in the Net is an intriguing romance, examining a modern woman's psyche as she deals with the dilemma of her online fantasy colliding with reality. (Reviewed by Maya Fleischmann for IndieReader)
Turquoise, Ayshe Talay-Ongan ($8.16)
Author Ayshe Talay-Ongan's down-to-earth yet mildly abstract novel follows the seemingly star-crossed relationship between a young woman and her old friend's husband.
The story centers around Yasmin, an ambitious Turkish woman from Istanbul. The journey commences with Yasmin's return to her home country after several years of living abroad. Most of her time away involved completing a PhD in developmental psychology from New York University, and not much else. Her love and social lives have been perpetually uneventful, despite being wooed by a young suitor named Ibo, whom she deems utterly unacceptable and readily avoids. One evening, Yasmin runs into an old friend: Ani. Ani, whom she met in high school, has also just returned to her homeland, after spending several years in Sydney.
Yasmin is pleasantly surprised at how much Ani has changed. She now has a child and is married. This scenario heightens the dramatic tension of the tale. Ani's Armenian husband, Renan, is handsome. Very handsome. Although she tries to repress her true feelings, Yasmin is instantly attracted to him. To make matters worse, Ani insists that they get together more often. Meeting for drinks and dinner becomes a weekly occurrence, unbearably so for Yasmin. With the passing of time, her feelings only grow. However, she is both shocked and overjoyed when she learns that Renan shares the same sentiments.
After a brief, far-from-platonic relationship that she keeps secret from Ani, the social environment in Istanbul becomes volatile. Though never a completely "at peace" country, things start to take a turn for the worse. Eventually Renan and Ani decide to return to Australia. Yasmin makes a similar decision. She moves back to New York. After several months of trying to secure employment as a college professor, she ultimately ends up in San Francisco. As the years move onward, she experiences a tragic and unanticipated event involving her father. In response, her priorities change and she is forced to make a painful and incredibly difficult decision.
Turquoise is a well-written, informative and image-filled novel that not only explores themes of love and social unrest, but also the elements of womanhood that many authors rarely expound upon. (Reviewed by Rebecca Nichloson for IndieReader)
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