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By day, Lucia masquerades as a castrato art apprentice, by night she is a woman with desires. The men that have looked on her with desire only see the young, striking castrato, not the woman beneath. In turn, no mortal man has ever stirred desire in her. Her one fascination, the one man who makes her heart race with passion, is a statue.
For over three hundred years, David, or Vido as he goes by, has lived a life of forever youth, his soul trapped for eternity in the statue of his likeness. However, along with eternal youth, Vido’s life is filled with loneliness. He’s had friends and lovers, but has never been able to speak freely of his plight nor had the courage to ask for forever love from anyone.
Lucia never misses a visit to the piazza where the statue of David holds court. Her every womanly desire could be fulfilled, if only David was a man. When she encounters Vido, she’s swept by desire and a familiarity she can’t quite place, until he helps her realize that he’s the model for the statue. Unable to fathom what her heart and Vido are telling her, Lucia leaves, but returns to see if she experienced a virginal hallucination or if the love of her life is really flesh and blood.
HEART OF STONE is an interesting twist to the history of the statue of David. Because of the length of the story there’s not much background on the characters and the only point of view you get is from Lucia. Annice Dare went out on a limb with her creativity and came up with a fun outlook on history, but I’m not sure the limb was strong enough to hold the story. HEART OF STONE could have used a little more depth or emotion. Ms. Dare’s talent as a writer is evident and I look forward to reading other works from her.
Reviewed by Tina Burns
for The Road to Romance
March 27, 2005
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