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Lady Mariel
Champlain can hardly believe it when one evening while going about her
chores,
a demon knocks on her door and carries her off to be wed. It seems that
in
order to pay off his debts, her father has sold her. She is to be
served as a
human sacrifice to seven demons, whose priests will manipulate her body
and
senses, however they see fit. If she should survive these rituals and
respond
to them in the appropriate manner, she might be able to keep her life.
Otherwise, she is as good as dead.
To
complicate matters even more, she has taken a liking to Behsart, the
man that
is in charge of dragging her from one demon’s castle to the next. The
more time
that she spends with him, the more she finds herself attracted to
Cavan, the
man whose body Behsart inhabits. On each journey to the next castle, he
seduces
her body while occupying her mind; she can’t help but feel a strong
desire for
him. Yet it is unclear just whom she is falling in love with, the
demon, or the
man? Or both?
BELLY OF
THE BEAST is an extremely dark, sensual journey into Ms. Acuna’s
imagination.
By her own admission, in the introduction to the novel, she writes that
she
pushed the envelope with this one, and tested the boundaries of her
imagination. Lady Mariel’s journey into submission and obedience is at
times
horrifying and at other times arousing. Her body is subjected to
relentless
sexual rituals and countless acts of humiliation. While I was horrified
by some
of the content, I couldn’t stop reading to see how it ended. I had to
know if
Mariel would keep her life or lose it as a human sacrifice. At the same
time, I
found myself attracted to Behsart’s character, also known as Cavan,
whose body
he inhabits. He is dark and seemingly dangerous, yet he takes Mariel to
new
heights of pleasure and attempts to protect her from her harsh
treatments.
BELLY OF THE BEAST is indeed a dark journey. It is shocking and
appalling, yet
devastatingly sexual, sensual, and arousing.
Reviewed by Ansley
Velarde for The
Road to Romance
August 14, 2004
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