Synopsis
Being with the same man since she was 18, 26 year old widow Jazz Mickelson is hoping to catch up on all the life experiences that could have been hers had she not leapt into a committed relationship so young.
Julian St. Sauveur is looking for three things: romance, comfort and trust. He mistakenly thought he had them once many years ago. He sees potential for him and Jazz but knows it is too soon for her.
Will she accept his unusual proposition, one that allows him to hold on to her while she catches up on life?…and will she choose him after experiencing all the wonders that await her?
Find out as Jazz and Julian explore their potential…
FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY
Buy Links:
BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/exploration-peyton-sloane/1115836475?ean=2940044601413
Review
Exploration is a perfect title for the first part of Julian and Jazz’s journey. Neither Julian St. Sauveur or Jazzmyne Mickelson are looking for love or commitment when they board their flight for Paris, but their chance encounter on the airplane and the sexual chemistry they feel right from the start leads them to take a chance on each other and explore their mutual attraction. Quickly, their passion in the bedroom and their enjoyment of each other’s company leads both Julian and Jazz to develop feelings that were never part of their agreement. What is meant to be a journey of self discovery – a way for Jazz to step outside of the box and take risks slowly turns into a relationship where both participants actually want more than they’re willing to admit.
But Jazz also feels like she needs the chance to experience life on her own and the highs and lows that come with it. She’s only 26 years old, but her life up until this point has been filled with being a caregiver for her cancer stricken husband, and while she wouldn’t have changed her decision to be with him and care for him, her life was not her own; she didn’t get to experience the normal things someone does in her early twenties, which is exactly what this trip to Paris is supposed to be. But her feelings for Julian and the man himself complicates things and overwhelms her, but she also can’t deny that he makes her feel alive and wanted, which are two things that have been lacking in her life for many years.
Julian hasn’t had a committed relationship for six years, but the idea of one with Jazz is constantly at the forefront of his mind. He can’t get enough of her, but he knows he has to tread lightly and keep his feelings bottled up a bit, so he doesn’t scare her off. He understands Jazz’s need to explore the woman she is now that she is on her own, and he doesn’t begrudge her those adventures, but he also wants her to understand that what he feels for her is worth exploring – their potential as a couple is worth figuring out, and he’s going to do what needs to be done to ensure that she allows that to happen.
Exploration is a sexually charged book that will entice readers right from the start. It makes sense that there are an abundance of sex scenes written into the storyline because, at the beginning, that is what their relationship is supposed to be about – nothing more, nothing less. But even as the feelings start to develop, the best way Julian and Jazz explain how they feel is through their sexual encounters because the words are too overwhelming for either of them for much of the text. Peyton Sloane does a great job of writing these scenes and making it clear to the reader that the passion they feel for one another and the physical attraction they have is something neither can deny.
Jazz and Julian are extremely well written characters. Readers get a sense of who each one is through their quirks, actions, and expressions. Jazz is an extraordinarily strong woman whose strength is shown in the way she carries herself. I love that she’s a biker but she also can be the belle of the ball. She oozes sex appeal but doesn’t know it, which is what makes her so appealing to many of the male characters in the story. At first, I wasn’t sure about Julian – he seemed too forward and arrogant, but as the text progresses and his feelings for Jazz develop, he is caring, romantic, and a true gentleman – at least outside the bedroom.
The only aspect of the text that makes it a bit confusing at times is the third person narration. There are parts in the book where the narrator describes outsiders’ perspectives of both Jazz and Julian, but then they are never explored again. I also think that if the book was told through the first person point of view from the minds and hearts of both Jazz and Julian that it would have added additional insights of what they were thinking and feeling as they began their mutual exploration.
Despite my narration preference, though, I loved the storyline and characters in Exploration. Jazz and Julian’s story is definitely not over, and I can’t wait to see what Peyton Sloane has in store for them as the trilogy continues. It will be interesting to see if Jazz takes Julian up on his offer and what that means for them as a couple.
A complimentary was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
4 poison apples
About This Author
I’m an only child of amazing parents who are not only still with me but vibrant. I grew up on a grain farm in rural Manitoba Canada. Between the rents and an amazing “aunt and uncle” (they were the farmers a mile down the road), they instilled a love of reading in me at an early age. My parents never censored anything I read and much of my early allowance and birthday money was spent on paperbacks. I have a vivid recollection of being in third grade reading about this kid who was the subject of some kind of experimentation and the word “electroencephalogram” was in it—I asked the teacher what that was and she had no idea. I devoured everything from L. M. Montgomery and Nancy Drew to Gone with the Wind, Go Ask Alice and Jacqueline Susann as a preteen.
In my senior year of High School, one of our assignments was to write a 1,500 word short story. Mine was a romance and my teacher gave me an A+ with a comment that it was a “great soap opera” – and that was from a guy!
I thought about journalism for college, but this was almost 40 years ago and the nearest school offering it was almost 1,500 miles away, too far for a rural country girl. Instead I studied performance piano, having taken lessons since the age of 5, completely useless in the real world but music was a huge priority in our family and I was surrounded by it growing up. My dad and his siblings and my grandfather all played multiple instruments (good times for family occasions!) so music is another one of my passions.
I have been fortunate to have parents with whom I saw and spent time in every province of Canada except Newfoundland and who with I visited over ten states of the USA before I left home and a husband who is a Montreal native and for many years travelled world-wide for work allowing me to experience many more places, many in North American while riding my Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail!
Making my way through life I have always been able to maintain my reading habit. One of my fantasies has always been to write a best-selling book and over the years I have written down bits and pieces but never went further or explored the publishing world. That possibility seriously didn’t exist when I knew it would be endless rejection and waiting; wasted money on postage. The advent of electronic media and self-publishing has changed all that.
Without doubt the most wonderful, scary thing I have ever done is embark on this journey of writing what I hope will be wonderful stories for other bibliophiles! Marrying my hubs of 27 years was wonderful too, and although it maybe should have been scary as he asked me and I answered yes on our first date, it wasn’t… And bear in mind that we had only met two weeks previously and only seen each other in a group setting a couple of times during those two weeks. To put your imagination out there, especially in the genre of erotic romance fiction is enough to make the most extroverted individual cringe. But I use this alter-ego of Peyton Sloane as an excuse for everything inappropriate, and it provides the opportunity for those who know me in real life to respond in a like manner which is proving to be the most fun!
For now, I write and still have a full-time career. My home life is the hubs and our two little divas (Schi-poos from the same litter). Writing is something I hope to be doing well into my retirement—one of the few pastimes where you are not limited by the scourge of age on your physical being, and, the deity willing, my mind stays intact will still be a passion 25 years from now!
I have heard writers speak often about how their characters write their own stories, aside from the “authorgasms” that happy readers give me, I hope I never stop being amazed by this writing process. I have cried, laughed till my sides hurt and railed at my characters for their actions —through the editing process as well…when I know exactly what’s going to happen. I find it mystical how the story and characters take on a life of their own. May everyone who reads about them enjoy their lives as much as I!
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