The problem with reading a great book
is that when you're finished with them you're afraid
to start reading something else
because you know they won't stack up to what
you just finished. Such is the case with "The Pleasure
Master" by Nina Bangs.
The Pleasure Master is as much a 'who' as
a 'what'. This title is not passed down through the generation
slightly or haphazardly. Usually the eldest son in a family
is taken and trained from a very young age, sometime around
puberty, in the ways of sexual pleasure. His community holds
him in great esteem and woman will flock to him from far and
wide to learn how to please their men. This is a job for a
man who dedicates himself to his profession 110%, shunning
most emotions and most especially love. Set in 1542 in the
Scottish Highlands, readers will meet many interesting characters
in the telling of this story from the Pleasure Master himself,
the two brothers who vie for the title, to women who pit themselves
against each other to try and claim the Pleasure Master as
their own love slave, to a not-so-innocuous little creature
named Peter.
Kathy Bartlett is a hairdresser from New York
City who finds herself stranded on the highway on Christmas
Eve with a car full of toys that she was taking to a shelter
for homeless kids. While waiting for the tow truck she complains
to herself about how similar men and cars are..."Great
form, no function". Picking up a toy, which she names
after her ex-husband Peter, she makes a Christmas wish for
vacation with warmth, peace, convenience and a subservient
man. It's while getting out of the car to greet the tow truck
driver that a flash of light causes her to become very dizzy.
When she comes out of it she finds herself staring into two
bare male behinds! Dorothy ain't in Kansas anymore when Kathy
realizes that the behinds belong to a couple men who appear
to be attacking another man, who lays on the ground nearby.
She quickly puts two and two together and tries to come to
grips that she's traveled through time. The countryside around
her is definitely not New York City and men didn't usually
wear skirts...OK, in NYC they sometimes do but.... Armed with
her handbag, and a can of styling mousse, Kathy leaps up to
defend the man on the ground, can of mousse held at a weapons
distance from her and aimed at the men. A gust of wind catches
the men's kilts exposing their most prized possessions and
Kathy takes advantage. With her comment of "Hmm, I wonder
if they'll fall off now or later" the men take off running.
The remaining man, she discovers, is Ian Ross, the Pleasure
Master, and those running, his brothers. Unbeknownst to Kathy,
they'd been discussing challenges of each of them to determine
who would be the real Pleasure Master and Kathy has just stepped
in to be Ian Ross's conquest. Scarred by her ex-husband, Kathy
is not in a hurry to get involved with another man again...ever.
Ian Ross was taken from his mother when he
was 12 years old by his father to learn the ways of the Pleasure
Master, as his father taught him and his grandfather before
him. Now as an adult, Ian's reputation has spread far beyond
the borders of Scotland. Women line themselves at his door
to learn the ways of sexual pleasure so that they can please
their men, from women who are going into a marriage with desires
to please their husbands and keep them home, woman married
for many years who see their sexual relationships failing,
and women who just want to keep things spicy. Ian Ross has
a reputation as being insatiable, which is a boon for women
because he can literally service them any time day or night.
But when Kathy of Hair, as she called herself (her father
is King Clairol...remember she's a hairdresser), comes into
Ian's life, armed with all manner of mystery and beastie (unknown
origins and a sack of electronic gadgets and toys) Ian gets
the feeling his life will never be the same. Kathy seems to
be a cold fish, but in reality her ex-husband has turned her
off to men. Ian's challenge to keep his status as Pleasure
Master is to bed Kathy. Kathy has other ideas, like trying
to help the brothers bed their challenges first so that she'll
be off the hook. Ian's objectives are two-fold however. Not
only will bedding Kathy of Hair help him to keep his title,
but it will also awaken Kathy to the pleasures that sex can
bring and help her to forget her ex-husband. As they say in
mystery circles, the game's afoot!
At first I was a little afraid of where this
story was going. It seemed just a little silly in the very
beginning but silly is something I think the author intended.
It wasn't hard to get sucked into the story, like Kathy was
sucked through time, I'm sure. And like Kathy looking up to
see two bare male buttocks, I, too, found myself staring into
this book at every chance I got! Not only is this story full
of great sarcastic one-liners, New York City attitude and
cuttingly funny passages, it's also full of heartfelt scenes,
developing friendships and intense emotions. Many times I
found myself laughing myself in to a state of tears. And when
the end of the book came I found myself putting it off because
I didn't want to leave these characters behind, sort of like
when you have to have to go home after a fantastic party.
They were so well developed that I felt as though I knew them
personally.
To describe even one of the sub-characters
would give away one of the many things that makes this story
so different. Ms Bangs won me over with her first book "An
Original Sin" as a bored cosmic entity named Ganymede
steps in to create havoc with two complete innocents. Much
is the same in this case.
If you hate humor, despise great plots and
completely reject any form of love, this is * definitely *
not the book for you! Read a technical manual. But for anyone
who loves to laugh, who appreciates believable characters
and creative storyline, and wants to sigh with pleasure at
the end will definitely love this book. Get a copy and hide
it. Don't lend it out or you'll never see it again. Awesome
stuff!
