Exit to Eden

This is an excellent book. I have read it many times over the years.

This was a fairly eye-opening one for me. I tore through it and wanted more. (I'm getting more, in fact, as I've just downloaded the Beauty trilogy for my next read.) My primary complaint was that I wanted more of The Club. More scenarios. Just a few more moments. From a love story angle, I can see why this didn't happen. But from a purely selfish, give-me-what-I-want angle, it was nagging me through the later part of the novel. Anne Rice's writing is perfect for this genre. I've tried to dabble in erotica before, and the way things hit the page is the ONLY thing that kept me from loving it in the immersive sort of way I feel it's meant to be loved. This book had VERY few of those yanked-out-of-scene-ice-shower moments. Bizarrely enough, the few that did happen were completely separate from the erotic moments. I couldn't always get into the meta-ish "feelings" discussions about the lifestyle (even though they interest me outside of the story). But maybe that's a testament to the rest of the book. I wanted the hot, feeling-the-feelings moments -- not the introspection about what the feelings meant. What a switch from my usual reader mentality. Anyway, I would recommend this book highly. I'm sure I'm one of a thousand who came at it after reading the 50 Shades novels. Before this, I assumed I would just never find a book that could put what I wanted so badly to find in a novel into words that wouldn't make me say "Nooo, please don't call it a [enter horrible euphemism]."…

Just a lovely story, Although I must confess I don't like it as much as I did when I first read it. But I give it five stars because I loved it that much the first time. Some pretty light erotica for Ms. Rice, considering her adventures in The Beauty series. Just do yourself a favor: Do NOT get the abridged audio version. It's completely gutted and the choices of voice actors are a bit misguided at best. It's a great read if you are in the mood for a saucy, but pretty sweet love story with some kink thrown in for good measure. Not one of her best but still a fun read.

I had never read any romance or erotica books before this one, so it was shocking and intriguing. I have read it again through the years, and I find, for myself anyways, that this is a 1-time read only, but that's ok. It was fantastic the first time I read it. It has very interesting characters. Forbidden love, erotica and bondage, a fantastic plot, and strong characters.

I bought a copy of this book about 15 years ago and read it many times. Unfortunately, I loaned it to a friend and never got it back, but also never forgot it. A few weeks ago, I was on a message board and this book was mentioned. I decided I had to read it again. It was a treat to read again after all these years. Ms. Rice does a brilliant job of relating Lisa and Elliott's feelings to the reader. My heart was breaking for Lisa as she came to terms with her feelings and realized all the problems they would bring about. Elliott is so charming, sexy, and intelligent that you can't help but fall for him! And New Orleans is described in such detail that I felt like I was there. This book is the perfect mix of eroticism and romance. I'm sorry that Ms. Rice didn't write more in this genre.