Neon Books / August 2007
Reviewed by: Martel Sardina

ADULTS ONLY. The warning on this book’s cover says it all. If you want to read a cozy romance, go grab one of your mother’s Harlequin paperbacks. Sephera Giron’s characters aren’t vanilla. They like to punish and to be punished. By the time you’re done reading this book you might want to be punished, too.

Hungarian Rhapsody is the story of Hester, a barmaid, who is rescued from her abusive husband and dreary existence by Vidor, a mysterious and rich businessman.

Vidor hires Hester to be a teacher and companion to his ailing niece, Gizi. Hester wants to do a good job, to please her master, but Gizi keeps finding ways to get Hester into trouble with the other servants as well as Vidor himself. This, of course, is the set up for many steamy sex scenes ranging from guy/girl to girl/girl, and every straight man’s dream – guy/girl/girl.

The story’s pacing is effective. The plot unfolds in a nice rhythm, and one wonders if this rhythm was intentional. This book lends itself to being read in two ways. Traditionally, people read from start to finish, hoping to derive satisfaction from the overall story arc. In reading erotic fiction, many read until the point of temporary erotic satisfaction, put the book aside until the next time, and repeat that process until they’ve made their way through the entire book. In the latter, the quality of the sex scenes is probably of more importance to the reader than the overall story arc. Giron does a nice job of balancing these aspects of the eroticism so both types of readers should be pleased with the result.

While Giron does not specifically state the time period of the story, based on the description of the clothing worn, the reader may guess it to be late 1700’s or early 1800’s. Sometimes the dialogue and description are true to the time period, but at other times there is a disconcerting shift that gives the story a more modern feel. Giron would have been better served had she been more consistent in her word choices, going either the modern or historical route – but not both. Depending upon the reader’s personal preference, this may or may not detract much from the story overall.

If you like kinky sex, BSDM, and vampires - the staples of erotic horror - then Hungarian Rhapsody will not disappoint. If you don’t like those things, I might recommend reading this book anyway and see if Giron’s writing compels you to reconsider.

Purchase Sephera Giron's Hungarian Rhapsody