Saxonhurst Secrets

by Justine Elyot

On the surface, Saxonhurst is like every other sleepy English village in the Vale of Parham.

But what explanations are there for its unfailingly bountiful harvests, its amazingly successful cricket team, its bizarre and bacchanalian May Day rituals?

New vicar Adam Flint is bent on finding out why Saxonhurst has the nickname 'most godless village in England'. With the help and hindrance of village siren Evie and the strange and remote Lady of the Manor, Julia, he uncovers closets full of skeletons. And not just skeletons - flesh and blood bodies rich in temptations as well...

Will the secrets of Saxonhurst be Adam's ruin?"

Genres: Erotica

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 7, 2012

About the author

I am Justine Elyot. I love to write erotica and erotic romance. Elements you are likely to find in my work include: moustachioed melodrama villains, whips, wisecracks, knights in tarnished armour, damsels under duress, lovers, leather, aquiline features, references to popular songs. I massively overuse qualifiers like ‘really’, ‘quite’, ‘actually’ etc. and can’t resist the temptation to substitute long words for ‘said’. Reviewers either rave or cringe, with very little middle reactive ground (insert Marmite cliche here). Which will you do?

Reviews

[Midnite · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was excited to have the opportunity to read a full length novel from Justine Elyot as I have only read novellas from her before which I have always enjoyed.

This book was so different on every level than I thought it would be and in a good way.
The Reverend Adam Flint is a stoutly religious naive man and is determined to "save" the villagers from being known as "the most Godless village". Although I am not religious myself I was brought up in a very strict religious household and Justine has captured every quality of this religious man perfectly, I have met people like Adam even down to his mannerisms and his way of speaking to people is all something I can relate to from my own childhood.

Justine has captured the essence of antiquated staunch Christian ideals dating back to the Puritans with a mix of Pagan Folklore with a brilliant paranormal twist running parallel through the whole plot. From childhood Adam felt different and now he had been given this new unusual parish he is determined to be the only vicar ever to convince the villagers to follow God and not their traditional pagan ways.
I loved how the secrets of Saxonhurst gradually became intertwined with history, tradition and superstition and why the village has incredible bounties crops every year and the cricket team has never lost.

I adored following Adams internal battle with his strong lifelong religious beliefs and his new sexual awakening and love for Evie Witt, or was he just one of the many men enchanted by her. History showed that from the age of 18 there had been a wild Witt girl since 1600's. Appalled and shocked after witnessing the villager's mayday rituals we follow Adam as he genuinely tries to save Evie's soul but is it hers that needs saving....?
The strange love triangle between Evie and Sheila the sexy lady of the manor who is desperately trying to regain her rightful place in her families traditional home; becomes even stranger during the months and weeks leading up to the Harvest festival.

Without revealing too much of this imaginative plot we discover that both Evie, Sheila and Adam both have historical parallels leading to an amazing finale which I loved, it was quite different to what you are led to believe. Saxonhursts secrets is a creative paranormal journey of erotic fun, the characters are relatable with plenty of sex which is believable and incredibly steamy, from voyeurism to spanking and bondage to girl on girl and group sex. Something for almost every taste and I feel this would make the most wonderful film!
It isn't based on true pagan beliefs so those that follow Paganism in anyway should not be offended; this is simply a brilliant novel on the sole tradition of this unusual quaint English village by the hand of Justine Elyot.
A brilliant imaginative book I read from page to page in 1 day as I couldn't down. I Loved it and I can completely recommend this book to everyone that loves their erotica with a great plot and paranormal twist!

[Natasha den Dekker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very sexy, weird and slightly disturbing. Read this as a bit of a break from studying, and my only critique is that the sex scenes are written in a slightly flip way. Although there is so much of it, that well..I guess that's only to be expected. I did like that it was set in modern times but the vicar seems to be really old world, and has a very old fashioned idea of how men and women should act. The historical element was interesting, and I liked how that thread was wound through the story. My only quibble is that it's a bit one dimensional when it comes to its depiction of men and women, but lol. it was never going to be groundbreaking stuff right? If you have a free evening and want something easy and bit sexy to curl up with, then by all means try this one! :)

[HeatherTX]

Kindle Freebie 6.9.12

[Mark Ramsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about a village's sex life isn't really my thing, I'd rather read the Apercus of Piers Morgan, but Justine Elyot's name persuaded me otherwise. Up to her usual high standards.