Vogel House

Clarise Chambers #1

by John Forrester

Clarise Chambers is rich, confident, and beautiful. Life is about shopping for designer labels and hanging out at private parties thrown by her older brother Phillip while her parents are off getting drunk.

She’s never really been attracted to boys at her prep school, until she falls for Keary. With his dreamy eyes and sexy hair, she can’t stop imagining his beautiful hands discovering every inch of her body. Instead of afternoon study sessions, she fantasizes an erotic afternoon with him in bed.

The carefree, unshakable Clarise is startled by a secret, a secret involving Vogel House, her father and Keary’s father, a secret that threatens to tear her away from Keary and destroy her family. When her father forces her to stay away from Keary, Clarise finds herself caught between fighting for her family’s survival and her passionate romance with Keary. Her obsession for him crashes into the plot of revenge by Keary’s father, whose sole purpose is the destruction of everything she loves in life.

Contains strong language, drug use, and sexual content.

Genres: Romance, New Adult

195 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 29, 2013

About the author

John Forrester is the author of Reins of Power, in the Shandian Chronicles epic fantasy series. He is also the author of Fire Mage, Sun Mage, Shadow Mage, Dragon Mage, and Death Mage from the Blacklight Chronicles fantasy series.

Reviews

[Anissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lady Mary Crawley never had to work this hard to keep Downton. Clarise, our heroine, is the lynchpin in saving the 27 bedroom manse, Vogel House & the future of the family. Phillip, her older brother is far to drugged & sexed to help, her father is weak & inept & her mother has problems of her own, like the threat of dealing with unpleasantness. This is my kind of pool side froth. On the up side, it's told in vivid prose & moves at a decent pace (it's not a long book). I admit that I did lose track of some of the side characters (especially the orgy girls; too many French names from Giselle in the beginning to Therese & Miette, I just blanked out on who was with whom when all that really mattered was Clarise wasn't with Keary or Phillip (cause that'd have been way wrong even for their inappropriate sibling chemisty).

My favorite part of the story was when the Chambers family need to cut their vacation short as the financial situation becomes frantic & go through the ordeal of their first commercial flight experience. I found Clarise's observations & voice perfect & agree with her that it's wholly dehumanizing. Anyway, that moment of highlight carried me through as the mystery of Vogel House & the undoing of the family unfurls but quickly lost me when Howard decides to kidnap Phillip & threaten his life & only Clarise can handle it (& deal with the Russian mob). I admit, it's her age that broke it for me. She's fifteen & while capable enough as a teenager, she is still very much one in thought & deed until that point in the story. If she'd been a little older, I would've gone with it. Still, it was a decent read. More than a little over the top racy though I didn't find it sexy (not a YA read, folks & can probably widen the eye of more than a couple adults) but definitely a page turner.

I've no idea who I would recommend this to & I'm not really sure how I'd classify it by genre either. I didn't love it but I didn't hate it either.

[Mochalove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vogel House tells the harrowing, lust filled and scintillating story of teenaged Clarise and her family’s bitter battle for survival as rich and successful Howard McNaughton sets upon them. McNaughton is out for vengeance and hell bent on destroying her father and family completely – mentally, physically and financially. He is almost successful at it but determined Clarise gets in his way and turns the tables on him. In this adult romance /erotica novel Young Clarise is the emboldened, sexually awakening heroine of the story, she is driven by a passion to save her family plus Vogel house from complete ruin and be with the young man that she loves.

Clarise her family and friends live in a world of entitlement, fueled by drugs, liquor, sexual exploration, and deceit. It is beautiful life where the possibilities for her teenage mind and body to explore are endless until her world begins to crumble viciously around her. Keary McNaughton is the handsome, desirous, and virile young - man that Clarise falls in love with but has been forbidden to be with; he is one of the clique of wealthy, drug addled kids that Clarise and her brother Phillip consort with regularly. The story takes on an air of mystery and suspense as Howard McNaughton, crosses every possible boundary in his attempts to exact vengeance on her family including attempted murder, kidnapping and rape. However, it is Clarise’s strong will, comely beauty and bequeathed inheritance and the Russian Mafia that brings Howard McNaughton’s devious plans of vengeance to a halt in a tension-filled ending.

What I really enjoyed about this novel is the commendable standard of writing talent that author John Forrester exemplifies, his writing style somewhat resembles that of the Marquis De Sade in that it is finely detailed, prose like and unabashedly sexual. The author is a proficient story - teller whose scenes of sexual candor, excitement, and mystery do well to entertain and titillate. This story moves at a consistently entertaining pace that is propelled by the themes of forbidden love, budding sexuality, and debauched sexual behavior where the lines of right and wrong are easily blurred by wealth, drugs, alcohol and lies. Unlike a great deal of other erotica themed books the erotic scenes are written with maturity and are not like the brash pornographic works that are currently flooding the market, something which I appreciate as a reader of erotica. I recommend Vogel House as a beguiling adult themed summer read.

[Tabitha (Tabi Thoughts) · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the beginning of the book, I was a bit offput by the relationship between Clarise and her brother Phillip. I couldn't believe the book would start of that way and my initial impression wasn't all that good. Why would her brother have sex in front of her and act like such a pervert?! I was a bit worried that this book would become disturbing. I was definitely unsure where this book was going. Through the first few chapters, I couldn't detect an actual plot. The uncertainty can be a good thing because it could keep the reader intrigued, however the first few chapters were confusing and bland to me. As I read on, I was taken by surprise. Once Keary entered the picture, things started heating up. The rivalries between their families and the forbidden romance gave it a "Romeo and Juliet" vibe which was incredibly sexy. It was exciting to see Clarise actually interested in a guy because for so long she had rejected all her brother's friends and the other guys who noticed her at Prep school. Their relationship was enjoyable to see blossom throughout the pages. I was really disappointed when Keary betrayed his emotional interest with Clarise and let his physical interest for some skank, take over. I am glad that Keary and Clarise were eventually drawn back to each other though. The explicit scenes made this an interesting read. The details were definitely very arousing. I also enjoyed that this book wasn't entirely focused on sex like I thought it was going to be. Once I got further into it, I recognized Clarise's dedication to her family and Vogel House. It was a touching story that one young girl went through so much to guarantee her family's safety. I would definitely recommend it. After the first few chapters, this book becomes an intense and alluring summer read.

[Frankie Ness]

BRAINE'S REVIEW

First off this is NOT New Adult as by definition NA is college to early 20's and these hedonistic characters, as Forrester refers to them, are HIGH SCHOOL kids with too much money and not enough parenting from their self-absorbed parents.

I will skip rating this because as I didn't finish the novel I find it unfair to give Vogel House a fair rating. I stopped 30% into the book after said kids got high on mushrooms and had an orgy in a barn complete with vivid descriptions.

The heroine, Clarise, is a sexed up teen with a dysfunctional relationship with her brother. I mean it's not normal to watch & get turned on as your older sibling finger his drunk naked girlfriend on the rug while his bestfriend gets wax poetic about your beauty amidst the moaning and groaning, right? Plus barnyard orgy... shivers. Dysfunctional.

Age aside, the story is your poor-little-rich-kid drama. Bad behaving because their parents are too busy making money or too absorbed in their own affairs to care otherwise. As for Forrester's writing voice, it's raw and erotic. I wouldn't have minded the story per se if the characters were a little older. As I have a 17yo son, I find the strong sexual content demonstrated by these teens too disturbing for my taste. I'm no prude and I like erotica and smexy novels like most readers but I can't read erotica for teens.

Looks like I discovered a hard limit.

[Tarra · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first thought when finishing this book? What the hell did I just read?!

I'm not sure who the target audience is, but this book is too raunchy for teens, and considering all the explicit sex scenes involve teenagers (between the ages of 15 and probably 18, graduating high school seniors), it made this adult fairly uncomfortable.

"Vogel House" reminded me of a hybrid of Less Than Zero, Cruel Intentions, Dawson's Creek, The Great Gatsby, and Romeo & Juliet.

The kids in this story were fueled by sex, drugs, and more sex and drugs. The dialogue was flowery and at times odd. Once you got past the prose and constant similes, there really were some beautiful (and shocking) images created with words. I especially liked the hallucinations.

This book packed plenty in under 200 pages: Revenge, Orgies, 'Shrooms, Incestuous Innuendoes, Alcoholic Parents, Slutty Mom, Designer Handbags, Assault, Murder, an Opium Den, even the Russian Mafia.

It was intriguing enough to keep reading through this wild book. I think it meant to push the boundaries of what is acceptable and what is not, and I think it meant to make the reader uncomfortable. This book is in no way meant to mirror reality, and that's ok. But, still, I didn't hate it, but I can't necessarily recommend it either.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Forrester has made the jump into the adult erotic thriller genre with his new novel Vogel House. A page turner, Vogel House follows the main character, heiress Clarise Chambers against the man who is set out to destroy her family. The reader will find deception, sex, and revenge in every chapter.
At the first chapter, I wondered what I reading as it was started off slow. But after the first three chapters, I was hooked and read the first 17 in one night. The main character is young and confident, just like Forrester’s YA novels characters. However, I would not recommend that this book be read by anyone under the age of 18 due to it sexual context and graphic nature. I found most of the characters relatable and Clarise to be well liked. What I did not like about this book, was the first chapters but once I was beyond that, I was fine.
Overall, I liked this book, and would recommend it. If you enjoyed the 50 Shades Series, then you should put this book on your must reads for the summer.

[Lauren - SERIESous Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just plain weird. I felt like I was on some sort of drug-induced trip--just like the characters do in the books. I'm a pretty open reader but this was just too-far for me.

Nothing really made sense and there wasn't a good flow to the book. I honestly have no idea what really happened or why. It was senselessly overdramatic at times as well.

Definitely not my cup of tea and I am glad that I got this as a freebie.

Check out more spoiler-free book and series reviews on my blog SERIESous Book Reviews as well as read book series recaps!

[Caro · Rating 1 out of 5]

This isn't really going to be a full and good review. Sorry in advance. I didn't really read all of this book. I got a quarter way thru and couldn't/wouldn't read the rest. I didn't really like the characters or the way the story was going. This is a personal preference. I didn't like the tone of the book and the activities or the visuals and feelings I got from reading this. The lifestyle and characters attitudes were disturbing to me, not only because of the actions but the way they were accepted and the ages they were. I don't like it and I won't finish this or try again later. Again, personal preference and nothing personal to anyone else. Ehhh.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were good points and bad for me in this story. Spoiled rich kids that hit the skids...good thing. Characters are grossly rich and when the money goes away, it takes a 15 yr old girl to bring it all around...bad thing IMO...only b/c I found it a bit unbelievable. As for the writing...expertly written, descriptive an intriguingly imaginative. I would say for you to buy this book and access it for yourself.

[Brittany's Book Bumblings · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay, but pretty messed up. The first chapter kind of disgusted me, and I was just really hoping that not all of the book's characters weren't this messed up and perverted. The only two characters I could tolerate were Clarise and Keary, but even they had their moments. The book did get better, though.

[Drue DePompei-Hoffman · Rating 2 out of 5]

OKAY….. I have some pros and cons with Vogel House.

Good first, I immediately fell in love with Mr. Forrester’s way of describing things through Clarise’s eyes, she’s young but through her thoughts and actions you can see the ultimate matriarch forming in her.

- See more at: http://druesrandomchatter.blogspot.co...

[Dena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely an interesting story. I had to read the whole thing just to see where it takes you. It's interesting and different. I am not sure if I would recommend it. In the next book, I would read it as well just because it is different and interesting

[Tiffini Blaisdell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was definitely different, but not a bad different! I enjoyed most of the relationships within the book but was a little weirded out by the relationship between Clarise & her brother Phillip. This book is definitely not suited for anyone under 16.

[Lindsey]

Amazon freebie 5/31/13

[Amy Lou · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful!! I only read it because I was paid to by Reader spoils. Don't waste your time when there are so many other books to read.