Status Updates From Wine of the Dreamers

This is a good book, but I get the feeling it’s one of those “lol, everybody suffers because life sucks” type novels. 🫣 Despite the romantic cover + blurb, it’s more lit fic than bodice ripper.

‘Aimée could not understand his restraint. Frustrated, her body cried out for the passionate lovemaking she had come to expect. She longed to feel rough, impatient hands tearing away her clothes, caressing her, urging her own hands to explore him. At last she could stand it no longer. She wanted him as a strong virile lover, not a tender suppliant.’ ….Poor gentle beta Franz ain’t measuring up. 😂

‘Barely a few days before, she had dared to envy a pretty girl her single night of dreams. Now she hated herself for the feeling. She did not want to envy Mary Vetsera. She wanted only to rejoice in her happiness…or grieve for her sorrow. She did not want to equate either the pains or delights of another’s heart with her own empty life.’ ….Real. 🫢

‘Aimée had always loved Faust, feeling in the passion of the music a deep primal response. But she had always been a little frightened of it too, as if even in years past she had recognized in Faust, in this man so ready to sell his soul for a chance to taste earthly pleasures, something of her own heart. Now she was more intrigued than afraid. Somewhere along the way, the idea of sin had ceased to appall her.’

‘Aimée was aware of an intense thrill of satisfaction as she felt his hands catch for a moment in her hair, sliding down at last to grasp her breasts, while his body twisted compulsively in the rhythm she had set for him. In that instant she sensed he was hers, completely & totally hers, as he had never been before & would never be again.’

‘She could almost see them now, a semicircle of mourners, vague in the dim light. A last bittersweet farewell. Deep red wine, cool & sweet to the taste. Intimations of eternity built on ashes of the past. A last gallant toast. Memories of dreams now dead, of pain & longing, love & tears & hope. The cup of the dreamers drained at last, the wine of the dreamers gone. The tomb silent & empty forever.’

‘Sex w/ Buffy had once been an exciting, erotic thing, more stimulating than anything he had ever known. It was as if he had become a whole person at last, joining the passion of his spirit w/ the physical beauty that should have been his. But now…Edward shuddered w/ disgust. The idea of possessing Buffy was repulsive to him. Buffy was too much like himself, epitomizing the worst of everything that was in him.’

‘His eyes lingered on her face, fascinated with the beauty & the passion he saw there. Never had he dreamed such fire mingled with the blood in her veins. God help him, he had hoped this one time with her would cure him forever of his obsessive longing. Now he knew he would never be able to let go of her.’ ….Pfft. Heroes always think one hard boinking will cure their unwanted feels. 😂

‘Aimée studied the figure more carefully. For the first time she saw defiance in that warped form—defiance & anger. She wondered if it could be those same emotions that prompted him to flaunt his ugliness, even in front of the very gods who had created it. It was a strange, anguished gesture, but one she could understand.’ ….Interesting interpretation of Akhenaten’s artwork.

‘It would not be trunks her hands would violate in this place, but the secret recesses of a man’s private life; & it would not be old-fashioned hats & dresses she would find, but all the grief & loneliness & personal tragedy that made up the sum total of his life. The memory of Raoul’s words echoed in her ears. “Archaeology is not glamorous,” he had told her, “not glamorous at all.”

‘She was going to him. It was as simple as that. She was going to get up from her tent & walk slowly toward the stairway that led down into the tomb where he was working. She did not know when she had made that decision. She did not even know when it had first occurred to her as a possibility. She only knew she must do it.’

‘The image in their depths was all too clear. The gatekeeper did not see a lovely young queen as he gazed at her, no sweetly dutiful wife going to her husband. To him she was just a frightened little girl forcing herself to meet a fate she could not even understand. It only added to Meryt’s terror to realize he was right.’

‘Never in her life had a man looked at her or touched her with that kind of feeling. And never, she sensed would it happen again. For the rest of her days she would have to content herself with the fading memory of one fleeting hint of passion. She sensed it would not be enough as she watched herself grow old—old & ugly & bitter—beside a man who had not even a trace of love in his soul.’ ….Poor kid.

‘Whatever he had attempted in her bedroom the night before, she sensed he would not try it again. She was appalled by the relief that surged through her at the realization. Only the day before, not 24 hours ago, she had promised in front of God & his priest that she would be a good wife to this man. Now, barely a day later, she was ready, even eager, to break those sacred vows.’

‘She was surprised at her total lack of emotion. She had not expected to feel so little, not even a sense of loathing or anger at what had been forced on her. It seemed strange that despite the intimacy of the vows they had exchanged, she & this man were still strangers, existing in their own private worlds, shut off from each other by both circumstance & inclination.’

Twenty pages & it’s already better than my last several reads. 🥹 Please, Book Gods…give me a keeper! (I’d wish for multiple keepers in a row, but the Book Gods are fickle & ornery, esp if you push them too hard. 🫣)

‘Meryt did not fail to sense his longing, & it tore her heart apart. Only yesterday, that same longing had excited her, making her tingle w/ new, unfamiliar emotions, intriguing & frightening both—but yesterday she had still dared to hope that a young scribe, clever & ambitious, might one day aspire to the hand of a princess. Today she felt only an uneasy sense of foreboding.’

Gotta love a book where the truly evil villain is a man named Buffy Montmorency. That is a name sure to strike fear into the hearts of good people everywhere!

Now if only I could stop myself from singing "Don't Fall in Love with A Dreamer" in Kim Carnes voice.