Sarah Mac’s Reviews > Wine of the Dreamers > Status Update

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.”