WE FLOVE My Time In The Affair…. We are unashamedly complete Stylo junkies at the best of times – I mean come on, anyone who can give us Jameson Kane and his fucked up ways and make us adore the big bastard is a bloody genius when it comes to story telling – and lets not forget Sanders!!! 😉
One thing that I (Tracy) really can’t do with in my reading is cheating…. it’s just not something I’m comfortable reading about BUT at no time while reading MTITA did I worry about Mischa’s husband, feel ‘icky’ about what her and Tal were getting up to or want to put my kindle down as I would usually find myself feeling – THAT is how well Stylo hooks you, pulls you in and immerses you in the story!!!
BLP REVIEWS
Tracy
Holy fuck, where to start!!! I knew Stylo Fantôme could write one helluva book but this just nails it for me!
The first thing I’ve got to say is that a storyline involving cheating is usually a line that I tend to avoid crossing, never mind reading a book where the whole story is based around a woman setting out to have an affair….. but hell, if I’d stuck to my usual modus operandi, I’d have missed this corker of a story. We’ve all heard the phrases ‘The heart wants what the heart wants’ and ‘we can’t help who we fall in love with’ – clichés, definitely, but in this case so very fuckin’ true!!
I was entranced from the start. I actually really liked Mischa, no, scratch that, I bloomin’ loved her… and I absolutely adored Tal. It came as quite a surprise that rather than feeling that what they were doing was wrong I kinda delighted that she was happy. Ok, a lot of the time she wasn’t, like when she let her mind wander to what she was actually doing but, overall, when she was with her lover she was like a different person!
Mischa was like an open book, stronger than she realised and brave, so very brave to put her life as she knew it on the line as she did (hmm, I like to think it says more about Stylo’s writing than it does that say about my moral compass that I felt like that about her rather than be appalled by her actions?!) .
Tal, oh Mr Canaan, (can I just say that he’s giving Jameson a run for his money in my head!!) he was Mr Hot, Hung and Sexy – and deeply mysterious. He was like a calm to Mischa’s storm, how he treated her anchored her, made her feel again (jeez, he possibly made her feel for the first time ever!!) but he was kinda too good to be true and when his secret came out it was awful to watch two hearts be so horribly broken.
Given my thoughts on infidelity I did think I would feel compassion and at least a little sympathy for her husband but I honestly didn’t take to Mike – well, there was a scene later in the book where I began to warm to him but then I wanted to get pissed with him as I felt he was more culpable than he’d ever admit to (but hey, I’m not into spoilers so that’s something for you to find out when you read)
Maybe the reason I engaged so with our lead characters was because I actually know a couple of people who have married their friend and it’s totally been the wrong thing to do – regardless that it was done out of ‘love’ or as the next progressive step in their relationship, it’s a road that should never have been traveled and it never appeared it would lead to a lifetime of happiness…. It’s not a nice thing to watch happen – it’s a bit like witnessing a car crash, you can see it happening but there bugger all you can say or do to stop it and when the impact happens it sadly often destroys more than you thought it could..
My Time in the Affair was, for me, a love story at heart. It was at times sad, thought-provoking, heartbreaking and intense while managing to be uplifting, at times light (the ease and banter between Mischa and Tal was so real and natural), heartening and let’s not forget how blisteringly bloody HOT it was!!!
Ms Fantôme is a writing genius and extremely talented when it comes to hot, sweaty, down and dirty sex scenes. She is also a master at the sweet, tender and gentle moments. Such talent from an author who hasn’t been known for all that long and I don’t think she’s done yet!!
My blog PIC always tells me about the ‘feels’ she got when she’s read a really great book – something I did think I had a handle on, until I read MTITA – all I did was ‘feel’ while reading their story!! Seriously, this is a book that I will reread time and time and time again!
I’ve read SF’s ‘Kane Trilogy‘ and loved it and now with ‘My Time in the Affair‘ she’s grabbed my heart – if you haven’t read her books yet you really have to take the time to pick them up, take yourself off somewhere quiet and lose yourself in her wonderful tales!!
If I could give this more than a 5* rating I would!!! One of my fave books of the year so far!!!
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Rebecca
In a sea of mediocrity Stylo Fantôme’s star shines brightly, My Time in the Affair is an absolutely stunning story from this ûber talented author. Multi-faceted, insightful, thought provoking, emotional yet also so deliciously hot, dirty and sexy, it is totally flawless and special.
Over years of reading there are certain authors whose work I have particularly loved whom I one-click no matter the blurb or content just because they have written it, Stylo was already on that list due to the calibre of her debut last year, however also within this group of favourites are certain specific books that have, for whatever reason, especially resonated with me and become rereads many times over – Lady Luck by Kristen Ashley, Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie, Carnage #1 & #2 by Lesley Jones, Undeniable by Madeline Sheehan, are all special to me and have given hours of pleasure over the years, My Time in the Affair is now added to that list.
My focus and reading mojo has been off lately due to that bitch cancer touching real life but, after picking up and putting down multiple books, I was swept away by Mischa and Tal from the pen of Ms Fantôme, I enjoyed The Kane Trilogy, loved Completion but MTITA is so stunning I wish had the words to convey it, to express the beauty of it.
Many will be put off by the fact this involves cheating and whilst this is normally a deal breaker issue for me and I’ve been that hypocritical one, black and white issue, you don’t cheat, Ms Fantôme made me rethink, showed me the huge grey area in-between where good people who sometimes just make poor decisions reside, not bad people having their cake and eating it but human, real people, flawed, hurting and just wanting to be happy.
“I’m not trying to make excuses. There is no excuse for what I did. I should have broken up with him. Point, blank, period. I know this. I know this. But when you’re looking at your best friend, a person who is a part of the fabric of your being, and you can literally see their heart start to break, well … it takes a lot of strength to smash that heart all the way. To disintegrate it. It takes someone stronger than me.”
MTITA gave me huge feels, I fell in love with Mischa and Tal, hook line and sinker, one of my favourite couples of all time. Mischa just wants to be happy, to be desired, isn’t that what we all search and hope for? Someone to navigate this life with, laugh, cry and be comfortable with whilst having passion and lust on the menu as well. Having married her best friend she had the laugh, cry and comfortable, but it was a relationship built on a lie she is unaware of, so the passion and lust dies leaving her floundering, unhappy and discontent with a partner unwilling to acknowledge a problem let alone try to resolve it.
“Something I have learned in life is that things are never as they seem. You think love is one thing – turns out, it’s a whole big barrel of fucked-up-ness. You think marriage is one thing – turns out, it’s an even bigger barrel of fucked-up-ness. You think you can plan something down to the letter – but really, things will go down however they’re going to go down, regardless of your planning. You think you’ve made up your mind – but someone can make it up for you. You think you’re resolved to do something – and then you do the exact opposite.”
Having made a decision to cheat, into the picture comes Tal, one of the hottest, sexiest book boyfriends I have ever read. My blogging partner-in-crime called him Mr Hot, Hung and Sexy and I’m stealing it because, oh my!!!!! Panties totally optional when he’s around, hot flushes not caused by menopause for a change! He’s hot, mysterious, funny, sweet, dirty and delicious. When he whispers “Come find me” I swear I have a little mini orgasm and I’m Mischa in my head!
“Whenever you hear this, I hope it finds you well. I hope you’re dancing, because you were built for it. I hope you’re smiling, because your mouth was made for it. I hope you’re laughing, because it’s the most incredible sound. And I hope you’re being loved by somebody, because you deserve it.”
Ultimately though the attraction of this book is the outstanding writing and the feels it conveys. The depth and emotion of Mischa’s struggle to do right for herself, her husband and Tal, the fledgling relationship that starts to develop from the lust and the passion between Mischa and Tal, the secrets and lies that tear one relationship apart and put the puzzle together of the failing of the other, all of it flawless and captivating, beautifully written, raw, real, sweet, sexy, hot, dirty and just bloody gorgeous. Special beyond belief, Fantôme is a breed apart and was born to write.
“All those moments between those seconds. Timeless. Their love would always be alive; a living, beating heart, but just caught in a moment. Caught in their time. Maybe that’s all they were. Just a time in love. Just a time in an affair.”
Book Loving Pixies 