This is the same-sex (f/f) version of Tropical Treasure. There is also a m/m
version.
When
Emma wins a place on reality TV show Treasure Quest, she isn’t expecting to
fall in love. Her ex-girlfriend hurt her badly, and what’s the chance of their
being two lesbians out of just six contestants? The first person Emma meets is
the incredibly hot Sophie, wearing nothing but a towel. She actually seems okay
at times, if you can overlook the arrogance. But Sophie wants to win, and Emma
doesn’t know how far she’s prepared to go…
But leaving aside the very strange
circumstances in which I found myself reading this book, I really enjoyed it.
As the original was about a man and a woman, a number of changes had to be
made, but everything worked really well. When the straight Erikka talks about
having a relationship with Sophie, her reasoning is so compatible with reality
TV, I had no trouble accepting it. When Caroline (named after another friend) decides
she would rather share a bunk bed with Emma than Sophie, it obviously couldn’t
be (as was the case in Tropical Treasure)
because Emma was a girl and Sophie wasn’t. Believe me, Emma has looked at
Sophie very closely, and has taken note of all her feminine characteristics. But the discussion flowed
naturally, and they convincingly came to the conclusion that Caroline’s
room-mate should be Emma.
I gave my name to the main character in Tropical Treasure, but in Seduction Games, I decided to be the
main character’s lover. It would have been very easy to make Sophie a stereotypically butch lesbian,
but the adaption (the book is ‘by Kira Lerner, with Stephanie Ard’) is much
cleverer than that. Sophie definitely has a few manly moments, and is very
protective of Emma, but the writer has taken care to include more feminine
descriptions – for example, that Sophie wears skirts and has silky skin. She
also has breasts, as Emma doesn’t take long to notice.
Some of the text has only had very slight
changes, but even changing one word can give the sentence a completely
different meaning. Gareth (the hero of my copy of Tropical Treasure) has ‘strong but
tender’ hands. Sophie’s are ‘capable and
tender’. This seems to be saying that Gareth is a strong man, but one who can’t hide his tender side.
Sophie isn’t afraid to show she’s tender and
capable. But the descriptions are even cleverer than that. To me, ‘capable’
implies a nurturing side to Sophie’s personality – more typically a female
trait – but to another girl, ‘capable’ could mean the same as ‘strong’ – a
woman who protects her girl.
This seems perfectly realistic to me – most
people have sides to their personality that could be classed as ‘masculine’ or
‘feminine’. For example, I wear dresses and read romantic novels, but I’m also
a passionate football (soccer) fan who knows the offside rule. But it also
means that the butch lesbians, girly lesbians, and personalised-book-obsessed
straight girls are all likely to be able to identify with at least one aspect
of Sophie’s personality.
The protagonist in Seduction Games (Emma) is almost the same character as the
protagonist in Tropical Treasure, only
a bit more perverted. Sweet and idealistic, but with a lot more determination and
courage than anyone realises. If you’re a butch lesbian, you’d probably be
better of casting yourself as the second heroine (Sophie), as Emma isn’t a bit
butch, but she really is a lovely character. Even when there are doubts about
Sophie’s integrity, you want it to work out for them just so Emma can be happy.
Caroline (personalised) and the
non-personalised Erikka, Wallace and Oscar are also brilliant characters – convincingly
intelligent, interesting and full of surprises. They’re all very different, yet
you can understand what they’re doing in reality TV. Presenters Clive and Summer are also great
characters. (But if you try the personalised preview on www.bookbyyou.com, be aware it’s not quite set up correctly - the parts about screenshots and shark bait are supposed to be about Erikka, not the 'heroine's best friend', though it is the heroine's best friend who 'pretended to be indignant'.)
As always, it would be problematic to call
any of your personalised characters by the names of non-personalised characters.
If your name is Erikka and your girlfriend is called Summer you’re going to get
very confused. And perhaps even a little bit
insulted.
The book is more sexually descriptive than
the m/f version. But the sex scenes are obviously lovemaking rather than a
quick shag, and it was actually rather beautiful the way that Sophie and Emma
took it in turns to give each other pleasure, both happy to take on each role
in the lovemaking process.
It was also very well-described and I now
know exactly what to do next time
Emma and I get drunk…
