Envy Mass Market Paperback – 1 August 2002

Sandra Brown’s Envy is one of those few novels that is simply unputdownable!!! The prologue is in the form of an initial draft submitted by a mysterious author to the publisher of Matherly Press which narrates a gripping incident near the marina. The author’s initials PME will haunt you right from here. The story is narrated in an alternating fashion between the past and the present. The characters of Todd and Roark in the past and Maris, Noah and Parker in the present will intrigue you with every situation and conversation. The alternating narratives are well connected and filled with suspense. You will find yourself abuzz with eagerness to try and solve the clues and patterns and find the link between the two periods. And in-between all this, the unexpected love story between unlikely individuals adds spice to the story. The themes of hatred that stems from jealousy and resentment are well chronicled by Sandra Brown!

Re-read Oct 7th 20203rd attempt at an audiobook which once again I failed miserably😢😢😢, so went back to my eBook. I read somewhere that the trick to improve your concentration while listening to an audiobook is to repeatedly trying it. So, this was my attempt at listening to Victor Slezak, who I should say has done a wonderful job, narrating ENVY one of my all-time favorite Sandra Brown novel.Recently in an interview Sandra Brown had talked about how much the concept of masochism has been beaten down and that men in our culture have been emasculated to the point that they are afraid to face their own shadows. But it is quite ironical that readers still enjoy the knight in shining armor protecting the damsel in distress stories.Envy was first published in 2001(Goodreads data). Most of SB books have the kind of heroes that readers fall in love with irrespective of the rude and offensive dialogues that are often uttered. Parker Evans is no different but what makes this story spectacular is that the whole game of revenge and justice is played out by a hero who is wheel-chair bound. The use of brains rather than brawn to gain the upper hand is so brilliantly done that one is left with a thunderstruck expression at the end of it all.The relationship between Maris and her father is another loving touch, the affection just pouring out of the pages. Sandra brown is also amazingly proficient in creating sexual tension between her characters using the ‘see but don’t touch’ technique which has been evident in many of her books.Parker says it best, “The Forbidden, the strongest sexual stimulant of all. What isn’t good for us. What we can’t have. What we want so badly we can taste but can’t touch”.Even being aware of every twist in the story, I loved re-reading Envy so much that I now have to stop myself from binge reading all my favorite SB novels.

Okay. Typical Sandra brown.