Caution: Reading this book is an absolute sin, a guilty pleasure, a morbid addiction. 
 Generally, I can't stand the *cough* sex scenes. Thankfully, I have this uncanny ability to intelligently skip these saccharine parts, allowing me to still be able to grasp the bulk and excitement of the plot while preventing my opinion of the book from being tarnished. 
 And then the author weaves conversations and a huge hunk of romance between the making out. 
 Such strategy left me with no choice but to skim through (full emphasis on the word SKIM) these sections with immense chagrin and a sheepish smile on my face. Ok, I'll admit that those scenes were so choked with passion and chemistry my eyes almost combusted. The romance was, uh, fantastic but I would never dare to go through these parts of the book again though I am extremely tempted to. 
 The main characters in this book, Lily and Alex, were likeable. But oh was the passion between them less palpable! Surely the author didn't need all of THAT to prove it to us. 
 On the whole, a lovely read. The author is a great writer. My only problem is, were people in the olden days already THAT wild, open and lustful? That kinds of scares the heck out of me.