Book Review: Shades of Lust (Carnal Tower #1) by E.M. Lindsey

Disclaimer: I received an electronic ARC of this novel from the author.

Once again, Lindsey has written a low angst book that doesn’t stint on being packed with feels. Low angst doesn’t mean low emotion, after all, and this author is adept at teasing out the connections between characters that are not evident at first glance. As a pair, August and Stone aren’t “opposites attract” so much as they are jagged pieces of a puzzle that fit together against all odds. Nothing about the evolution of their relationship is typical, from the meet-cute to how they connect emotionally and physically.

With a sex worker for the main character, it would have been easy for Lindsey to go all out for the sexy bits of this book. However, combining Stone’s relationship to physicality with August’s lack of experience results in a high-steam story where the gentlest touch of skin is as intense as a more drawn-out scene. I also appreciated how August’s anxiety is not used as a replacement for a personality but instead as a facet of how he and Stone connect and interact with each other.

Lindsey does the perfect amount of world-building in this book with the history of the Carnal Tower and the introductions to the other Sins. We get just enough to individualize these men and be teased about future possibilities with them (especially in regards to Flint, Stone’s brother) without the main story being weighed down by extraneous details.

I wasn’t expecting a book hangover after this story, but I should know by now that Lindsey’s works can bury themselves into your brain and stay with you long after the last page. I look forward to continuing this series, especially since it means glimpses at Stone and August during their well-deserved happily ever after.

Rating: 5 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.