Hi friends! So I was all “I’m definitely going to be on top of writing TBR Challenge reviews in 2022!” And like … I just hesitated typing 2022 because my fingers wanted to type 2021 and that’s how things are going, described in the gentlest way.
I’ve been doing very little reading the past few months, in a way. And in another … well, I’m fixating – hard. I listened to the same audiobook, once a day if not more, for well over a month. I’ve shifted to the same audiobook for a week (or so), on repeat, but they’re comfort re-reads. In January I went back to Beverly Jenkins historicals. <3 (Indigo, Vivid, Night Hawk…)
Which … gets me to this. While my TBR both languishes and grows – you’re all readers – you get it – I just … have no focus. And I’m not even branching out on comfort reads because what if I pick up a book I loved 20 years ago but it’s just terrible now? (Maybe it just wasn’t that good, maybe it was super racist and I had no idea. I don’t know.)
… So yeah. You’re almost paralyzed with “what ifs.” But also trying a new book just … is too exhausting and what if it’s not good and then you wasted time and then also have to figure out what else to read to avoid it.
That’s enough of that.
ANYWAY. I said I went back to Beverly Jenkins re-[and re and re and re] reads…. and what came to mind for “the sexiest low key scene” – I mean it’s a grand gesture but it’s not something you’d normally think of as sexy. It’s when Galen quotes scripture to Hester in the church.
… if you’ve never read Indigo you might be thinking “uhhhhhh Lime?” But come on. Imagine it’s 1858, and the most handsome man you or anyone else has ever seen stands up in church and quotes.
“Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse…thou hast ravished my heart… Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense …” “Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue…Thy navel is like a round goblet which wanteth not liquor…The joints of your thighs are like jewels…”
Which are from Chapters 4 and 7 of Song of Solomon. It made me think of the infamous Darcy hand flex in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice that is regularly trotted out in social media and people lose their minds over. It’s iconic.
So my question is … what is the tamest/most innocuous yet sexiest/most “*fans self*” scene you’ve ever read? What’s your favorite one in a book or movie?
Inquiring minds wish to know!
And if you’ve never read Indigo … do yourself the favor and start now. Now!
As a child Hester Wyatt escaped slavery, but now the dark skinned beauty is a dedicated member of Michigan’s Underground railroad, offering other runaways a chance at the freedom she has learned to love. When one of her fellow conductors brings her an injured man to hide, Hester doesn’t hesitate…even after she is told about the price on his head.
The man in question is the great conductor known as the “Black Daniel” a vital member of the North’s Underground railroad network. But Hester finds him so rude and arrogant, she begins to question her vow to hide him.
When the injured and beaten Galen Vachon, aka, the Black Daniel awakens in Hester’s cellar, he is unprepared for the feisty young conductor providing his care. As a member of one of the wealthiest free Black families in New Orleans, Galen has turned his back on the lavish living he is accustomed to in order to provide freedom to those enslaved in the South.
However, as he heals he cannot turn his back on Hester Wyatt. Her innocence fills him like a breath of fresh air and he is determined to make this gorgeous and intelligent woman his own…
Yet…there are traitors to be discovered, slave catchers to be evaded and Hester’s heart to be won before she and Galen can find the freedom that only true love can bring.
