The only way to save her was to marry her.Bishop Eduardo Soto has devoted his life to the church to pay for a mistake he made long go.He never expected a second chance at happiness, but once he meets Chloe Thomas, her happiness is all he cares about.Chloe dreams of leaving the Bourbon Street stage and owning her own bakery.She’ll do anything to make it happen, including agreeing to a marriage of … make it happen, including agreeing to a marriage of convenience to a man who seems too good to be true.
But when his past catches up with him and Chloe is offered the opportunity of a lifetime, will she leave her new husband behind after all he’s given up for her?
While Bishop’s Desires is part of the Barnes Family Series, it is a stand alone romance novel complete with a happily ever after that can be enjoyed without reading the other books.
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This is the 1st book I read by Normandie Alleman. I loved this book’s story line. I loved the hot & steamy scenes. I loved the chemistry in this story. I loved how Chloe & Eduardo met. I was happy & I felt sorry for Chloe. I loved the ending. Awesome job Ms. Alleman.
Bishop’s Desire (Barnes Family Book 3) by Normandie Alleman
This is the 3rd book in the Barnes Family. This is the story of Bishop Eduardo Soto of the who happens to be the love child of Ziggy Barnes and Chloe Thomas is a server and part time dancer at Lulu’s strip club. He stumbles into her at Lulu’s trying to find one of his parishers at the club. Eduardo doesn’t know he is Ziggy’s son until Lucinda Barnes shows up to get a DNA swab. I very much like the Barnes family books. They are well written, engaging and have chemistry.
Bishop’s Desire is the first book in this series I have had the pleasure to listen to. I really enjoyed both narrators, Aiden Snow and Alicyn Aimes, added an extra layer to the story which is always appreciated. Bishop Eduardo Soto and Exotic Dancer Chloe Thomas make an unusual couple for anyone looking from the outside in but these two have a lot more in common that one would have guessed.
After reading the first two books in the series I was wondering how Eduardo and Chloe’s story would ties into the Barnes family series especially since neither of them hold the surname of Barnes but it is explained pretty quickly, and NO I am not going to tell you – you’ll just have to grab your own copy and find out for yourself, I was pretty shocked by the revelation but really it shouldn’t have been that surprising.
I loved Eduardo and Chloe together, their story was not smooth sailing but we do get an HEA along with what I hope is a glimpse into the next book..Leo’s story (fingers crossed). If you have read any of Normandie Alleman’s books before you know they are HOT and this one is no different, HOT and STEAMY is the way to go for the Bishop and exotic dancer. This is a quick read, or listen, and can be done in just an afternoon. This book can be read as a standalone but I recommend the series so why not read them in order that way you can follow each of the Barnes Family members as they find their HEAs. Happy Reading!!!
There’s a difference between “quirky” and unbelievable.
*very long and deep sigh* My personal goal is to always write positively about someone’s creation because of the work and bits of self put into finished work. To that end, I will say that the writing in this book is competent and there was a storyline. Beyond this, I felt that this is a poorly researched book which is culturally obtuse and panders to an audience who attributes overly positive value to today’s mind numbing cultural icons
It’s one thing to get an idea of a man in a religious vocation who is an irresistibly Dominating, sexually devastating and emotionally torn over his desires. (This is in my mind a delicious trope for a dark and dirty romance!) It is quite another to get the whole religious culture wrong. Case in point, a Bishop in the Anglican church is one who presides over several churches/parishes. It is not an honorary title accorded to a parish priest. A little simple research would have illuminated this fact for the author.
Whether the complete ignorance of the religion in which the main protagonist was ordained can be excused or attributed to artistic license remained in question from the first while I read the book.
Please do not get me wrong…I reiterate I believe it is a delectable storyline for the pious to realize the humbling power of love in sexuality no matter the religion.
The insta-love of the ahem…”Bishop” was believable but that he would need to marry his love, Chloe before he “did the deed” seemed overly contrived and not authentic to this male character even considering his religious vocation.
Previously, he paid Chloe to do a highly sexual “lap dance” on him. On a separate occasion, he penetrated her manually bringing her to climax before he proposed marriage???
Chloe consented to marry him for his money and told him so. She did not love him but she was fully willing to have sex with him. She was a tired “dancer” who claims to know the depth of the depravity of men. How so???
Soooo…as long as HE was in love and they married it was okay in the eyes of God??? Please???
Then…the oh so enlightened ahem…”Bishop” said God gave sex as a gift to man loving woman…tell our gay brothers and sisters this.
“’That’s because you are missing the fact that God gave us sex. He invented it, and when he did he created the perfect way for a man and a woman to come together, physically, emotionally, even spiritually.’”
Okay…so let’s say our ahem…”Bishop” Soto is not as enlightened as we thought but he goes on to bemoan the fact that he is not as genetically gifted in height as his half brother who is a professional basketball player. He could not advance beyond playing college basketball because his mother was Hispanic. Really???
So our ahem…”Bishop” Soto is truly not the studied, self-aware and completely God-centered man we thought, okay…but that he found himself and his redemption in the “Barnes Family” makes me want to…well enough said.
I did not know and how I wish I had known that the “Barnes Family” series is a loosely based portrayal of popular culture media reality personas, the Kardashian/Jenner family members.
This family invades various media outlets selling intimate family moments and of course products. They are transactional with the public. A writer who attributes any thing other than this is either naïve or simply trying to pander to a select audience and cash in themselves on the cache of the public fascination.
I was duly impressed that this author was a psychologist but after reading this book I’m doubly disappointed in the characters. These are not “quirky” characters but poorly imagined constructs of haphazard reality, hurtful stereotypes and examples of the acceptance of the “dumbing down” of an individual’s capacity for knowledge and most importantly, understanding.
Here is my disclaimer: I am no expert. I hate negativity. I take no pleasure in writing this review but my passionate heart for truth and beauty in art, (no matter how ugly the portrayal) compelled me to speak out against the nonsense (having no sense) I encountered in this book.
The last point I will make that speaks to the haphazard nature of this book is that the most important aspect of the male model on the cover of the book was missing, his eyes. After all, the eyes are “the windows to the soul”.