Book Review – An Exaltation of Larks by Suanne Laqueur

An Exaltation of Larks
<— IT’S LIVE!!!!!! AND OH. WOW!!!!!! What an exquisitely detailed family saga, unfolding from (and into) an epic love story. This author charmed and seduced me with her prose, but she consumed me with the portrayal of her life-like, emotional characters, weaved together by happenstance, forever connected by fate. But even more so… by love.

Highly recommended by a few of my trusted, beloved book-buddies, I just KNEW I would go crazy for it!

Celeste: Oh!! Maryse, did you see that Suanne Laqueur’s An Exaltation of Larks has a release date? … I am SO. EXCITED!

R: Celeste, I just read an ARC of An Exaltation of Larks and OMG. It is A-MAZ-ING. The teasers she keeps posting are killing me. …Maryse, when are you reading An Exaltation of Larks?? I’m dying over here!!

Jean: So, I’ve been living with the Larks in NY! An Exaltation of Larks by Suanne Laqueur…..SIMPLY AMAZING! I DON’T WANT IT TO EVER END!

Oh they were SO right!!!!

Poetic, and incredibly provocative, yet subtly so. It just builds and builds and builds until you feel like you’re about to combust. Oh and combust, you do. It can’t be helped because… it goes there.

Maryse: HOLY MOLY I went in completely blind (just on my love of this author, and my best-book-buds recommendations, alone), and this was not what I was expecting, and yet, oddly enough, it is EVERYTHING I was expecting from her.

The slowest (in a delicious way!!), most intense, realistic burn I’ve read in AGES. I’m riveted and loving it. So subtly… HOT!!!! Kind of has that forbidden feel, but not in the least bit tawdry.

For those saying this is her best yet, I’m not done reading, but I already believe you.

I. Was. Riveted!!!

So what’s it about? *sigh* There is no way my quick intro will ever give you the proper “feel” for what this book is. For the contemporary love story you are about to embark upon. I can’t give it justice, because every word she writes is simply magical in the development of these characters, and how their lives are meshed, and how important they become to each other. AND to the reader. But I’ll try. 😉

This story spans decades, from childhood to adulthood (but no worries, you’ll spend the integral part of the story in the present day, as adults, but the “past” is a MUST read, to understand who these characters are, today, and their connection).

Alex moves to the New York from Chile as a child (moving in with his uncle, when his parents are taken away from him in a coup),

“You have a VISA and a plane ticket. And Tío Felipe is waiting for you. I must stay and find your mother. You must go find our new home. Be the man of the house until I come with Mamí.”

and befriends the “Lark” family. They are loving, they are centered, and they are strong, together, and they accept him into their family.

Their house was large and their hearts larger. One more fledgling in their nest wasn’t an imposition.

*sigh* I LOVED them!!!

As images of Chile faded and curled at the edges, the photo album in Alex’s heart began to fill with new family snapshots, all with his sleek, dark physique set like a black iris in the Lark bouquet of daffodils.

HOLY MOLY THE WRITING!!!! SEE? See what I mean about her brilliant writing? Ethereal and poetic, sure, but pure and true and crystal clear.

As they grow up, Valerie Lark (his make-shift “foster sister”) and Alex go from being the best of friends, to foster-sibling rivalry (LOL!!!), to eventually developing a seemingly unbreakable bond, but school and circumstance keeps them temporarily apart as they forge on into adulthood.

Val never wandered far from Alex’s thoughts, but he had a feeling about her he wasn’t in a hurry to dissect. An instinctive hunch they were treating each other like a pleasure saved for a rainy day. The bit of expensive chocolate stashed away. The dessert saved for last, but not least. One day, he often thought. Not today, but one day…

And as adults, they meet Javier, a male escort (p.s. you’ll get HIS incredibly intense story too and OMG!!!! er… I digress)…

He’d ride it out. This too would pass. Long, abusive weeks passed.

…on a “date” at an event they are all attending. The attraction and undeniable connection between the three is instantaneous, and unforgettable.

For the single, shining, gold-dusted moment, Jav felt part of the charm. They were in his story and he was in theirs.

And when Alex goes back to College, unable to attend a big event with Valerie, she hires Javier to be her date.

I’m going to stop there. You need to LIVE IT in its entirety because there is so much to experience. And it’s SO hard to put down. I devoured it. <— Sidenote: P.S. That intense slow burn becomes STEAMING HOT!!!!!  I did NOT skim a thing. Nope. There was no “sex scene” skimming and I felt it. *whooooooooo*  *fans self*

And again, I must reiterate. This story goes in all sorts of directions, and pulls no punches. But even with the incredible drama (at one point, one of the characters exclaims he’s living in a soap opera)…

“Jesus Christ, this is like a bad soap opera.”

… it IS NOT tawdry!!!! I SWEAR!! It’s just real.

They are alive. I JUST KNOW IT! I and wan’t to be a part of their family. I want to be in their exultation of Larks. GAH!!! That title was PERFECT!!!! So clever, so apropos, and this book is absolutely unforgettable!

The word that comes to mind when I think of this story? LOVE. Boundless and forever.

5 stars!!!

And here it is on AMAZON UK

P.S. Thank you to the author for sending me this review copy!!!

P.P.S. Here are my NOTES!!! Except… don’t read them yet, if you haven’t read this story!!!! I don’t want to skew your perception of events… through my own. 😉

Such colorful, vivid, palpable descriptions

HOLY MOLY THIS WRITING!!!!!!!!!!

Foster siblings forbidden romance? Illicit but not at all tawdry…

Sexual tension between these guys? Oh oh.

Larks are survivors. SOLID. What a connection. What a title. Bittersweet, so perfectly fitting. Exalting.

SUPER SEXY SLOW BURN. M/M romance in gear? Or will it be M/M/F? Or…?

Oooooh this is slightly subversive. Delightfully so!

She seamlessly touches on so many of the forbidden fantasies but also on soulmate level connections. Emotions for an escort? A set of foster siblings with a deeper-than-sibling bond? A possible trio? Bi-curiousity? Soulmate love despite social boundaries. Love is love. It’s all here.

What happens when you highlight almost an entire 550 page book? Does it blow up Amazon’s Kindle memory?

They are SO ALIVE. SO REAL. I want to be in the Lark family. I want to be in an exultation of Larks.

WOW what a family saga. Not just a love story.

Full circle epic love story saga.

terrible tragedies befell all of them, and bring it all full circle. Interconnecting them. 9/11

so many slow burns in this. The whole book is on fire!!!!

this is not the type of book you skim the steamy scenes. you inhale them. you FEEL them