Cathy Yardley, Ravish

Ravish

Cathy Yardley

Avon, Sep 23 2008, $13.95

ISBN: 9780061376085

Her parents overly protected Aurora Jacquard, but the twenty-one year old college student goes with her boyfriend of four months Oliver to a Caribbean island where she plans to give him her virginity. In the middle of the sexual act, she suddenly falls into a deep coma.

Over the next few years, doctors have tried to awaken 'Sleeping Beauty' with no success; none can fathom the cause. Aurora's mom keeps searching while her dad has tuned bitter and angry. The latest expert to arrive is neurologist Dr. Jacob White. However, he is surprised when she enters his dreams; he is stunned when Carrie the night nurse wakes him because Rory's brain monitor displayed new patterns for the first time since the coma began; finally he is shocked when they make love in his dreams. Jacob begins to believe that when he sleeps he enters a place where Rory is somehow locked away. As the cold scientist falls in love with his courageous patient, he knows he is out of his venue. He needs the help of his brother's former girlfriend, an NYU professor who practices voodoo if he is to awaken his Sleeping Beauty.

After modernizing Snow White (see 'Crave'), Cathy Yardley does likewise to the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. This time a voodoo queen plays the evil role and Jacob the neurologist plays the part of Prince Charming. Jacob's brother a psychiatrist adds to the sense of 'Ravish' occurring in New York. Ms. Yardley provides a contemporary adult version of the classic.

Harriet Klausner