Tapestries: Bakra Bride by NJ Walters

NJ Walters has such a rich, full-bodied writing style. I really enjoy her books. I normally do not like paranormals - you guys know that. I read very few paranormals of any sort. There are only a few authors that I trust enough to read their paranormals. Sarah McCarty and Shelby Reed top that list, maybe one or two others. NJ Walters being one of them. This time travel novel is the 2nd book in the Tapestries series, following Christina's Tapestry. The series is about a place called Javara, where women are in such short supply that the men in a family must compete for a woman to be their bride, then the winner must share with his brothers once a week. To add to this craziness, once or (very infrequently) twice in a generation, a tapestry brings a woman from a far-away land (that would be our land) to be a "tapestry bride" for the man who first sees her. Sound far-fetched? Oh yeah, but NJ makes it work - completely and totally.

So, this 2nd story in the series is the story of Jane Smith, a woman who witnesses her boss commit a murder and is basically cast out of the life she knew. She is drawn to the tapestry and is magically transported to Javara, where she meets up with Zaren Bakra and the rest of his brothers. They have but a scant few days to convince her to stay with them rather than to go back to the life she left. Guess how they start the convincing?

The book flows very well. While there are plenty of sex scenes, there is also plenty of plot and story to support the sex. Jane wasn't left without options when she was transported to Javara; that would have made for too easy a decision to stay, and perhaps too weak a heroine. She, instead, must learn to love the Bakra brothers and enjoy her sexuality with Zaren and his brother, and make her own decisions about whether to either stay in Javara without all the conveniences of modern life, but with the love and comfort she has gained, including a wonderful extended family; or to go back to the potential of a good job, and a life just beginning to straighten itself out - the prospect of what could be... Jane also meets up with Christina, the first tapestry bride, who fills her in on the joys and hardships of life in Javara and the difficulties of leaving your old life behind.

The sexuality in this book fairly sizzled off the pages. The Bakra brothers are alphas at their very best - warriors; protective, fierce, loving... yet willing to let their woman make her own decisions and abide by them. Wouldn't we all wish for a man like that? And men in Javara are trained to sexually please a woman in every way, since they will need to compete for the very few women there. Needless to say, these guys know their way around a woman. *please pass the ice*

But it is really NJ Walters' storytelling - the details, the rich characterizations, the depth of feeling, that makes her books so enjoyable. Someone I know said that NJ "paints with words" - and that is how I feel when I read an NJ Walters book. So this 2nd book was as enjoyable to me as the 1st was. And NJ left an opening for the 3rd book. Damn her for mentioning how lonely Marc seemed...