Sheba

Today’s book comes from the historical fiction genre, which is something I don’t often read. But when it comes to this author, I’ll read most anything she writes—mostly because it’s all just that good. I’ve read a few of her books multiple times, getting idea after idea from the way she masterfully uses words. If you haven’t read her yet, you’re really missing out.

But for today, I wanted to talk about something that’s in almost every novel (or series), if I’m being honest. It’s very rare to find a work that doesn’t have this in some way, shape, or form. It’s always there, always. Even in life, it’s something many people’s worlds revolve around—which is likely why it’s ended up in so much fiction.

What’s that, you ask? Why, it’s love, of course.

The Legend of Sheba – Tosca Lee

Now, I’m using this story for a very specific reason. See, Sheba is based off a theory, off a single verse in the Bible which states that King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba everything that she desired. The theory, which many Israelites still believe, is that the queen returned to Sheba pregnant with Solomon’s child. It’s a very fascinating story in general, if you ever find yourself wanting to know more about it. There’s something called the right of return, or there was, I’m not sure that it’s still in place, but it allowed Ethiopians to become Israeli citizens simply by stepping foot on Israeli soil, because Sheba is believed to be Ethiopia.

Anyway, I’ve digressed. This is a love story we’re talking about, not just historical fiction.

The thing with Tosca is that she’s really good at writing extremely natural love stories, stories that feel like they’re real. And that’s exactly what she does with Legend of Sheba. There is no point in the story where I felt like this wasn’t what the characters would naturally do, no moment where I wondered if this was actually what was going on—and that’s exactly how it should be.

Really though, the best part of it is that she wrote this fully realistic and highly sexual story without ever having “on-screen” sex between her characters.

I know what you’re thinking though. The predominate theory out there is that erotica sells better than anything else, and in some cases you might be right, but unless a story is designed to be nothing but erotic, it doesn’t need that much heat. It is completely possible to write a love story without showing the readers every single thing in which the characters take part. Tosca is amazing at that.

I’m an easy blusher; I really am. So it’s hard for me to read any form of erotica for that reason, aside from the fact that the stories are usually incredibly easy to poke holes into. That’s beside the point though.

Tosca’s story does something that not a lot of stories do these days. It portrays a love story, a sexual relationship, without going so in-detail that she would quickly lose two-thirds of her audience (because that’s really what you do when you write erotica: you write for a very specific group of people, who only read erotica). Most audiences are looking for story, not sex.

That’s why I picked this book as one you should check out.

If you’re planning on writing a love story, one where the characters are highly dynamic and realistic in almost every way, if you’re wanting to write a sexual relationship without alienation between audiences, then you must check out this book.

Seriously, I’ve read it four times already. It’s beautiful. Read the prequel short, Ismeni, as well. For other reasons though.

[love]

{Rani D.}