Lust for Love by Florence Stonebraker. Designs Intimate (1952), approx. 124 pp.
Vivi Brady, ex-nurse, ex-con, manages a desert resort for her lover, L. A. restauranteur Henry Wilkins. She’s determined to own the place herself and decides that marrying Henry’s sensitive young son Dick, whom she’s just seduced, is a step in that direction. Vivi’s career ambitions, however, are compromised by her powerful sex drive. Though fearful of crossing her, the staff sees Vivi as a slut, a view reinforced when she beds randy movie star Barry Gordon. Even hard-drinking stable man Mike Morritt holds her in disdain. Despite her scheming, Vivi’s life may be getting out of control.
At first Stonebraker seems to be sliding away from a standard romance. Vivi, betrayed by a doctor during her days as a nurse, has no interest in love. Sex sometimes provides momentary enjoyment but it primarily serves as a mechanism to manipulate men. The author gets half-way through the story before she makes it clear how Vivi’s problems will work themselves out. Things clear up for the other characters too (especially Dick), and the ending is conventional in a social as well as literary sense. Readers may be disappointed. Stonebraker deserves extra credit for her portrayal of the desk clerk in chapter 19. It has nothing to do with the story but shows how amusing she can be when she has a few pages to fill.
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