The Escapist by Anthony Beal

“One woman’s joy is another woman’s sadness…”

The Island:
Its existence is a guarded secret known only to those affluent enough to enjoy its benefits and broken enough to desire them.

For generations, wealthy women have traveled there in search of fleeting escape from passionless marriages, from frantic work schedules, to escape from their problems as they can do no place else. On the island their only cares are for the roughness of the hands driving their orgasms. The most successful veriagones are those who know this well enough to never fall in love with the ladies they serve. The most beautiful of the veriagones, 22-year old Reynaldo is exploring his first genuine romance with flirtatious local bartender Sandrine, but is quickly selected for his sensual talents by Esme, a stunning redhead on holiday who is more than twice his age. Esme finds in Reynaldo what she has spent years pursuing: a man not only undaunted by her overtly sexual nature, but one who proves a match for it.

Unbeknownst to any of them, the island and the ancient deities that have warred there since time began have selected Reynaldo for something as well. A choice made by an imprisoned goddess will claim lives, test relationships, and require courage and decisive action of those wanting to escape divine wrath with their hearts intact.

Rhonda's Thoughts:

I got my first small taste of Anthony Beal in an anthology, Sin City.  I knew right away he was different, and loved his voice.  When the opportunity presented itself for me to read and review a full length piece from him, I was more than happy to do so.  It’s not often I read male authors, so this alone is a huge compliment to this author that I wanted to.


After reading this book, I found the blurb and decided that it does a great job of outlining the story, so I’m not going to touch on that.
What I do want to talk about is the skillful talent that resides in the mind of this author.  Beal  puts words together and forms these beautiful sentences that create a thought provoking story with dark undertones.  There were times that I found myself so immersed in his story that had every bit to do with poetic flair of his writing.


 The author gave quite a bit of depth to the emotions of his characters.  On a island holiday where emotions aren’t suppose to be part of the lascivious encounters,  this time the emotions not only come into play, they run deep.  In fact they are life changing for Esme, and eye opening for Reynaldo.   I also enjoyed some of the bantering between the guys, and the interactions between them.  Beal even threw in a few bits of humor to lighten the mood. 


This is a story of sexual fantasy, with an element of fantasy involving a God and Goddess and myth surrounding the nameless island.  There’s bad guys, drama, and fighting, chaos,  and lots and lots of sexcapades!!  Beal holds nothing back when it comes to this aspect of his story.


I really liked this book, these are my opinions and look forward to more from Anthony Beal.  If you’re in the mood for something a bit different from the mainstream erotica, and intelligent writing,  I would recommend giving him a shot.