Never confuse lust for anything other than what it is, do you agree?

[Uzoma Kalu]

I don't subscribe to the idea that lust is lust and nothing more. However, I would agree that in this book Zia was motivated by lust most of the times. So, for Zia my answer is yes, lust was bad for her character.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I agree with the author to some extent that lust is nothing but lust. I think that everyone feels lust at some of the other points in their life but to only have lust towards a person is definitely toxic. As per the characters in the story, lust was one of the main things that drove the plot but I think it gave them the character build which was required for the story to move forward.

Lust was a main drive for Zia. But she could not get it as just lust since she was addicted to fulfilling her desires, which entangled her in a love triangle. The many things that she had to face could have been avoided if she took lust as just lust.

[Chetna_Kharbanda]

I agree with the author. Lust is just lust if not accompanied by love, emotions, and feelings. However, in the present story lust is the main driving force for the progression of the story as the main character Zia fell prey to lust. In real life also lust is often confused with other feelings and not accepted as what it is.

[Sara chhawniwala]

Lust is considered a negative emotion and rightly so. Lust is just that. Not to be confused with love. Lust can be healthy to some extent if it is taken as it is. Zia could have done so to. I agree with the author. Anyone in this world would take anything when offered and they see a benifit.

[Stephanie Runyon]

In a way, I think Zia confused lust and love. She felt lust for Bryce and assumed he rejected her when he didn't want have sex with her. She also felt and acted upon lust when she agreed to go with Baxter to his place. There was no way that there could be a connection to produce love with Baxter. Bryce showed his emotional connection to Zia and how much he valued more than just her body. I started to hate Zia after her trip to New York.

[Ivvie Ivanova]

In the book, definitely, I would say. Lust drove the characters and got them in situations that came with a price. I imagine things would have been far better for them if they had been able to reign in their lust a bit.

In reality, lust can be a stepping stone or a key to help unlock something deeper. Lust is easy, straightforward. Some people need to use it as a veil for more complex emotions and desires. It could go either way.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I don't think "lust is just lust" should be a universal concept that applies to everything. However, I agree that for the majority of the time, it really is just that. In the book, it definitely applies. In real life, it gets a little more subjective.

Lust can be mixed up with love. It happened to Zia as well. The relationship which satisfied her sexual needs clouded her mind and she could not differentiate between lust and love. If only she could see through that she would not have been caught in that love triangle. So for this story per se lust is just lust.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Lust is lust, irrespective of the perspective we look at it from. I agree with the author, lust is not love. Lust is ultimately selfish while love looks out for the other person. Lust just want the sexual satisfaction in the context of this book while love wants more and beyond sex

I agree. Love yearns more than lust. Zia fulfilled her lust in one relationship, but she needed love, affection, and protection as well. So she remained in the other relationship as well. She could not be faithful to her lover because lust was so much powerful and her need for that was too much.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I think there is a huge discrepancy between lust and love. While both are driven by pure emotional connection, lust also embodies our physical desires and temptations. If one believes we are born sinful, then it makes sense that there isn’t a man (or woman) alive that wouldn’t gladly take what is being offered. While I do believe there are humans who are more tempted than others, humans crave physical and emotional attention and depending on a myriad of things (upbringing, trauma, spiritual beliefs), lust can be positive, negative, or both if it is coupled with love.

I think lust and love cannot come together in a single package. A romantic relationship can have its emotional as welk as physical components, but I think the word lust can be used more appropriately when there is only the physical components. When we consider Zia's relationships I think one can be named as love and the other as lust.

[DTamara]

Never confuse lust for anything other than what it is. There isn’t a man alive that wouldn’t gladly take what you are so willing to offer.

(Epigraph 2, Location 53 of Kindle version)

The victims of the psychopathic killer had this confusion, and it cost them their lives. Zia too had it, and she was blinded by it and did not see the dark side of her lover. Was lust bad for most of the characters in this story? Does lust always carry just lust but nothing else? Do you agree with the author on this quote?

This topic is about the book, so the reply should refer to the book. (the mod).

There is already a counterexample in Bryce in the book, who is not willing to go down the lust path, and thinks long term from the start, believing that starting out that way will ruin the potential of the relationship. I believe that lust doesn't always carry lust, so as a rule of thumb it is not the harbinger of evil. Even in the book, Zia connects with the killer through email and phone conversations first, so the way I understood it, she had a connection with him before giving over to lust. That first part was as essential as the passion element in the story, playing a part in the conflict that was going on in her mind. I actually liked that it was set up in that way, giving it more depth, and in my opinion, making the conflict more realistic.

[Ana C Barrantes]

I do think lust is always bad because it implies a lack of humanity in it. The way I see it sexual attraction is good, but lust feels more like objectifying someone. Also, I agree with the quote; you should never confuse lust with anything other than what it is because you will find yourself in trouble.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Lust is lust. Without love, it is just that. A fleeting instant gratification with no longevity. Though I do not agree that there isn't a man alive who wouldn’t gladly take what you are so willing to offer. I have known several men in my life who wanted more than just lust, and wouldn't jump at the opportunity to have lust for lust.

There can be a number of men who can resist their natural emotions. And that is same for women too. But I think Zia (actually Onyx Gold) is referring to the majority of humans and the majority of occasions. Seemingly even our main protagonist, Zia, too had a confusion regarding the subject, but later she realized the discrepancy, and the author included this quote to show that.

[Sushan Ekanayake]

I do not believe that lust is just lust. The author has a point, but, in my opinion, lust rarely exists alone. It had affected the characters in a way, yes, but lust can also contain other minor factors. I do not believe lust should just be seen as lust but filled with other tiny components.

What are the components that you are suggesting?

As per the book we see nothing in lust other than lust. Yes, there were hidden agendas, especially in the case of the psychopathic killer since he used lust to alure his prey towards him. Yet for those victims I don't see there were anything other than lust, and seemingly they only wished for that as they had everything else other than lust.

[Akshi Porwal]

I do agree wirh the author that lust should not be made into anything more than what it is but at the same time it is quite important. Even in love there is some lust. The characters didn't succumb just because of lust but because Baxter knew how to charm anyone .

[Sushan Ekanayake]

Though I think seeing someone else while in a committed relationship is one of the worst things anyone could do, I actually appreciated the way the author added some depth to Zia's reason for cheating. Zia wasn't just charmed by Baxter, she also felt undesired by Bryce. She felt that she was not enough for him, and also felt that she wasn't getting her needs met, so she trusted someone else to meet those needs. In her case, she wasn't just lustful, she wanted to feel wanted. Zia wanted to feel like her partner both loved and desired her, and I don't blame her in that regard. Her unfulfilled sex drive and want for physical affection also left her feeling emotionally unfulfilled. So, for her, lust was more than just a physical desire.

I think it is not accurate to define her feelings of insecurity and being less desired as lust. But the need to fulfill her sexual needs, for that she needs lust. And I think she adequately had it as she had no problem in betraying her lover and going towards Baxter. Maybe she fulfilled her needs other than lust from that relationship. But ultimately she understood that lust is simply lust but nothing else.