Never Seduce a Scoundrel

I think this book had all the elements for 5 stars. The plot was very interesting... complicated... and turned out quite nicely in the end. (I was sort of worried there for a second!!) The hero and heroine made sense together--Major Lucas Winter, American soldier and Lady Amelia Plume, the girl who loves adventures... The hero's issues... well, I'd have them too, if I was in his shoes!!! Holy COW!! COMPLETELY UNDERSTANDABLE!

Anyway, so Amelia's at a ball at Lucas's cousin, Lord Kirkwood's house. Lucas is staying with Kirkwood while he's in America "working on a treaty between England and America" or some such. So, Amelia loves adventure, and Lucas is really good-looking.... so she's intrigued by him, of course. Amelia's talking to her school friends, and one of them, "Silly Sarah" (with an H), reveals that Lord Kirkwood is interested in her... and that she's written him a secret love letter that she's afraid to send (her mom watches the post, apparently). So Amelia's like, "Why don't you go upstairs and put it on his bed?" Of course, she's a lady, so she's like, "Yeah... I don't think so... why don't YOU!" So Amelia heads upstairs, an excuse already in mind for why she's up there (in case she gets caught). So she slips into one of the rooms, and looks around to see if it looks like Kirkwood's room, but it's not. It's Major Winter's... (She can tell by all the weapons... because apparently, he loves to carry around weapons.... it's a theme throughout the book....) So she's like, "Oooh... I should snoop!!" And she ends up finding some papers on his bedside table refering to her stepmother's maiden name. So she's like, "Is he investigating my stepmom???"

Anyway, so she arranges the papers like she found them and slips out. She's walking back toward the stairs when she runs into Major Winter. EEEEK! He's like, Did she just come out of my room?? But he can't be sure. She decides to play stupid (lovely tactic that I use frequently myself). When he doesn't believe her fib, she tells the truth--that she was looking for his cousin's room to deliver a letter from her friend. Of course, he doesn't believe her, even when she gives him the letter to give to Kirkwood. (He thinks it's a letter from HER, you see.

So anyway, Kirkwood sets him straight--that Amelia has no interest in himself. And since Lucas is drawn to her and needs to get close to her stepmom anyway, he begins to pursue her. It all goes from there. All that happens in the first 1.5 chapters. :) It's quite intriguing. ( )

A young girl enters society and is looking for adventure. She meets an American who is different from all the other men she meets. The adventure turns out to be sexual encounters.

This book was NOT what I expected. I was disappointed in the characters and found them to be superficial. The sex scenes were over the top and totally put me off.

I would NOT recommend this one. ( )

I spent the majority of this book fanning myself! Major Lucas Winter was quite the hot tamale (although I'm a tad concerned about his mental health). And, Lady Amelia Plume was a heroine to admire. After reading a long string of books with lukewarm, milk toast heroines, Amelia's love of adventure was a breath of fresh air. She connived and flirted and was willing to brain someone with a vase when needed.

There was a time when I read nothing but historical romances. I eventually moved on ... to vampires, eek! This book reminded me of how much I enjoy reading about all the lords and ladies. ( )

This book was doing so well for 3/4 of the story. It was heading for 4 stars as a amusing romance with a strong willed heroine and a jaded and bitter hero. The one thing pulling the rating down was an episode towards the end of the book where Amelia is fighting with her husband and refuses to sleep with him. He then dares her into being an obedient bride and therefore tricks his way into her bed. ( )

Never Seduce a Scoundrel is a wonderful love story with some real meat to it: a strong heroine who breaks the mold and a tortured hero who goes through fire to win his happily ever after. Lucas Winters and Amelia Plume are perfect for each other - true equals in love and life. Jeffries skillfully balances the humor and the angst without going overboard with either. The thing I like best about this book, though, is that it just kept getting better and better. So many romances I read run out of steam after a certain point, but here Jeffries layers her characters so well that the pacing never lets up in working towards the heart of the story as Lucas and Amelia change and grow throughout. I loved this book and can't gush enough about it. ( )