A Seduction at Christmas

Decent story of nick and Fiona but quite predictable ( )

An enjoyable romance with likable characters and a mystery to keep the plot going at a good pace. A must for Maxwell fans; this title should gain her even more devoted readers. ( )

Reviewed for queuemyreview.com; book release Nov08

Free will or fate? The arguments regarding which of these guides our lives and loves have likely existed since man (and certainly women) began to speak. Cathy Maxwell’s latest historical romance “A Seduction at Christmas” is the story of a young man who, through a terrible loss, undergoes an eerie experience and receives a cryptic prophecy from an old crone at the Oracle of Delphi. He then seeks to escape what he believes is his fate, but his actions appear to be useless when his fate catches up to him in the form of a beautiful young, innocent woman.

Fiona is desperate. The young Scottish lass has lost her respectable job and needs enough money to keep a roof over the heads of herself and her loyal dog. She accepts a dubious job with trepidation. All she needs to do is pour a potion into the drink of a lord whose jilted lover is looking for a little revenge. Only when she’s assured the potion will just make the lord violently ill, but not dead, does she agree. When she arrives at the inn, the lord she’s supposed to meet isn’t there. Instead, it’s the man she’s dreamed of since before her life became one of penury. And when three men appear trying to kill ‘her’ lord, she saves his life. Now her life is also in danger, but ‘her’ lord has no intention of losing her.

Nick has spent many years trying to redeem himself from a youthful folly. After losing his family’s heirloom ring and receiving a warning/prophecy from a crone at Delphi to ‘beware innocence’, his whole life changed. He uses his cynicism to distance himself from any feelings and avoids innocents like the plague. But when Fiona places herself in danger by helping him, even his jaded senses can’t ignore the way he’s beginning to feel when he’s with her.

It takes a special author to develop a relationship that feels believable when all the action takes place in a shorter amount of time. Maxwell did a good job of making the circumstances fit the telescoped time frame by forcing the protagonists into closer quarters than would be normal. The action flowed smoothly even with the quick pace, and the supporting cast included some memorable characters that I’d like to read about again. The only drawback would be the rapid turnaround of the hero’s character, but since it IS the holiday season, I’ll just consider that a holiday miracle.

Cathy Maxwell’s regency romance is one that will leave you with a sigh and a smile. Her talented development of the attraction and relationship between the hero and heroine makes this story a kind of Christmas wish come true. Whether their meeting was determined by fate or chance, it was the actions each took and their willingness to trust that determined the course of their romance. “A Seduction at Christmas” is a happy, more light-hearted story that will provide a welcome distraction from the holiday rush. ( )