Tempted All Night was very entertaining, but I would have liked to see more of the hero's metamorphasis from man-ho to good man. He was such a man-ho that he would just kiss strange women on the street and try to bed them, although twice, it turned out to be the heroine, unbeknownst to him. He doesn't bed virtuous women, does bed married women, and is proud of the fact that he doesn't visit prostitutes. How would he know that he hasn't? He was not very discriminating and not always sober. I thought there was a little too much of the bondage scenes between H and h and that most of it didn't add a great deal to the story. Still a good read and better than a lot of what's out there. 3.5/5 stars ( )

Nice read. I like the plot, the couple and the way their relationship developed. ( )

I really ended up enjoying this book. It was by no means perfect, or even a favorite Carlyle, but I was pleased. I liked how I didn't really know what was going on at first. We (the reader) found out what Phaedra's involvement in the murdered Russian was at the same time as Tristan did. It was a definite change of pace from the more introspective characters.

Phaedra was a well written character. I liked how she was mature and not as needy as a lot of other romance heroines. I enjoyed watching Tristan have to be the one to ask when he'll get to see her again. Her `let's keep it casual' attitude toward Tristan was a nice change of pace. I didn't have a problem with the kinks Tristan found out she had, but I thought it got a little too clinical at times. I wish it would have been a bit more engaging and a little less dry. I was also surprised by her aggressiveness toward Tristan when I found out about her past tragedy. The tragedy was unexpected. Usually I can predict what so-called past tragedy an author is going to assign to a character, but this one was different. I can honestly say I don't think I've ever seen it used before.

I did have a minor nitpick about Phaedra's characterization though. She makes a comment about not being sure that Tristan was the drunken gentleman she met in the beginning of the book. It says that she couldn't be sure because she didn't have her glasses on. Later Phoebe mocks her to Zoe (Phaedra's friend) and says Phaedra only wears her glasses to look smarter than everyone else and only needs them to read. Throughout later parts of the story she goes without her glasses and doesn't have any problems seeing. I found it odd that she would comment to herself on her need for her glasses but then never really need them.

Tristan was an interesting character. I have to say, I have a weakness for characters that are thought to be empty-headed but are really very clever. It always makes me feel as though I'm in on the joke. I thought Tristan was a lot of fun. He was up for whatever anyone wanted to throw at him. If you wanted to fight, he'd fight. If you wanted to make out, he was ready. If you wanted to think he was an idiot, he was more than happy to let you. He just seemed so casual and willing to go with the flow. It made him fun to read about. I wasn't really impressed with his willingness to make out with every set of lips that crossed his path (even if most of them ended up being Phaedra in one form or another) but it was in the beginning of the story and it's just a personal dislike. It was easy to get past.

I liked that Tristan never resolved things with his father. I thought that was more realistic than a sudden father-son bonding moment where they forget all their past troubles. I would have thought less of Tristan if he would have made up with his father when his father was never sorry about how he treated his mother.

I found it odd that Phaedra had so much freedom. I know that her mother focused on Phoebe mostly, but it really seemed a little unbelievable. I kept forgetting that Phaedra was 21 and was startled whenever it was brought up. On one hand it was nice that she acted so mature. I can't even remember how many books I have given up on because the characters acted too immature and irritated the life out of me. On the other hand I really don't think that she acted 21. Maybe her past made her grow up in a hurry. I don't know... It was just a jarring note whenever it was mentioned.

Overall it was a good book. I had some minor nitpicks, but they were easily ignored. I would say it was a good representation of Liz Carlyle's work. The world building isn't too detailed, but the characters caught my attention enough that it didn't matter to me. The prose isn't nuanced and doesn't really give a flavor of the time period, but there's something to be said for to the point prose. I'll be on the lookout for the next one in the series. ( )

Phaedra is a bookworm with a dark secret in her past. Tristan is a scoundrel who prefers the company of lowlifes to lords. They are drawn together by murder and a strong desire.

The plotline and tropes are not among my favorites, but Carlyle writes so well I enjoyed it anyway. ( )

The heroine of this book, among other things, ruined Tempted All Night for me. Lady Phaedra Northampton creates a poor impression from the very start, making snap judgments about others’ intelligence and congratulating herself on her own intellectual superiority. This includes Zoe Armstrong, a character whose own book is, I’m sure, in the works, but who for now gets to play Phaedra’s sidekick. For some reason, Zoe takes it upon herself to befriend Phaedra even though she’s such a downer. Zoe is fun and flirtatious and likes pretty clothes. This, in Phaedra’s book, means she is stupid and frivolous. Even when Phaedra condescends so far as to admit that Zoe might, just might, be smart enough to join her in her lofty, lonely erudition, Phaedra is still so judgmental, so uptight, so full of herself, such a prig. Zoe, in contrast, is just a nice human being, and Phaedra really doesn’t deserve her as a friend.

Nor does she deserve the hero of the story, Tristan Talbot. Instead of being snide in thought alone, Phaedra calls him an idiot to his face the minute she meets him. She puts me in mind of a bitter unpopular girl despising all the pretty cheerleaders and jocks – a jealousy that all the more glaringly shows up her immaturity for drawing such superficial distinctions in the first place. If she weren’t enough of a cliché already, she also has a really bad whore/Madonna complex. She’s the proper, repressed, bluestocking heroine hiding from society because she’s ashamed of her “strong passions.” Her dowdiness is a deliberate façade, a retreat from life and her sexuality. She can put herself down all she wants, but could she not offend other people while she’s at it, please? Her false modesty really got on my nerves, the poorly hidden conceit that even though she *gasp* wears glasses, and gray dresses, and is cursed, CURSED I tell you, with big boobs, she's better than everyone else around her. She’s the most passive aggressively judgmental heroine I’ve ever seen

I kept waiting for Phaedra to get a wake up call, or to improve upon closer acquaintance perhaps, but even the eventual revelation of her sob story, as tragic as it was, couldn’t help flesh her out into a relatable character. Rather it made her seem just a little unhinged into the bargain. Her traumatic past allegedly provides the motivation for her actions throughout the book, the secret rescue mission that she’s on while in London trying to avoid going to parties, dressing nicely, and enjoying herself. The explanation is pretty flimsy, and even less satisfactory in light of the acts of stupidity to which it drives Phaedra – skulking around a whore house run by a crazy Russian spy and capering about dangerous areas of the city at night. And I’m supposed to believe she’s smart. The only proofs of her intelligence are vague references to reading a lot, and, of course, her own assertions.

Phaedra’s oblivious, misguided bleeding heart places her in Tristan’s path, because, at the bequest of his dying father, a top government official, he’s investigating the same crazy Russian spy’s brothel. Tristan is a very well developed character. His troubled relationship with his father is particularly moving. Tristan puts on a kind of Scarlet Pimpernel show – more fool Phaedra for falling for it – but the depth to his character is clear and compelling. The espionage plot, in contrast, is very threadbare, contrived, and awkward, especially when Phaedra just has to get involved, i.e. get in the way. Even though I like Tristan well enough, he can’t carry the whole book, hampered as it is by its flawed plot, cookie cutter villain, and annoying heroine, on his muscley shoulders - especially when Tempted All Night is more about Phaedra than it is about Tristan. The romance, of course, suffers as well as a result. It's a lost cause altogether when Phaedra, in addition to her pathetic attempts at saving someone who doesn’t want saved, decides the role of martyr suits her just fine as well. So she has to push Tristan away for the usual stupid reasons – he doesn’t know what he wants, he doesn’t really love her, she is unworthy. It’s such a load of drama and nonsense. I wash my hands of it. This review has, obviously, been little more than Phaedra bashing, but seriously, I couldn’t stand her. If you can put up with her, though, Tempted All Night might have a better chance with you than it did with me. ( )