Connie Mason (1930–2020)

I would have given the book a higher rating, but I felt it was loaded down with unnecessary sex scenes. I'm not a prude, but I do prefer a little left to the imagination of the reader. I feel the over abundance of the very descriptive sex scenes took away from an otherwise good storyline.

Fun book to read. Serena is one of several young women in line to become the wife of one of the royal princes. While she's not excited about the idea she knows her duty to the family and will do so if necessary. However, she's got a bucket list of things she wants to do before she's trapped in marriage, if she can manage it without getting caught. She starts out by disguising herself as a man and sneaking into Boodles gentlemen's club, but is discovered by Jonah. Rather than give her away, show more he helps her escape before she is unmasked.

Jonah has been watching her for several days. He is being blackmailed into stopping any chance she has of becoming a royal bride. He initially thinks she's like all the other debutantes, but soon realizes that she is smart and adventurous. He finds himself being talked into helping her with her list.

I loved Serena and Jonah together. They have great chemistry that builds as the book goes on. They also have some great conversations that show just how well suited they are for each other. Serena is willing to do what her father wants, but she also wants to live a little before she does. Her initial meeting with Jonah shows her that she can trust him with her secrets. I loved seeing her surprise him with her list and what she wants help with. Jonah is conflicted. He knows what he has to do in order to prevent scandal from ruining his family. But he is fascinated by Serena and her zest for life. He wants to help her with her list, any of which would ruin her if found out, but finds himself wanting to protect her from scandal, not cause it.

As the two of them spend time together they get closer. The love is a relatively slow growing one. Serena sees an honorable man who seems to be haunted by something that isn't letting him be happy. She also finds herself thinking about him far more than is wise for someone in her position. Her feelings for Jonah are growing and the idea of a royal marriage is losing its appeal by the day. I loved seeing her get Jonah to open up to her and how much she wanted to relieve his pain. Jonah's work for the government has worn him out. He's not so sure anymore that everything he did was for the better and it is eating at his soul. As he gets to know Serena he starts to care for her and doesn't want to cause her harm. I loved the way he did everything he could to help her with her list (and then some!) without risking her reputation. His love for her really shows in the way he wants her to make her decision without any pressure from him.

This also concludes the ongoing mystery through all three books. We finally learn the story behind the battle that has created the problem for the three heroes. The bad guy is unmasked and stopped through a very interesting twist in the plot. The final confrontation was very good and I liked the way it turned out, especially Serena's part and what she said. show less

This was quite a story, powerful as well as heartbreaking, and if it hadn't gone over the top in several aspects, I would have given it another star.

If not for the want of a bit of lace...In 18thc London, young Amanda Prescott goes out in the late evening to get some, so her dressmaker mother can finish an important gown for a prominent lady. She gets lost along the way, is mistaken for a prostitute and kidnapped by some young men as a parting gift to their friend, Tony, Brandt, who's show more leaving for America the next day, to take over the family plantation. The guys strip her and lock her in Tony's room (their harsh treatment is because they think she's a whore acting the maiden, as what respectable girl wanders alone in the dark), where, frightened and feeling sick, she lies down on the bed and falls asleep. When a drunk Tony arrives, he's pleased to find a working girl in his bed, and in his condition, doesn't realize he raped a virgin.

He leaves for his new home, and her life takes a downward spiral, as her mother, already in fragile health, was so worried she took a bad turn, from which she didn't recover. The gown not being completed, she lost the lady's patronage, as well as other customers, and Amanda had to resort to stealing food to keep them from starving. She got caught and was sent to Newgate Prison, where a lecherous constable offered to save her from being raped by guards (which happened all too often), as well as see that her mother was kept comfortable for her remaining days, if she agreed to sleep with him on his weekly visits to the jail, and what choice did she have? She endured it like a zombie, to keep from getting violently sick.

Her sentence is commuted to indentured servitude and she's shipped off to America, where she's bought by the very man that raped her, though Tony has no idea who she is. He does feel a strong attraction to her and a forced seduction scene soon follows.

The story takes some dark paths, as Tony's torn between his feelings for Amanda (whom he grows to love, though he hides it all too well) and his mistress, Letty, who can truly be described as diabolical. Her cruel streak is apparent from the start, so why Tony decides to marry her is puzzling, unless it's because she shows him such a wild time in bed. that doesn't stop him from seducing Amanda, who (though she at first vowed to herself to make him pay for what he did) soon realizes she loves him. Nathan, the overseer (and a good one, nothing cruel about him) and a friend of Tony's, soon falls for Amanda. Though she considers him a friend, she's drawn to him when Tony treats her badly, which is all too often. On one bizarre night, Tony and Letty were having wild sex in his room, and Amanda, seeking to forget this, went for a walk outside, was joined by Nathan, and they started kissing. Taking a break from action, Tony walked out on his bedroom terrace, saw them in the moonlight, was furious (despite his lust for Letty, Amanda's gotten to him in a way he can't shake) and in anger, had sex with Letty standing up on the terrace, where Amanda and Nathan couldn't help but notice!

No, this is NOT your typical romance novel, it's dark and ominous in many places. After an argument, Amanda hits Tony and he hits her back, and almost beats her with a riding crop (thank goodness he came to his senses in time). Trying to look at it psychologically, I'd say that he was afraid of love and resented Amanda for making him feel it, so he treated her so crummy and turned to Letty, as she didn't effect his emotions, just his body. In fact, after he was with her, he'd regret she wasn't Amanda.

I won't go into every detail, but there's a real tearjerker moment, when, after a trip to England, Tony returns to find Amanda had his son, only he doesn't believe it's his baby! Just like the lace created a turning point for Amanda, so did a slip on the stairs, which made her give birth prematurely, and Tony questions when the baby was conceived, thinking she may have gotten pregnant by someone onboard ship and wanted to dupe him into thinking it was his child so he'd marry her and she'd be mistress of the plantation. His attitude was reinforced by the fact that she had told him about the constable, and while in London, Tony located him and he admitted what he'd done but added that Amanda wasn't a virgin when he first slept with her. So now he's angry, thinking she lied to him, not knowing he was her first because she didn't know how to tell him the story and have him believe it. To make matters even worse, he'd intended to ask her to marry him, but of course, he changed his mind after "discovering her deception" and started up with Letty again.

This book has so many emotion spinning scenes, like when Letty stays over and she and Tony are so loud in their lust that the baby starts crying, and he tells Amanda to keep the squalling brat quiet! When he's not referring to the baby that way, he calls him Amanda's bastard. Yes, you want to throttle him! Especially when, after going ahead with plans to marry Letty, he gives in to her wishes and decides to give her Amanda's indentured service papers as a wedding gift, then tells Amanda he'll reconsider if the sleeps with him whenever he says. All the time, he won't let himself admit how much she means to him, and keeps up a heartless facade. Someone's in need of therapy!

As for Letty, if she were literally the devil's daughter, she would make Satan a proud papa! She's diabolical and sadistic, and makes Amanda suffer terribly. Thanks to her, Amanda's whipped (though luckily Nathan showed up to stop it from getting too far), captured by Indians, (I refuse to dignify these creepy ones by calling them Native Americans), kidnapped and set up to get pregnant by a slave (though she and the slave involved manage to avoid having sex) and made to believe that Tony gave her indentured servant papers to Letty after all, when he had said he's burned them. (Letty had substituted the papers and stole the real ones). Then, she takes her vengeance to a whole new level.

It's happened many times in romantic sagas, that the heroine sacrifices herself to save the man she loves, often giving her body to a man she despises. Well, this time it's the man who does the sacrificing, as Tony (who finally admitted how much he loved Amanda and actually went through a lot for her later on, about time too) has to sleep with Letty again, or else she won't give him back the indenture papers and will sell them to anyone she pleases. Yes, she finally gets her comeuppance (and there's also one scene which even the most radical feminist couldn't possibly object to, where Tony loses his cool and slaps the crap out of Letty), but it sure took long enough!

BTW: If you're wondering why Amanda seems to take so much garbage from Tony (though she does have her angry and feisty moments), just remember the expression: "the heart wants what it wants", and despite having a nice guy like Nathan in love with her, who offered to accept her child as his own, her heart wanted Tony.

There's a HEA, though long time coming, but worth sticking around for, and there are times where Tony really suffers, which is good payback for his treatment of Amanda. So give it a try, but be warned: it's not a day at the beach. show less

As a romance, this feels more like a gothic romance then a paranormal one. The ghost of Graystoke, Lady Amelia, is downright spooky and misleading. Not to mention rather devious. Jackson also fits the mold of a gothic hero moreso with his fits of temper, irrational jealousy, secrets and seduction as a way to quiet someone. Moira, for all her bluster and intelligence, makes those silly mistakes that most reasonably sane people wouldn't.

The main problem with Pure Temptation is that it was show more released about a decade or so ago and fit the mold for historical romances of that time. It has the angry, possessive hero and brash, reckless heroine. You also find smoldering passion and inevitable consequences with ridiculous obstacles baring their way to real happiness. When Moira isn't questioning Jackson's admittedly questionable fidelity record, she's questioning his honor or his intentions or just questioning him outright. Meanwhile she gets incensed if he so much as hints at questioning her word--except she lies to him every other sentence!

There is also a great many love scenes in the novel, that are certainly passionate, but lead to no lasting character development...at least as far as Moira is concerned. Jackson tries, at every turn, to prove his love to her--forgives her an aggravating amount of sins committed towards himself and others, puts his life on the line saving her from her own idiocy countless times and yet Moira is dead certain that his feelings are transitory and he's just waiting for the next lush piece of flesh to tempt himself.

It’s an understatement to say I wanted to throttle Moira more often than not, but I would equally be happy throttling Jackson for putting up with her. Not that Jackson is perfect--he did spend all of his adult life in debauchery and sin, only recently reformed thanks to his meddling ancestor ghost Lady Amelia. And his bouts of temper/jealousy are cringe-inducing. Yet, he shows definite character growth due to his feelings for Moira. I can't say the same for Moira and would even venture to say that their eventual understanding seems awkward and abrupt. show less