Another one in the Huxtable series. An interesting dress on the cover – you rarely hear about a heroine wearing a brown dress, unless she’s a governess trying to look unattractive. This one definitely doesn’t look governess-like. (Not that the heroine actually wears a brown dress in this book, at least not that I remember.)
Then Comes Seduction by Mary Balogh
(2009, Regency Historical) 6/6/2010
Grade: 4
Even though Jasper Finley, Baron Montford, is a notorious rake, Katherine Huxtable finds him dangerously attractive. Their relationship begins with a wager of sex – and then one of love – and ends up with a marriage that neither expected. But will Katherine discover that Jasper has hidden depths, and he’s more worthy of love than she ever expected?
Although this book was better than the last one in this series, it was very slow getting started. The setup was familiar but well done – he’s a dangerous rake, she’s a virtuous lady – but it got very bogged down in the middle of the book. It only really picked up again in the last third, after Katherine and Jasper are married. The characters definitely came alive in the last section of the book, and the story was familiar but interesting – Balogh is the best at creating heroes that are dealing with dysfunctional family backgrounds. I just wished that I hadn’t had to slog through 200 pages of nice-but-dull to get there.
Balogh has had some odd words and phrases in her last few books that seem historically inaccurate. I can’t say for sure if they are – did people in the 19th century say that white was the combination of all colors, something that most people don’t say now – but the word “sex” feels very anacronystic, even if it’s not.
Karen Wheless
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