Title: To Seduce A Sinner
Author: Elizabeth Hoyt
Ookay, so I know this is not - I repeat not - the archaeology mystery that I am currently reading, but I saw this book when I was browsing through Amazon and it distracted me. I read the synopsis and reviews and was immediately intrigued by the originality of the plot - also, I confess that I am a sucker for stories about unrequited love and stories about marriages of convenience (especially in the historical genre), and it so happened that this book had both.
The heroine was interesting, so I'll start with her. On the surface, Melissande Fleming is the classic historical romance spinster, firmly on the shelf at age 28, and as dry, prim, and colorless as they come. She has been in love with the hero, Jasper Renshaw (a viscount) for nigh on six years, but he has never noticed her in that time, nor remember her name. The story opens as he is in the midst of getting jilted at the altar, and we encounter our first surprise: the heroine proposes to him. She figures this is her last chance at happiness with the man she's always loved, but she keeps her love for him a closely-guarded secret (among her other closely guarded secrets). And as we delve deeper into the story, we discover other really surprising facets about her that break the typical historical romance heroine mold (which is a big part of why she turns out to be pretty interesting). We also find out that she's actually not as colorless and humorless and boring as first presented, but is witty, warm, and very intelligent.
The reviews on Amazon gave me high hopes for Jasper at first - he sounded simply wonderful - a gentle man with a great sense of humor who eventually gives Melissande the courage to confess her love for him. But in reality, I wasn't sure I was as enamored of the hero after all. He did have a great sense of humor - very endearing, in fact - but beyond that, I wasn't as drawn to him as I would have expected. There was something lacking...a certain chemistry, a charisma...that didn't make me fall in love with him. And it didn't help that the author seemed to imply - at least from her description - that he wasn't all that attractive. I'm sorry, but I can't have the heroes of my romance novels running around being ugly. It just doesn't do it for me. On the upside, he was pretty ripped, so that at least helped, especially during the pivotal secks scenes.
There was also a mystery sub-plot having to do with Jasper looking for a traitor who betrayed his regiment during the French and Indian Wars in the Colonies, and this part reminded me a little of Last of the Mohicans, especially as Jasper recounted the torture he endured. It was interesting seeing that war from the British point of view.
Which brings me to another point - the setting for this story was in 1765, but you would hardly know it from the descriptions - or lack thereof - of the time period. There were no little details that are crucial in putting us into the setting - the story lacked an atmosphere. We could just as well have been in 1815 as 1765. And that's a problem.
Overall, though, this was a solid read. The writing was good. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either, and I would probably pick up this author again.
2 comments:
I saw this and was going to pick it up but changed my mind at the last minute. Which is probably a good thing, because I hate, hate ugly heroes. If they're ugly, I usually gloss over that part and pretend in my head that they're good looking or they better be ugly for a good reason like a horrible war wound or something.
The last Elizabeth Hoyt I read was Love Letters from a Duke, which I think I enjoyed fine when I read it but was pretty forgettable for the most part. I had to google it to remember the plot...
Haha, I do the same thing - I pretend in my head that the hero is actually cute! So funny. Maybe I'll pick up the Hoyt book you mentioned - I thought she was a pretty solid, ok writer.
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