Customer Reviews

The Art of Seduction

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The highlight of this book was Lady Scruples, and if the book's main plot had been about this aristocratic tabloid writer, The Art of Seduction would have been a hilarious and sexy read. Instead, it is filled with over the top characters and antics, gaping plot holes and cliched plot devices. The heroine's pain over her unrequited love for the hero would have rang true had we been shown why she felt the way she did about herself instead of being told. The hero was quite dim at times, but his redeeming quality was that he was immune to the villaness' evil doings towards the heroine. If the heroine hadn't spent so much time pouting over how unworthy and unlovely she was for the hero, TAoS would have been an entertaining read. Instead, TAoS forced you to suspend your belief, stretch your patience and have you gnashing your teeth in frustration by the last page.

The hero and heroine of Melanie George's latest historical romance, Dominick and Parris, were extremely likeable characters that were easy to root for. Dominick and Parris were childhood friends who have basically loved each other since they were kids. For various reasons (misunderstandings, lies and secrets) they have been kept apart and at times it appears that they'll never get it right. Often their biggest problems stemmed from omission - they didn't communicate properly so they made assumptions. Very frustrating. Finally, through misunderstandings, lies, and secrets, they finally get together but Ms. George really makes them work for that happy ending! You won't regret picking this one up.

It is not often that I give a book less than four stars, in fact I think this is only the fourth. But this story line is one that sets my teeth on edge. The heroine Parris professes to have loved the hero Dominick for as long as she can remember, however she never fails to believe the worst of him. She believes everyone including her B**** of a sister who wouldn't know the truth if it bit her on the a**. So how great can this love be.

Dominick continuely tries to seduce Parris instead of talking to her. He wants to bed her but can't seem to communicate how he feels and why. In fact they both bumble along through the entire book making one mistake after the other. It isn't until the last few chapters that they finally work things out.

I have loved the rest of Ms George's books, but this one forced to read the last two chapters and put it away.

The prologue begins with antsy Parris Sutherland masquerading as a worldly woman to sweep the besotted Dominick Carlisle into a passionate maelstrom followed by a crude debauched scene of Dom's brother Frederick cavorting with Parris's sister Annabelle. The new romance distinctively deviates from Ms. George's idiosynacratic style of simple wits and chaste passion. It is sensual and bold - but readers of her immensely popular Devil series can surely trust her to craft out a more intricate plot.

The Art of Seduction is strait-laced with a simple twist. Parris left a monogrammed handkerchief with the initial A.S that misled Dominick into thinking that he had compromised Annabelle's virtue. Despite his heart with Parris, he had to fulfil his honours to marry Annabelle - but upon witnessing the liaison between his brother and her, he calls it off and left for the Army. Eight years after he is back to London and meets up with Parris, he realizes his love for her remains strong. Things get complicated when Parris is Lady Scruples in disguise - the feminine crusader rescuing chaste debutantes from the clutches of profligates....

Melanie George's wits and humour may be subdued here but her consummate narration makes her latest a guilty pleasure. The passion between Dominick and Parris is sensual, erotic and electrifying to makes readers overlooking the simple story-line. She is focused in her writing and glosses the unrequited love with poignancy. Her emotional characters elevate this romance novel apart from the generic and makes The Art of Seduction ultimately gratifying.

In 1842 Kent, Dominick Carlisle makes love to the seductress wearing the domino, but is shocked to realize she had been a virgin. After she leaves, he finds the handkerchief she left behind containing the monogram A.S. Dominick thinks he made love to Annabelle Sutherland, but in actuality it was her sister Parris. Dominick becomes engaged to Annabelle only to catch her in bed with his brother. Dominick makes her call off the engagement.

After being away as a soldier for the next eight years later, Dominick comes home. When he sees Parris, he realizes the mistake of almost marrying the wrong woman, as he wants her by his side. He is also determined to unmask Lady Scruples, a female avenger wrecking havoc on the libidinous male populace. He concludes Scruples is Parris, which adds fervor to his need to seduce Parris into marrying him. He now knows which sister he always has loved, but to persuade her that he desires her, not her sibling, will take all his skills.

THE ART OF SEDUCTION is an exciting Victorian romance that stars two wonderfully intelligent lead charcaters. Dominick and Parris are the strength of the novel yet their acumen is also the flaw as the problems between them sees too trivial for such astute individuals. The absorbing story line contains clever exchanges between the protagonists that amuse sub-genre readers who will appreciate Melanie George.

Harriet Klausner

This is the first book by Melanie George I bought recently. She seemed liked a newer author so, I gave her a try. "The Art of Seduction" started out good in the first one to two chapters but, after that, it fizzled for me.

I liked the premise that the hero and heroine, Dominick & Parris grew up next to each other and were close childhood friends. They appeared to spend many years growing together - scraping knees, climbing trees, playing outdoors and getting in and out of trouble together. They had a true affection for one another.
When they got older, Parris declared her love for Dominick and he turned away - not ready or prepared for such emotion from her even though he was deeply attracted to her as well.

They later met up at a masked ball and Parris seduces him in the garden and he never knows it was her. He thought it was her beauteous sister who seduced him instead - Annabelle. So...he proposes in order to do the right thing, she agrees and then he finds Annabelle in compromising situation with his brother Frederick. The wedding is declared off and Dominick leaves for eight years. Life goes on in his absence - Annabelle marries another, has children, Parris got engaged but, broke things off and Dominick stayed busy touring the globe learning about life.

While gone Dominick gets an earring and a tattoo (which almost no one of nobility did back then - too much of a modern twist). He finally returns home to due his duty as his father/brother are dead and he becomes the Duke.

The reason this one flopped for me as there was too much inconsistency. 1.) Each time Parris gets intimate with Dominick -she is not herself - first a seductress in the gardens at the ball, then as a masked bar maid she called Megan etc. 2.) Parris could never open up and come clean with Dominick as an adult as she truly didn't trust him when it came to her sister and her own emotions 3.) Dominick also didn't seem to picky about having sex with women he didn't know or were in masks - that wasn't appealing to me, 4.) Dominick even had the audacity to get angry in the story when he learned Parris wasn't a virgin -he wanted to be the first. Yet...he was the one who ran out eight years earlier and left her behind without ever saying how he really felt, 5.) Dominick didn't spend much time trying to discover who Lady Scruples was... and Parris spent little time in that disguise either. It was like the author threw a whole bunch of situations and ideas at the reader to try and draw you in but, instead, it back fired and left the reader with whirling thoughts of what is going on here? and why? and where was I again...and so on.

The author kept having Parris and Dominick looking back in time to incidents when they were growing up together. I believe she did this to make the characters seem more real and have depth. Because the author spent so little time creating new situations and incidents for the adult characters to share, I never felt I really knew Parris and Dominick and that's what counts.

Even the love scenes were flat and should have been more powerful. The sex seemed superficial as neither had worked out what went wrong, where they were at now and where they planned to go in the future. The explanations and declarations once they arrived seemed simply too late to connect to the hero, heroine, and story line. I should have liked this book - but, it just didn't draw me in. I was disappointed by the middle of the book and it never picked up even at the end.

I didn't think the title worked either, "The Art of Seduction". Nothing was artful or seductive in this book. Instead, it was a number of hearty chapters filled with dim dialogue, dull action scenes, empty declarations and way too many situations that got out of hand. It should have been titled "The Art of Misunderstandings".

Perhaps her later works are more interesting and memorable - this one was simply too much for me. I gave two stars to be nice as I had to give her credit for trying.

Parris Sutherland has a secret. Actually, she has two secrets. The first is that she is the infamous "Lady Scruples," an avenging angel sworn to protect innocents against London's rakes and villains. Parris's other secret is one of long standing. Years before, under cover of darkness, she seduced Dominick Carlisle, only to have him turn around and ask for her sister's hand in marriage. Although the engagement eventually was broken, the heartbroken Parris severed all contact with Dominick and fled to London where she did her best to forget him. Now, a long awaited reckoning awaits her as she meets Dominick's eyes across a London ballroom.

Dominick Carlisle, the new Duke of Wakefield, is a haunted man. All his life he loved and watched over his neighbor, Parris Sutherland. But he broke that trust one night when he allowed himself to be seduced by a mysterious woman. A monogrammed handkerchief found after the tryst led him to believe his mystery woman was Annabelle Sutherland, Parris's older sister. Honor-bound to propose marriage, Dominick broke the engagement after catching Annabelle with his own brother. However, it was too late to salvage his relationship with Parris, so he enlisted in the army. Eight years have passed and Dominick is back, determined to put things right with Parris.

THE ART OF SEDUCTION is a steamy cauldron of plots, counterplots and misunderstandings galore. While the characters are sympathetic, there are times when they are filled with so much angst you just want to send them to therapy. With the majority of the story involving Parris trying to come to terms with Dominick's betrayal, some of her actions seem emotionally immature. Dominick's character, however, provides a nice counterbalance. Stubborn and not above using blackmail, he also shows a deeply romantic side by writing and saving eight years' worth of love letters that he never mailed.

With its flawed but interesting characters, very hot love scenes, and an ending that will satisfy even the harshest critic, Melanie George's THE ART OF SEDUCTION almost, but not quite, hits all the marks.

TheSchemer

"The Art of Seduction" was really a great book..I enjoyed the characters very much. Dominick was to die for. This book also was INCREDIBLY steamy....so ..you may be wondering then why I only gave it 3 and 1/2 stars..well one word..Parris. While I enjoyed her very much, her behavior grew tiresome, I could understand where she was coming from, but after awhile, she started to wear on me with all of her excuses. Also..the Lady Scruples plot was barely developed..I honestly couldnt see why it was even thrown in there...it basically felt like it was just added to cause a bit more conflict here and there..I also found myself wondering at Parris and Gwens behavior considering the days in which they wete living. Put aside these few quibbles I had with this book though and its a fun read. I only wish that Jason and Gwens relationship had been given more attention.

This book was simple wonderful. I have read many, many books and I must say I was getting a little bored with reading. Then I found this book. This is my first Melanie George novel and it will not be my last. This book was so great that I had it read in about 10 hours. I was teary eyed when I finished it simply because it didn't want it to end.

Like the other reviewer, I agree about the back of the book. "Lady Scruples" is not really what the book is about. It's about two people that have loved each other since childhood. They are split apart because of a mistake, but they find each other again after eight years of separation. I don't want to spoil anything for the reader, so I won't say anymore, except, this book was truely wonderful.

Ok first let me say that if you don't like romance books with "hot" scenes in them than you need to bypass this one. It has some very steamy scenes in it.

Parris has loved her protector and playmate Dominick since they were kids. In fact she tells him this when she is 16. He rejects her as he basically is waiting for her to grow up and takes the time to head off to Cambridge. Parris fears that she will never know of his kisses etc. and determines that she must seduce him at least once. So at his families masquerade ball she sets out to do just that. She accomplishes her goal but at the same time she accidentally leaves behind a handkerchief with her sisters initials on it. This leads him to believe that it was Annabelle that he had slept with and he proposes to her. This devastates Parris and she won't even talk to him after that.

8 years go by and he is back... And as soon as Parris sees him she knows that she is still not immune to him even though she has been engaged. Dominick takes one look at her and knows he can't live without his lifelong friend of old.

The chase is on. Along the way Parris's cousin Gwen tangles with Jason (Dominick's friend) and they have a minor chase in the book. (Wish they had had their own book). All the while Gwen and Parris are also performing as Lady Scruples who has the rakes among the Ton in a tizzy. I spent a lot of time laughing in this story and thoroughly enjoyed it.