How to Seduce a Scoundrel [Mass Market Paperback]

Vicky Dreiling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2011

Miss Julianne Gatewick is in a pickle. It started when her brother's best friend-for whom she's long nursed a secret tendre-agreed to act as her guardian for the Season, only to seduce her with a risqué waltz. But when the music stopped and the expectant ton waited for Marc Darcett, Earl of Hawkfield, to claim her as his own, he made his disinterest clear. Rather than succumb to humiliation, Julianne does what any self-respecting, recently discarded young miss with a wicked sense of humor would do. She secretly pens a lady's guide to enticing unrepentant rakes . . . and it becomes the hottest scandal sheet in London.

Every honorable rake knows that friends' sisters are forbidden. But suddenly Julienne has a spark of mischief in her eyes that Hawk can't resist. Try as he might to push her away, he spends his days listening for her laughter and his nights dreaming of kissing her senseless. He's always avoided innocents and their marriage-minded mothers, but has the man least likely to wed finally met his match?

Editorial Reviews

Review

GLOWING PRAISE FOR VICKY DREILING'S HOW TO MARRY A DUKE:
"In her lively debut novel, Vicky Dreiling has penned a fresh, engaging take on Regency matchmaking that brims with clever wit and repartee. I found myself smiling and laughing out loud on numerous occasions. Here's hoping for more of this promising new author's historical romances!" -Nicole Jordan, New York Times best-selling author

"An enchanting debut, full of humor and heart!" -Madeline Hunter, New York Times bestselling author

"Vicky Dreiling delivers a tale chock full of warmth, wit and tenderness. She's sure to please readers everywhere!" --Samantha James, New York Times bestselling author

"A delicious read! Better than chocolate! Sexy, fresh and witty, Vicky Dreiling is an author to watch!" -Sophie Jordan, New York Times bestselling author

About the Author

Vicky Dreiling is a confirmed historical romance junkie and Anglophile. Frequent business trips to the UK allowed her to indulge her passion for all things Regency England. Bath, Stonehenge, and Spencer House are among her favorite places. She is, however, truly sorry for accidentally setting off a security alarm in Windsor Castle. That unfortunate incident led her British colleagues to nickname her "Trouble."

When she's not writing, Vicky enjoys reading, films, concerts, and, most of all, long lunches with friends. She holds degrees in English literature and marketing. A native Texan, she shares her home with her daughter and a spoiled mini-lop rabbit who lives in a slightly gnawed cardboard cottage.

You can learn more at:

VickyDreiling.net

Twitter @vickydreiling

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vicky-Dreiling-Historical-Author

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Forever; Original edition (July 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446565385
• ISBN-13: 978-0446565387
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #479,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Big disappointment August 3, 2011

By C. P. Vazquez

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I was looking forward to this installment, as I greatly enjoyed Mrs. Dreiling's first book.
Sadly, this one was all over the place, without focusing on anything in particular enough to explore it thoroughly.
When they say the heroine is innocent, they MEAN innocent. 21 years old going on 14 for all her girly hopes and dreams and knowledge of the world and I-can-handle-it attitude. This was basically a high school fantasy (along with very supportive and equally clueless friends, mean bullies, giggly drunks and amateur anonymous writing) plastered in 19th century high society.
The hero and heroine had a good chemistry and all was very promising until he started widening the gulf between me-older-stuffy-guardian, you-little-naive-girl.

I have to stress that Julianne and Hawk were good characters, kind and loving, who truly learned from their mistakes. Julianne, for all her naivete and girlish attitude, was smart and just needed to grow up quite a bit before her story was told. It was annoying to have everyone underestimate her and shelter her from everything and everyone. So it's not so much her fault that she set out to write that silly and ignorant pamphlet, considering she used what little knowledge and help she had at the time.

Hawk and Julie's relationship advanced slowly and it was very choppy. Sporadic kisses followed by dozens and dozens (and dozens) of pages of "I should be flogged, I can't desire my best friend's sister", then a sudden change to flirting and asking for kisses, dialogue and arguments that were all over the place and couldn't stick to a single topic, it was all very frustrating. It read like a rough draft that was handed in too soon.

This is my review, but I always advice to give the book a chance because you might find it right up your alley. I've read many books that were pretty good in spite of low scores and other books that were complete crap in spite of high scores. Although I didn't like this book, I still like the author's style and I will keep reading her work in the future.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Scandalously Boring July 18, 2011

By B. A. Connors

Format:Mass Market Paperback

The book description is slightly misleading, which always annoys the heck out of me. The publication of the scandalous document occurs late in the book, well after Julianne's "shenanigans" nor does Hawk set out to uncover the writer's identity. I did like the idea of the publication and would have enjoyed seeing it as even larger part of the story than it was.

Lady Julianne has had a crush, as we modern folks would put it, on her older brother's good friend, Hawk, since she was a small girl. For years, she has dreamed that he would fall in love with her and propose, despite all evidence to the contrary. She made her debut in society four years ago and has rejected a dozen marriage proposals, holding out for Hawk, the man she thinks that she loves. He, on the other hand, for reasons that take Dreiling far too long to reveal, has no desire to marry.

Hawk treats her as his friend's baby sister, and not as a woman. As the book goes on, his thinking changes and he views her physically as a woman but gives little or no credence to her thoughts or feelings. That changes slowly over the course of the book, but even so, he's not an enlightened male. I know that women being treated as adults and reasoning, thinking beings is a relatively recent development in world history but I really could have done without that particular bit of historical accuracy. At one point, after Julie gets drunk, Hawk was so arrogant and condescending that I wanted to throw the book out my window. To be fair, Julie spends much of the book acting immaturely and childishly and she was surprisingly naive. I found it hard at times to believe that she was 21, she acted more like a modern-day 15 year old. I also found it unlikely that her family would have tolerated her still being unmarried at her age; that was unusual back then and we aren't given any reason to believe that her family is progressive, or even just eccentric.

Most of the book is a dance; Julie and Hawk circle around each other, flirting, teasing, enraging, tantruming, but always coming back to each other in some fashion. There are secrets, which Dreiling takes too much time to reveal and by the time they were revealed, I didn't really care. The book could easily have had a third of it cut and been the better for it. It meandered, drifted, repeated, and took forever to tell what was really a simple love story. It gets dressed up in family issues and societal morals but it really boils down to can these two individuals grow up, accept responsibility, and convince each other of their love.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars How To Seduce A Scoundrel July 29, 2011

By M. Whitmore VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I would love to know the exact definition of a Scoundrel because Marc, Early of Hawkfield, did not act like a scoundrel in this book. Yes, Hawk was crass at times and bossy. To me, he comes off as a jealous lover throughout most of the book. Julianne has had a crush on Marc, also known as "Hawk", since her coming out 4 years ago. When he is charged with being her guardian during her season, Julianne thinks that this will finally give her the opportunity to get Hawk to see her as a woman and not the young girl that he teases so mercilessly.

I really wanted to enjoy How to Seduce a Scoundrel. I liked that Hawk and Julianne have a history. She's known him since she was 8 years old and he was 18. Hawk likes to tease Julianne and because of her spunky attitude, she teases him back. With that type of history between them, I expected more tongue-in-cheek teasing. There was some but not as much as I expected.

How to Seduce a Scoundrel had very little action. The plot moved very slowly. There was very little going on; just a bunch of chatter. Julianne's waffling back and forth about her feelings for Hawk and her plan to write a pamphlet on seduction got old very quickly. The attraction between Hawk and Julianne was not that steamy. At one point, I wondered about the supposed attraction between the two. I enjoyed the side characters Julianne's friends, Amy and Georgette and Hawk's great-aunt Hester. They provided hilarity and levity into the plot.

How to Seduce a Scoundrel got better during the last 20%. The cat and mouse game between Hawk and Julianne finally comes to a head, Hawk's dark past is revealed and everyone finally comes to their senses. I'm sad that it took so long for the story to become interesting and the pace of the plot to pick up. I didn't buy the sexual attraction between Hawk and Julianne. I believe I would have liked this book more if there was more going on. Like I said, there was too much chatter and not enough action. And I don't mean action as in sex; action that helped moved the plot along. The story dragged too much to hold my interest. I'm sure readers of the previous book will enjoy this one. It just didn't work for me.

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