Customer Reviews

How To Seduce A Sinner

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Adrienne Basso's latest offering, How to Seduce a Sinner is an uneven story. Parts move along splendidly with good tension and nice dialogue while others are boring with little tension and little interaction between the leads.

Heroine Dorthea is a little on the naïve side when it comes to selecting her husband from this season's eligible bachelors. She will determine his worth through his kiss, if there are sparks then she will know that this is the man for her. Dorthea does not expect to love her husband at first but believes passion will turn into love, hence the knock-your-slipper-off kiss. She has smooched several men and so far none of them make her see fireworks.

Hero Carter Grayson is under pressure from his father to wed. He spies beautiful Dorthea kissing different beau and is intrigued by her kiss test and her views of marriage. He likes the spunky gal and before you know it he is kissing Dorthea.

Before this couple engaged in a kiss, this novel was flat. Dorthea is under the protective eye of a family friend who is condescending and arrogant. He almost gets into a fight when Dorthea does not dance with him. He's married and his pompous attitude toward all in his domain made him insufferable. Dorthea spends much of her time in these early chapters scoping out different men to kiss. She has little interaction with Carter and when they do converse the dialogue feels stiff. She is completely direct with him though and this was a refreshing. Carter is carousing and bantering with his friends during these chapters, ruminating on how miserable his life is now that his father is forcing him to marry.

The leads know they could have a very good marriage based on their passionate kiss. Problem is Dorthea believes two people can use passion as the starting point for a love filled marriage while Carter doesn't. And here is the best part of the novel, when these two try to reckon their feelings and expectations in a union defined not by love but passion.

Carter is patient with Dorthea. They have an interesting relationship especially in the latter half of the book. Both have unexpected events occur in their lives. At times they handle them well and other times they over react, especially Dorthea. They do mature though, Dorthea becomes more trusting and Carter stops dismissing his growing feelings for Dorthea.

If not for the slow going first half of the book, this would rate four stars. The latter part is well paced and an enjoyable read. 3 ½ stars.

This was fun book to read - the concept is the Dorothea is looking for a husband who is a good kisser and continues to test out the men of society. Carter Grayson, Marquess of Atwood stumbles a pond Dorothea kissing a potential husband and there unusual love affair starts. Dorothea finds herself falling in love with Grayson after they are married - lots of twist and turns... great writing - Enjoy! Looking forward to Eleanor & Sebastian's Story (Sebastian is Carter's closest friend).

In 1818 London, Dorothea Ellingham establishes a test to determine who she will marry. The chosen one will be selected by her based on a kiss-meter as she expects passion to ignite between them.

His ducal father directs Viscount Carter Grayson to be wed by the end of the current season or else. Carter observes Dorothea kissing three different men and decides she will do to satisfy his father. He throws his lips into the ring and both are stunned by the force of fervor in their shared kiss. However an ardent kiss does not necessarily lead to a strong relationship as Carter and Dorothea soon learn.

This is an engaging fast-paced Regency romance from the opening first kiss to the last kisses. Starring two wonderful lead characters, who quickly learn there is much more to a relationship than a kiss, the story line focuses on the educating of Dorothea and Carter, but also is enhanced by strong related secondary subplots involving family members. Fans will enjoy the test as who is the sinner and who is the seducer when both feel the passion of being seduced.

Harriet Klausner

First off, I had to get out a paper to write down the names of the various characters and their relationships. It was compounded by the similarity of the names: Ellingham, Dardington, Barrington, Roddington, Alderton. It was hard to keep Benton's and Dawson's characters straight also: which one was the viscount and which one was the romantic? Thank goodness our male protagonist was named Atwood!

The plot was somewhat formulaic, hot sex at 50%, expressing their love at 95% (you can tell I read it on Kindle!). There was little angst as a result. Dorothea did not seem to be too upset by her falling in love with Carter against her plans and unrequited love as a result. There were awkward spots, such as Carter and Dorothea's return to London and his reverting to his bachelor ways; that seemed odd and was not sufficiently tied into the romance. The mystery of Roddy's reasons for needing to be close to Carter was good, but the predictable thread about his parentage at the end broke up the flow and somehow seemed out of place.

However, the characters were well drawn out and consistent. Dorothea was sweet for someone who is looking for passion.

There were a few memorable moments, such as the first kiss between Carter and Dorothea. I enjoyed this story but it is not a standout in the world of period fiction.

Dorothea Ellingham wants a husband. She feels that passion will be a good substitute for love when she finds her match. Viscount Carter Grayson needs a wife. His father will not rest until Carter is married and produces an heir. Carter's kiss ignites passion in Dorothea and convinces her that they will suite. Dorothea's unconventional behavior ignites interest in Carter, interest he intends to act upon. A marriage born of passion can turn to love if Carter will just accept it.

The trials of a virgin in the marriage bed are portrayed with unerring realism, as well as eroticism and heartfelt emotion, in How to Seduce a Sinner. Dorothea was not nervous and was actually looking forward to the intimate act with her husband, but Carter's excitement and Dorothea's expectations create a few obstacles for them. I was impressed with the genuine feel of emotion between Carter and Dorothea throughout, as well as the depiction of society life during that era. The focus is on Dorothea's desire for a husband, Carter's need for a wife, and their subsequent marriage, but a mystery simmers in the background as well. How To Seduce a Sinner is a delightful story of passion and love.

Nannette
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

This is the first book by Basso that I have read, and although I didn't hate it, it didn't inspire me to go out and buy all her other books. It's a decent read, you won't curse your hard earned money wasted if you buy it. Good time filler, I suppose.

It was a good read.

I had a few issues with it. My main one was that time would fly by a bit unexpectedly. Like all of a sudden it was 2 weeks later with not a lot to fill in the gap.

And that he completely ignored her and then turned around and fixed, basically some of it just seemed off.

The set up of the "bad guy" (lol) in the beginning you knew something would happen but didn't know what, then nothing happened for what seemed like too long for me before you found out what was really going on.

All in all though it was still a good read. I enjoyed it and did want to find out what happened in the end. I would reccommend. :)

This is a great read for historical romance fans out there that enjoy those marriage of convenience type stories. I just loved the hero.