18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
American heiress in Victorian England--overbaked, familiar, June 7, 2004
This review is from: An Invitation to Seduction (Mass Market Paperback)
Mary Ellen "Kitty" Robertson, the adopted daughter of an American tycoon, wants to be an elegant and respected lady like her adopted mother. Well travelled and supposedly sophisticated, Kitty is engaged to a handsome, impoverished English lord. Having selected her betrothed because he is charming, a good friend, and seems a "safe" (you won't be able to forget that term, believe me) choice for a husband, Kitty is surprised to find herself passionately drawn to the dark and serious Duke of Weddington.
The duke, a close friend of Kitty's fiancé, is instantly taken with the beautiful red headed American heiress after he encounters her near his home on the coast of Cornwall. Knowing that Kitty's fiancé has a dark secret, Weddington is convinced that Kitty will never be happy with the man she has chosen and decides to pursue her himself.
At the beginning of "An Invitation to Seduction" I liked Weddington. His character showed some hints of depth regarding a tragedy in his past and some lingering physical ailments, but any interesting character development is lost in the overwrought plot of this story--though I did like the fact that he had his own money and didn't need Kitty's, but liked her for herself.
I find Kitty to be a very grating character, with little to recommend her beside the facts that she is beautiful, rich, and American (in that order). The primary issue driving her life choices is so silly and immature that even the author ends up brushing it off as an over-complicated hang-up toward the end. I must say that she did seem to have grown up a bit by the end of the book, but it wasn't enough to make her sympathetic or likeable.
One of the redeeming points of this story is that Kitty's fiancé is a relatively three dimensional character and is not conveniently vilified as is so often done in the romance genre. His secret, however, is painfully apparent from the beginning.
There are occasional hints at what the story could have been if it had been drawn out with a more subtle hand, but that's not enough to make "An Invitation to Seduction" a good read. It does pick up a bit toward the middle, but by the last thirty pages it was so ridiculous that I put it down for a week, only bothering to finish it when I got sick of seeing the book on my night stand.
If this is your first Lorraine Heath book, I'd encourage you to try some of her others, like the very good "The Outlaw and The Lady" or even "To Marry an Heiress".
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
I wanted to like it, but I couldn't!, May 31, 2004
This review is from: An Invitation to Seduction (Mass Market Paperback)
First, let me tell you that I could read only about 100 pages of "Invitation to Seduction," so I can only tell you why I didn't finish it. I like Lorraine Heath's other books--at least most of them--but I found it totally unbelievable that in Victorian England, Kitty--terrified that she will imitate her mother who had her out of wedlock--would allow a total stranger within five minutes of meeting him to fondle her, regardless of his physical attractiveness. Now, as a reader, I readily accept unbelievable events all the time. It is the mark of a successful book to establish the internal fictional reality over the truth in the real world. That's why I can readily accept that a kidnapped lady falls in love after one day with a noble-born, but peace-loving vengeful pirate who wrecks the ships of the man who slaughtered his family, the present fiance of the kidnappee. That's an author's magic to make the reader accept her version of reality. However, maybe because I couldn't warm up to either Kitty or to Richard, I couldn't accept their instant lust which immediately causes Richard (a duke who has avoided marrying, who refuses to let his sister marry a commoner, and who disdains American women) to propose to a woman who breaks the most basic stricture to swim nude, alone, and who allows "liberties" to be taken. That he would desire her as a mistress is believable, that he wants to marry her, wants her to continue his family line, after seeing her less than an hour never rang true. Lorraine Heath performs magic in her other books, but it was missing in this one. My recommendation to you: pass and read an earlier Heath.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not the Lorraine Heath I know and love. : (, September 20, 2004
This review is from: An Invitation to Seduction (Mass Market Paperback)
This is the first time I've read a book by Lorraine Heath and was sorely disappointed. Not only was the emotional treatment of the heroine appalling, but the storyline was a bit too controversial even for Ms. Heath, IMHO. The hero was far from honorable in that he kept trying to "steal" the heroine away from her betrothed - dark secret, or not, on the betrothed's part, and the heroine was a confusing mix of repeated should-I-or-shouldn't-I's back and forth between the two men.
I think Ms. Heath has played this series out. : (
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