Customer Reviews

My Seduction: The Rose Hunters Trilogy

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a fan of the larger than life romances where the hero wants the heroine so badly you can taste it but circumstances make it impossible for them so he just suffers in silence until he (okay, me, too!) can't take it any more. It is particularly satisfying when there are REAL GOOD REASONS why the hero and heroine can't be together. In MY SEDUCTION, Connie Brockway hits one out of the park.
On paper Kit McNeill (okay, dumb name)and Katherine Blackburn do not work. He's a seasoned soldier, a former spy, and a Scottish bastard. She's a proper English lady who has lost everything and the reasons she's lost everything have a lot to do with Kit and his past. She doesn't want to fall in love with Kit. She wants her former lifestyle back and she's on her way to northern Scotland to try and put her life back into order when she is stranded at a inn with a bunch of cutthroats and ruffians. Kit McNeill magically :) appears to save her.
Connie Brockway never makes a mistake with Kate's personality. She isn't some self-sacrificing little victim who is willing to put up with a really grim life when she has an option. She's been looking for that option ever since her father's death puts her and her sisters in the poorhouse. Kit doesn't have anything and doesn't want anything except a chance to find out who betrayed him and his closet friends when they were spies in France. His sense of obligation to Kate (for being partially responsible for her current predicament) stands in the way of his looking for this person. Kit is honorable but dangerous. A perfect combination for a hero.
While they don't work on paper, Kate and Kit work emotionally. And how! You can feel the connection between them and their yearning is heart-wrenching while they try to stick to their courses and deny what their emotions (and libidos) tell them to do. When they finally come together-- oh mama! And yet they are still torn apart. The final scene is over the top romantic and simply wonderful. I cried.
Great book and two more to come! yeah!

I looked it up, and MY PLEASURE comes out in October. In the meantime, I had so much fun in the Highlands of Scotland with Kit and Kate! (Although why Brockway gave them names so close together I don't understand!!!) The tension between these people was so intense I read as fast as I could until they hit the sack. Then I read it again. Then I raced through the book to the end (Kit is the most heroic hero ever!!!) and once I knew what happened, I went back and reead "The Scene" again!!! I want the second book and I want it now!!! Hurry, Miss Brockway, write faster!!!

Connie Brockway is an author alot of readers admire for her wit, her sparkling dialogue, her intricately drawn characters and breadth of premises and settings. Barring the rest of my review of this book, the only thing that I was really disappointed with was the time period. While it was set in 1801, I felt as though this book should or could have been set in the 18th century and done just as nicely, or even better.

The pacing in this book was a trifle shaky. The first two-thirds were achingly slow and intense with emotion, and the last third was fast, anxious and climactic. Because of the slowness of the first two-thirds, it took me a week to complete it. Kate and Kit were vividly drawn characters and the scenery was masterfully drawn, but the flashbacks were awkward and Kit's physical appearance was remarked upon much too often. The presence of a monastary in Scotland seemed possible, and so I allowed that possible historical oops to pass me by.

After the only love scene--which was intense and emotional, though a bit anticlimatic, seeing as how it was so late in the book--the pace quickened at an alarming degree. The villain of the trilogy was hastily introduced and Kate's destination was thrust to the forefront. I do commend Ms. Brockway for her skill in not allowing us to fully know whether Kate would choose Kit or the Marquess, but it soon became a given when the villain began his villany.

Because of the awkward pacing and sometimes spotty plotting; this was an average read for me. But if you are looking for an intense, emotional read with a heroine who isn't a martyr and a hero who has real pain, this is a nice book.

I want a great romance in my romance novels. But I also want a great story with interesting twists and turns and a colorful settting. That's why this book worked so well for me. I loved Kit and Kate and I thought the northern Scottish setting was very gothic and appealing. I felt like I was on the moors being chased by an evil presence. Now I can hardly wait for the next book because the teaser excerpt on Miss Brockway's site makes it sound like it is set in regency London --another of my favorite settings!

I bought this book because of hte cover, honestly, but then I ended up reading it until 3 in the morning, and now I'm going to get the author's backlist -- because this is One GREAT book. I've been in a dryspell and kept reading the first chapter of books and then not being able to keep going because they just seemed boring, but My Seduction had it all: action, romance, sexy -- great book!

I'm sooooooooo glad Connie Brockway is back! I've missed her wonderful books! She's one of my very favorite writers, and this book just reminds me why. It has everything. A supremely sexy, drool-worthy hero, a strong, intelligent heroine, lots of fun and adventure and dialogue that absolutely sparkles. Connie Brockway is still one of my very favorite writers, and I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the books in the series. If you haven't read a Brockway, you must start NOW. And this book would be the perfect place.

I love Brockway's books no matter what style she tries, but I have to say that this super-romantic kind of story with the tortured hero is my absolute favorite. Kit is so manly and delicious, and the love scenes were toe-curling. As always, Brockway's dialogue is sensitive, intelligent and sexy. Just a great fully-realized novel, and the beginning of what looks to be an amazing series. Bravo, Ms Brockway, this book was worth the wait!

I feel like I've been waiting for this book forever but boy was it worth it! Kit was a hero to die for. Not only was he extremely sexy, but he also seemed like a real person with more than one side to his personality. And I wanted to be Kate! She was brave and feisty and a perfect match for Kit. I loved this book because it had romance, adventure, and even a little twist of suspense. I'm so excited because it seems to be the beginning of a trilogy. I'll be biting my fingernails until the next installment comes out!!! Welcome back, Ms. Brockway! The romance world needs you!

In 1801 the Nash family mourns the death of their patriarch who died in Paris a few months ago but also worries about their impoverished state. Three men arrive offering to do anything for the four Nash females. Christian "Kit" MacNeill explains to one of the daughters Kate that he and his companions were betrayed while spying in France. Their father sacrificed his life for their freedom. Kate whose husband was a soldier who died while on duty rejects his offer of help as she remains angry with her father and leaders who send the young to die. She refuses to provide atonement for Christian, who feels guilty that someone else died in his place. Not long afterward her mom passes away.

Kate journeys to see a distant relative by marriage, who she hopes will support her and her sisters. On the trek she loses her driver, but Kit arrives insisting on taking her to her destination. As they travel together through wintry Scotland, they fall in love, but she rejects the notion of another military man and he knows the aristocrat she goes to visit is more suited for her station in life.

The first of three Regency romances starring honorable males who believe they have a debt to pay, MY SEDUCTION is a strong Regency romance that will thrill readers of the sub-genre. Fans will feel the frozen conditions warmed by the growing love between the two protagonists. Kate is almost shrewish in her vehement rejection of Kit who initially needs her absolution, but soon wants her love. These two make the opening gamut of Connie Brockway's Rose Hunters series a triumph for readers.

Harriet Klausner

This is the story of Christian "Kit" MacNeill, a Scottish soldier, and the woman he's sworn to protect, Kate Blackburn. These characters were very well written, and the romance between them was very moving. It's been a while since I've read a book by Connie Brockway, and I'd forgotten how good she is at spinning a story and pulling you into the strong emotions and dramatic events of her books - My Seduction is no exception. I can't say this is one of my favorites by her, simply because the plot is a bit out there - I don't want to give anything away but the revelation of the bad guy and the dastardly deeds he's wrought throughout the book could have come out of the wildest of melodramas, complete with buried treasure. It seemed a bit disjointed to me, as if maybe she was trying to pack in too much at the end of the book, and wrapped it up too quickly. But then again, if you just go with it, such intrigues can make for an exciting story.

I far preferred the first half, during which Kit and Kate have to journey across the Scottish moors. The unfolding of their relationship during this episode was very compelling and tender, each coming to know the other but resisting because, of course, there has to be something holding them apart. Even though that's common enough in romances, here, fortunately, there are reasons, and they make sense.

A big aspect of the book and Kit's character is his desire for revenge - he and his three friends were betrayed during the French Revolution, at the cost of the life of one of their number, and he is tortured and driven by the need to find out who betrayed them and exact vengeance. Kit is a great character - kind of intimidating, definitely violent, but completely at Kate's command because he's in debt to her departed father. You'll have to read the book to find out the particulars of the circumstances that bind these two together.

I didn't find Kate as interesting or sympathetic as Kit - she's not mean or anything, but she is used to living a certain lifestyle, one of luxury and wealth, and with the death of her father she's been taken over by the desperation bred of poverty. Her actions are all very understandable, and she's fully three-dimensional - so I don't know why I wasn't really drawn to her. Oh well. Like I said, loved the first half, not so much the second. Despite the deus ex machina conclusion, it was overall a great book, romantic in every sense of the word.