Royal Seduction [Hardcover]

Jennifer Blake (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1983

1983 Fawcett Columbine BCE, 407 pages. A sensuous new romance by the best selling author of Embrace and Conquer. In the 1840s, red-haired and emerald-eyed Angeline Fortin lives a chaste life with her aunt in the countryside near New Orleans. But a dashing stranger, Prince Rolfe of Ruthenia, will change all that when they meet at a ball and he mistakes her for her bolder cousin Claire. Desperate to find his brother's murderer, he hopes to seduce the truth from the woman he believes witnessed the crime. Within hours, Angeline is abducted by his guards and taken to his bedchamber, where her innocence is lost forever. And until she leads Rolfe to Claire, she will be his prisoner, forced to submit to his passionate wishes. As they pursue Claire through Texas, a land teeming with outlaws, Rolfe is gravely wounded by an assassin who may be one of his handpicked men. Angeline, horrified by this treachery, tenderly nurses him back to health and discovers that she is not entirely unwilling to be his captive...for life. But as they come closer to their goal, Rolfe's secret enemy prepares to strike once more...

Product Details

• Hardcover: 407 pages
• Publisher: New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1983; Book Club (BCE/BOMC) edition (1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0759202974
• ISBN-13: 978-0759202979
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,491,847 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jennifer Blake has been called "the steel magnolia of women's fiction" for her enduring career as an author. She has also been lauded as a "pioneer of the romance genre" and an "icon of the romance industry." A New York Times and international best selling author from the publication of "Love's Wild Desire" in 1977, she is a charter member of Romance Writers of America, member of the RWA and Affaire de Coeur Halls of Fame, and recipient of the RWA Lifetime Achievement Rita. She holds numerous other honors, including two Maggies, two Holt Medallions, multiple Reviewer's Choice awards, the Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BookReviews Magazine, and the Frank Waters Award for literary excellence. She has written 65 books with translations in 20 languages and more than 30 million copies in print. Jennifer and her husband live on a lake in northern Louisiana.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An aggressive hero determined to get what he needs, June 28, 2003

By 

"readinganddreaming" (Green Country, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Royal Seduction (Paperback)

Royal Seduction is one of my all time five favorite books. It's odd that such an old romance (my research indicates this book was first published in 1983 under the name of Patricia Maxwell) should catch my interest so intensely. But some of Jennifer Blake's older romances are excellent - better than I see her publish today.

Prince Rolfe of Ruthenia (he has too many names to list) is one determined prince. He is in the States searching for his dead brother's latest mistress. Rolfe believes she knows who murdered his brother since she was present at the time of the former prince's assassination. Rolfe brings with him five of his Royal Guard and their presence is most commanding. Rolfe, himself, is hailed as the Golden Wolf; partly due to the royal insignia he wears bearing a wolf and his golden hair. Rolfe is certainly a prince from fairy tales. He is handsome, extremely self confident, very intelligent, amazingly physically fit and he carries his royalty graciously without thought. He is also highly aggressive, resolute, and is tremendously domineering. He will get that which he seeks and can be ruthless in the process.

Angeline Fortin lives with her aunt and cousin near New Orleans and does not relish high society. Angeline is a beautiful, loyal, smart, sensible and assertive young woman. She must rely on her aunt's charity for a place to live. She bears a striking resemblance to her cousin Claire. Claire is the missing mistress of the former Prince of Ruthenia

This book captures you immediately. By page five you are hooked into the storyline and by page nine sparks between Rolfe and Angeline are flying off the pages as they first meet at a soiree one evening. He has immediately, upon arriving, seen Angeline and believes her to be Claire. When Angeline insists she is not, Rolfe assumes she is lying. Later that evening, Rolfe and his guards locate and capture Angeline. She is taken to the prince's temporary quarters, a lodge in the country. Rolfe sequesters her in his bedroom and begins to interrogate her. He refuses to believe that Angeline is not Claire. Claire's reputation implies that she would be a willing bed partner. Assuming that Angeline is Claire, Rolfe ruthlessly seduces her and discovers he has, in fact, made a great error. Angeline is a virgin. Some readers may take this seduction as rape. I did. But don't let that affect your opinion of this book prematurely. This aggressive nature, seen within the first 60 pages, is not the tone of the entire book. Rolfe definitely regrets what he has done to Angeline but that doesn't mean he becomes less forceful. He is sure she knows her cousin's hiding place. He continues to hold her captive.

Although this book begins in an aggressive mode, the story that follows is very involved and so heart rending that you soon forget the beginning pages as anything other than powerful and somewhat savory. Rolfe is uncompromising, type A to the extreme, and is unforgettable in soul and body. Angeline is delightful although a little dense. She is not mean or spiteful and yet she stands up to Rolfe and is assertive in many ways. She never expects that she will ever be more than Rolfe's mistress. She interprets his words or actions towards her as "for the moment" and doesn't expect a future with him.

Royal Seduction is written entirely from the heroine's point of view. Although we never know the hero's thoughts, he spoke his mind so clearly that you had little doubt what he thought or felt. I am certain that Rolfe felt a lot more for Angeline than she allowed herself to believe. We clearly see Rolfe's inner turmoil although we do not have the privilege of reading his thoughts. This is a very sensual book. The actual sensual scenes could be rated no higher than a 3.5 out of 5.0 (see More About Me for rating guidelines). These scenes are not written as explicitly as in many books today but they are still very sexy. It is a true testament that very sensual scenes and high sexual tension can be written without vulgarity or physical details.

Rolfe and Angeline spend a lot of time together during the first half of the book. Then the action takes over. Usually I resent time taken away from the leads for the sake of an alternate storyline. But the subplot is so deep and awesome that it cannot be ignored. The romance is so deeply entwined with the action that one is not complete without the other. Although the last half of the book often finds the leads apart or only in the company of others, the sexual tension between them remains high. We see their relationship mature.

Overall, I highly recommend Royal Seduction as a delightful read. There are none of the old trappings of silly misunderstandings or false hate that seemed to be so prominent during the early eighties when this book was written. This book is available in eBook format. Once I read it in that format, I decided I wanted a hard copy for my keeper shelf and was able to obtain an old paperback copy online for a reasonable price. I am now slowly making my way through Blake's backlist and occasionally find another jewel but none have caught my fancy as much as Royal Seduction.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Royal Seduction, March 21, 2001

By 

P. Iacobazzo (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Royal Seduction (Mass Market Paperback)

Over the summer I worked for a publishing company that specialized in romance novels, forcing me to read them in order to write jacket copies and the like. Well, most of them seemed boring and following a certain formula and so I made up my mind that they weren't very good novels at all; but after reading this book I changed my mind. It has actual suspense and a good storyline. The story is romantic and actually interesting. I couldn't put it down! I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys books, not just the romance novel enthusiast, because it's the book that made me change my negative opinion of romances.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book got me hooked, May 20, 2011

By 

Linda Scott (Rio Rancho, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Royal Seduction (Mass Market Paperback)

In 1984, I lost my husband of 10 years. Left with 3 kids to raise and a life to re-plan, I was vulnerable. A year later I spotted this book at the checkout lane at the grocery store. It was there every week for 5 weeks. I had no interest in romance novels but something about this one intriqued me. So the fifth time I saw it I bought it and read it cover to cover overnight. I have read it several times in the intervening years and still enjoy it.

This book was my first romance novel but not my last. Jennifer's other books in the late 80's are also favorites of mine. With romance novels you suspend the rules and delve into fantasy and the story. We don't live in a perfect world and the characters in the books don't either. It is the way they deal with their world that make the story. Angeline is a strong character that deals with life's problems head on and wins.

This book is a good read and an enjoyable story. I had never heard of a 'dogtrot'. Jennifer's books bring to life a world I have not known and never will know.