Customer Reviews

Seduce Me (Harlequin Temptation No. 995)

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

 

 

Three Simple rules: No Blind Dates. No Kissing on the Blind Date. And No Falling in Love.

I'm not a normal Harlequin reader. Normally, I prefer more happening in my story, longer books and versatility-all items I found in spades in this book. Author Jill Shalvis has a fantastic way with words, conveying the thrills, chills and goosebumps of unexpected love.

Sam O'Ryan had led a life full of loss. Her parents died at an early age leaving her with a surfer uncle who did not know how to raise a young woman, but he did the best he could instilling values, a sense of fairness, and a can do attitude in young Sam. She's grown into a beautiful woman, albeit one wary of commitment and attachment.

Jack "Scandal" Knight was a NBA basketball player until a knee injury forced him into early retirement. For years, the media hounded him. As team captain, he shouldered the blame, sometimes warranted, sometimes not, for all members on the team and their wild behaviors. All he wants is a simple life and to be left alone. He's learned, the hard way, that many women who are interested in him want him only for who they perceive him to be and what they think he can give them.

One blind date, sneaking through the lawn, running from paparazzi, and an earth shaking first kiss later, and both are hooked though neither will admit it.

Though this contains standard fair, as we readers expect from romance novels, this story made me smile, cheer, and truly feel for the characters. This, for me, is definitely a recommended read. Catch the wave while you can.

I already miss the Temptation books! This one is such a sensual story about two who really belong together. I won't repeat what the story is about, but you will end up feeling for each of them and watching their relationship and love grow even though they fight it to the end. Jill Shalvis' writing has a way to pull you into the story that you will feel the empathy of the characters. Every book she's written has been on my keepers shelf.

Overlooking the Pacific, Jack Knight needs a date for a charity event that he must attend as his sister Heather put the gala together. He asks his best friend Cole to set him up. Cole turns to his girlfriend Lorissa Barrett to see if her pal Sam would go out with Jack. After suffering through some of the worse dates one could imagine, Samantha O'Ryan vows never to ever accept a blind date but agrees when Lorissa asks her to do her a favor though she expects to kick herself for her weakness.

Jack and Sam are stunned as neither is anything close to what they anticipated in a blind date. Both share in common that they are not ready for anything permanent with anyone and an attraction to one another. She thinks he is a hunk with a brain who cares about people; while he treasures the concept that she is not in the slightest awed by his being a former basketball great. As they continue to see one another they insist they are not in love, but neither one wants to see the end of their relationship for at least six or seven more decades.

Fans of contemporary romances starring two likable protagonists who give off enough heat to melt the icecaps when together will want to read SEDUCE ME. The story line is fun to follow because the stars make such a fine couple together, something everyone else sees, but not this duo. The support cast especially their friends and his sister provide depth as they along with readers see the obvious that this "I'm Not in Love" couple refuses to believe.

Harriet Klausner

I love reading Jill Shalvis because her characters are always within the norm and their life circumstances can be parallel to reality. I doesn't feel like you are leaving reality to go to a fantasy. You can actually see the story happen. And she is very good at what she writes. I enjoyed it throughly.

~* 3.5 Stars *~
Samantha O'Ryan lives life on her own terms. She surfs when she wants, owns her own beachfront sandwich place, and lives a simple and easy-to-maintain lifestyle above it. She dates casually when she wants, goes where she wants, buys what she wants. The only thing she can't do is bake brownies. And she's tried. Repeatedly. She doesn't do relationships - her choice. Losing her parents at a young age scarred her and she's never felt comfortable with commitment. The only two people she's close to is the uncle who raised her as best he could and the best friend she's had all her life. She'd do anything for either of them.

That's the only reason she ends up agreeing to a blind date even though her best friend Lorissa has set her up for some real doozies. There was begging. And pouting. And puppy dog eyes. She caved. When Jack Knight knocked on her door, though, it appeared her blind date luck had significantly improved.

Jack "Scandal" Knight retired from a highly successful basketball career after a crippling knee injury a year ago. Surgery gave him back the ability to walk, but years as the media's bad boy had him shunning the spotlight since then. Only a dedication to his sister and a desire to help her cause to aid underprivileged children caused him to need a date to a fundraiser. He didn't have high expectations for the blind date...or any, really. By the end of the night, though, he was smitten with the free spirited Sam. He knew he was in real trouble when her intention of keeping things casual bothered him in ways it never had before. Convincing the gun shy woman that he wanted to be in this for the long haul could prove more debilitating to his heart than a career in the NBA ever was to his body.

This light contemporary romance has all the earmarkings of a traditional Jill Shalvis novel: likable characters in realistic situations overcoming personal issues on their bumpy road to love. It lacked a little of the depth and complexity of some of her longer books, as one would expect, and I would have enjoyed a little more depth in both the characters and the plot, but Seduce Me does very well for itself as a Harlequin Temptation book.

I had a hard time warming up to Sam, though. I don't know if it was just that I had difficulty relating to the surfer girl who wears her bikini under everything from the ballroom to the bedroom and dumps any guy who she gets close enough to sleep with, or if I thought her character definition wasn't enough of an explanation for her personality, but something just didn't quite click with me in relation to her character. There were moments I liked her a lot, especially when she was helping out with the kids, but other times she left me cold. Jack, on the other hand, was the total pleasure package. He was an endearing charmer, especially when he was trying to learn to surf or calling Sam every day just to talk.

There isn't much in the way of groundbreaking fiction here, but it's a sweet, endearing romance that developed nicely over the course of the book. The characters were sufficiently developed and I appreciated the scenes where they were apart and dealing with secondary and ancillary characters, as it gave me a good glimpse of them outside of the parameters of the romance plotline. There were nice touches, like the daily phone calls and the dunking booth, that really made me smile, and I was pleasantly surprised that the affection between the characters was solidly based on genuine friendship and mutual admiration as opposed to simple lust. All in all a nice, pleasant, feel-good read without much in the way of surprises or serious conflict.

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Reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another.

A MAN THIS HOT IS WORTH BREAKING ALL OF HER RULES FOR...

Rule # 1 - No Blind dates. Having suffered through one too many, there's no way Samantha O'Ryan will agree to a blind date. Until her best friend needs a favor, that is. Enter Jack Knight. If she'd known how hot he is, she never would have protested.

Rule #2 - No kissing on the first date. Sam can't resist Jack. And before the night is over, she wants to do a lot more than just kiss him. For someone like Sam, who runs from all commitment, that fact should be enough to make her refuse the second date. It's not.

Rule # 3 - No falling in love. Sam is determined to keep this fling on sizzle with no strings attached. But jack starts hinting about something more, and suddenly she's being seduced in the most tempting way.

TEMPTATION - JUST A LITTLE BIT NAUGHTY...