Customer Reviews

Seduced By His Touch

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have to admit that I have been on a romance novel kick lately and picked this out for a pleasant quick read. I read it in one sitting because I couldn't put it down.

Unlike many romance novels, I enjoyed the whole book and didn't find myself "skipping" ahead to get to the "good parts". The intermediate story held my interest (though after awhile, the author did overplay the whole "missed messages and opportunity" and "denial" themes to where by the end it was like "just be done with it already!").

One of the things I really liked about this novel was the progression from lust to a true connected relationship. It seems like often many romance novels focus on the lust, the couple gets together and everyone lives happily after ever after... THE END. Instead this story went beyond that and dealt with the evolution that every couple must go through after the initial lustful passionate part of the relationship.

The characters are likable for the most part -- they may be a bit too perfect but lets face it... this is a romance novel and character development isn't expected to be on the level of Tolstoy or Trollope! The plot is (for the most part) predictable though there were a couple of twists which I have to admit I didn't see coming.

This is the first Tracy Anne Warren book I have read but based on the strength of this story, I will be reading the first book in the trilogy and will probably look forward to the last book which is going to be released for the Kindle in January.

No -- this isn't an intellectual piece of literature. It is definitely a guilty "escapist" pleasure but as far as guilty pleasures go, this one is much better done than others I have read.

Highly recommended for the genre!

Historical romances are among my personal favorite books to read, especially the ones where obviously mismatched people are thrown together by circumstance - or manipulative relatives - and over the course of time, come to realize that they truly care for one another. Seduced by His Touch by Tracy Anne Warren is one such book. It has all of the great elements of a mismatched love story. The handsome rogue whose circumstances dictate that he must court a woman not of his choosing. The spitfire of a woman who is the subject of the courting. And, of course, the master manipulator who forces these two together.



Lord Jack Byron is, simply put, a ladies man. He likes the ladies - all of them. But more than that, he likes his freedom. And what does the third son of a noble family do with his time besides bed women? Gamble, of course. Which leads him to the unsavory task of not only courting but marrying the daughter of a man to whom he owes a great debt.


Grace Danvers is that daughter. A self-professed "plain Jane," she is quite comfortable with the notion of never marrying and starting a family herself. She has other things to occupy her time, after all. She is an accomplished artist and content with her lot in life. She has no designs - or desires - for anything more. Until she meets Jack.


Brought together through the machinations of her merchant father, these two must come to terms with their unexpected attraction for one another.



The storyline may draw you in, but the characters and the skill with which Ms. Warren draws them, will keep you reading until the end. You'll simply have to know if these two will find their happy ending - or will she discover the secret of the bet and succumb to heartache? A delightful book that will leave you wanting to read more about the Byron family, Seduced by His Touch is a must-read for historical romance lovers.

Lord John Byron "Jack" is the third son of a duke. The rake has never had any trouble charming a female into his bed. His life forever changes when he loses a large sum in a card game to a wealthy merchant, Ezra Danvers. Ezra and Jack make a deal. Ezra will forgive Jack's debt and give him over one hundred thousand pounds if he weds his daughter, Grace. But she must never learn of this arrangement. Jack must woo Grace until she falls in love with him and always make her happy.

Jack expects Grace to be ugly or have something wrong with her. Turns out that even though she is not beautiful, Grace is very pretty. She is taller than most females, but that only means Jack will not get a sore neck whenever he looks at her. The more Jack is in Grace's company, the more Jack's fondness for her grows. Then, only a few days before they are due to wed, Grace finds the contract between Jack and her father.

**** FOUR STARS! This plot has been done often in the past. Even so, the author has written a delicious story around it. Tall and bookish Grace is not perfect, head-turning beautiful, or have the blonde hair which is so in fashion for the year 1809. Instead, she has bright red hair, is well educated, conservative, and even paints natural subjects (such as flowers) that are published in folios. As the reader, I instantly connected with this common heroine. I could easily imagine myself walking a mile in her shoes since Grace is in no way tied to high society. I would especially recommend this story for reading on your vacation, such as at the beach. ****

Reviewed by Vanessa Storme for Huntress Reviews.

At 25 years old, Grace Danvers is by all accounts considered a spinster. Taller than the average woman and with flaming red hair and glasses, she's no knock-out beauty. However, there is just something about her that Jack Byron finds irresistible and he vows to bed then wed her (in that order). He is successful in his scheme: get her to fall in love and agree to marry him. However, just days before their wedding, the worst possible thing happens - she learns the truth!

Grace was insecure because she didn't fit the profile of how a typical Victorian beauty should look and so to watch her enter her comfort zone and become more self-confident was really refreshing. Jack was resolved to marry her to pay of his immense debt, but it certainly didn't hurt that they had fiery chemistry...but could they actually love each other? I loved and hated how stubborn these characters were; just when you think, this is it...you get thrown for a loop. This author really knows how to build the suspense and then give you the perfect, romantic ending!

Despite a plot we've all seen before, I really enjoyed the heck out of this book.

Lord Jack Byron (brother to the Duke of Clybourn) loses a ridiculous sum of money to a very wealthy cit in a card game. Although it certainly appeared to me that the cit cheated Jack, that's never actually stated. The man will erase the debt as well as provide an insanely huge dowry if Jack will meet, seduce, and marry his daughter, Grace Danvers.

Cliched set-up, but very nice execution. Grace, of course is not the gorgon Jack expected. Although she's not a fashionable beauty (too tall, red hair, feminine curves hidden by dress styles, too intelligent for society, not ton), she's pretty anyway and easy to get along with. Jack finds himself hating the deception, although the amount of money he owes is so huge, he can't tell the guy to stuff-it and court the girl the 'right way'.

One funny thing is that Warren set up various moments where I felt I knew what was going to happen and then she didn't use them in the ways I predicted. So she turned some of the cliches on their heads. Jack does something TSTL in the beginning (in addition to the huge gambling loss) and I felt the shoe would drop at any moment, but that particular one evolved differently. It was nice to be wrong.

Again, I'm really liking Warren's characters. Their chemistry is unmistakable. There is a stretch in this book where I wanted to shake one of the characters for cutting their nose off to spite their face and the other one for not speaking up, but I couldn't really see where the action was inorganic. And when the book ends and we get our HEA, it's very romantic and lovely.

Tracy Anne Warren has a new fan in me. She may indulge in tried and true plot devices but I do like her characters and I'm very much looking forward to the next book due out in early 2010.

Even though the story was fairly well written, and I liked Jack and Grace (I liked her in the beginning anyway), I felt like I knew what was going to happen by the end of Chapter 2, and it made the plot drag.

Charming, aristocratic Jack, brother of a duke, is manipulated into marriage to commoner and naturalist painter, Grace, by her wealthy, business shark of a father. Dad sets the whole thing in motion by beating Jack in a game of cards. The deal is that if Jack can win her love, and marry her, his considerable gambling debt will be forgiven, and a huge dowry will be his. Jack's not a bad guy, but the debt is crushing and he decides to pursue Grace. Of course, Grace cannot be told about the arrangement since such a thing would be completely unacceptable to her.

At this point, the writing is on the wall. Despite his unorthodox methods, Dad's plan actually works because he has picked Jack out carefully for his daughter. Jack's courtship of Grace is a great success. Unfortunately, the initial deception is always hanging there waiting to ruin everything, which of course it eventually does. The frustrating part is that the last half of the book drags on endlessly as Grace stubbornly, and meanly clings to her anger and insecurities, making everyone, including herself and me, miserable. I hate this type of plot device which is simply driven by the unreasonable, and illogical negative persistence of a character, who for some reason doesn't know a good or bad thing when they see it.

Still, there were a few interesting twists and turns to the story, and even though this was not her best book, I like this author's writing style and characters, and will look forward to future books.

Outside of some paranormal romances and the (very) occasional contemporary, I don't read too much from the romance genre. In fact, I had all but shunned anything resembling an historical romance. Whenever the genre came to mind, all that I could imagine was ripped bodices, heaving bosoms, petticoats and engorged members. I'll admit, this was particularly unfair of me since I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to any other genre. So, when Avon sent this book along to me I didn't even intend to read it, let alone review it. In a fit of boredom I decided to pick it up and, I have to say, Ms. Warren's Seduced by His Touch has made me take a second look at the historicals that I've grossly ignored.

Due to my inexperience with the genre, my opinions don't reflect much knowledge about this sort of writing. As a novice though, I can speak to those who are of the same mind that I was pre-Seduced. My advice to historical newbies - at least give it a try.

This novel trumps most of the paranormal and contemporary romances that I've read - ever. From what I gather, the premise of the plain spinster and the charming rake is a recurring theme amongst the genre, maybe even an overused one. I can attest to that much since I went on a historical romance binge immediately after finishing this one. Despite this though, the story was rather engrossing. I didn't put it down once after I started.

The heroine Grace is a refreshing character. Not only is she intelligent and talented, but she also isn't one of those whining bores who are too caught up with their spinster status to be endearing to the reader. She may not be completely happy, but she at least seems content with her life before the hero, Jack, waltzes in.

Like Grace, there's more to Jack as well. Sure, he's a bit of a slut prior to the infamous bet with Grace's father, but he's also kind and (apart from having to hide the truth behind their meeting) pretty honest. Although the circumstances of his courtship of Grace aren't to his liking, his reservations become all but non-existent once he sets eyes on her. Every romantic overture he makes comes from a place of genuine attraction. Their relationship evolves realistically and, over the course of the novel, produces plenty of funny, sexy, and touching moments. I definitely shed a tear or two during the latter half of the story. To my surprise, I also found myself quite turned on a time or two throughout.

I was glad to find that the sex scenes were pretty darned near perfect. They weren't overly sweet, nor were they vulgar. Warren also managed create just the right amount of them and placed them at appropriate points in the tale so that they never hindered the storytelling.

This book is the second in the Byrons of Braebourne series, which I was unaware of until just after I finished it. It doesn't make much of a difference though because this one does so well as a stand alone novel. The secondary characters' appearances in this installment hinted at some interesting stories though, so I fully intend to read the previous book Tempted by His Kiss and book 3, At the Duke's Pleasure.

Tracy Ann Warren has taken a well used plot, nobleman is forced to marry rich heiress, and breathed some life into this scenario. Her characters are engaging and the romance is believable.

Lord Jack Byron, ladies man and card sharp, owes a huge gambling debt to a London merchant. To pay off his vowels he agrees not only to marry the merchant's daughter but also to woo her into loving him, so that she will want to marry too. He is not looking forward to this task.

Tall, red haired Grace is surprised that handsome Jack is paying court to her. He is solicitous and deeper than she ever credited him. She knows she is falling fast for him; he is wonderfully attentive and makes her feel special. When he proposes she feels like the luckiest woman on earth.

Jack genuinely likes Grace, she is unconventional, kind hearted and sincere. Jack feels terrible for deceiving her but he knows that she will never find out about his deal with her father or will she?

This is a marvelous romance. Jack and Grace are well suited and admirable. Jack realizes fairly quickly that Grace is a boon companion and he desires her too. Grace is charmed by Jack and her self confidence grows by leaps. The leads have a hot romance; both have no problems expressing their longing for each other. When unforseen events happen in Grace's life she does both the expected and unexpected, expected for her time period but in some ways unexpected for a romance. I liked this about her; she was pragmatic yet romantic too. Her hopeful but cautious attitude was a constant throughout the novel.

Jack is a romantic hero, sensual and affectionate, he is the kind of man any woman would love, and Grace is no exception. He is thoughtful and very kind and it was easy to see why Grace wanted him during even the most trying of circumstances. Ms Warren does an excellent job of showing, not just telling, how this couple loves each other. Jack is especially good at demonstrating his feelings through actions. This is the second novel of the Byron series and it is just as good, possible even a little better, than the previous novel.

The nerd gets her playboy!

What a wonderful adventure this was, so filled with emotion. The love scenes were so wonderful and passionate and sweet. Grace was a perfect character, didn't do anything stupid, and never denied her feelings outright. Jack was also a great hero. He didn't do anything stupid or mean or brutal. They were truly a greatly matched pair!

Lord Jack Byron racks up a massive gambling debt and the only way it can be repaid is to marry the other man's daughter. Jack loves women, but even has doubts he can pull of a marriage to some stranger's spinster daughter. But when he meets Grace Danvers, Jack begins to think this might not be such a bad idea after all.

Grace knows of men like Jack and avoids them at all cost. But his stunning looks and charm, not to mention his obvious attentions towards her, wear down her resistance and before long, she is succumbing to his kisses. When he proposes, she is surprised, but can't help but accept.

But then, shortly before the wedding, Grace discovers the truth behind why Jack proposed and she nearly calls it all off. Jack sets out to seduce her all over again, but this time, he's playing for keeps.

I loved Seduced by His Touch, the second book of the Byrons of Braebourne series. Tracy Anne Warren tells an engrossing tale with beautiful little passages scattered throughout. While I doubted certain actions on the part of Grace (which I don't want to give away), I did enjoy how it was handled and I thought all the turns of the story were fun and believable. Yet again, I cannot wait for the next book in the series to read about this entertaining family.


Niki Lee
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed