Customer Reviews

Seduced

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Antonia and Adam do not meet until page 148 in this 532-page novel. I am glad I read the previous reviews that warned me of this long wait. But as Antonia experienced a range of emotions when she wrote about Adam in her personal journal; I went through a maelstrom of emotions that ranged from ennui, acceptance and finally, love and awe for this novel. She won me over slowly but surely and now I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I've read many of Henley's books and they were always sure to capture my attention from beginning to end. I was shocked to feel an urge to set aside the book and read another book before I got to page 148. But since she's never disappointed me before, I decided to stick it out and am glad I did. That one enchanted and oh so erotic love scene between the Butterfly and the Leopard is worth the price of the book. Sigh, but you get so much more. Much more detail, history and a lushly sensual ambiance experienced through the eyes of Antonia and Adam. (Hint: more than one love scene!)

Some may say this book could have been shorter. Yes, but at what cost? Are you the kind of person that would prefer an instant no-bake cheesecake or a real, made by scratch, baked cheesecake that is rich and creamy? More time is invested in the latter but isn't it worth it when you finally taste it? More attention to detail and more ingredients are needed for the latter but wasn't the time investment worth it? One of my favorite sayings is that there is no short cut to doing things the right way and Ms. Henley once again proved she knew what she was doing.

I realize now that the gathering of the ingredients were the first 148 pages. The middle part of the book was a mixing of the ingredients. But the rest of the novel? Sigh; put it in the fire to cook! And boy oh boy, can Ms. Henley cook! And the heat, what a scorcher! And wait until you get a taste of Antonia and Adam. You'll be licking your lips just as much as Antonia and Adam did...among other things! Remember, as you read about the foreplay between A&A, you the reader have been experiencing a very slow and very thorough foreplay from the very first chapter. Sure, do as some of the other reviewers have done and skip the foreplay and read the action parts. But aren't you just cheating yourself? Heck, why not go eat a piece of instant no-bake cheesecake while you're at it?

I didn't just read this book, I experienced it. I loved Antonia and Adam. I was enamored of the fact that Adam declared his love first. His shared his feelings for her to savor and thus I got to savor it too. Ms. Henley leaves no doubt in your mind that they were meant for each other. I also loved the fact that even after they declared their love for each other, there were pages and pages to enjoy before the end. Yet it didn't feel as if the ending was padded or contrived just to keep the story going. I was hooked to the very last page, to the very last word! Yes Virginia, the ends do justify the means!

This book was good but it was too long. It dragged in parts. There were so many subplots that had nothing to do with the book. I mean there was page after page, after page of the prince and his mistress. Not only was it unnecessary, it was BORING, and SICKENING. They were so lovydovy it was gross. I found myself (at times) reluctant to pick it back up. I couldn't even skip the pages and pages of the prince and his mistress because I kept telling myself that of course if had something to do with the plot. WRONG!!

On the good side, it had a very good plot (the reason for 3 stars). But come on even after Tony slept with Adam and talked to him all night, he still couldn't figure out who she was? Okay, she had a mask painted on but don't you think her voice would give her away? Again, this was a good book but very fantastical. Some of the things Tony did, i.e., the duel, the race, etc. were too unbelievable. Isn't the whole reason for reading to be brought into the plot and not keep telling yourself "yeah, right."

One of the big issues in this story apart from him sleeping with everywomen he met, and having a woman body servant, who washes him naked in the bath together, was that he was engaged to the heroine's mother. I hate it when the hero and heroine meet and he's still bedding everyone. Nothing is said whether or not he is still getting washed by his naked body servant. Her mother lied when and told the heroine that she wasn't engaged to the hero. The Heroine never asks never questions, it's pretty sick when the hero goes from the mother to the heroine, and she doesn't even question this, she just jumps into his arms. Very poor writing, extremly upseting for a readers point of view. It's like everything is just whitewashed as if it didn't happen and that it means nothing, sorry if you put it in a story, we as readers really, really need closure. What's the point of reading a book if you don't get closure, you just get lies, it's worse, because she knows her mother lied to her etc, etc, etc. It's just tooo angsty to even worry about, so please don't read, because you don't get closure you just get lies, as I said what is the point of reading this book???

At first glance, the book has many components that seem to bode well for a good read:

Interesting time period? Check-Late 1700s England, Ceylon, Venice & shipboard. Beautifully described and bursting with flavor.

Great Plot? This twist on a classic theme-girl masquerading as a boy-is actually given enough twists to keep it fresh & interesting. No fault there.

Spirited heroine you can care about and cheer for? Certainly, as Antonia Lamb is endearing, strong and gutsy. At first..

A hero you wouldn't send away? Adam is a step above most of the spoiled, titled lords who inhabit these types of books, as he is a self made man who vaulted himself from poverty due to his hard work, intelligence & honor (eventually).

So how did this seemingly fantastic concept fall so flat? There were several problems with the book that I was unable to overlook.

Once "Tony" was revealed as "Antonia" her character fades into an insipid miss, is quickly deflowered by the hero without even time for any romance to build on his end & she is carried along the rest of the plot with very little say about the outcome. How did she cease being herself just because she put her dress back on?

The "love" scene between the hero & a prostitute was slightly distasteful. The ones between the Prince George and his mistress were coarse & lacked the slightest hint of romance. The sex scenes between the villain & his mistress were disgusting & cruel beyond reason. Worst of all, the graphic abuse scene between the former & a pre pubescent servant girl was appalling. I've never seen the like in this genre.

None of the above are in the realm of what I like to see in a "romance" novel as they were graphic and prolonged. They were unnecessary to establish any of the characters ( we know the villain is evil as he repeatedly tried to murder various characters in the book). The rest were just background "sex" to fill up several hundred pages where the hero & heroine either haven't meet or he still believes her to be male.

The language was coarse in places that it wasn't necessary. I felt that the rampant use of the F and other vulgar words were just for shock value. The only place they were even relevant was if the author was trying to highlight the hipocrasy of how the same person would speak to Antonia differently when she was "Tony" but it is even used when characters are thinking!

I read romances as escapist fiction and this book didn't provide that atmosphere in the slightest. It was upsetting, dragged on for hundreds of pages too long and ended with hurt feelings, a graphic death worthy of a horror story & a great deal of disappointment all around. I believe I need a new book to escape from this one.

I originally bought this book over 11 years ago and thought it was very good, but not the best Henley novel published. As I grew older and reread it 2... ok umm 4 times over the years it became one of my absolute favorites.
Yes, the characters do take a while to get together, but I don't think that is such a bad thing. After almost 20 years of reading romance novels a person becomes a little sick of reading "hey, shes hot.... therefore I must have her." they have sex and fall instantly in love at first site. It is nice to feel at the end of a story that a couple is truly in love despite all their problems.
I highly recommend this book and any other Henley book to anyone. Henley is the first author to make a fan of me, and after all of these years she still gets me after all that I've read.

Seduced was a good book but a little bit long winded. Antonia is a likeable character (this is not always the case in Henley books) and Adam is typical male hero (Tall, Dark, Yummy).

After a sailing accident Antonia starts to play her twin brother Anthony after it is feared that he is lost at sea. The two had been sailing together when a squall blew up. She does this to save the family estate from falling into the hands of her underhanded and cruel cousin Bernard. At the same time Adam is on his way back to England to set up home, and to take care and lead his wards. (Antonia and Anthony) The twins father is now dead and as named Savage their gardian. An added twist to this is the fact that Savage just left Antonia's mom and is in fact plotting to make her his wife sometime in the future.

The story had great potential in the fact that there was intrigue, beautiful and exotic setting (Cylone,Venice during carnaval), tradmark Henley love scenes but over all the stories pace was slow. It will take you over a hundred pages before "Tony" and Savage will even lay eyes on each other, and then almost to the end of the book before Savage finally realizes that "Tony" is a She not a He. Yes, some of this was information leading up to the end result but I feel that you could lose about a hundred pages and not lose the context of the story. Not much romance between the two characters really. But then how could there be when they are both suppose to be male and hetorosexual! And then there is the fact that Adam had been interested in Antonia's mom and this is not addressed again until much later on.

Overall I would have to say my rating is based on the fact that it is a Henley book, and I have almost always liked her stories. She has the ability to take true history and true historical figures and intertwine them into a very good story.

Antonia's mother was Adam Savage's mistress in Ceylon, and he had been planning on marrying her! Like a coward, he had planned to hide that news from her, and she never would have found out if her mother hadn't told her. Am I the only one around here who finds that a bit difficult to handle? I have to admit the story was intriguing, but I just couldn't get beyond the incestuous overtones. Personally speaking, I shudder at the thought of marrying my mother's ex-lover!

Not only is this book sexy and interesting but funny to boot. I really love the supporting characters they offer so much comedic releif. I always find myself laughing out loud whenever I read it (wich is quite often.) After rereading it, for what I think is the 5th time, I came to the conclusion that this novel is tied for all time favorite with the Pirate and the Pagan (another wonderful book) I never want to put this book down when I read it. However, all good things must come to an end.

Anyway, buy this book no matter what other horrible reviews you read. I swear on my life Adam and Antonia are worth the wait!!

At first I found this book slow and, I must admit a bit boring, I found the main characters took to long to actually meet. But once they did the novel started getting interesting, and I found myself enchanted with a young woman who refusses to surrender and give up hope, and a bit in love with a handsome roughe who sometimes does not see the nose upon his face when he doesn't want to admit he's been wrong. If you like adventure in your romance, this book will give you good reading time, and a lot of ideas for your love life.

This book was wonderful! Lots of steamy love scenes, intelligently written, action all over. It took over a hundred pages for the two main characters to meet, but when they did, it was worth the wait!