Seven Years to Sin [Paperback]

Sylvia Day (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 28, 2012

"The idea for Bared to You came to me shortly after writing Seven Years to Sin, which also deals with a couple recovering from difficult pasts. In some ways, Bared to You feels like an extension of Seven Years to Sin to me, even though they're set 200 years apart..."
--Sylvia Day

A young man forced to sell his body for money. A young lady who watched him do it. Two tormented souls brought together years later to assuage the hunger of a desperate, irresistible attraction...

With lush sensuality and unerring insight, Sylvia Day explores the underpinnings of intimacy and desire.

Praise for Sylvia Day and her novels

"Bared to You obliterates the competition...unique and unforgettable."
--Joyfully Reviewed

"The romance between Alistair and Jessica is truly not to be missed."
--Romance Reader at Heart on Seven Years to Sin

"The undisputed mistress of tender, erotic romance."
--Teresa Medeiros

Editorial Reviews

Review

Shades of Grey eclipsed by new novel [Bared to You] Evening Standard Several shades sexier and a hundred degrees hotter Woman --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

The longer the resistance...

Seven years ago, on the eve of her wedding, proper Lady Jessica Sheffield witnessed a licentious scene no innocent young miss could imagine. Shocked, yet strangely titillated, she'd held her silence regarding scandalous Alistair Caulfield, and walked down the aisle as expected. But through years of serene, unremarkable marriage, Caulfield's image remained burned into her imagination, fueling very illicit dreams...

...the sweeter the reward

Alistair ran far from the temptation of the prim debutante with the fire of passion in her eyes--all the way to the West Indies. As a successful merchant, he has little in common with the rakehell youth she knew. But when newly widowed Jessica steps aboard his ship for a transatlantic passage, seven years' worth of denied pleasures are held in check by nothing more than a few layers of silk--and the certainty that surrender will consume them both... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 341 pages
• Publisher: Kensington; Reprint edition (August 28, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758290411
• ISBN-13: 978-0758290410
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (270 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sylvia Day is the #1 New York Times and #1 international bestselling author of more than a dozen award-winning novels sold in thirty-nine countries. A reader favorite across several genres, there are millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She has been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Author and her work has been honored as Amazon's Best of the Year in Romance. She has won the RT Book Reviews Reviewers' Choice Award and been nominated for Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA award twice.

Sylvia also writes under the pseudonyms:
S. J. Day - www.amazon.com/author/sjday
Livia Dare - www.amazon.com/author/liviadare

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#15 Overall (See top 100 authors)

#5 in Books > Romance > Historical

#6 in Books > Romance > Contemporary

#7 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

#13 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Historical Romance

#14 in Books > Literature & Fiction

#5 in Books > Romance > Historical

#6 in Books > Romance > Contemporary

#7 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Contemporary

#13 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Romance > Historical Romance

#14 in Books > Literature & Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 61 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Sensual and Provoking Historical Romance August 30, 2011

By Heather Davis TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

I very much enjoyed reading Seven Years to Sin. Jessica is a widow, looking to overcome her grief and move forward with her life. To start, she decides to travel to Jamaica to deal with her property there. Alistair has long been infatuated with Jessica and when Jessica boards one of his ships to travel to Jamaica, he decides it is the perfect opportunity to make his move. Neither could anticipate the depth of emotion in their attraction, which began seven years earlier, and neither wants to see the inevitable end of that attraction...

Part of why I really enjoyed Seven Years to Sin is the erotic nature of the romance. For a historical novel, the romance is pretty hot, heavy, and bold. On Jessica's wedding day, she witnesses an erotic sexual encounter that awakened her sexual appetite, and that appetite simmered for seven years until she met Alistair again, but this time she was free to act on the attraction. The society restrictions of the 1800's are still in place, but with the setting being primarily on a boat in the middle of the ocean, those restrictions are more relaxed, allowing the characters to be more bold in their actions. Once Jess and Alistair have to re-enter society, they find that nothing is easy, and their circumstances are not what they thought at all.

Each of the characters have their own issues to overcome. For Jess, this is overcoming her past abuse and this issue gives the story a great deal of depth. Violence against women is a very serious topic, and I imagine that in the 1800's women who were victims were often desperate and with out help at all. Just when Jess thinks she is doing better at putting her past abuse at the hands of her father behind her, she finds that her sister is dealing with abuse. Hester (Jessica's sister) has an entire story liner herself in this novel, and I really felt for her and her situation. While Jess is off having her hot romance, Hester is home living in terror and desperation. The way these stories combine creates for a very well rounded book, it is not a frivolous romance story, and has a sense of realism and believability.

Overall, I really liked Seven Years To Sin, it is a well written and developed story full of sensual romance and provoking plot twists. Alistair is a wonderful historical hero, the type of man who defy's expectations and succeeds in whatever he does. Jessica is a woman who must put aside her past to embrace her future. Together, their story is beautiful, romantic, and a very good read.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sensational and captivating! October 3, 2011

By tsteiner

Format:Paperback

This is a delightful story of second chances. With a heroine that embraces her independence in a time of repression and a hero that isn't afraid to open up his heart to love.

Jessica was known as the Diamond of the Season, beautiful beyond measure but appearing cold and reserved, a perfect wife for a future Earl. One secretly witnessed deviant scene of inflagrente delicto later and her whole life is changed. Intrigued to discover the art of love making, she begins her life with her husband Viscount Tarley, fully grasping her womanly desires and passions.

Alistair Caulfield is the fourth born son to Duke Masterson. He is an infamous rake and risk taker. Circumstances have allowed him to live a life filled with adventure and minimal responsibility. After being caught in a very compromising position, he does his best to avoid Jessica. On that fateful day, he saw something in her that captivated him. The only thing he could do was to run away from the temptation of her. So Alistair ran fast and far.

Seven years have passed and tragedy has taken Viscount Tarley from Jessica, she is ready to move on. Her husband Benedict ensured his wife would want for nothing and bequeathed her a plantation in Jamaica. She has always desired the freedom to travel and now has the opportunity. Unknown to her, Alistair is also moving on and she just happens to be his target.

Seven Years to Sin was new and exciting for me. I found the writing clear and concise with no predictability. The plot was flawless and the characters were enchanting. Ms. Day's addition of the subplot of Jessica's sister, Hester, was included brilliantly and didn't distract from the story. Her future seems bright compared to her rather dismal past. I found myself grinning after the epilogue.

I enjoyed tagging alone on the sea voyage to Jamaica and the journey of their eventual lives together. It was wonderful to see Alistair falling head over heels in love, obsessed but still fighting it. Jessica was pure heaven. Her healing was well described and her self-discovery was believable and a joy to read.

Ms. Day wrote a well thought out book and then proceeded to add spice and adventure. She wrapped all the loose ends expertly and left me sated and satisfied. I was up until wee hours in the morning reading and I had to force myself to stop. After finishing the book I immediately checked out her website. If her backlist is half as good as Seven Years to Sin then she is a keeper.

53 of 60 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars When too much sex can be boring...who knew!? February 20, 2012

By MelMez

Format:Kindle Edition

Ok, first off I want to start with a disclaimer that I love, adore and devour naughty novels. There is nothing I like more than romance where the hero and heroine are wild for each other and one can read about their chemistry together and watch the sparks they shoot off each other. I don't have a problem whatsoever when the hero and heroine engage in scorching encounters.

That being said, when that is ALL they do it becomes quite boring. Too much of a good thing and all that. I liked the characters very much, they both were flawed but good people, there was none of those silly misunderstanding that could be fixed by simple talking that is so pervasive in most romantic novel plots, I also enjoyed the fact that the heroine wasn't a blushing virgin or some sexually frustrated widow who had been pining away all her life for the right man to awaken her sexually (a very common plot too in historical romance).

I wish the author had been a little bit less bent on writing about her main characters in all sexual positions known to mankind and more in an actual plot. There is really no plot, no secrets to discover (the whole abuse deal was so obvious) there was no conflict and no resolution. All there was was sex, lots of it, in boats, in meadows, in gazebos, on desks, in bathtubs, in bed, in carriages, etc. We got it, we got it, he was experienced and she was wanton really. They were sexually compatible, again we got it. Aside from their sexual compatibility (to which we were treated on every page of the book) I have no knowledge of what they had in common or what exactly was it that they found so fascinating about each other. I dare to venture that they weren't actually in love, they were just in lust. "Lucien" because he got the one woman he couldn't get and Jessica because she was a proper paragon of virtue in society and being with Lucien was so against her character.

I found much more interesting the story of Hester and Jessica's brother in law and skipped several pages of writhing and moaning and "more, more,more" to get to her plot who had so much more depth, emotions and twists.

In the end I wished I had been reading Hester's story instead. I wonder if the author knows about that trick of keeping people wishing for more instead of cramming everything down our throats.