She Tempts the Duke [Mass Market Paperback]

Lorraine Heath (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 31, 2012

“Heath steals your heart, then takes you on a journey that will leave you torn between tears and joy.”
—Christina Dodd

New York Times bestselling author Lorraine Heath writes sweet temptations—richly, deliciously passionate, high concept historical romance in the vein of Lisa Kleypas and Liz Carlyle. With She Tempts the Duke, Heath kicks off another enthralling series, this time following the fortunes of the Lost Lords of Pembrook—three dark and dangerous noble brothers imprisoned and robbed of their inheritance, but free now and determined to reclaim their birthright. Set in England during Victoria’s reign, She Tempts the Duke is the enthrallingly romantic story of Sebastian, who fled to battle, and his return to London, a hardened soldier, drawn to the beautiful, brave lady who helped him and his brothers escape their captivity.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Three young heirs, imprisoned by an unscrupulous uncle, escaped—to the sea, to the streets, to faraway battle—awaiting the day when they would return to reclaim their birthright.

Sebastian Easton always vowed he would avenge his stolen youth and title. Now back in London, the rightful Duke of Keswick—returning from battle a wounded, hardened, changed man—cannot forget the brave girl who once rescued him and his brothers from certain death.

Lady Mary Wynne-Jones paid dearly for helping the imprisoned young Lords of Pembrook, and she remembers well the promise she made to Sebastian all those years ago: to meet him once more in the abbey ruins where they shared a bold, forbidden kiss. While Mary is now betrothed to another, a friendship forged with dark secrets cannot be ignored. Unexpected passion soon burns dangerously between them, tempting Sebastian to abandon his quest for retribution and fight for a love that could once again set him free.

About the Author

Lorraine Heath wrote her first story at seven, and it involved a fisherman who fell in love with a mermaid. She has since moved on to writing about sexy cowboys and dashing English lords (and sometimes, cleverly, in the same book!). Publishers Weekly says she is a "master of her craft." She is, indeed, and along with being a New York Times and USA Today bestseller, she has won the RITA® Award, three Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards, and a Career Achievement Award.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Avon; Original edition (January 31, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062022466
• ISBN-13: 978-0062022462
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.2 x 6.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,730 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lorraine Heath always dreamed of being a writer. After graduating from the University of Texas, she wrote training manuals, press releases for a publicist, articles, and computer code, but something was always missing. In 1990, she read a romance novel and became not only hooked on the genre, but quickly realized what her writing lacked: rebels, scoundrels, and rogues. She's been writing about them ever since, for both adult and young adult readers (as Rachel Hawthorne, Jade Parker, and with her son as J. A. London). Her work has been recognized with numerous industry awards including RWA's RITA(R), a HOLT medallion, a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award, and four Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Awards. Her novels have appeared on bestseller lists, including USA Today and the New York Times.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

(What's this?)

#25 in Books > Romance > Historical

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

#25 in Books > Romance > Historical

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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful romance January 31, 2012

By Lisa Wolff

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Well, this book grabbed my attention from the very first page and never let go!

Sebastian Easton, Duke of Keswick, has had a very hard life. Nearly killed alongwith his two brothers as a young lad, he escapes unharmed to only have to split up from his brothers to protect them. Sebastian takes off to the war and in the process, he becomes quite scarred inside and out but the one thing that keeps him going is that he must seek revenge against his vile uncle. Life finally allows the three brothers to gather together in London and they find a quite dramatic way to announce their arrival back in society and Sebastian's proper place as the duke. And no one is more shocked by their arrival than Lady Mary Wynne-Jones....the young girl who freed the brothers and has been waiting twelve long years for any word of them.

Mary is overjoyed to see her best friend from childhood is back but is a bit shaken by her grown up attraction to Sebastian. After all, she is engaged to another, perfectly acceptable man. But that quiet, proper man is not quite the right fit for Mary who is strong, bold and cares deeply for those she cares about. And it is that deep, abiding caring that keeps her coming back to Sebastian and helping him try to find his new place in society. This causes a few burned bridges for Mary but allows this destined-to-be couple to find happiness together.

I adored this book! It is a wonderful, heart pleasing romance of childhood friends to lovers but mixed with enough danger that you will breeze through it and end with a happy smile on your face. I was not expecting the slight 'Beauty and the Beast' theme but it played out very well. Mary never saw Sebastians scars as anything to pity and her way of expressing this to Sebastian was a key turning point in their relationship. I also was very happy with the fact there is no cheating on Mary's fiance, besides one kiss. I'm always nervous about cheating while engaged to another but that is not the case here. In fact, it takes almost three quarters of the book for the major heat factor to kick in and I'm not really complaining. The storyline just moved along so well that when it finally happened, it was right. There is a strong sense of family between the brothers despite being apart for so long but with that comes many doubts on Sebastian's end but Mary is the perfect balm to help him heal. I am so eager for the next two books as there is so much history of the brothers to discover! Overall, this is a perfect romance that blends true love and danger in a way that will keep you up late finishing the book! 4 very solid stars

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Read February 2, 2012

By LAS Reviewer

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Lorraine Heath's, She Tempts the Duke is a remarkable tale of a young friendship that stands the test of time and circumstance and transforms into a riveting love story. I was unable to put this book down until I had read the last page, it had a tortured hero, a tenacious and loyal heroine and an incredible love story that captivated me.

Ms. Heath's prologue to this story sets up the premise of this book beautifully while hooking her readers in right of way. We are introduced to the three lords of Pembrook during their escape for their lives, with the help of courageous twelve-year-old Mary Wynne-Jones, their neighbor. Skip ahead a dozen years and the boys are now grown up and have returned to reclaim their birthright -- more specifically, Sebastian and the title of Duke of Keswick -- and to get retribution from the uncle who wanted them dead so he could claim the title.

Sebastian Easton has returned to London to claim his birthright as the Duke of Keswick, however he has not returned as a civilized gentleman. He has been to war and has the scars both physically and emotionally to show for it. Sebastian has lost his left eye and the left side of his face is scarred and mutilated. Sebastian believes that no woman could love him, but he must find a wife and produce an heir. He did not anticipate his feelings of lust for his childhood friend Mary who is engaged to another man. Mary has grown up and become a very beautiful woman and a temptation Sebastian is finding harder and harder to resist.

Lady Mary Wynne-Jones is a character with courage, strength and grace. We are first introduced to Mary as a brave girl of twelve who rescues the Easton brothers from the tower where they are being kept. She manages to free the lords of Pembrook and they escort her home and then flee into the night. Mary has not forgotten the three boys she rescued that fateful night and fears they have died after not receiving word from any of them in the years since that fateful night.

While attending the ball being given by the treacherous uncle of the boys she saved, everything changes; the Lords of Pembrook crash the party. Mary is shocked by their return, and hurt that they did send her word of their survival. Mary is engaged to be married; however, with the return of Sebastian into her life she begins to question her choice of husband and what her feelings toward Sebastian mean.

Lorraine Heath has created a beautiful, romantic tale of two people who have survived years of being apart physically but were always in each other's hearts as childhood friends. After being reunited, Mary and Sebastian discover that their friendship has changed into something so much greater. The two fated lovers each take a journey of self discovery in this scintillating story to learn what they want from one another and what that means to their budding relationship.

She Tempts the Duke is very well written, using the point of view of both the hero and the heroine. The story flowed well and kept me interested and anticipating the next event.

I was very impressed with how Ms. Heath created a regency novel that isn't bogged down with constant references to the "Ton", but uses its existence to bring her characters together with its infernal societal rules. The dialogue was well written and realistic giving each character a distinctive voice in the story. The main characters were well rounded individuals that made me sense their emotions and struggles throughout the unfolding events. Ms. Heath also gave her readers insight into the secondary characters, specifically Sebastian's brothers, Tristan and Rafe, giving her readers a little foreshadowing into their stories. Overall this was a great Regency romance complete with treachery, intrigue and a climactic ending.

I am a discriminating regency romance reader, depending on the story and the author's writing style; I either hate or love them and I loved this one and intend to go looking for more by Ms. Heath. I also eagerly await Rafe's and Tristan's stories.

If you enjoy regency romances that are well written and have characters that will pull at your heartstrings, run out and get She Tempts the Duke, you will fall in love with the Lords of Pembrook and their struggles to return to "Polite Society".

originally posted at LAS Romance Reviews

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars I swear to goodness, this book was written by Heath's intern... February 27, 2012

By sarah stewart

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I am afraid I am about to give up on Lorraine Heath, which is a real shame because she has been one of my favourite authors. I really enjoyed the 'Daughters of fortune' and 'Rogues of Texas' series. And A Duke of Her Own is one of my all-time top 50 books...maybe even top 20. But with her last 3-4 books it is as if she has had a personality transplant and changed from writing wonderfully insightful romances that rely heavily on good characterisation and depth of story to unbelievable, melodramatic and un-original....for want of a better word...rubbish. And this book takes the biscuit.

This book has many faults which is why I have been unable to finish it properly. The faults that really did it for me were the terrible historical inaccuracies which had events such as the imprisonment of the boys in the tower, and Mary being sent to a convent for years more in line with medieval times than the Victorian era. Personally, I think Lorraine has taken off on a very long holiday...maybe off to mediate with some Tibetan monks in Outer Mongolia, and she's left a list for her intern to sort out...feed the cat....water the plants...and write a ridiculous historical romance to keep the publisher happy while I am away. There was absolutely no thought put into the under-lying plot. Why did a 14 year old boy think his uncle killed his father? What happened up to then that made him think that? There is no way an uncle could have got away with his treatment of three boys in that era...the heirs of a Duke would have had a whole panel of people looking after them. And the father of Mary...one minute he banishes her to a convent for years on end, and the next minute he is worrying about her future when he is dead. There's talk of wolves, when they have been extinct for about 400 years, and the way Sebastian disperses his brothers and then buys into the army make absolutely no sense. Wouldn't he keep them all together? Why on earth would he put his little brother in a poor house where people used to dread going because like as not, they'd never come out. And why...oh why...did they make a ridiculous pact to meet again in 10 years?! There's Sebastian feeling all guilty because he sold his twin brother into the navy and totally abandoned his baby brother into a poor house...being all upset because terrible things had happened to them..come on...what did he think was going to happen??!!

Anyway...as you can clearly see...I didn't like this book at all and as much as it saddens me to say so, I am about to cross Heath of my "to read" list. What I will do is go back to her older books (most of which I have on my keepers shelf) and reminisce about the good old days when authors actually put some thought into their writing.