Customer Reviews

Something Sinful (The Griffin Family)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is my first Enoch book. Overall its pretty good. The characters are likeable and the story line is interesting. What it lacks are sensual love scenes and major drama. Yes, there are some love scenes, but they are not even remotely close to sizzling senuality of a Kleypas or Jeffries book. The drama is a bit too tame, more comical than anything else, not enough tension. The real redeeming quality is the family dynamics of the Griffins. They are an interesting bunch and play a major role in the book.

Basically the book is a good read, but not memorable. This one won't stick in your head long after you've read it. Pick this one up at the library instead of buying.

It's been a while since I found authors I could buy just on name alone and a long history of good stories worth the time and $$$ spent. This author with a charming, clever regenchy-inspired yarn is now at that point. The story combines the history of English living in India and working for the famed East India Company with an arrogant, successful English noble family doing the season in London. The two players--pleasantly and fairly equally matched --for the time period-- meet and conduct a romance over precious silks, the ability to negotiate a solid business transaction all laid over with international intrigue and assassins. The sensuality is fairly light, although a frank look at the idea of a double-standard of bedroom behavior for men and women is adressed. A fine read to enjoy while relaxing and renewing oneself for the next task--where did all those servants go?

Something Sinful by Suzanne Enoch I think was my favorite so far. Shay finds himself making business deals with a chit aka Lady Sarala Charlisle. This book has a nice mix of romance, danger and a strong women. I can't wait for the next Griffin story! Check out The Griffin Family series: (1) Sin and Sensibility ,(2) An Invitation to Sin and(3) Something Sinful. If you enjoy this genre I would also check out The Lady Lies The Lady Killer and The Lady's Code by Samantha Saxon

I say this is different because the two characters not only spar in love but also in business. It was very unusual back then for women to have any business sense let alone be a worthy opponent and Sarala was for Shay. Raised in India Sarala was also more exotic and not conventional in many ways and I think that was the appeal for Shay. They were well matched. One of the more interesting aspects of the story was the very complicated ending to the "family predicament" Truly I had no idea how this was all going to be resolved and it was very well done. It was great to see Shay's whole family rally around both he and Sarala with support. This book was a great compliment to the series.

When Charlemagne "Shay" Griffin first sets eyes on Lady Sarala Carlisle he thinks she is the perfect lady--a great deal of fun to look at and amuse oneself with...in other words she will be the perfect next distraction. Since he will never marry and given the fact that his family seems to be having a love affair with marital bliss...this rogue and bachelor has no idea what he's about to get himself involved with. Sarala is beautiful and nicely formed. She is also of a brilliant mind and when combined with her natural instincts...and when she manages to beat Shay to the punch so to speak on a business deal...all bets are off and the winner will take all.

Ms. Enoch continues on with her charming Griffin Family series started with "Sin and Sensibility" and "Invitation to Sin" with Shay finally facing the music. This read is pleasant with a charming set of characters. Sarala is not your average Regency Miss which is a refreshing change as far as characters go. Despite the fact that Shay talks an impressive bluff...the reader will enjoy how this might bachelor falls. A long time fan of Ms. Enoch I still can't help but notice this story fell a little flat in areas. Shay and Sarala are a finally matched pair of protagonists and their story is not totally conventional which was why it was fun. I look forward to her next historical. Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

The first time Lord Charlemagne "Shay" Griffin saw her glide across the ballroom he thought he would die from the excess palpitations of his heart. Based on her voluptuous body, he assumes she will be all glitter and no substance, the way he likes his women.

After meeting Lady Sarala Carlisle, he tries to impress her with his business acumen and a deal he is about to make involving silks. Not long afterward to his shock, he realizes how intelligent she is when she buys the silk before he can. Shay now knows Sarala hides her brains behind her dazzling beauty. Still he applauds her for beating him at his game; but also vows to seduce her until she and the silks are his. Neither anticipated the danger the ownership of the silks prove to be as Chinese warriors claim the items are sacred.

The sequel to the amusing An Invitation to Sin is another rousing Regency romance starring an intelligent opportunistic female and another Griffin meeting his better. The story line is a typical gender battle as the hero tries every seductive trick in the book and a few not listed to obtain the silk that the lady bought thanks to his bragging and misunderstanding the intelligence of a female. Fans will appreciate these loving combatants who together as a team show why England became the first in world trade in the nineteenth century. This is a delightful reading experience.

Harriet Klausner

Once again Suzanne Enouch dazzles!

The Griffin Family strikes again! Sarala is a terrific character -- independent and strong. And Shay is a charming rake -- like all of Enoch's heros, he is sexy and roguish. The story is fast and exciting and never falters.

This is one not to be missed!

If you need a good review of a regency historical romance check out Harriet K, she hits the nail on the head most times. Suzanne Enoch is a extemely good author. I buy all and I do mean all her historical romances. I hesitate to write reviews here because as I've said before I'd hate for someone to miss a book because of some comment I might have mistakenly typed...But since I went looking at some of the reviews of books I just loved I've got to type a word or two...I had a great time reading about this family, each book brought out more delightful information about each brother and their true love. Personally I don't want to read about some other reader's idea of the author's words. I want to enjoy a good book. I want to get lost in the story. I want to disappear into the past. I want to fall in love with the hero and the heroine. And maybe their brother or sister or second cousin once removed. Suzanne, Please keep up the good work. I'm looking for you on a shelve, in a book list, library and any online bookstore.May the force....Continue.

The abysmally congested realm of historical romance repackages and refurbishes so many of the hackneyed stories and trite hero characterizations, you really begin to appreciate authors like Madeline Hunter, Elizabeth Hoyt and Laura Kinsale. Most historical-romance heroes just blur together and the interaction between the hero and heroine constitutes a new version of the same'ole package we've seen umpteen times before. The hero makes all the moves sensually, ably servicing the heroine, while enduring her verbal onslaught at his expense otherwise. A "quick-witted" (romance translation = imprecating, insulting towards the hero) near-virgin heroine is nothing new. That way, the heroine wins both games: the hero conveniently laughs and enjoys the heroine's insults getting her way as a show of "wit," and has her passion adequately serviced by the experienced hero in the love scenes. It's always the arrogant hero that needs to be taught a lesson. SOMETHING SINFUL offers absolutely nothing new from all these true and tried historical-romance formulas.

The prose is horrible, the settings are absent, characters from past novels are too much in evidence, a doormat hero Shay is the romance genre's delight, the "romance" between the lead pair overwhelmingly one-sided, the love scenes (two, after 270 pages) are awful, the ending contrives, and the overall plotting/pacing is terribly dull. Bad? You bet.

SOMETHING SINFUL is anything but, and describes a tamely mundane affair. Aside from the plot with the silks which drags and lasts the entire book, we have an interminable succession of soirees, balls, recitals, luncheons, and plays. Nothing happens, and I mean nothing. The plot dealing with the silks congeals and chokes in the midst of a barrage of ton events. The plot dealing with the "romance" stifles at kisses for over 270 pages! Seriously, the book is just bad in most ways -- plotting, pacing, prose, settings, characterizations, and fun factor. I don't read to wait over 300 pages for something to happen! Not to mention the blatant one-sided giving and showering in the "romance" from the hero to the heroine. You've heard of the doormat heroine, right? Well Suzanne Enoch crafts the quintessential doormat hero in chick-lit, there's no equal ground here. I wanted Shay to find someone who would appreciate him more, which would have been just about anyone else. I'd love to see Sarala cheating him on after they marry so he'd have grounds for divorce.

My first Suzanne Enoch book, and right of the bat, the book flounders horribly. I tend tune out a novel when characters from prior novels (Zachary, Eleanor in this case) or characters for future novels (the Duke, Sebastian) overshadow this story and its characters. Now I haven't read other Enoch books and I'm just guessing here. SOMETHING SINFUL's ending represents the 3rd or 4th novel I've read which has its protagonist(s) concoct a peaceful resolution with the villain only to have the villain return later to terrorize some more. Why do romance novelists persist with this idiotic plot device? Just makes the protagonists look dumber than they already are. And the end is convoluted, the harder the book tries to make it look fun, the more it seems contrived and convoluted.

Alas, the hero's pathetically sensual response to the heroine's insulting imprecations isn't anything new. It is, in fact, romance's way to keep the heroine on top -- in every that matters. What's funny is our heroine Sarala bends over backwards at everything her mother forces upon her: a new English name (Sarah), English gowns, etc. Yet, she won't accept Shay's offer for the silks. Shay supports her preferred birth name Sarala in front of Sarala's mother but this kind gesture isn't even in the least reciprocated as Sarala continues her barrage of imprecations and cold demeanor with Shay. Of course, Shay enjoys bearing the brunt of her superior, snide attitude. All the Griffin men in SOMETHING SINFUL make self-deprecating jokes for their wives' delight. Teasing the women - about anything - is just taboo. Suzanne Enoch's heroines must be put on a pedestal while the men ground to dirt, right?

Sarala in fact lives for showing up Shay. Talking with her father once, Sarala dreams of pilfering Shay dry of all his wealth ("taking every guinea he owns"). Like the disingenuous way she made off with the silks in the beginning? To what end? Why do you live for debasing him, don't you want him to do well? At the end, she wants him to pine and grovel before she accepts marriage. Despite the fact that he's already groveled and pined endlessly by this point. But alas, she wants to hear the word "love," and it's a competition to make him debased first. He's already bestowed compassion, gifts, tenderness and caring on her, and she wants him groveling more. Yep, termagant of a heroine and a doormat hero here. Then again, I guess that's chick-lit at its best.

I thought love was more about giving, so why is it ok for the heroine to take-and-take at every turn? Shay and his family give everything to Sarala while Sarala continues to insult Shay and dream of impoverishing him. I swear, Sarala doesn't deserve Shay or any Griffin generosity for that matter. Because at this point, she's just being a royal B and of course the chick-lit that this is, Enoch lets her get away with it.

I also thought Sarala's agreement to sell the silks to Shay after she learned they were stolen property was horribly underhanded. She profits off Shay, and since his family has the money, and since her family needs funds, she really doesn't have any qualms about it. When Sarala and Shay are "trapped" to marry, Sarala frets she doesn't want him to be trapped into marriage. She thinks (and I quote): "she and [Shay] both preferred to deal honestly." What a bunch of crap, she prevaricates from the get-go with Shay posing as an ignorant innocent to extract information from Shay. Then, Sarala actually sells silks to Shay for 4 thousand; silks she knows are stolen, and silks she knows Shay will have to return to the Chinese emperor without any sort of sale. She doesn't think about that? And she's talking about dealing honorably?! If Sarala were serious about honor, she would reveal her "secret" from her past to Shay (immediately) when she learns of his intent to follow through on the marriage instead of "showing" him much later. A secret about her lack of virginity which becomes obvious from its first abstract reference. At another ball, Sarala baits Shay into showering her with more compliments by telling him there's something wrong with her and that she didn't grow up English (even though Shay just finished voicing his admiration of her and lauding her uniqueness). If shere were honest about telling him the truth about her lack of virginity, why the duplicitous approach to garner more praise and then later just seducing him? Just so you can hear more tender drivel about you? Even that's all he's done the whole novel? What a bunch of hypocritical crock. Love? There's no giving from her end, it's all take-take-take.

Let's examine how badly one-sided this is, shall we? (the giving entirely from hero to heroine)

* Shay compliments her shrewd business perspicacity and more than once tells her he admires her. In return for his admiration and respect, Shay meekly accepts her insults.
* Shay bestows Sarala with ruby necklace worth a lot more than the silks she deviously heisted.
* Shay's brother Zachary rents some land from Sarala's father which helps her family postpone creditors for weeks
* Shay's prestigious family (the popular "in" crowd) invites Sarala and her family to join them at every ton event. In essence, elevating Sarala's family's status tremendously and helping their image amongst the peerage. Sarala goes from an empty dance card to having all eyes on her at every event simply by association with the Griffins.
* Shay pays Sarala and her family four thousand for stolen silks, a fact Sarala is aware of and has no qualms about collecting.
* Shay makes it a point to call his heroine her preferred name Sarala in front of her mother instead of Sarah.
* Shay defends Sarala from Melbrouke's most remote denigration... constantly.
* Shay gives Sarala a Roman coin, an antique coin from a time period Sarala cherishes.
* Shay invites Sarala to share her past in India even though he has no prior interest for the region. He asks simply because he genuinely wants to know about her. Sure, Sarala asks Shay about antiques and Roman history, but that's because she already harbors a prior interest in such things. Sarala simply doesn't return Shay's genuine interest.
* Shay remembers everything about Sarala.
* Shay's thoughts and words shower Sarala with tender words of love and caring about how unique she is, how he enjoys her "wit" (basically insults and imprecations), how much he loves her business sense, how he hopes she'll be fond of him as much as he is of her, etc., etc., etc. Shay tells Sarala how much loves her green eyes, brilliant mind, breathtaking smile, unique character. Shay tells his older brother Melbourne how much he loves her peculiar differences, and how all those things make her unique to him (her accent, her tan skin, her childhood in India, her business acuity). Both in his thoughts and words, Shay's pining far overshadows Sarala's. And it's Sarala who demands why he wants to marry her. As though she needs him crawling on hands and knees to beg her to accept. It isn't Shay who hesitates to marry, it's Sarala. I understand her past (lack of virginity), but she's just cold and a B with a capital B.
* Even after all this, it's of course Shay tenderly mouthing I-Love-You first. I haven't seen such of a pathetic, debased display of a doormat hero in quite some time.
* Shay is also an interior re-decorator! He refurnishes his town home's furniture with bright colors the way
* Shay desperately worries about Sarala's security after he discovers the silks could endanger its owner.
* Shay goes down on her their first time servicing her desires because he really want to.
* Shay's family must compensate Sarala's family monetarily for "ruining" her in public even though she wasn't a virgin to begin with. Even though she attempts to stop marriage, she goes along with the monetary compensation.

With "Something Sinful" its author Suzanne Enoch succeeds one more time in bringing to life an excellent historical regency romance with an extremely good plot that includes seduction, intrigue, adventure and off course romance. This tale portraits Shay Griffin, Lord Charlemagne, who tries to seduce Lady Sarala Anne Carlisle, an exotic beauty with a brain that beats him in his own game of flirt and seduction.

An entertaining reading that you will absolutely love especially if you enjoyed two of her previous novels: Sin and Sensibility (2004) and An Invitation to Sin (2005).