Customer Reviews

To Tempt A Gentleman (Zebra Regency Romance)

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

 

 

Normally, I consider romance novels a guilty pleasure. However, this particular romance has all of the pleasure without any of the guilt. How refreshing! The story begins with Catriona being willed to neighbor Sir Michael Stewart after the distant cousin she has been taking care of passses away. Sir Michael Stewart is a widower and confirmed bachelor with two grown daughters. He eschews fashionable society and instead enjoys his farm and solitude until Catriona's arrival disturbs his peace. Catriona establishes herself as his housekeeper and is intent on keeping her promise to her late cousin. She won't leave Sir Michael's until she has made his house respectable again and helped him find a wife. To Tempt a Gentleman is filled with fast-paced, witty, acerbic dialogue. About half-way into the book the plot really begins to thicken as we discover Catriona's history and full identity. The plot may be a little bit too contrived at times, but the dialogue more than makes up for the occasional choppiness in the plot. Also, I appreciate that the author manages to convey sexual tension and chemistry without compromising moral integrity. This novel is simply a pleasure.

I was surprised to read the other good reviews after reading this book. I would never consider this good writing. The whole story is ridiculous. At the beginning of the book Sir Michael and Catriona are constantly fighting and getting on one's nerves but in one page they go from annoyed to stating that they were only acting annoyed because they were both madly in love with each other. I know that this is common in romances but most romances are able to pull it off with some aplomb. Usually characters have time to warm to each other. The change was too quick in this book. One minute she's annoying and he only wants her out of his life forever and the next minute she is the woman who has secretly been in love with for years.

The author also seemed to not be able to decide how old Sir Michael actually was. The book states that he is not yet 40 years old but he has two grown daughters who have been married for years and everyone is constantly referring to him as a old or part of the older generation and "of an age". A man in his 30's is hardly old. Then he constantly tells Catriona that he is old enough to be her father. The problem with this is that the book also clearly states that he is 10 years older then her. She argues that a 10 year age difference is hardly old enough to be her father. DUH! It was absurd that the only thing that he kept bringing up to her was that he was old enough to be her father when he is only 10 years older then her. This continues until almost the last page of the book.

The other absurd part of the book was her family's reaction to her meeting an old love and their assumption that she still wants to be with the man, which she does nothing to dissuade them of this notion. Catriona is bossy and never fears speaking her mind but this time she doesn't tell her father that she doesn't want to marry her old interest and wants to marry Sir Michael. She manages to get her father and family to go all the way to Scotland without telling them who she wants to marry. They assume that its the old interest and are very vocal about their assumptions. She says NOTHING which of course leads to problems.

Overall this book makes me not want to try any other Kate Huntington novels.

Clever plot, with stimulating dialogue makes this a book I would re-read.Not your usual characters who retain your interest in what happens to them, throughout the book.

This is a great story! The characters are wonderful, and I absolutely loved Sir Michael and Catriona. The dialogue is very funny and I was curious to see what would happen as the story progressed. Very clever, very witty dialogue, interesting descriptive passages, and just a whole lot of fun! There are a lot of funny comments in this narrative; if you like words and a funny turn of phrase or description, you'll enjoy this story.

I love this author! She is so clever in her dialogue between her characters. I loved the whole story line and thoroughly enjoyed Sir Michael and Catriona. It was another one of Huntington's that I couldn't put down! I definately recommend this book.