Customer Reviews

Tempting

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

In 1892 England, Princess Christina Gray is angry with her spouse Prince Hans of the Germanic principality of Selisia for his blatant love affair. When visiting American Max Falconer, Lord Vale asks Christina to go horseback riding, she accepts, mostly out of anger with her philandering husband.

However, to her shock, Max and Christine make love. They soon disappear from sight by hiding at his English estate for two weeks of sex and love. When they finally return to London, an outraged Hans threatens Christine using their two boys as a blackmailing weapon to make her tow the mark. Hans and Christine return to Selisia with Max, in love with her, following them. Max worries about her safety even as he knows that she will never leave Hans without her two beloved children.

Multiple award winner and best selling author Susan Johnson shows why many readers consider her the "queen of erotic romance" with TEMPTING, a novel that requires asbestos gloves. The story line is loaded with two types of action: sexual and adventurous. Though Hans appears more like a nineteenth century villainous Grinch, Christina is a wonderful caring heroine and Max cuts quite the figure as a scrumptious hunk. The excessive use of profanity will turn off some readers, but those fans of the triple XXX ultra torrid tale will gain much pleasure (in a wide sense) from Ms. Johnson's latest treasure.

Harriet Klausner

Worry no more for SJ can still deliver as always. If you're a SJ fan, Tempting is a must. I have read every single one of her books and Tempting is now my favorite. My favorite books before Tempting were Brazen and Legendary Lover and since Tempting reminds me of both, SJ could not have failed to please me.

This is a love story with graphic sex in the erotica style. But unlike the erotica that is out there now, there is nothing dark, disgusting or sick to poison this lovely euphoric dream that SJ is so skilled at creating. Sure the husband is a bad guy but he gets his due.

This is a book for adults and has adult themes and situations all through out the book. Therefore, if reading a few F words here and there is going to ruin it for you, then maybe this book isn't for you. Try her book Golden Paradise. It's a little milder since it is a Harlequin book. But you still get all the good steamy toe curling intimate scenes and passionate love. * SIGH * Yeah, you'll be sighing after Max too after you read Tempting. It's a definite keeper.

Using a nineteenth century backdrop, Susan Johnson's latest erotic effort pairs an unhappily married princess with a wealthy American bachelor. Tempting is, without a doubt, one of her best works to date.

English-born Christina Grey, the beautiful Princess of Zeiss, was married off at seventeen to a German prince. At such a tender age she had thought her husband dashing and charming, unaware of what a monster -- not to mention adulterer -- he would turn out to be. Nevertheless, Christina learns to endure Hans over the years, taking solace in being a mother to their two sons. Unlike her philandering royal husband, she doesn't care very much for sex and therefore has no desire to take a lover. Until, that is, she meets Max.

English born and American bred Max Falconer, the new Marquis of Vale, is looking for a bit of fun at the country party he is attending. Never married and not particularly inclined to take himself off the bachelor market, he is shaken by the depth of his feelings concerning Christina. When Max had befriended the beautiful, lonely princess he hadn't anticipated falling in love with her. But now that he has he will stop at nothing to make her belong to him.

Susan Johnson fans are accustomed to her philandering-until-he-meets-the-heroine heroes. In her past few books they have also become accustomed to male protagonists that don't stray at all once they fall for the females in question. None of her fans, however, are accustomed to a hero like Max. This is a man so besotted with his heroine that he doesn't even think about straying, let alone actually do it. Max's love for Christina borders on the obsessive...a fact some readers might find unnerving but I found endearing.

Another strong attribute for Tempting lies in the friendship and mutual respect that the protagonists feel for each other. It is common in erotic literature to find a bonding of the flesh (else it wouldn't be erotic!), but not necessarily a bonding of the hearts. As the reader you have no doubts that Max and Christina are in love, and better yet, you've been given enough depth into their characters to understand why.

What brings this book into four heart range for me, however, is the well developed and at times quite suspenseful plot. Christina is not a free woman. Max wants to be with her forever. In order to come together and stay that way the heroine must go through some pretty heady stuff. I found that once I reached the last half of the book I simply couldn't put it down.

The only complaint I have with the novel as a whole is that during the book's first half the sex scenes began to drag a bit. If one is going to read back to back lovemaking escapades it helps the pacing tremendously if there is a tad bit more variety than what Tempting offers. Conversely, however, I didn't find this to be the case later on as Johnson delves into everything from light bondage to the we-could-be-caught-at-any-moment-so-let's-make-this-count scenario.

Overall, Tempting is a great erotic read. Don't miss this one!

I enjoyed reading this one. Interesting story; the protagonists were credible and the antagonist an incredible son of a biscuit. That's the nice thing about Johnson, she creates characters that one could either empathize with or despise. The downside of the story was that too much time was spent in bed; yeah, yeah, lots of action, but the narrative remained pretty much static then, unless one wants to say that those scenes were the rationale for the male protagonists desperate efforts on behalf of the female. Whatever happened to love being enough <g>?

As much as I enjoy Susan Johnson's novels, I really regret that she has so much infused her writings with the crudity that is the hallmark of Thea Devine and Beatrice Small. Susan, you're a far better writer than either of those! C'mon, girl, your books were good reading long before you had men talking to women as though they were trash; shucks, that's why I wrote you one year (about almost 10 years ago) when I was about to travel and wanted to give a friend my copy of Silver Flame -- and you were kind enough to call me and send me an autographed one, which I paid for after I returned from my travels. No need to be needlessly crude.

Aficionados of Susan Johnson's erotic novels will not be disappointed with her latest offering TEMPTING. Her style is bold ,prurient yet poignantly so when she narrates the struggle of Princess Christina of Zeiss with a loveless marriage to the Prince Hans in Silesia. She decides to gamble when she could no longer endure her husband's infidelity. It is where the gorgeous Max Falconer, Marquis of Vale sweeps in and introduce her to a passion of a lifetime.

Billed as an erotic novel, TEMPTING shows Susan Johnson at her best after BRAZEN - the intimacy, the sensuality edged in the dialogue and foreplay of Max and Christina sizzles and Ms. Johnson narrates with an undertone of injustice to Christina that makes us feel for her emotional imprisonment and the triumph over her decision to escape propriety and chance upon love with Max. Overwrought with difficulties and the concern for her children, the love between Christina and Max is tested and eventually strengthens.

TEMPTING, with the lyrical prose and incendiary sex scenes, is a simple tale of choice between desire and obligations. Written with heart and empathy, TEMPTING is lusciously inviting and it is achingly so - especially for those tempting hearts.

I read the reviews but certainly do not base what I read here on whether I will buy or enjoy a book. This is a great example of a book that I found much better than its reviews. I found this couple falling in love or initially lust so quickly and very believable. And lets face it when you buy a Johnson book you are looking for a little heate in the writing and this book certainly delievered on that score. Max and Christina really seemed to find a connection quickly and for me it was exciting and I enjoyed the read!! I would say give this book a chance if you are a Susan Johnson lover!!

The beginning of this book was all about graphic and lusty sex, and there was no substance to the story at all. I found Christina's indecisive skittishness to be teasingly annoying, and Max's promiscuity to be vulgar. It's not very believable that such a man who can't keep his zipper up would suddenly become a one-woman man after meeting Christina. The graphic language was a bit crude for my tastes.

There's only so much erotica I could take before it got tedious and boring, so I nearly put the book down midstream. I'm glad I stuck with it because around page 150, the story picks up a considerable amount of depth. Christina and her cruel husband Hans return to Germany to celebrate Christmas with their sons and his very controlling family. Max is fiercely determined to help her escape this brutal marriage. When their affair is discovered, Hans attempts to severley punish her, and elements of suspense and adventure are introduced, redeeming the story.

I like great plots, great characters and great love scenes, but this book lacked all three. The love scenes were just plain base, out of the gutter type scenes. And not once did I feel as if I knew anything about Christina other than her desire to feel wicked with Max, so it just didn't fly when "her people" raved about her. What were her good deeds? And Max was quite the womanizer but I do believe it was plausible for him to fall in love and remain faithful. True love can happen to anyone.

This one just didn't have what it takes for me.... I didn't get the feeling of romance, & with a couple light examples of erotica, I didn't find that either. It was just sex.... sex... and more sex. Christina basically decided to get back at her husband for his infidelity & grabbed the first man available (Max), they had sex immediately & 4 or 5 more times in a row, decided they were in love..... & it went on from there. Now don't get me wrong - I do enjoy a hot romance & I also enjoy erotica; I just found extremely little of either in this book.... just lots & lots of sex. I had a problem with a couple of the decisions Christina & Max made also.... I can't really say without spoiling the story... just suffice to say - the decisions were totally unacceptable for that era.... & if Christina's husband was the jerk he was portrayed to be, he'd have really hurt her over it. Also, the way it worked out for them in the end was just way to convenient to be believed. I gave it 2 stars because I have read worse - I just expected more out of SJ.

(...) Kensington's BRAVA line -- of which this is one (you can tell because her regular books are in (...) mass market format, not the more expensive trade paperback like this one) -- was created specifically for EROTIC romance. If this book lacks the tenderness and intimacy of some of her other books, this is why. The BRAVA books are supposed to find a happy medium between true women's erotica (multiple partners) like the BLACK LACE series of British books, and regular romances where only one partner is allowed.

If you don't want to read erotica from Susan Johnson (...) don't read BRAVA. But if you like (...)hot and don't mind sacrificing some of the emotional content to get the punchier love scenes, then you'll like this.