To Taste Temptation [Mass Market Paperback]

American, Samuel Hartley, is haunted by his past and the comrades he lost in battle. He is convinced there was a traitor amongst them, and he leaves his well-to-do lifestyle in Boston to come to London in search of answers.

Moving next to Lady Emeline Gordon has multiple purposes. Samuel needs her to chaperone and coach his young sister, Rebecca, into polite London Society. Emeline is also the sister of one of the fallen soldiers and is very pleasing to Samuel's eye. But American wealth and success mean little when stacked up against London titles and rules of society.

Having loved Ms. Hoyt's/Ms. Harper's previous works, I was a little disappointed with this effort. The premise was good, the sex steamy, the side characters intriguing, and the hero delectable. The problem was I couldn't stand the heroine; she was the b-word personified. She is snotty, snobby, cold, and just plain irritable. I kept hoping Ms. Hoyt would write in the discovery of Midol at some point and give this heroine a much needed dose! All the elements of a good story were there, but this annoying character made it hard to really fully enjoy the tale thoroughly. Three quarters of the way into the book she finally starts melting the snow queen and I liked how Emeline warmed up, but at that point it was a little too late.

That being said, it wasn't a complete loss, just not one of her better efforts. Like her previous historical's I really liked the mini fairy tale she gives us at the beginning of each chapter. I am also hoping to read more about the side characters she introduced us to, Rebecca, O'Hare, Vale and Melisande. I didn't love this book, but I liked it and I am hoping it was just a slow start to what will be a fantastic series.

Cherise Everhard, May 2008

TO TASTE TEMPTATION is a more conventional romance novel from Elizabeth Hoyt than any installment in the Prince series, but it still wins with it's compelling, fully rounded characters and beautiful style.

Samuel Hartley is literally and metaphorically a hunter: patient, clever, and relentless. He plays a cat and mouse game with the heroine, Emeline Gordon - he enjoys the chase and her resistance only eggs him on further. This is a metaphor that Hoyt draws upon repeatedly - Samuel is always the cat, and Emeline is always the mouse.

Emeline has gotten a lot of flack in the reviews, and I think that's a shame. She is a classic ice queen character - correct and withdrawn to the point of being frosty. But Hoyt makes sure that we understand how Emeline became the person that she is: she's an aristocrat, and one by one all the men who were to shoulder the burden of managing her life - her brother, her husband, and then her father - died. Emotionally bereft and totally unprepared, it fell to Emeline to manage the family finances, raise her young son, and take care of her elderly aunt. She rises to the challenge, in a large part thanks to her increasingly rigid self-control.

I thought it was very clear that Emeline felt like she was walking a tightrope, with a horrible abyss yawning beneath her. No wonder Samuel makes her panic, snap, and flee. He unbalances her, sends her wobbling on that tightrope, and Emeline is terrified. So she lashes out at him, like a mouse trapped by the claws of a cat would try to bite.

Emeline is not particularly nice to Samuel - but then, Samuel is not particularly nice to her, either. He hunts her down like a fox in a hole. It's all very primitive and sexy, but meanwhile we see enough of Samuel's soft and caring side, and enough of Emeline's strong and vibrant nature, to know they will work as a couple once the predator has captured its prey.

I really can't wait to read whatever Hoyt comes up with next, I'm excited to have discovered her.

Lady Emeline Gordon is as prim and proper as ladies come. A widow, she teaches wealthy girls the rules of etiquette and propriety in London. She is also known as a successful hostess and a good mother to her son Daniel. Emeline's life is going along splendidly when an American soldier charges into her life and upsets the delicate balance to which she's become accustomed.

Samuel Hartley is a wealthy American and a former soldier who owns his own business. He comes back to England after a six-year absence for business and revenge. He believes that the soldiers in his regiment were betrayed and he's determined to find the culprit. Along the way, he enlists the help of Emeline as a chaperone for his younger sister, but in reality his desire to become closer to Emeline is because her brother was one of the soldiers who died all those years ago.

To Taste Temptation is the first book in a new series by Elizabeth Hoyt, the talented author of the Prince series of historical romances (The Raven Prince, The Leopard Prince, and The Serpent Prince). I have to say that I loved the Prince series, and for that reason Hoyt is pretty much an auto-buy for me right now. Well, after this story, I'm in danger of revoking that patronage.

One of the things I loved about that first series of books was the characterization. These were heroes and heroines with depth, intellect, and pasts--all of which you got to know over the course of the book. I didn't feel that way this time. Samuel was a man bent on revenge, which I completely understood. Someone killed his comrades, and put his own life at risk, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. But other than that I didn't really feel like I knew Samuel. I didn't know what drove him to be such a good businessman, how he felt about his younger sister being raised apart from him, why he'd been single for so long. Hoyt did a good job of illustrating just how and when Samuel fell in love with Emeline, but I didn't feel like I got a good enough grasp of the character himself. As for Emeline, she was the perfect lady--a type of heroine of which I'm infinitely fond. But the point at which I realized why she had to be so came too little too late because I'd already developed a sense of indifference toward her. I also didn't really feel that she was ever falling for Samuel. I thought she enjoyed his company well enough, but she seemed disparaging and haughty toward him for so long that it was hard for me to imagine her breaking down these walls so quickly.

To Taste Temptation was well written, but not as entertaining or engaging as I'd hoped. I didn't love it, and I'm not really even sure if I liked it all that much. In fact, the only reason it gets 3 stars from me right now is because I am utterly indifferent and can't really bring myself to give one of my favorite authors a 2-star review. I'll just say that if this is your first Hoyt, don't judge the rest by its standards. Read The Raven Prince, which is wonderful, suspenseful, entertaining, and dazzlingly well-written considering that it was a debut novel. As for me, I'll just look forward to the next book in this series and hope it hits a higher note.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 34 reviews  3.6 out of 5 stars