Then Comes Seduction (Huxtable) by Mary Balogh
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Book Reviews of Then Comes Seduction (Huxtable)
Book Review: Not Bad
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked it! It wasn't as bad as some of the reviewers have said. I'm looking forward to the next installment.Book Review: Contrived and not very gripping
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm not sure about this one. As usual with Mary Balogh it was a well written tale but this time it didn't read as smoothly as usual for me and I'll try and analyze why....
I don't particularly mind that it was not action packed nor was it full of anguish and big misunderstandings. It was a gentle romance and I always love a story about a marriage of convenience that turns into a love match.
What I didn't like: The seduction scene in Vauxhall gardens at the beginning went far too far to be realistic. I found Katherine's constant preaching to the hero about love and the meaning of love irritating. In parts the book was far too wordy and I found myself skimming pages - it could have been edited down without losing too much of the main story and perhaps it would have benefitted and flowed better - it was all a bit laborious. "Dash it" and "By Jove" thought by the hero when he surprises himself by getting all sentimental about her - OK he's denying to himself that he could possibly have finer feelings but the point was stressed too much in my view and those phrases grated. There were too many Mary Balogh clichés - the naked swimming in the lake; the country fete for the locals at the hero's country house (the Plumed Bonnet and others - if it's not a summer fete then it's a Christmas party followed by a ball). In fact there were far too many very obvious similarities and qualities reminiscent of characters and plots from her other books. There was also too much re-capping of the background family story in case anyone hadn't read the previous book which I also found annoying and repetitive and clumsily done.
The love story was sweet but it didn't drag me along with it. There were too many annoyances for me to get very deeply involved. The overall feeling I had was that the writing was too contrived and too self-conscious. I'll still read all the rest of the books in this series but I do hope they get better.
Book Review: First half was entertaining ,but got tedious after a while
Summary: 3 Stars
I am on the opposite side of some of the reviewers when it comes to Jasper. Many here are complaining about the wager being too crude, but to me that's what kept the book interesting for the first half of the book. The wager wasn't too crude at all! The man is a rake! That's what rakes do! They are not saints. They are scoundrels until love redeems them. That is what I wanted to see, and the fact that Jasper made that wager only helped to make his character more believable as a rake. I actually thought that he could have been a lttle more rakish in his behavior. Indeed, that was the only wrong thing he did to prove that he was a rake. *SPOILER* He didn't even go through with it! There were no mistresses involved in this story. You are only told that he is a rake- and actually making that wager and trying to go through with it is the only glimpse you get into his behavior as a rake. He also has the usual smooth wit that a rake always has and he is extremely handsome but those two things does not a rake make.
My problem with the book was this. After the wager was found out by the ton and they both had to suffer the consequences of their actions, the storyline suffered along with them. There was too much talking about the same things over and over again, and not enough action. I had to force myself to finish so that I could move on to my next book, but I still thought it was ok because it kept my interest for a while.
Book Review: Second installment--and very similar-- to the first in a series.
Summary: 3 Stars
First was First Comes Marriage, then Then Comes Seduction, which I've just finished. This series centers on siblings Vanessa, Katherine, Stephen, and Margaret, and each will have her or his own book, apparently. The first two stories are very similar, even to mirror scenes of outdoor lovemaking. They are not badly written and are imitative of Balogh but are very formulaic and don't feel or read like the real Mary Balogh. Writers have a style and language that comes through, almost like a fingerprint, and Mary Balogh's fingerprint doesn't seem to be on "Marriage" or "Seduction." But who can blame a publisher, after the success of Balogh's other series, if they farm out a bestselling author's name to a good imitator(with the author's permission of course). The two books I've read so far are not big disappointments, they just lack something that only Balogh delivers. (I keep comparing what I've just read with Slightly Dangerous, the Duke's story, which was the end of that series, and a very satisfying, well written romance.) I may be wrong and every word of this new series was written by Balogh. But I don't think so.Book Review: Boring
Summary: 3 Stars
This book was so boring. I found myself skipping pages and wishing it would end. I did love Jasper though. He was very hot and cocky. I loved the way he stood up to his aunt and cousin. Katherine was ok. She got on my nerves a lot. I did not like the first or second book, but I want to read the third book because its part of the series. I pray that it is better than the first two.