Guest Review: ‘Then Comes Seduction’ by Mary Balogh

Then Comes Seduc­tion (2009) by Mary Balogh, the sec­ond entry in this five part series fea­tur­ing “the Huxta­bles.” This guest review was sub­mit­ted by fel­low reader, Senetra.

*****

I read a pre­view of this book at the end of the pre­vi­ous book in the series, and based on it and the plot descrip­tion, I was not too sure of it. I didn’t want another “rake seduces inno­cent miss to prove he is unre­deemable and her good­ness (and vir­gin­ity) turns him into the best of all pos­si­ble hus­bands.” That’s not nec­es­sar­ily a plot I love because the hero is usu­ally a Fake Rake, Duke of Slut, or some com­bi­na­tion of the two.

The real­ity was much bet­ter than I expected. Jasper Fin­ley, Baron Mont­ford, in a bit of drunken piqué on his birth­day, makes a pri­vate wager with some friends. He will seduce and bed a vir­tu­ous woman within two weeks. His tar­get is Kather­ine Huxtable, and the bet is soon on the books.

Over the course of the next few days, Jasper manip­u­lates the sit­u­a­tion so that he and Kather­ine are alone in Vaux­hall Gar­dens, moments away from his win­ning the wager. Con­fus­ing an in-over-her-head Kather­ine, Jasper halts, and explains the wager, later announc­ing to his friends that Kather­ine deliv­ered a blis­ter­ing set-down and sent him on his way. Jasper then leaves town to spare Kather­ine the sight of him, while Kather­ine leaves town to lick her wounds.

Three years later, Kather­ine has returned to Town and encoun­ters Jasper, who is prepar­ing for his sis­ter Charlotte’s come-out while try­ing to fend off his step-cousin (and her co-guardian)’s attempt to marry her for­tune. While attend­ing var­i­ous func­tions, Jasper and Kather­ine develop a flir­ta­tious sort of rela­tion­ship, but Jasper is only inter­ested in bed­ding Kather­ine, and Kather­ine wants to marry, prefer­ably to a man she can love. How­ever, an act of revenge soon sees Jasper and Kather­ine wed and removed to the coun­try, prompt­ing more wagers, rev­e­la­tions, and confrontations.

I liked both Jasper and Kather­ine. Jasper’s father died before he was born, and his mother remar­ried a reli­gious zealot of a man who tried to erase all mem­ory of Jasper’s father from his own house. Jasper grew up estranged from his fam­ily, think­ing of his father as a wastrel and attempt­ing to live down to that rep­u­ta­tion, and eschew­ing all attach­ments, except to his sis­ters. He doesn’t think he can love any­one, but the thought of his and Katherine’s chil­dren being loved and happy brings him to tears.

Kather­ine comes from a lov­ing fam­ily will­ing to make sac­ri­fices for one another, and dreams of mar­ry­ing a man she loves. She still believes in love, but won­ders if it will hap­pen to her. How­ever, she is fas­ci­nated by, and sex­u­ally attracted to, Jasper, and once wed, Kather­ine is deter­mined to knock down the walls he puts up.

Over the course of the past few weeks, I have read six books by Mary Balogh, and I fought sleep so that I could see how it turned out. I am on pins and nee­dles wait­ing for Margaret’s story next month: an earl who left his fiancée at the altar to run off with her mar­ried sister-in-law AND an ille­git­i­mate child? That’s def­i­nitely a Balogh plot. Grade: A

Then Comes Seduc­tion by Mary Balogh is avail­able in ebook at your favorite etailer and the first book in the series is First Comes Mar­riage (2009).

For Fur­ther Reading

• Seduc­ing an Angel (Huxtable Series), Mary Balogh
• REVIEW: Bound By Your Touch by Mered­ith Duran
• At Last Comes Love (Huxtable Series), Mary Balogh
• The Duke of Shad­ows, Mered­ith Duran
• Author Watch: Lisa Valdez Updates Her Website
• REVIEW: The Noto­ri­ous Rake by Mary Balogh
• Ebook Review: Cal­vary Wife by Donna Dalton
• REVIEW: Cas­tle of the Wolf by San­dra Schwab
• REVIEW: As You Desire by Con­nie Brockway
• REVIEW: Strangers In the Night by Rosen­thal, O’Neal, Johnson

Tagged as: Historical Romance, Mary Balogh, The Huxtable series