Review: To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt

Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale, has a problem: he needs to marry and produce an heir to the title. All Jasper wants is to find a lady who will put up with him long enough to wed so he can retreat to his life of debauchery–a life that keeps the haunting memories of his past at bay. Knowing that Jasper is under pressure to marry, Melisande Flemming grasps her fate with both hands and volunteers to wed him. Although Jasper is initially only interested in producing an heir, he soon becomes entranced by his wife–prim and proper by day, wanton by night– and vows to learn her secrets.

Melissande, however, is determined to keep her husband at a distance. She has loved, and lost, before, and will do anything to keep him from learning her terrible weakness: she’s secretly been in love with him for years. But to her chagrin, her husband pursues her, wooing her as if she were a paramour, not his lady wife. As Melissande and Jasper embark on a passionate game of cat and mouse, secrets from the past begin to resurface…. threatening to tear them asunder.

I continue to be blown away by Elizabeth Hoyt. She’s my new Lisa Kleypas. Not that I’ve given up LK. Elizabeth Hoyt just writes the most remarkable characters. I think what I love most about this book is that Jasper is not the most attractive man out there. Neither is Melisande a very attractive woman. Hoyt writes characters that go beyond skin deep. Jasper fully acknowledges that if Melisande wouldn’t have approached him, he never would have noticed her. Somehow that should make him seem shallow, but it doesn’t b/c of how abashed he is over it. It was sort of endearing.

Melisande Fleming is first introduced as Lady Emeline’s best friend in To Taste Temptation. I appreciated her dry wit from the beginning. This is a woman that has been kicked out of society due to scandal ten years ago. What makes that amazing is that she’s stronger for it. Melisande has loved Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale, for years. She’s long since accepted that she will never have a chance with such a man. So when an opportunity arises that she can’t pass up, Melisande jumps on it. Offering Jasper a marriage of convinence after he’s stood up at the alter is the hardest thing Melisande has ever done. Her courage pays off, however, when Jasper agrees to her bizarre proposal.

Melisande intrigues Jasper from the beginning. Though he knows she’s a friend of his former fiance, Jasper has never known a woman bold enough to propose marriage. When she offers a marriage of convinence, Jasper makes sure she understands that he wants an heir so their marriage might not be so convinent after all. As the weeks before the wedding pass, Jasper finds himself more intrigued by his soon-to-be wife and wonders at the secrets he sees in her eyes. He doesn’t dig too deep b/c he has secrets of his own.

This book continues the tale that began in To Taste Temptation. Finding out who the traitor was at Spinner Falls has become something that Jasper is obsessed with. He even goes so far as to risk his marriage to a woman he’s suddenly realized that he can’t live without.

Another thing that makes this book so good is that the mutal love between the two was a gradual thing. While Melisande has loved Jasper from afar, she’s never lived with him. Finding out who he truly is makes Melisande fall in love with him all the more. It also makes her more scared that he’ll find out about her scandalous past. These two were perfect for each other and I couldn’t have been happier at how the story was told and how it ended.

4.5 out of 5.

This book is available from Grand Central Publishing. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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