Rowena‘s review of Tempted at Midnight (Mayhem in Mayfair, book 3) by Jacquie D’Alessandro
Hero: Mr. Logan Jennsen
Heroine: Lady Emily Stapleford
Grade: 4.5 out of 5
A desperate beauty concocts the perfectly outrageous scheme for success- and not only attract the attention of the Ladies Literary Society of London, but also the last moan she’d ever expected to tempt. Lady Emily Stapleford never dreamed that the burden of saving her family from financial ruin would rest on her lovely, resourceful shoulders. Since she is only willing to marry for love, and not money, Emily pens a story she hopes will bring her fortune–only to have it rejected by every publishing firm. After all, what respectable reader would dare embrace a vampire heroine? Not to be dissuaded, Emily decides to create public interest with a vampire pretense. Overnight, London is abuzz with stories about sightings. With new interest in Emily’s books, she’s guaranteed success-0if it weren’t for the mysterious American Logan Jennsen. He’s onto Emily’s duplicity, and he has every intention of using htis knowledge to his advantage. If only he weren’t falling in love with this unabashedly creative female. And if only he didn’t have a scandalous secret of his own–one that’s putting both their lives in danger.
This is the only book in this series that I’ve read and I quite enjoyed it. I think I’m in the minority but that’s okay, I’m kinda used to that. Nath reviewed this book here and it’s funny because what she didn’t like about the book, I absolutely loved. It totally brings truth to the saying, Different strokes for different folks.
Now I read this book directly after I read Always a Scoundrel by Suzanne Enoch and the similarities between these two stories tripped me out for a bit, but I liked both books for different reasons.
This book is Emily and Logan’s book and I guess their story starts in the previous book and since I didn’t read that book, I might have missed stuff but I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. I felt that JD did a great job of hooking me into a book that comes dead ass last in the series without confusing the snot out of me. She did a good job of making me interested in the other couples in this series without taking the spotlight off of Logan and Emily.
I thought that Emily was a snot but I didn’t hate her for it. I didn’t think she was TSTL or anything. I’ve read worst heroines than Emily in the snobby department and everything else that she went through in this book made me laugh too much to totally not care for her because of the snooty way that she treated Logan in the beginning.
Her whole scheme to save her family from ruin by writing a vampire novel and then going out and drumming up interest in female vampires by DRESSING UP and pretending to be a vampire had me in fits of laughter. I mean, picture it: A woman of the ton, leaving the ballroom in the middle of a ball to don her vampire costume and fangs and then dropping in, making sure she’s spotted and then rushing away to go back and change into her ballgown and then going back into the ballroom without a care in the world and getting all excited when she hears people talking about vampires.
I thought Emily was a great heroine, one who didn’t easily succumb to the pitfalls of her station. She wanted to marry for love instead of duty just like her friends and I admired the way that she went about making sure that she wasn’t cheated out of that chance. I loved seeing her with her family, especially her younger siblings and I loved the way that Logan fit right into her family life.
I really enjoyed this book, I enjoyed getting to know Logan and Emily and I enjoyed watching them interact with each other. It was rocky in the beginning but the longer they spent in each other’s company, the more infatuated they became with each other. I don’t think that the romance between Logan and Emily was rushed or phony at all, I didn’t even feel as if they forced their romance into the story. I enjoyed it quite a bit and thought it was nicely done. Their love for each other was quite believable to me.
This book was a sweet romance that I will definitely reread again someday. I enjoyed all of the characters (those book club ladies rock!) and their husband and I enjoyed the love that blossomed between Logan and Emily. They were enjoyable characters and I’m super glad that I read this book.
I don’t think anything is wrong with this book other than Logan’s lame secret but aside from that, this book was great. I think if you’re interested in reading this, go ahead and try it out…you just might surprise yourself and end up really liking it. I did.
This book is available from Berkley Sensation. You can buy it here or here in e-format.