MORE THAN SEDUCTION

Author: Cheryl Holt ISBN: 0312992831 9/2004 HISTORICAL Publisher: ST. MARTIN'S PRESS
Time Period: Regency - 1813

Mrs. Anne Smythe's Healing Spa and Bathing Emporium is a haven for fashionable women who believe the waters have aphrodisiac properties. Yet the prim proprietress never thinks of testing that theory-until grievously injured Captain Stephen Chamberlin is deposited on her doorstep. Every minute the war hero spends under her roof courts scandal. It isn't long before she discovers that having such a man at her mercy arouses her in ways she never thought possible as their "therapeutic" sessions in the hot springs have become steamy trysts Anne wishes would never end... Stephen thought he had reached his lowest point when the war rendered him an invalid. He's proven wrong when his sister and best friend leave him in the care of the tantalizing Mrs. Anne Smythe. Yet as the healing waters work their magic, so does the widow Smythe. Beneath her unflappable exterior lies an alluring woman: warm, witty, and refreshingly open to sensual experimentation. But when mutual pleasure turns to forbidden love, can two people outwit the forces that would see them torn apart?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Why read about one couple, when you can enjoy three love stories intertwined with one another in a single read? That must be what Cheryl Holt was thinking with her newest offering, MORE THAN SEDUCTION. Though it's centered around the main couple, Stephen and Anne, their friends and Stephen's sibling have their own tales of love to follow.

Only a superb story teller can pull off all of this in a book without making it seem like a jumble: A war hero injured beyond repair until he encounters a determined widowed heroine and her healing waters. A sister that secretly pines for a man below her station despite her disasterous first marriage. A fanatical "protector of the law" with his own jail cell in his back yard, just waiting for his own personal justice. Heck, there is even a bit of a lesbian affair thrown in!

There is truly something for everyone in this book. I like it simply because there is so much going on that it feels real. And, because its sexy, humorous, a tad raunchy, and even a bit gory towards the end. All the ingredients needed for a good read!

Shannon Johnson