A Novel with Thoughts and Ponderings

SILK IS FOR SEDUCTION

Author: Loretta Chase ISBN: 9780061632686 8/2011 HISTORICAL Publisher: AVON
Time Period: 1835 Paris

Silk is for Seduction by Loretta Chase
From the Design Book of Marcelline Noirot:
The allure of the perfect gown should be twofold:
ladies would die to wear it . . .
and gentlemen would kill to remove it!

Brilliant and ambitious dressmaker Marcelline Noirot is London's rising star. And who better to benefit from her talent than the worst-dressed lady in the ton, the Duke of Clevedon's intended bride? Winning the future duchess's patronage means prestige and fortune for Marcelline and her sisters. To get to the lady, though, Marcelline must win over Clevedon, whose standards are as high as his morals are . . . not.

The prize seems well worth the risk—but this time Marcelline's met her match. Clevedon can design a seduction as irresistible as her dresses; and what begins as a flicker of desire between two of the most passionately stubborn charmers in London soon ignites into a delicious inferno . . . and a blazing scandal.

And now both their futures hang by an exquisite thread of silk . . .

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS: Top Pick

Not halfway through this book, I looked up and announced to the world that this was the best book I’d read all year. I don’t know how she does it so well, but Loretta Chase has managed to craft another captivating tale that I did not want to put down.

Marcelline is one of the Dreadful Delucey’s, a distant cousin of Olivia and Bathsheba (of LAST NIGHT'S SCANDAL and LORD PERFECT fame, respectively), and as such, she knows how to bend the rules to get what she wants. What she wants is to be known as the best dressmaker in the world, and she’s decided that the way to achieve this is to become modiste to the most fashionable lady of the ton, Lady Clevedon, wife to the Duke of Clevedon. The first wrinkle in her plan is that Lady Clevedon isn’t married to the Duke yet—who’s too busy sowing his wild oats in Paris. Marcelline decides she must go to Paris to convince him to return home to his betrothed. Except Clevedon finds her even more enthralling than his intended, whom he’s known all his life. The second wrinkle in her plan is that she finds him enthralling as well.

Just recapping the plot makes me want to go back and reread this—that’s how much I enjoyed SILK IS FOR SEDUCTION. When I realized that Clevedon was already engaged and had a perfectly lovely fiancé waiting at home for him while he went gallivanting across Paris, I wasn’t sure if I would like this story. I don’t like cheaters or near cheaters. However, I should have known better than to worry, and without giving away any details, Clevedon doesn’t cheat.

In case it’s not already abundantly clear, I thoroughly enjoyed SILK IS FOR SEDUCTION, from beginning to end, and I can’t wait for the next book in the Dressmaker's series to come out, as I equally enjoyed Marcelline's sisters as well.

Melissa Stratford

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