Seven Secrets of Seduction by Anne Mallory

Miranda Chase is the kind of woman who likes to think of adventure, she saves and plans for it but never gets around actually doing any of the things she desires. Instead, she spends her days working at her uncles book shop, devouring books and writing letters, and watching her best friend Georgette flirt with just about anyone with a pulse.

One otherwise inconspicuous day, Miranda is pulled away from her book by a husky voice asking her about 'sex'. That's the day she meets Mr. Jeffries (who later turns out of be Lord Maxim Downing) and they discuss a recently popular book called Seven Secrets of Seduction. Miranda is a fan of the book not so much for the seduction but for what she reads between lines. Lord Downing is far more cynical about it.

But so begins their flirtation.

I was disappointed in this book. I had heard great reviews and the beginning of the story itself was lovely, but the story began to lose me after the second chapter. One, because it dragged a bit. Two, because it didn't live up to that first chapter.

I really liked Miranda from the get go, but over time I kept wishing she grew a spine. And Maxim didn't turn out to be the charming guy I hoped, he had twisty ideas about love and marriage, and he was using Miranda almost from the start. And I grew tired of him in his many incarnations. Plus, the resolution came too quickly and too easy. I was one of those "What? No grovel?" books.
1/2