Book Review: Lord of Temptation by Lorraine Heath

At First Sight: Lord Tristan Easton has spent his life at sea, ever since he was 14 years old and was forced to flee his childhood home and separate from his siblings, Tristan became Crimson Jack, a notorious pirate/privateer, and even now that he's family is somewhat back to rights, he can't seem to leave his other life. 

That is, until he meets Lady Anne Hayworth, who comes to Crimson Jack looking for safe passage to Crimea, where she expects to "see her fiancé". Tristan doesn't need the money Anne is offering, but he enjoys rilling Anne up and likes that she has no idea that he's one of the notorious lost lords of Pembrook. 

It takes some doing but they two of them eventually strike a bargain - Tristan will take her where she wants to go but he demands his payment be a Kiss. Anne isn't entirely happy with the arrangement but she's willing to do what it takes to go see her fiancé. 

But one kiss won't be the ending for these two...

Second Glance: Okay so, after reading She Tempts the Duke I had more modest expectations of this book, which turned out to be a good thing. I did enjoy Lord of Temptation a lot more than She Tempts the Duke, but sadly the book was far from perfect.

The first half of the book was actually quite nice - it's all about Anne trying to get passage to crimea and their actual journey there and back. It sometimes fell  little slow but it was a nice build up all in all. Now the second part, when they are back in London that's when things got a little touchy. 

It felt rushed but slow and just plain boring sometimes. I also had a hard time liking Anne who was *SPOILER ALERT* fully prepared to marry another man but kept sleeping with Tristan each time they got *SPOILER ALERT*

I did like Tristan for the most part, he was okay, but well, it seemed like, in the end, he and Anne were arguing for the last 200 pages over nothing and everything was resolved rather conveniently if in a very manic, over the top scene. 

The Epilogue was nice though. 

Bottom Line: Lord of Temptation was not my favorite read of this year but I admit I'm still mildly intrigued by these brothers and a small part of me is looking forward to reading the last brother's story. As for this book, is an okay historical read but I didn't find it particularly special. 

1/2