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Dance of Seduction (Swanlea Spinsters, Book 4) |
Author: Sabrina Jeffries
Published: 2003-04-01 |
List price: $6.99
Our price: $6.99
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As of: November 20th, 2008 10:22:42 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Not as good as After the Abduction
Usually I read romance novels in a matter of hours--but this one took me several days as I never really got into it enough to care about the characters. This upset me a little--after all, After the Abduction was a great story that I couldn't get enough of. The heroine in this one is a little too perfect, the hero a little too light, and everything felt just slightly contrived. And, I have to be honest...I was waiting for the big twin moment (the hero is a twin) when Clara knows Morgan without question...something that I love about "twin" romances...but it didn't come, and that was a let down for me.
My advice? Read After the Abduction and give this one a miss.
 # 4 of the Swanlea Spinster Series
Captain Morgan pretends to be a fence to capture the famous criminal `Specter'. Morgan sets up his shop beside Lady Clara Stanbourne home for reformed young pickpockets. She does not want to like Morgan since he is criminal but every time they are alone sparks fly. Not a great book of the series but you can never go wrong with a Sabrina Jeffries book! Check out the whole Swanlea Spinster series; Book 1: A Dangerous Love
Book 2: A Notorious Love, Book 3: After the Abduction, Book 4: Dance of Seduction,Book 5: Married to the Viscount.
 Enjoyable beginning, bad ending
I was smiling reading the beginning, the early interaction between Clara & Morgan was fun. Unfortunately, the crux of the novel - Morgan's fear of London and everything it represents to him in his tortured past - just didn't ring true.
Morgan is pretty bland for a roguish scoundrel. Morgan is your typical tortured hero with a "dark" past while the Lady Clara is your typical headstrong heroine who finds High Society boring. Instead, she runs the Home, a shelter for poor children helping them escape the criminal street life so common amongst them.
Spoilers ahead.
As I mentioned, the witty banter between Clara & Morgan in the beginning was fun. The second half of the novel however focuses on Morgan agonizing mercilessly over a past which tortures his soul. Morgan is made out to be a rogue who's done some bad stuff, but I really don't see it. He doesn't even directly the kill the man who ended up causing his mother's death, he only arranged it, as though this is such a big deal, causing all this feminine angst inside him. I fail to see any of Morgan's so-called criminal past, he was a sailor, abducted by pirates (not really doing anything for them), and he was a spy for the government. So where's this criminal rogue? Please, he's as square as they come, and pretty weak agonizing over a "murder" he didn't directly partake in.
I wanted to see a determined and willful Morgan (or at least grow some) kill the Specter in the end, but apparently Clara explains that doing that would erase what's left of his soul. C'mon....
Also predictably, Clara convinces Morgan to see everything her way, that he was afraid of London and he was running from his past by trying to escape London and captain a ship. Towards the end, Clara easily convinces Morgan to not kill the Specter, as if in so doing it instantly and magically releases him of agonizing over his childhood in Geneva (which, of course, it magically does). Clara gets everything she wants: the man she loves, her shelter renovated by her love's wealthy connections, her love working for her at the shelter, and the man she loves chooses to stay with her rather than go back to the sea to captain a ship.
There isn't a single concession on Clara's part, and I didn't find it endearing to read at all. I didn't see a romance here, I saw more a girl's dream for her man to give up everything he is or wants to be for her. I really don't see Clara "saving" Morgan from his wounded past. If anything, his "wounded" past was lame and the fact that he agonized over it was entirely a weak plot device to make it appear Clara salvaged something deep inside him worth rescuing (which it wasn't, since Morgan came off more like a girl than a male rogue).
Clara feels Morgan would resent her if she were to marry him and then have him go out to sea to captain a ship. She will settle for nothing less than having Morgan give up everything he is for her. Maybe I just don't get it, because I don't see how he couldn't resent her for forcing him to stay in London with her. The hubbub regarding his wounded past was weak and didn't ring true at all.
 When an author gets the hero right...no explanation needed.
Lady Clara is a spinster 28 year old who is involved in charity work at a home for pickpocket children. Morgan is an ex-spy naval captian who is posing as a "fence" in order to catch a master thief named Spector. They are at odds from the beginning, fighting a powerful attraction, and losing quickly. The interchanges between the two main characters are so witty and funny I couldn't resist liking them immediately. The part of the story I really enjoyed is Morgan's desperation for Clara's love. It made the hot scenes practical smoulder on the page. A nice departure from the norm because Morgan is a strong man totally undone. So romantic..sigh...
**A note to the publisher...I would never have bought the book at the store with that ridiculous cover. I missed out reading a marvelous book for two years because of that cover. The only reason you need a bodice ripper cover is because the book is SO awful no one is going to read it except for the sex. Sabina Jefferies deserves a cover like Julia Quinn or Lisa Kleypas. she writes just that good.
The best of the series thus far!
We last left Juliet happily in love with her kidnapper Sebastion Templemore, who had abducted her while masquerading as his twin brother Morgan. Morgan lost a bet with Juliet and is now unwillingly marooned in England for a year as a result. Unknown to his beloved relatives, he's already broken his vow to stay out of trouble and is hot on a spy mission to track down the infamous Spector! Along the way, he meets Lady Clara, who may be even more of a trap for this rakish rascal. Jeffries gives us another sizzling, sexy romance combined with breathtaking adventure and humor. Of course, the fact that Morgan is a hunk of a hero doesn't hurt either......Don't miss any of this series! They get better and better!
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