SLIGHTLY TEMPTED

Author: Mary Balogh ISBN:0440241065 1/2004 HISTORICAL Publisher: BANTAM DELL
Time Period: Regency - Napoleonic Wars

Bedwyn across the glittering ballroom, Gervase Ashford, Earl of Rosthorn, knows he has found the perfect instrument of his revenge. But wedlock is not on the mind of the continent’s most notorious rake. Nor is it of interest to the fiercely independent Lady Morgan herself…until one night of shocking intimacy erupts in a scandal that could make Gervase’s vengeance all the sweeter. There is only one thing standing in his way: Morgan, who has achieved the impossible—she’s melted his coolly guarded heart. For Gervase, only the marriage bed will do, but Morgan simply will not have him. Thus begins a sizzling courtship where two wary hearts are about to be undone by the most scandalous passion of all: glorious, all-consuming love.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Another in the line of the six-novel series by Mary Balogh, SLIGHTLY TEMPTED is the story of the youngest Bedwyn aristocrat, the vibrant and beautiful Morgan. Just turned 18 and out for her first Season under the sponsorship of her sister, Freyja, Morgan sets sail for Europe in the company of a friend's family, where she meets, spars, and ultimately falls for Gervase, Lord Rosthorn, the former friend, but now enemy, of her eldest brother, Bewcastle.

Poor Gervase has had it rough. Framed for something he didn't do, he's been disowned by his father, separated from his family, and has spent 9 years in exile. When he discovers just who Morgan is related too, the bitterness and lust for vengeance resurrects itself, driving him to use her in his plans to destroy Bewcastle. But before Gervase can complete his revenge, both he and Morgan are thrown into the horrible depths of war and grief, both giving comfort to the other and becoming not just the best of friends, but lovers. It is this part of the story, where the two truly fall in love amidst the chaos and horrors of war (with neither of them admitting it, of course), that I enjoyed the most.

Gervase is portrayed as an essentially good person, who has matured from a rake and scoundrel into a sensitive, thoughtful and giving man, and whose inner turmoil between seeking vengeance or accepting "what's done, is done", forgetting the past and moving forward, is deftly characterized. But while Balogh made me sympathetic to his struggles, at the same time she made me want to slap him upside-the-head for being such a contradiction. Morgan, on the other hand, is surprisingly mature for her 18 years and can definitely hold her own, even against her formidable oldest brother, Bewcastle. And while she can be just as arrogant as the rest of the Bedwyns, she's also approachable, giving and unspoiled.

I liked this story much better than the previous book, SLIGHTLY SCANDALOUS. It's fantastically loaded with historical details, with the pages coming alive in their vivid depiction of those turbulent times surrounding Napoleon and his defeat at Waterloo. You're there. You're in it. You live it. And that's my kind of historical romance!

If I have to mention any drawback at all to the Bedwyn family of this ongoing saga, it's simply that they remind me of the current Windsors of England: Haughty, snooty, and arrogant to the extreme. But even so, after my reading four of these books about these siblings, I'm starting to get used to it *G*, and while SLIGHTLY TEMPTED isn't perfect (but what book is?) it's still a very good romantic tale.

Nancy Davis