TEMPT ME TONIGHT

Author: Toni Blake ISBN: 0061136093 6/2007 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: AVON RED

Trish Henderson has returned home to Eden to take care of some family business…and some personal business, as well. Though she’s achieved remarkable success as a high-powered Chicago attorney, Trish has never forgotten her small-town high school sweetheart, Joe Ramsey, or the devastation of heartbreak. Now she’s come face-to-face with the gorgeous sex god Joe has grown into, and she’s determined to get him out of her system once and for all—and maybe take a little revenge, too. And this time, she has all the power. After all, where is it written that only men can explore and enjoy a physical relationship without commitment? Her plan: seduce him for just one night, then walk away… But there’s just one problem. Trish is about to find out that one night with Joe may never be enough…

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Wow! When I try to think of a word to describe Toni Blake's newest book, TEMPT ME TONIGHT, I simply cannot find one. The truth is, this book is so phenomenal, so beautiful, that I would be hard put to try and find one single word to simply describe it. TEMPT ME TONIGHT took me way back to my years as a high school sweetheart, to those years of Dairy Queen and Burger joints. It is bittersweet and then astoundingly familiar, all at the same time, and drew me in like no other book that I have read yet this year.

I will admit that I am a sucker for a long lost love story. I love that story about the girl and guy who go their separate ways after high school amidst all sorts of drama and heartache, only to return years later longing for what they have missed. Well, that, in a nutshell, is TEMPT ME TONIGHT. There is every kind of chemistry imaginable in this book. There is the "bff" that has kept Trish up-to-date on all of the town's happenings; there are the parents who can't quite forgive the first boy to ever hurt their little girl; there are the sentimental old timers who can't believe little Trishy Henderson is back in town... and then there are Trish and Joe.

Trish and Joe literally ignite this book. After fourteen long years apart due to Joe's stupid actions as a teenager, they are reunited and the sparks just fly. It is as if the past fourteen years never happened. As soon as Trish sees Joe, she is that same 18 year-old girl whose heart he broke all those years ago. She seems to forget that she is no longer a teenaged little girl, but a high powered attorney who is every bit a match for Joe's ridiculous amount of hotness and machismo. That's right, I pulled that ol' word back out. The simple fact of the matter is, there is no better way to describe Joe. He is literally all man. All 6 feet two inches of gorgeous hunka hunka burnin' love man. There is something so sensual about Joe and Trish, something so striking, that I couldn't help but read TEMPT ME TONIGHT with a ton of wistful sighs and tear filled moments.

In my opinion, Toni Blake is the new queen of contemporary romance with TEMPT ME TONIGHT. I was blown away by her ability to make me feel so many emotions at one time. To have nailed so completely the emptiness, the longing, all of the love that these characters have for one another, even after fourteen years apart, speaks directly to Ms. Blake's ability to write. TEMPT ME TONIGHT is one story I highly recommend to readers of all genres of romance. If you've never read a Toni Blake book, now is the time to pick one up and find out what all the fuss is about.

Kristal Gorman