A Matter of Temptation

Author: Lorraine Heath
Published Date: October 2005
Letter Grade: C

This is one of the only books by Lorraine Heath that I would have, had it been by ANYONE else, been willing to give an A grade to. It was well-written, it had a good plot, the romance was sweet and believable, the characters were likeable.

The problem is, though, that it IS by Lorraine Heath, much as I wish it were by someone, anyone, else.

Let me explain to you my long, arduous journey through Heathland:

First, there was An Invitation to Seduction. The book was all right, I liked it well enough, the hero was a tad annoying, but let's face it, I've read worse. Overall, I probably would've given it a B.

Then, there was To Marry An Heiress (there seem to be a lot of "To ___ An Heiress" books. I've found and read at least three, though I'd actually reccomend the other two). Lordy. This book was just fine until the hero cruely and deliberately murdered it. He started the trend, for me, of hugely frustrating heroes who ruin perfectly wonderful books with their pigheaded-ness.

Most cruelly of all, there was Never Love A Cowboy (picked up because it's about the birthmother of An Invitation's heroine) Brilliant. I adored it. It sucked me in (oh dear, "sucked" is a bad word to use in a review of a romance novel, isn't it?) and held me enthralled. Until, inevitably, that moment came, about 3/4s of the way through when the hero, Harrison, showed his true, frustrating nature. I wanted to murder him. You should have seen me when I realized what she'd done. It was GOOD. Why did she have to throw in a needless conflict, right there toward the end? WHY?

What followed was the "Steph likes to shoot herself in the foot over and over again" period. I read As An Earl Desires which was the opposite of Heath's usual- perfectly fine hero, frustrating heroine.

And then that leaves us here. At A Matter of Temptation.

Don't ask me why I bought it. I'd see it in Borders for the longest time, and it would call to me. I'd pick it up, read the synopsis, debate with myself then put it back and hurry away before I could be tempted. Until one day I finally could take it no more.

The book's about Robert Hawthorne, the Duke of Killingsworth. Eight years before, he'd been kidnapped and tossed into jail by his twin brother who then posed as him. Robert finally escapes prison and finds his brother, and they basically switch places again (unwillingly on his brother's part, of course). Happy with his new-found freedom, not so happy with trying to figure out how to fix things, Robert discovers rather quickly that his brother was kind of busy while Robert was rotting in prison. Robert, as luck would have it, seems to have escaped the night before his wedding to Victoria Lambert. Which, you know, would be all fine and good if this were your normal Regency marriage of convenience. Trouble is, she seems to actually be fond of him/his brother. Of course.

So yes, the book pretty much goes like that. It did get a tad frustrating in one part, when Robert goes to see his friend the Duke of Weddington. Now, see, I know perfectly well who the Duke of Weddington is. He was the hero of my very first Heath novel. I referred to him as "Weeds" because I could. His apparent appearence in this book confused the hell out of me. Until I realized one very simple fact: the Duke of Weddington is Temptation is my Weeds' father, not Weeds himself. Although he DOES appear. Except he's a little boy.

As I've said. It was an A-worthy book. I liked the characters. It was well-written. It had a good plot. Here's the problem:

I couldn't bring myself to enjoy it.

You know what my experience with Heath has been like. Painful is the best word to describe it. I read this book just WAITING for the moment when it would all come crashing down, when something awful and frustratingly Heath-like would occur. I thought the Weeds thing would be it, but it was a false alarm.

It didn't happen. I got to the end of the book in shock, because it. had. not. happened. This should have been a good thing. Technically speaking, it was. But the entire book was ruined for me by the knowledge of what Heath's books are normally like.

Now I understand what it must've been like in British society around when this book takes place. It's like Robert comes from a whole family of drunkards, gamblers, harlots and whatever else was counted as scandalous behavior in those days (like his sister ran off with the footman or whatever) and he's the only good one of the bunch, but he's still shunned because of his family's behavior.

All in all, I think Heath's writing in the wrong genre. Personally, I think she should switch to Horror so she can just kill off all the characters that are annoying and frustrating.