How to Seduce a Scoundrel

Vicky Dreiling

The current Regency romances certainly are nothing like the Georgette Heyer romances I read when I grew up!

Lady Julianne Gatewick first proposed to the Earl of Hawkfield when she was a young girl. Hawk chuckled at her and told her to ask him again when she grew up. By the time she grows up he is an unrepentant rake. He never plans to marry.

When Julianne's sister-in-law and brother retreat to the family estates waiting for the birth of their first child, she is allowed to stay in London for the season. Her guardian is Hawk. She is secretly pleased because she has been in love with him for years but he only sees her like a sister. When he humiliates her at a dance, she decides to write a pamphlet for single women. It's a manual for young women to lure one of the determined bachelors of the ton into marriage. Of course it must be published anonymously because young ladies could never admit they have tricks to catch a husband.

Meanwhile, Hawk is having trouble with his duties as Julianne's guardian. He sees another rake who appears interested in her. There are the young cubs who are hanging around her. They are closer to her age, but they just aren't right for her either. Neither is he, he knows. Hawk is a loner with many brief liaisons. He knows that even though he is the earl, he will never marry or have heirs. But Julianne is different. She makes him yearn for what he knows he can't have. Being her guardian makes him call on all his control - yet he wants to kiss her again... and again...

Within the first chapter or two I was caught into the joie de vivre of Vicky Dreiling's How to Seduce a Scoundrel. It's fairly smart, and gives a good reason why the two main characters don't communicate well. Hawk has a secret that has ruined his life. He can never admit to anyone that his life was ruined through a youthful mistake. He also knows that Julianne is his best friend's sister - thus forbidden.

There is a good build up to the sex scenes - teasing and tantalizing. The relationships between Julianne and her girlfriends and between her and Hawk's feisty, outspoken aunt help shape the people in the novel and bring the characters to life.

Yes, How to Seduce a Scoundrel is a romance, just like the book it follows, How to Marry a Duke. It's predictable and follows an expected formula. Isn't that one of the reasons we read romances? This is a good, lively novel that keep the reader entertained.

Notice:  Explicit sexual content

Publicist provided for review