In Which I Review To Taste Temptation by Elizabeth Hoyt.

So this seems to be the latest pattern of my life: I give a paperback to Wendy Pan, she reads it (maybe), and then goes and buys the rest of the series on Kindle without telling me.

And then she tells me how awesome it all is.  Because the Kindle is such a secretive device (Sorry Dad! You brought it on yourself...), I can never tell what she's reading, and as a result I can never say "ohmygodisthatbookreallyexcellentortheworstthingever??"

Until it all comes out over dinner (or something), at which point I order the paperbacks from Amazon (Thank you, Amazon App), and then I get accused of being in possession of too many books.

Ha.

Devotees will remember that I recently read Elizabeth Hoyt's To Seduce a Sinner, which turned out to be the second book in the Legend of the Four Soldiers Series.  It's that second book that Wendy Pan read in paperback, and the first, third, and fourth that now live in the Amazon cloud.

So obviously I had to buy them, because I remain unconvinced of the Kindle (or any digital reading device) as a full-time reading option.  Personal opinion.  Haters to the left.  There's librarian in my DNA, dammit.  I have to collect the books.

ANY. WAY.

To Taste Temptation is officially Book One in The Legend of the Four Soldiers Series.  I know because it says so on the cover.  It's the story of Samuel Hartley, former military, recently civilized American colonist, PTSD sufferer.  Samuel and his regiment were viciously and brutally attacked and tortured on the frontier during the French and Indian War, and he has come to England on the pretext of expanding his Colonial import business, but with the grander idea of investigating the attack.

Part of his plan involves contacting the widowed sister of his murdered commanding officer, Lady Emmeline Gordon.  Emmeline supplements her income by steering young women through society and helping them "come out" as it were, and Hartley just happens to have a rambunctious baby sister whose Colonial upbringing, combined with his insane wealth, is a dangerous (and new!) combination in the ton.  And thusly Hartley and Emmeline are thrown together all the time.

Man oh man, do they have the hots for each other.

Let me start off by saying that this book flows so seamlessly into book two, that I'm very curious to find out what more can be said about our remaining two soldiers in books three and four.  The mystery of the attack that is set up in this book is not solved until book two, but it is solved in book two.  We also meet our book two hero and heroine, Emmeline's fiancé Lord Vale, and her best friend Melisande.  What's very, very interesting to me is that there is no setup for the couple in this book.  In fact, Melisande outright says in Temptation that Vale doesn't even know her name.  I think I like this.  If I had read To Taste Temptation first, it would have been surprising and intriguing to find these two paired in the sequel.

Emmeline and Hartley have a number of problems, both emotional and logistical, to overcome.  She has a huge abandonment complex because of all of the people around her who died and left her to pick up the pieces.  As a result she can be rather cold, and on more than one occasion is described as "prickly."  Hartley has his PTSD to contend with, in addition to his general incomprehension of the world in which Emmeline lives.

Class is a huge part of this book, but what I like about Emmeline is that she never considers Samuel to be beneath her, which in London society in that time was a very real consideration.  Her only concern is that they are different.  So different, that it would be impossible for them to meld their lives.  Samuel, on the other hand, acknowledges the differences, but like any true American, knows that they can be overcome.

I really like this book, and I really recommend it, preferably before you read To Seduce a Sinner.  The characters were vivid (especially Emmeline and Samuel), the suspense... fine (way predictable, but I didn't care), and the romance top-notch.  So go buy it.  Or ask Wendy Pan and myself about any number of our lending options.