Starred review from October 15, 2008
Beautiful, smart, and a wildly successful romance writer, Marina Wyatt, the widowed Countess of Gorham, enjoys a delightfully scandalous reputation and makes good use of it to promote her books. However, when the scholarly uncle of her supposed latest flirt approaches her with his concerns, the attraction between them flares into page-singeing passion and launches a clandestine affair that could prove unexpectedly deadly for them both. A cast of remarkably memorable secondary characters, including an obsessed blackmailer and a precocious preadolescent, join a beautifully matched, eminently appealing hero and heroine in a well-researched, secret-laden story that delves beneath the "proper" surface of early 19th-century English high society. This novel is supremely sensual, wickedly witty, and one of the author's best to date. Noted for exquisitely written, intelligent romances that often hover near the erotic edges of the genre, Rosenthal ("The Slightest Provocation") lives in San Francisco.
Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
November 1, 2008
Marina Wyatt knows the power of love, andromance is a staple in all of her wildly popular books about the ton. But Marina also knows how dangerous love can be andopts for passionate affairs rather than long-lasting romantic relationships. Things dont quite work out with Marinas latest potential lover, Sir Anthony Hedges, but they remain friends. So when Anthonys ever-proper, ever-serious uncleantiquarian scholar Jasper James Hedgesarrives in London, Marina is more than willing to invite him to one of her famous dinner parties. Much to her surprise, Marina almost immediatelyindulges in a heated affair with Jasper, buteven more surprising is how quickly she finds herself falling in love. With her usual elegant writing style, superb sense for historical detail, and gift for subtle characterization, Rosenthal skillfully fashions yet another of her exquisitely entertaining, sublimely sensual, andmischievously witty romances.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)