Comments on: REVIEW: To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt

By: Jayne

Jayne — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:24:28 +0000

My grades for these two books are both “B’s” so I guess you could count me in the “liked both books” category.

By: willaful

willaful — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 07:30:57 +0000

So did anyone love both TTT and this one? Or hate them both? Opinions seem quite divided. I am in the did not care for TTT camp; like Marg, I could not connect with the heroine. I liked this one very much and suspect it will even improve with rereading, because of the intricacy of the themes.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:23:36 +0000

I don’t know Michelle. It kind of sounds like you should skim your way through this one and wait for reviews to come in on book three before trying it.

And I do have our copy of the Clare book too.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:23:52 +0000

Jayne,
I really do want to like this series. While I do still enjoy regency-set historicals, I miss the variety of settings from when I started reading historicals in high school. I assume I’ll eventually pick this one up again to finish it. I’m not so sure how quick I’ll be to buy the third – especially since some of the commenters had the same reaction as I did.

Speaking of a variety of settings – If anybody reading this review is drawn to the French and Indian War as a setting, I’m enjoying Pamela Clare’s current series set during that war.

-Michelle

By: Jayne

Jayne — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:54:07 +0000

Isn't it fascinating how we can read the same book and have such totally opposite reactions?

Oh, absolutely. I’m sure there are, or will be, people who read your comment and say, “Yes! That’s exactly what I thought too.” We always get plenty of responses when the grade we give much anticipated books doesn’t live up to their hype.

By: GrowlyCub

GrowlyCub — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:32:28 +0000

I just finished reading this and was left totally unengaged. I’m pretty disappointed because I love marriage of convenience stories and I had high hopes for this one.

I don’t know if this was because I started it right after I finished Broken Wing, which I loved and in which the hero’s tortured past really felt like a tortured past or whether it was the writing or something else.

Jasper and Melisande’s relationship didn’t touch me at all and I never felt emotionally connected to them; to me this was a prime example of tell. We were told Jasper felt badly, we were told how much worse his invisible scars were, we were told he loved Melisande and saw her real self under her drab exterior, but I didn’t believe it.

And I hated, truly hated, the slapstick moments that Hoyt put in this book.

The plot is mainly a character study of Jasper and Melisande. The continuing arc of who betrayed the 28th Regiment is there but it mainly throws light on these two

I felt exactly the opposite. The subplot overshadowed the relationship for me completely. Isn’t it fascinating how we can read the same book and have such totally opposite reactions?

By: Jayne

Jayne — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:15:15 +0000

I wasn’t so sure of Jasper in the last book after he went postal but yes, I agree he does grow on one as this book progresses.

By: loonigrrl

loonigrrl — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:00:08 +0000

It takes Jasper a long time to truly begin looking at Melisande as his early nice, but basically useless, present shows her.

I almost started crying when I read this scene.

I’m actually still in the middle of this, and am enjoying it a great deal. I wasn’t so sure about Jasper at first, but he’s starting to grow on me.

By: Marg

Marg — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 07:54:36 +0000

I was a little disappointed by To Taste Temptation, mainly because I didn’t connect with the heroine at all. I did love this one!

By: Lorelie

Lorelie — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:46:00 +0000

While I agree re: Jasper’s non-reaction, I absolutely lurved the fact that Melissande hadn’t been torturing herself to bits over her actions, but rather the fall out.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:35:22 +0000

I didn’t read the review because I’m reading the book now — but I did see the grade that you gave it. WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: orannia

orannia — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:27:00 +0000

Thank you Jayne :) I’m actually in the middle of reading To Taste Temptation at the moment, and while I found the first half a little slow I am enjoying it more as I progress. And I have heard some interesting things about the third book.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:56:57 +0000

Agreed on Mobi and add eReader to that since, you know, the only device I can read any of them on is my laptop and I avoid doing that like the plague.

Which is the exact reason I hate them both.

By: MoJo

MoJo — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:49:52 +0000

Books on Board has an Adobe Epub and an Adobe Digital Edition, which are damn near identical, so I don’t know what the point of that was.

Agreed on Mobi and add eReader to that since, you know, the only device I can read any of them on is my laptop and I avoid doing that like the plague.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:46:09 +0000

God, that is so weird that this is the only book of hers at Fictionwise with so few ereading options. And I despise it when my choice is limited to Mobi. I loathe Mobi. But only a little less than I hate secure ereader. What sucky choices. I’m glad we got a print review copy!

By: MoJo

MoJo — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:41:31 +0000

I liked Hoyt’s Prince series enough that I remembered her name (this is a feat for me, trust me).

What I want to know now is WHY WHY WHY isn’t this book in MS Reader format? This hide’n'go seek with ebook formats is making my head explode!

By: Jayne

Jayne — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:31:30 +0000

Michelle this series has garnered B grades from me where as the first series got an A and B+ grades but still, in a world awash in Regencies and vampires, her writing combined with the setting makes me happy.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:29:41 +0000

I did have a few â€œhmmmâ€ moments when Jasper seemed to just accept the heroines' sexual experience without any questions. Yes she has a past but he didn't know about it when they first consummated their relationship …and it just felt, given the era, that he would mention it…. afterward, of course!

He did ponder her experience later on and of course then came the revelations in Edinburgh. But I agree that I expected a more immediate response from him and a bit more concern about whether or not he could expect her children to be his own.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:05:20 +0000

I’ve just not gotten into this series like I did the previous one. I put both TTT and TSAS down around page 150 and took weeks before I picked them up again. It does make me question whether I’ll buy the third.

By: joanne

joanne — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:00:32 +0000

What I liked most about this story was what you mentioned: Jasper changed, Melisande didn’t. If she had changed her look or her looks half-way through the book then that would have been a definate ‘bump’ in the read for me.

I did have a few “hmmm” moments when Jasper seemed to just accept the heroines’ sexual experience without any questions. Yes she has a past but he didn’t know about it when they first consummated their relationship …and it just felt, given the era, that he would mention it…. afterward, of course!

I too found it to be a nicely written and satisfying romance with the added bonus of an unsolved mystery to look forward to in the next book.