REVIEW: Seduce Me at Sunrise

Lisa Kleypas
Seduce Me at Sunrise (Hathaway #2)
St. Martin’s Paperbacks
ISBN-10: 0312949812
ISBN-13: 9780312949815
Historical romance, Victorian
September 30, 2008

OMG! This book was awesome! So romantic, SO hot – I loved it!!!! /end review

Just kiddin’! :D Although, if I wasn’t inclined to really review this one, that’d be it in a nutshell. Because it was so, so romantic. And unbelievably, sensually hot. And I did love it. Kleypas only seems to get better and better for me and I was glad to see the second in her Hathaway series doing that for me all over again. No doubt, Kleypas is a solid staple on my romance reading shelves, and now more than ever I look forward to growing that collection in coming years.

Kev Merripen has been a member of the Hathaway household for a long time, yet always treats himself as an outsider, no matter how welcome they make him. With the determined seduction of one of its members, Winifred, he must remain as apart as possible, more than ever. Is falling for and seducing one of the Hathaways any way to repay this generous family for rescuing him ll those years ago? With a brutal past that’s loomed over everything he does, Merripen cannot let what he desires most come too close, for Win is too frail and unable to handle his darker urges. Or so he thinks.

Win is beyond tired of the ravages of Scarlet fever that left her a near invalid. Taking matters into her own hands, she seeks out help and returns to her family, and the man she loves, a completely different and well person. But the man she did it all for still holds her at arms length. Indeed, he’s become a shell of the Kev she used to know; hardened and more determined than ever to hold off her offers of love. Forbidden, taboo and utterly reviled by society, their union would be yet another scandal for the Hathaways. But since when did a scandal stop any of them? Win is no different, and it’s high time Kev saw that.

I bet everyone’s heard it all already about this book. It’s just plain GOOD. Wonderful. And so.damn.romantic. Mine till Midnight introduced us to the Hathaways and I was honestly snookered two ways to Sunday at that time with Kleypas’ latest family series. If nothing else, Kleypas is a master at getting me drunk on her kind of romance, and I willingly fall for it every time. It ties in, once again, quite nicely with her Wallflowers series, and we get to see some of those characters too, but Kleypas once again gives the main characters their due while still managing to develop all the other secondary characters very well.

But on to Win and Kev for a moment. It’s been a while since I read the first book, but I think Win and Kev usurped Amelia and Cam as my fave Kleypas couple to date. How could we not love Win, who not only has the name of a champion, but takes the meager existence she had at the hands of scarlet fever and changed that fate to one of health and hope, and all for the man she loves. To help him see that she was a fighter and more than ready for whatever he wanted to dish out. And man does he dish it out. At times I wanted to smack Kev upside the head, but his reasons for distancing himself from Win are at least understandable. I loved how we get to see the two almost getting to know one another all over again. Because Win’s recovery has changed her so much, or rather enabled her to be who she’s always been, it was great to see Kev getting a dose of reality, that reality being that she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

The back of the book describes another possible love interest for Win as “an attractive, seductive suitor”. Dr. Harrow, unfortunately, was anything but. This was the only part of the storyline that was weak and too obvious. I won’t give it away, as his part has a lot to do with the overall plot, but suffice to say the man was neither attractive or in any way a real impediment to happiness between Kev and Win – this family is simply too smart to let anyone get one over on them. Kleypas isn’t exactly the best at setting up a villainous character in her historicals, but she does the main characters and other protagonists so well, it almost doesn’t matter by The End.

I love how we get to know Leo, Poppy and Beatrix better. I think Leo’s story is going to be so wonderful as Kleypas has already set up a great conflict for him. The story of love lost in such a tragic way will surely give his heroine a challenge. And then there are the remaining Hathaway girls, both amusing to no end and misfits in their own right. I cannot wait to read all of their books and knowing there’s three more Hathaway books to come is somehow like having a security blanket for romance readers.

I could go on and on about this book, but I’d only be repeating the same accolades over and over really. I’ll conclude by letting folks in on my favorite scenes and one was at The Crystal Palace, when Kev takes Win there at her insistence. What follows is a scene of racy, sensual delight that has me wondering if such liaisons were commonplace at Prince Albert’s pride and joy exhibition because whoa – a lot of historical romance writers have taken hot advantage of it as a den of romance iniquity. Of course, Kleypas’ scene there is a little more reserved, but really – why all the sexual scenes at that place there in various romances? The titillation of public sex? Whatever the reason, it was hot. Moving on.

The other that comes to mind is when Kev kidnaps Win. And that’s all I’m saying. You should definitely enjoy that one for yourself.

So if you had not guessed by now, I loved and loved this book. My one slight irritation wasn’t enough to hold me back from enjoying it all to the fullest. I cannot wait for even the merest hint at the next book’s title, release date – anything. Thank goodness for Kleypas. Everyone should have a little bit of her brand of romance in their reading lives.

Rating: Five Scoops