Review: Seduced by His Touch by Tracy Anne Warren

Seduced by His Touch by Tracy Anne Warren

Historical Romance

Avon (August 25, 2009)

ISBN: 978-0061673412

384 pages

Synopsis from Amazon.com:

He Had to Marry Her

Everyone in London agrees the Byrons are just as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know" as their poetic non-relation. But Lord Jack Byron is facing a predicament that is scandalous . . . even for him!

Marry a young woman because he lost a bet? Unreformed rake Lord Jack Byron would do anything to get out of it. But the rich merchant who holds his debt insists Jack lead his on-the-shelf daughter to the altar . . . and make her believe it's a love match. With no options, Jack agrees, thinking he'll be shackled to a closed-in spinster.


But Grace Danvers is no milk-and-water miss. When he first encounters her in a London bookstore, Jack is struck by her tempting sensuality and soon becomes determined to bed—and wed—her (in that order!). Yet though he plans to seduce her with his touch, he never dreams he'll also want to win her with his love.

Outside of some paranormal romances and the (very) occasional contemporary, I don't read too much from the romance genre. In fact, I had all but shunned anything resembling an historical romance. Whenever the genre came to mind, all that I could imagine was ripped bodices, heaving bosoms, petticoats and engorged members. I'll admit, this was particularly unfair of me since I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to any other genre. So, when Avon sent this book along to me I didn't even intend to read it, let alone review it. In a fit of boredom I decided to pick it up and, I have to say, Ms. Warren's Seduced by His Touch has made me take a second look at the historicals that I've grossly ignored.

Due to my inexperience with the genre, my opinions don't reflect much knowledge about this sort of writing. As a novice though, I can speak to those who are of the same mind that I was pre-Seduced. My advice to historical newbies - at least give it a try.

This novel trumps most of the paranormal and contemporary romances that I've read - ever. From what I gather, the premise of the plain spinster and the charming rake is a recurring theme amongst the genre, maybe even an overused one. I can attest to that much since I went on a historical romance binge immediately after finishing this one. Despite this though, the story was rather engrossing. I didn't put it down once after I started.

The heroine Grace is a refreshing character. Not only is she intelligent and talented, but she also isn't one of those whining bores who are too caught up with their spinster status to be endearing to the reader. She may not be completely happy, but she at least seems content with her life before the hero, Jack, waltzes in.

Like Grace, there's more to Jack as well. Sure, he's a bit of a slut prior to the infamous bet with Grace's father, but he's also kind and (apart from having to hide the truth behind their meeting) pretty honest. Although the circumstances of his courtship of Grace aren't to his liking, his reservations become all but non-existent once he sets eyes on her. Every romantic overture he makes comes from a place of genuine attraction. Their relationship evolves realistically and, over the course of the novel, produces plenty of funny, sexy, and touching moments. I definitely shed a tear or two during the latter half of the story. To my surprise, I also found myself quite turned on a time or two throughout.

I was glad to find that the sex scenes were pretty darned near perfect. They weren't overly sweet, nor were they vulgar. Warren also managed create just the right amount of them and placed them at appropriate points in the tale so that they never hindered the storytelling.

This book is the second in the Byrons of Braebourne series, which I was unaware of until just after I finished it. It doesn't make much of a difference though because this one does so well as a stand alone novel. The secondary characters' appearances in this installment hinted at some interesting stories though, so I fully intend to read the previous book Tempted by His Kiss and book 3, At the Duke's Pleasure.

Grade: A