Friday, October 11, 2013

Review: Tempting Bella





Title: Tempting Bella
Series: The Accidental Peers, #2
Author: Diana Quincy
Publisher: Entangled: Scandalous
Release Date: September 9, 2013
Pages: 197
Buy LinkAmazon

Blurb:

Mirabella can hardly remember the man she married as a girl to settle a gaming debt between their fathers. And it's just as well. She feels nothing but contempt for the man who wed her for her fortune and promptly forgot she existed. The ton may call him "The Saint" but Bella knows better.

Forced to marry as a teen to rescue his family from certain ruin, Sebastian has been apart from his child bride since their wedding day. When he encounters an enchanting impish beauty at the opera, he's is thrilled to find she is none other than his long-ago bride and he is more than ready to make her his wife in truth.

Too bad the beguiling beauty has no intention of coming meekly to the marriage bed.


Review

I loved this book!!!

The prologue of this book threw me off a little bit. I thought this book was going to be a dull read. However, the first chapter started off well, and from there, I couldn't put the book down!

Sebastian's honor and nobility was most admirable in this book. I absolutely enjoyed that he was honest and there was nothing wrong with him, except perhaps for his need for control. Even then, he was never mean or violent or arrogant. That one moment when he seemed to have lost it when Bella provoked him too far was an exception. I never saw it again in the book.

Excerpt


Uttering an uncharacteristically terse thank you to the butler, Sebastian took Bella’s arm to escort her above stairs. His rigid posture, the intransigent set of his expansive shoulders, the very deliberate click of each boot step, all belied that otherwise calm exterior.

He was angry. Furious even.

The hair on the back of her neck tingled. She’d never seen him truly out of sorts. His demeanor brought to mind that ominous lull before a natural disaster strikes.

He hastened his steps, practically dragging her up the stairs. When they reached her chamber, he did not leave her as he usually did. Instead he stepped in behind her.

“Thank you, Louisa, that will be all,” he said to the sleepy girl, who’d waited up for her mistress. “Go and seek your bed.”

As soon as he closed the door behind the maid, Bella spun around to face him, her heart clamoring. “I did not give you leave to enter my bedchamber. Please show me the courtesy of departing at once.”

He pulled off his cravat and folded it in a slow deliberate manner, as though he hadn’t heard her. Removing his tailcoat, he placed it neatly over the back of a chair.

Alarm trilled down her spine. “Why are you disrobing?”

Unbuttoning his waistcoat, he said, “Take off that dress.”

“I beg your pardon?”

He advanced toward her, the muscles in his thighs flexing powerfully as he did so. “You heard me.”

Hugging herself, she stepped back from him. “I will do no such thing. Leave or I will scream.”

Cold anger glittered in his eyes. “Take if off or I will take it off for you.”

I just loved him! The way he lived his life and the way he took care of people in need. He was a good man in all sense of the word!

Bella: "Mineral water?"
Sebastian: "Yes, my friend Charles Plinth has developed a fountain that retains the sparkling quality of water."
Bella: "Is it portable?"
Sebastian: "The drink is delivered every few days and then returned to him for refilling. It is my only real indulgence."
Bella: "You don't take port or wine with dinner?"
Sebastian: "I can't abide spirits of any kind."
Bella: "You don't drink any spirits? Rum, wine, gin, ale, beer?"
Sebastian: "None at all. I like to keep a clear head."
Bella: Is it difficult to abstain?"
Sebastian: "Not at all. I can't stand the taste."

Bella, on the other hand, was a strong, fiery woman who did not do well when people told her what to do or who to be. I loved me an independent woman who was also intelligent! Her one flaw was that she was very distrustful. That was understandable, though, because of her past. She felt as if she was abandoned by the people in her life and she only had herself to rely on. Poor thing. I'm glad Sebastian was there for her.

Bella: "I've been yours all along. Why did you not assert your husbandly rights long before now?"
Sebastian: "You belong only to yourself. I would never presume to own you."
Bella: "Most men believe their wives are chattel."
Sebastian: "I know better. That leaves seduction as my only recourse for winning you over."
Bella: "That sounds very wicked."
Sebastian: "Doesn't it?"

The importance of titles back in the day still fascinates me. The "scandal" and the "propriety" seems so lost nowadays. Anyway, this book is a must-read. Diana Quincy just made it to my list of favorite authors!

Giveaway

$25 Amazon gift card and a copy of Seducing Charlotte


a Rafflecopter giveaway



About the Author:

Although I’ve always loved reading and writing, I’m not one of those people who has always known I want to be an author.

I discovered my love of romantic fiction about four years ago, while picking up summer library books for my two boys. I noticed a historical romance by Shirlee Busbee on the end cap and picked it up to browse through while waiting in line to check out our books.

That’s all it took to hook me.

I spent that summer reading every historical romance I could get my hands on.
A few months later, I was motivated to try writing my own story, which resulted in my first manuscript, Compromising Willa.

Now I cannot imagine not writing.

I guess you could say I’m a late bloomer. 

I’m now working on my fifth manuscript, which is my first foray into contemporary fiction.

When not bent over my laptop or trying to keep up with the laundry, I enjoy reading, spending time with my family and dream of traveling much more than my current schedule (and budget) allows.

Online, you can find me on Twitter @Diana_Quincy and over at The Dashing Duchesses, where I blog about history and romance with a talented group of authors.

I am a proud member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA), Washington Romance Writers (WRWDC) and the New Jersey Romance Writers (NJRWA).
I am fortunate to be represented by Kevan Lyon at the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.





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