Review: All’s Fair in Love and Seduction by Beverley Kendall

With her seduction she hopes to gain his affections

For Miss Elizabeth Smith, sharing her first kiss with the charming Lord Derek Creswell is nothing short of a dream come true...that is, until she is spotted by one of the most influential gossips of the ton. With scandal nipping at her heels, to avoid total social ruin, Elizabeth must present a fiancé by the end of the Season. But when the viscount proves reluctant, Elizabeth is forced to employ a seduction of a different sort...

With his seduction he is determined to ruin her

Viscount Derek Creswell believes Elizabeth set out to trap him into marriage. After all, her sister attempted the very same thing with his brother six years before. Now the delectable Miss Smith expects a betrothal and a ring, while Derek finds her ruination infinitely more appealing...

But as Derek sets out to seduce only her body, Elizabeth is intent on claiming his jaded heart.

Note: I thought this novella looked awesome so I was super excited to get it for review, but after a couple pages in, I realized I’d read it before. Maybe it’s a reissue?

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I bought this novella after someone on Twitter rec’d it to me, and the beginning starts out fairly strong.

The heroine Elizabeth has been in love with the hero for a couple years, but their meeting was a bit…unusual. Her sister was seduced by his brother, and the hero was the one who dropped off the check of 1000 pounds (It was used as reparations, or in my world, ‘hush money’).
Well, her father came into a minor inheritance and was able to give her a Season. During this Season, she keeps seeing him.

Derek is enamored of this gorgeous woman who can’t keep her eyes off him. At every ball he attends, she is there giving him those looks over her shoulder. Finally he demands an introduction from his friend. But his buddy warned him not to try anything funny as she’s one his friends as well.

They don’t quite get introduced, but she follows him out onto the terrace. All Elizabeth wants is one look at him, maybe to say hi, but that’s all. What she gets is a rake stealing a kiss…and a whole heap of trouble. Two of the ton’s gossips hear their banter and the kiss and call her on it. What does Elizabeth do? She lies her butt off. Unfortunately she tells the ladies they are informally engaged. Well, she tells her best friend, and next thing we know Derek is told he must marry Elizabeth.

I enjoyed the story and the writing til about then because Derek decides she trapped him into marriage. He kind of thinks well maybe she didn’t, but then maybe she did…he can’t figure her game out. So he plays it by ear. Then he realizes he actually likes this woman. Then he realizes he could envision her as his wife if only he were sure of her original intentions. Had she set out to trap him?

He finds out who her family is, and once he remembers that ugly business where a young girl tried to trap his brother into marriage, he believes she must be doing the same to him.

There’s a scene where he sets out to seduce her, can’t go through with it, but does anyway, then turns it around on her. Luckily she doesn’t buy that line and understands he set out to ruin her intentionally. For me the novella went downhill from there. I hated, HATED how he treated her, and I wanted to applaud her mama for setting him straight.

In my opinion what could have very easily been a 5 star book dropped several points because the hero (and I use that term loosely) never apologized for his behaviour, for his treatment of Elizabeth. He carved her a present, whoopie. It was an implied apology and it wasn’t good enough, not nearly good enough for me. There was no groveling. None. I was pissed she took him back so quickly. If there had been even just a teeny little scene where she left him and he had to come and apologize on bended knee, I’d have been satisfied. Of course, if he’d been on glass, on his bended knee, I’d have been thrilled 😉

I enjoyed the writing and I think I’ll look into this series, but I hope the heroes are better than Derek.