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More Than Seduction
Mrs. Anne Smythe's Healing Spa and Bathing Emporium is a haven for fashionable women who believe the waters have aphrodisiac properties. Yet the prim proprietress never thinks of testing that theory-until grievously injured Captain Stephen Chamberlin is deposited on her doorstep. Every minute the war hero spends under her roof courts scandal. It isn't long before she discovers that having such a man at her mercy arouses her in ways she never thought possible as their "therapeutic" sessions in the hot springs have become steamy trysts Anne wishes would never end...
Stephen thought he had reached his lowest point when the war rendered him an invalid. He's proven wrong when his sister and best friend leave him in the care of the tantalizing Mrs. Anne Smythe. Yet as the healing waters work their magic, so does the widow Smythe. Beneath her unflappable exterior lies an alluring warm, witty, and refreshingly open to sensual experimentation. But when mutual pleasure turns to forbidden love, can two people outwit the forces that would see them torn apart?
Stephen thought he had reached his lowest point when the war rendered him an invalid. He's proven wrong when his sister and best friend leave him in the care of the tantalizing Mrs. Anne Smythe. Yet as the healing waters work their magic, so does the widow Smythe. Beneath her unflappable exterior lies an alluring warm, witty, and refreshingly open to sensual experimentation. But when mutual pleasure turns to forbidden love, can two people outwit the forces that would see them torn apart?
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
12 people are currently reading
205 people want to read
About the author
Cheryl Holt
92 books396 followersCHERYL HOLT is a New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon “Top 100” bestselling author who has published seventy novels.
She’s also a lawyer and mom, and at age forty, with two babies at home, she started a new career as a commercial fiction writer. She’d hoped to be a suspense novelist, but couldn’t sell any of her manuscripts, so she ended up taking a detour into romance where she was stunned to discover that she has a knack for writing some of the world’s greatest love stories.
Her books have been released to wide acclaim, and she has won or been nominated for many national awards. She is considered to be one of the masters of the romance genre. For many years, she was hailed as “The Queen of Erotic Romance”, and she’s also revered as “The International Queen of Villains.” She is particularly proud to have been named “Best Storyteller of the Year” by the trade magazine Romantic Times BOOK Reviews.
She lives and writes in Hollywood, California, and she loves to hear from fans. Visit her website at www.cherylholt.com.
She’s also a lawyer and mom, and at age forty, with two babies at home, she started a new career as a commercial fiction writer. She’d hoped to be a suspense novelist, but couldn’t sell any of her manuscripts, so she ended up taking a detour into romance where she was stunned to discover that she has a knack for writing some of the world’s greatest love stories.
Her books have been released to wide acclaim, and she has won or been nominated for many national awards. She is considered to be one of the masters of the romance genre. For many years, she was hailed as “The Queen of Erotic Romance”, and she’s also revered as “The International Queen of Villains.” She is particularly proud to have been named “Best Storyteller of the Year” by the trade magazine Romantic Times BOOK Reviews.
She lives and writes in Hollywood, California, and she loves to hear from fans. Visit her website at www.cherylholt.com.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
April 25, 2020
Cheryl Holt não desilude. Uma leitura agradável, com bastante sensualidade à mistura. Personagens completas, histórias envolventes. Muito complicado largar, é daquelas autoras que assim que começa a ler, caso haja disponibilidade, devora-se e só se pára quando se termina o livro, deixando o gostinho amargo de querer mais, de ler mais...
April 23, 2025
4.5! I understand it may not be everyone’s cup of tea as even I could pick out anachronisms in the banter, but also in the plot HOWEVER I don’t care. The banter was cute, the chemistry, the yearning. The way the writing flowed. Reminds me of Suzanne Enoch in some ways, anachronistic, but just believable. Cheryl Holt can write sensual scenes, and I wish she wrote more. She can also write yearning.
I also enjoy her particular storytelling. I’ve read a few of her novels now, this being the third one, and she certainly has a few trademarks: an independent woman who is not doing well under the patriarchy, star-crossed love between a rich and gorgeous hot and charming man and a woman of low birth. I relate to her heroines a lot. The plot, especially in the third act, ratchets up a gruesome end for the villains enacted by the hero. The villain is usually a PDFile or some sort of sexual deviant whose POV is incredibly unhinged, something that you wouldn’t bat an eyelash to when coming across a dark romance or erotic horror published nowadays.
For the star-crossed lovers, there isn’t so much angst as yearning. I like getting into the H+h’s POVs as their relationship develops.
I feel like Holt allows characters to reveal themselves. I truly feel she lets them lead, instead of holding so tightly to the process that they must conform to preordained roles.
I’m going to continue reading Holt’s works. I know they may not be for everyone but I find I can get easily lost in them. The Way of the Heart I literally stayed up all night to read even with this book, I couldn’t stop reading it and was reading it during breaks today!
I also enjoy her particular storytelling. I’ve read a few of her novels now, this being the third one, and she certainly has a few trademarks: an independent woman who is not doing well under the patriarchy, star-crossed love between a rich and gorgeous hot and charming man and a woman of low birth. I relate to her heroines a lot. The plot, especially in the third act, ratchets up a gruesome end for the villains enacted by the hero. The villain is usually a PDFile or some sort of sexual deviant whose POV is incredibly unhinged, something that you wouldn’t bat an eyelash to when coming across a dark romance or erotic horror published nowadays.
For the star-crossed lovers, there isn’t so much angst as yearning. I like getting into the H+h’s POVs as their relationship develops.
I feel like Holt allows characters to reveal themselves. I truly feel she lets them lead, instead of holding so tightly to the process that they must conform to preordained roles.
I’m going to continue reading Holt’s works. I know they may not be for everyone but I find I can get easily lost in them. The Way of the Heart I literally stayed up all night to read even with this book, I couldn’t stop reading it and was reading it during breaks today!
July 14, 2015
3.5 stars
I liked the sex scenes and wounded hero thing but the obstacles or challenges which are supposed to be present in a historical romance seemed contrived and forced (esp the villain)
I liked the sex scenes and wounded hero thing but the obstacles or challenges which are supposed to be present in a historical romance seemed contrived and forced (esp the villain)
August 18, 2015
Leia a crítica completa no blog Os Livros Nossos em http://oslivrosnossos.blogspot.pt/201...
"(...) É, pois, uma história com romance, paixão, sensualidade intensa, e um cenário refrescante, ideal para ler neste verão, o Empório de Banhos de Anne Smythe, capaz de operar verdadeiros milagres. É também uma história em que as personagens amadurecem, provam ser resilientes e aprendem a superar divergências e obstáculos que poderiam limitar o caminho em direcção à felicidade.
Uma leitura que agradará aos fãs da autora, e que poderá valer-lhe novos seguidores !"
"(...) É, pois, uma história com romance, paixão, sensualidade intensa, e um cenário refrescante, ideal para ler neste verão, o Empório de Banhos de Anne Smythe, capaz de operar verdadeiros milagres. É também uma história em que as personagens amadurecem, provam ser resilientes e aprendem a superar divergências e obstáculos que poderiam limitar o caminho em direcção à felicidade.
Uma leitura que agradará aos fãs da autora, e que poderá valer-lhe novos seguidores !"
December 26, 2024
⭐️ ⭐️ 💫 The MMC was a total plonker.
October 7, 2015
Opinião publicada no Efeito dos Livros
Cheryl Holt soma, segue e nunca desilude. “Mais do que sedução” traz-nos a mulher que tenta sobreviver pelos seus próprios meios, mantendo os homens e as distracções afastadas e o famoso aristocrata que por vergonha das suas feridas de guerra se fechou num casulo de álcool e láudano.
Juntos vão guerrear, com palavras e acções mas como é certo e sabido, a maior batalha que vão travar será a dos sentimentos, os que teimosamente desenvolvem um pelo outro.
Ler mais...
Cheryl Holt soma, segue e nunca desilude. “Mais do que sedução” traz-nos a mulher que tenta sobreviver pelos seus próprios meios, mantendo os homens e as distracções afastadas e o famoso aristocrata que por vergonha das suas feridas de guerra se fechou num casulo de álcool e láudano.
Juntos vão guerrear, com palavras e acções mas como é certo e sabido, a maior batalha que vão travar será a dos sentimentos, os que teimosamente desenvolvem um pelo outro.
Ler mais...
July 11, 2010
3.5. This started off so good, but got very weird. Three different love affairs going on at once. The villain got his comeuppance in a shocking way. Just didn't understand the decisions of the characters in this one....didn't seem believable and was way overly dramatic.
October 14, 2019
Raios, porque é que a autora coloca sempre alguém perverso, que gosta de violar, mal tratar, espancar? Zeus... Não há necessidade...
Quando li o nome da personagem feminina, eu.. "Eu já li este sobrenome, de que livro foi?!", depois lá me lembrei... =D
Quando li o nome da personagem feminina, eu.. "Eu já li este sobrenome, de que livro foi?!", depois lá me lembrei... =D
November 15, 2012
I would have given it four stars but the Hero almost cheats, I always skip that part when I re-read the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2015
3,5⭐️
June 2, 2017
Um romance intenso,muito sensual e romântico.
Uma leitura sempre agradável os livros de Cheryl Holt.
Uma leitura sempre agradável os livros de Cheryl Holt.
January 30, 2018
Rated 3.5
April 21, 2018
Um livro muito bom , com uma boa história mas com algumas partes bem fortes mais para o final , de resto para quem gosta de literatura erótica é fabuloso e o melhor é ter uma boa história atrás .
November 6, 2020
Passable romance gifted to me in a bag of romance paperbacks.
August 15, 2025
3,5 estrelas
April 1, 2012
Wow - this book is like the cirque de soleil of erotic historical romance novels. With all the action and mad capers going on, I would not have been surprised if a troupe of spandex-clan tight-rope walkers made an appearance.
Can you tell I think this book is a little over the top?
Caution - major spoilers ahead.
Stephen is a crippled aristocrat who's dumped on the doorstep of Anne's thriving, female-only therapeutic spa resort, where the idle, artistocratic ladies sun in the buff and flaunt themselves as naughty, naughty women. Anne, however, is a good girl - despite all the nude romping, she's maintained her virginity lo these 30some years - and she also assists women who are genuinely sick. Anne and Stephen fall in bathing lust, but of course, Stephen doesn't understand discretion - he's an aristocrat, after all - and pretty soon Anne's reputation, her business, and eventually her life are in jeopardy.
The spa assistant is a secret lesbian, rescued from Bedlam, who falls in love with the abused, mousy neighbor girl. Aforementioned neighbor girl's brother is a closet sadist, peeping tom, and the local vigilante, with his own private jail house shed in the back where he likes to practice his perversions on whomever he gets to arrest. He's current secret amour is Anne, of course.
Stephen's sister Eleanor is in love with his friend Charles, a soldier amputee, who gets her pregnant and then has the audacity to propose marriage, even though she thinks she's barren. (Huh?) Eleanor kidnapps Charles for sexual escapades after Charles decides life in America is better than life with an aristrocrat.
More kidnapping ensues. Our local vigilante kidnapps Anne, ties her up and beats her. He is interrupted by our intrepid hero, who performs ginzu-style slicing on his manhood and leaves his intenstines on the floor. Wow. This is a romance novel? Be prepared, ladies. Be very prepared.
Can you tell I think this book is a little over the top?
Caution - major spoilers ahead.
Stephen is a crippled aristocrat who's dumped on the doorstep of Anne's thriving, female-only therapeutic spa resort, where the idle, artistocratic ladies sun in the buff and flaunt themselves as naughty, naughty women. Anne, however, is a good girl - despite all the nude romping, she's maintained her virginity lo these 30some years - and she also assists women who are genuinely sick. Anne and Stephen fall in bathing lust, but of course, Stephen doesn't understand discretion - he's an aristocrat, after all - and pretty soon Anne's reputation, her business, and eventually her life are in jeopardy.
The spa assistant is a secret lesbian, rescued from Bedlam, who falls in love with the abused, mousy neighbor girl. Aforementioned neighbor girl's brother is a closet sadist, peeping tom, and the local vigilante, with his own private jail house shed in the back where he likes to practice his perversions on whomever he gets to arrest. He's current secret amour is Anne, of course.
Stephen's sister Eleanor is in love with his friend Charles, a soldier amputee, who gets her pregnant and then has the audacity to propose marriage, even though she thinks she's barren. (Huh?) Eleanor kidnapps Charles for sexual escapades after Charles decides life in America is better than life with an aristrocrat.
More kidnapping ensues. Our local vigilante kidnapps Anne, ties her up and beats her. He is interrupted by our intrepid hero, who performs ginzu-style slicing on his manhood and leaves his intenstines on the floor. Wow. This is a romance novel? Be prepared, ladies. Be very prepared.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 10, 2016
(...)
Gostei imenso da personalidade de ambos, mas foi Anne e as suas dúvidas e atitudes que me prenderam mais. Gostei mais da forma de pensar e agir dela, de como apesar de ter um comandante "em casa" não se acanha e fica com medo de tal figura imponente. De como faz frente a tudo e todos quando quer proteger o que é seu. Claro que Sthepen não é uma personagem que fique para trás, aliás, acho que de crescimento ainda foi melhor que Anne, pois no início da narrativa temos um homem fraco e que tenta a todo o custo fugir da vida e ao longo da narrativa, com os pequenos empurrões de Anne, descobrimos um mulherengo, que adora a vida e que quer voltar a ela.
Foi um livro que gostei e uma boa leitura que aconselho a quem quer passar um bom bocado!
Opinião completa em http://blocodedevaneios.blogspot.pt/2...
Gostei imenso da personalidade de ambos, mas foi Anne e as suas dúvidas e atitudes que me prenderam mais. Gostei mais da forma de pensar e agir dela, de como apesar de ter um comandante "em casa" não se acanha e fica com medo de tal figura imponente. De como faz frente a tudo e todos quando quer proteger o que é seu. Claro que Sthepen não é uma personagem que fique para trás, aliás, acho que de crescimento ainda foi melhor que Anne, pois no início da narrativa temos um homem fraco e que tenta a todo o custo fugir da vida e ao longo da narrativa, com os pequenos empurrões de Anne, descobrimos um mulherengo, que adora a vida e que quer voltar a ela.
Foi um livro que gostei e uma boa leitura que aconselho a quem quer passar um bom bocado!
Opinião completa em http://blocodedevaneios.blogspot.pt/2...
August 11, 2009
Regency. Very fun romp through a woman-owned health spa in which we get to see all the characters' sex lives in turn - including the lesbian assistant! I loved that the healing-waters-setting provided ample opportunities for nudity and naughtiness. I was surprised by random disturbing scenes, like the evil neighbor who has a "penchant for rape" or something equally stupid-sounding, and the same neighbor's incredibly gorey demise at the hands of the hero.
August 1, 2008
Should you happen to be in northern Argentina and discover this literary tour de force upon the hotel lobby book-swap shelf, it is not unrecommended to theatrically read key selections aloud using a Scottish accent whilst sipping malbec with a good friend on your room balcony overlooking stupendous waterfalls.
January 19, 2016
Um romance intenso, apesar da previsibilidade dos acontecimentos, a autora consegue ainda assim surpreender-me, adorei as reviravoltas, principalmente pelo casal secundário (Eleanor e Charles), que surpresa caricata, o que me ri. Anne e Stephen conseguem libertar a paixão que os une, e impedir que os preconceitos se interponham entre eles, a vitória sobre os vilões poderosa, e justa.
September 28, 2012
I enjoyed this book. The various romances going on between supporting characters was interesting and provide opportunity for action. However the demise of the villain made me rethink if I would really like to live with Steven. He definitely has a dark side.
May 10, 2008
Hot, it was good.
May 11, 2008
Great
December 28, 2015
Hated it. I don't like my heroine to be kidnapped, tortured, and beaten within an inch of her life. No more Cheryl Holt for me.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews