Seducing Simon

by Maya Banks

One fateful night, Toni Langston seduces her best friend, the guy she's been in love with forever. Two problems-he doesn't remember a thing that happened and now she's pregnant. Toni Langston has been in love with Simon, her best friend, for years. The night Simon breaks up with his long time girlfriend, he and Toni make love. Toni is devastated and humiliated when, in the heat of the moment, he calls her by his girlfriend's name. The next morning, Simon remembers nothing of the previous night and Toni is only too relieved not to remind him. Two months later, she discovers she's pregnant. She wants Simon to love her, apart from any obligation he might feel because of the baby. So she embarks on a quest to seduce her best friend, to make him see her as more than a little sister, to make him love her as much as she loves him. It works. Maybe too well. Now when things are perfect, she faces telling him of the secret she's kept.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Friends To Lovers, Erotica, Erotic Romance, Audiobook

216 pages, Trade Paperback

First published June 6, 2006

About the author

Maya Banks is the #1 New York Times, #1 USA Today and international bestselling author of over 50 novels. A wife and mother of three, she lives in Texas.

Reviews

[seton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Toni, our heroine, has been in lurve with Simon the Stud . . . ly Fireman forever. One night, she catches Simon drunk and on the rebound and has drunken (but orgasmic all the same) sex with him. Simon was so friggin’ drunk that he doesnt even remember that he took Toni’s maidenhead the morning after. Except, ooops, Toni the Stupid Virgin was not on the pill and is now preggers. What’s a gal to do?

At 202 pages, this book reads like a reject from the Harlequin Presents line. It would have to be retitled “The Fireman’s Secret Baby” which doesnt have the same earning bracket as Sheik, Tycoon, Millionaire, Billionaire, and Trillionaire which are the only type of heroes Harlequin accepts, hence the rejection. Unfortunately, while a Harlequin Presents is an easy swallow at $4.50 a pop, this baby set me back $11.50. Which is more than twice the price of a HP, hence my ire. (If you buy it in its original e-book format, it still sets you back more than a HP at $5.50.)

Okay, let’s be honest here. We buy these e-books for a hot read, the smut, yo. Except in the case of Seducing Simon, I really have read actual Harlequin books that are waaaaaaaaay sexier than this one. Add a TSTL heroine that makes Britney Spears look like Mother of the Year and I am thinking I might be generous with my grade here.

Grade: D+

[*TANYA* · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for something light hearted and not too deep or intense. Shebang!!! This book was it, turned out to be a very cute, quick read.

[Dina · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was too boring and predictable. I could hardly keep turning the pages, so... I just gave up. After reading Toni´s pathetic - and so overused in Romancelandia that it had my eyeballs rolling - attempt at seducing Simon with a dress makeover, I decided enough was enough.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seducing Simon is a standalone, adult contemporary romance novel written by author Maya Banks. I chose to listen to this simple romance due to the fairly short length of the audiobook which was pretty perfect for my tasks for the day. The synopsis sounded sexy with just the right amount of drama to keep it interesting and it was for the most part. There's a friends-to-lovers romance, lots of anxiety and secrecy, a touch of drama involving an ex, and a hold-your-breath climax near the end. Of course, most all of the drama was preventable (please just communicate!) and some of the characters' actions were disappointing, but it was short, engaging, and did the job. I usually insert my favorite quote at the bottom of each of the reviews I write but sadly nothing notable really stood out to me with this book. Seducing Simon certainly didn't blow me away but I liked my reading experience overall and wouldn't deter anyone from reading it. It's an easy afternoon read. Enjoy!

[Maida (Medley of Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

RATING: 3.25 "Cute & Sexy Friends to Lovers Story" Hearts!! :D

[Lynsey A · Rating 3 out of 5]

***a few minor spoilers***




This was my first book by Maya Banks. The pregnancy theme is one of my favorites in romance which is what prompted me to pick up this book.

I liked the main characters, I just didn't love them, didn't feel their love story. It all seemed a bit "meh" to me. I expected a little more passion between the two of them and the love scene really just fell kind of flat to me.

Also, I thought A.J.'s character was a bit annoying. His jokes were meant to be funny but they just seemed silly to me. The only thing that redeemed A.J. for me was his backing Toni near the end of the book.

Another thing that really bothered me was Toni's brother, Matt. The fact that he was upset with her about keeping her secret from Simon angered me somewhat. She is his sister and deserved his support even if he disagreed with what she did. Keeping her pregnancy was from Simon was wrong but she's family. She wanted to tell Simon but was scared with is understandable. A little more compassion was due her from her own brother.

Now, I loved Mike's character. He's the one who really seemed real to me. His telling off Simon was rather refreshing.

I wish there was an epilogue to know the sex of the baby. That's one of my pet peeves.

It was still an enjoyable read but not one of my favorite books. If someone is looking for a light read with the pregnancy theme then this is an okay book.

[♛✨Christine ♛✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

How could I ever forget about a gem like this. I have had this book since 2010 and my what a read it is!

It has everything you need! Humour! A sexy fireman! An unplanned pregnancy! Hotness! And so much more.

You will fall in love with this little read.

Simon...Babe...Hunny Booboo... You have set me on fire! I am in definite need of assistance!

I would definitely have your babies!



Seriously anyone in the mood for a novel that's steamy and has an unrequited love interest - THIS IS FOR YOU!

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a decent read I liked it but I didn't love it. Also I wish there was an epilogue to know the sex of the baby.

[Kristan · Rating 4 out of 5]

so i gave this book 4 stars and heres why

*few spoilers*

okay so you already know whats going to happen in this book because of the description
one night one of tonis best friends Simon comes home kinda drunk then continues to drink so Toni takes the once in a lifetime opportunity seeing as shes been in love with him forever and sleeps with him losing her virginity to him and everything except he calls her by his ex-girlfriends name and doesn't remember in the morning so she decides to let it go and never speak of it again except two months later she finds out shes pregnant so she makes this plan to seduce him and see if he will ever see her as anything other than a best friend/little sister . her plan works and they start dating except she keeps the secret that hes the father of her baby because she wants to make sure he loves her for her and not out of obligation to her because he knocked her up , alot of stuff happens though out the book and im not going to give away the good parts but the ending was a big disappointment which is why i gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because i really did enjoy the story as a whole but in the end they agree to get married then the book is over no epilogue about when the baby is born what it is or if they do end up married which was kinda depressing because it would have been nice to know

but today i read four play which is two books, one by shayla black and one by Maya banks the one by banks happens to be about 3 firemen who work for the same station as Simon and when Zoe goes to a softball game she runs into Toni :) who happens to have the baby with her it was a girl and the happily married couple name her Samantha

[Jacqueline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the set up for this - she's been in love with him for years, he only sees her as his best friend's little sister. She comforts him by seducing him into givng her one when he's heartbroken and drunk one night and not only does he call her by his ex's name, but also he doesn't remember doing the deed with her. Then she realises she's up the duff.

Oops.

I didn't exactly get the feels from this, it might have been the third person narrative style, Idk, but I wished a couple of times as I was reading it that KA had written it because she's the master at squeezing emotions out of sweet sadness. The characters didn't feel very real, and some of the dialogue seemed a bit hallmark for a burly fire fighter.

It wasn't a bad read at all, but I was interested in it rather than gripped.

[Julie (jjmachshev) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simon is Toni's best friend...and her secret love for many years now. When he shows up crushed by the betrayal of his almost-fiance, Toni consoles him...a little too well. Simon takes her virginity, and then calls her by his ex's name. The next morning he remembers nothing. Six weeks later Toni discovers she is pregnant.

This is one of Ms Bank's earlier works and not as steamy as her usual fare. There were actually very few sex scenes, but that was just right for this book.

Although there were several over-used plot contrivances, I still cried at one point in the book! The growth of their relationship was very believable for me and didn't occur at light speed. They both made mistakes and had to learn to compromise and forgive. This book is going on my keeper shelf because, for whatever reason, it touched me.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to think about how to rate this book. I went with 5 stars because I really did love it. I was glued to the pages (er...um, screen). But that doesn't mean I couldn't spot a couple of faults. I just loved it in spite of them.

Sometimes the dialogue got a bit corny. And sometimes Simon bordered very heavily on TSTL. But despite all of that, I was hooked on the emotional journey.

I felt that Toni's actions were realistic and justified. And if Simon was quick to judge her, that just means his groveling was even sweeter.

I would say that this book was an indulgence. Maybe even a guilty pleasure. The feeling I got while reading it reminded me of when I read the Chase Brothers books by Lauren Dane. Like, you know that guys don't really act this way, but, dammit, you wish they did!

[Lemon · Rating 1 out of 5]

"You're an idiot, Simon." Truly, me thinks 'twas was the best part about this book and the only part worth my time reading. Talk about a jerk royalle. May this fictional story serve as a real-life lesson for all us gals and boys: please, don't fall for someone with a negative I.Q. No good can come of it.

And the brother should have been disowned. And the heroine really needed to take a TSTL relief pill. And what is up with that cover? Ugh.

[Belle Aurora · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first real adult/erotica book i'd ever read and loved it

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Stars

I truly enjoyed this "secret daddy" pregnancy book. It was a quick read that kept me glued to it.It was perfect for what I needed to read at the time and filled my book void.

Toni lives with three guys- her brother and his friends- but secretly has been crushing on one of them, Simon. She gets a shot at him one night, problem is, he can't remember the whole night. She ends up pregnant and not sure what to do. However, she's in love with Simon and decides to come up with a plan to win him over- now the question is, how does she tell him about the night they shared the baby they created with out pushing him away or making him hate her?

I really liked this book. I enjoyed the cast of guys. They were all great and over protective. Though Simon could be dense about Toni's feelings at times. This book also had enough drama/angst to carry the story out with out being over the top.


What I liked:
1. Toni- she was a great heroine. Had a backbone. Loyal, loving, hard worker, not whiny, and could take care of her own.
2. I loved that Toni lived with her brother and his two best friends.
3. I honestly liked Mike.
4. I really LOVED LOVED LOVED AJ
5. I liked the two major trauma's as it added something to tug at your heart strings and beef up the book.
6. For the most part, I liked Simon- when he wasn't being an idiot, clueless, or secretive.
7. Quick Paced

Three complaints:
1. I felt like Starla's drama should have been played out a bit more to wreck havoc and what the heck happened at the end? She was left uncompleted.
2. I felt like I needed a little more closure with an epilogue, even though I loved the end results.
3. In the last chapter I felt like Simon needed to do a tad more groveling and more healing needed to happen before she took him back.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve had my eye on this book for quite a while. So, I decided to splurge and buy it.

This was everything I thought it would be. A great friends-to-lovers book, plus the hero (Simon) was Toni’s brother’s best friend. Those relationship dynamics are always fun.

My only complaint came toward the end of the book. I was on board throughout the whole story until Toni and Simon had a huge fight. I was even fine with him being a jerk. What I didn’t like was how as soon as he said “sorry” she took him back. I felt like he should have had to work for it a little more.

But other than that, this was a quality read. Some angst and drama but mostly a sweet romance.

[Raffaella · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a SOB the hero is. He's got all i hate in a man:
-utter stupid
-coward
-conceited
-selfish
the heroine is no better. She lives in the same house with hero, another man and her brother and has been in love with the hero forever. The hero saw her as his lil sister and dated ow, he was engaged with ow and the night he was going to propose he found her in bed with another man. I enjoyed this, the ow was smarter than the heroine. He came back home drunk and the heroine had sex with him even knowing he was drunk. Ah and it was her first time. Ah and after sex he called her with his ex's name. Is it tacky enough? He doesn't remember anything and the heroine doesn't tell him because she' afraid she will spoil their friendship. Two months later she finds out she's pregnant and here's the dance begins. She doesn't want to tell him, she tries to seduce him, he's attracted to her, and at last they are together. Ah, ow is in the middle because, after cheating on him, she needs a friend and of course he's there for her. But then, she's got cancer. Uhm. I don't know if there's a logic in it, it was really not necessary to add this ow drama. Whatever. The hero and the heroine are together and he's going to propose (this thing made me irk, two months before he was going to marry another woman and suddenly he wants to marry her) and she still hasn't told him the baby is his. His reaction is to die for. Meaning that I wished he died of a painful and slow death. Because he was awful and mean. The man doesn't deserve a chance. And when she called him the day after to talk he refused again. The stupid heroine then went out during an ice storm and had an accident. Much drama and hero groveling but it wasn't enough. I didn't like this book, it's obvious.
- The way the heroine behaved made me think of a 14 not a 25 year old woman. Trying to lure him with sexy clothes when he didn't notice her for years. She doesn't have any pride.
- The way she didn't tell him she was pregnant with his child. He was there too, the coward, he had a right to know and had to do his duty.
- she was stupid but he was unforgivable. Calling her with his ex's name after sex. Yuck.
- I don't believe for a moment when he told her he loved her forever, while scr**ing around and almost marrying another woman
-I don't want to believe for a moment that a fireman would behave as he did when she told him she was pregnant with his child, firemen are ready to deal with much greater emergencies than this, he was not even able to deal with this new properly.
- I don't like books where the heroine loves the hero and he loves another.
I don't think I can recommend it.

[Elle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't sleep last night. Not because this book was so good that I couldn't wait to finish it, let me make that clear. But at about 5 am I stumbled across a copy of this, started it and a few hours later was done. With it. Forever.

There were not memorable lines or characters I could relate to and the ending left much to be desired (people don't have to almost die for others to realize what they feel for them!).

The story started all well and good, right away being a tad bit scandalous but it was all downhill from there. Sigh. No hot sex or steamy chemistry and I have never met a heroine who cries so often. My god woman, yes you're pregnant but yeesh there is something called "purposeful crying" that at least moves that plot ahead!

I would have given it 3 stars if I hadn't just read Sweet Persuasion and expected better from Maya Banks. Either she has really grown as an author or she should stick with writing what she knows.

[Melanie♥ · Rating 1 out of 5]

2.5 stars for the story.
1 star for the narrator.

I read this years ago and liked it. No idea now why I would have liked it so much before.
I struggled to finish this audio version, but audiobooks are pricey and I made myself listen to the whole thing.

If there had not been a narrator's name listed on the packaging, I would have sworn this was a result of a text to voice program. No emotion at all. It just about put me to sleep and that is not good when driving!

[Jacqueline J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun little book. Sweet heroine and clueless hero. All in all it unfolded in a pretty seamless way. Classic romance story telling. I need to check and see if any of the other men in the book have their own stories.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book makes an interesting comparison to Brenda Jackson's A Wife for a Westmoreland. That book also involved a heroine who had been in love with the hero for years coming upon him in a state of mental impairment and seizing the opportunity to have sex without him realizing who she is. However while AWfaW treated this act of outright rape as if it was a funny joke and the heroine got off scot free, in Seducing Simon, Toni's actions actually haunted her for months and when the truth came out, she got a serious smackdown. Also, while the heroine in AWfaW 100% knew that the hero had no idea who she was during the sex, Toni actually thought Simon was aware it was her and was a willing participant. It was only afterward, when he called her by another woman's name, that she realized how impaired he actually was.

Those two things together make this book's setup much more palatable than AWfaW and show what a skilled storyteller MB is. However, you can definitely tell that this is one of MB's earliest books because of the MASSIVE over-use of unnecessary adverbs. Seriously, she added an adverb to almost everything and some of them get pretty ridiculous. I mean, forthrightly? Come on.


Okay, so the setup is that Toni and her brother, Matt, are orphans but inherited their familial home when their parents died. They invited their 2 best friends, Simon and AJ, to live with them. The men are all firefighters and they all adore Toni and are fiercely protective of her. Toni fell in love with Simon ages ago but never made a move on him. He only saw her as his friend's kid sister, never as a woman, and Toni was too afraid of wrecking their idyllic living situation to risk doing anything as overt as making a pass at him. Plus, despite apparently being a gorgeous knockout, she's never really dated anyone because she's been too busy carrying a torch for Simon, so she doesn't really know how to flirt.

Two months before the start of the book, Simon was in a long-term relationship with a chick and was prepared to marry her. Then he caught her in bed with another man and broke things off. He did some drinking, then came home and did some more while Toni comforted him. While Simon and Toni are on the couch, he definitely knows it's her he's with because he calls her by name and talks about what a great person she is. Just a few seconds after that, Toni decides to just kiss him like she's always wanted to and he responds voraciously and then carries her to his bedroom. There's no more talking until after they finish having sex. So while it was wrong for Toni to take advantage of Simon's emotional upheaval and alcohol-dulled morals, she did have every reason to think he was aware of to whom he was making love.

Naturally the sex was amazing, despite her virginity, and she's on cloud nine for about 5 seconds before he calls her by the name of his cheating ex and Toni realizes things were not as she thought. She immediately understands that she's done something horrible and is devastated that she'll end up losing Simon forever, not just as a potential mate, but as her best friend as well. But, the next morning Simon has no memory of what happened and Toni is deliriously happy that she can just pretend it didn't happen....until she turns up pregnant.

I really have to question how it is that Simon had no clue that he'd had sex with someone though. I mean, I can buy him being so blackout drunk that he can't remember, (although if he was THAT incapacitated, how was he able to perform at all?) but wasn't he at least a little suspicious when he woke up the next morning naked, sticky and needing to launder the sheets with virginal blood and other assorted fluids on them?

But anyway, Toni is pregnant and petrified. She can't tell Simon because it'll mean fessing up to what she did, and it'll wreck the domestic situation. Also, she's still in love with him and she knows that he'll do right by her and the baby, but doesn't want him to ONLY see her as the mother of his child. She wants him to notice her as a woman and love her for herself.

She plans to move out of the house without telling the guys about her pregnancy but that plan goes swiftly out the window when one of them finds her pregnancy test. She refuses to tell them the name of the father and they all rally around her and vow to help her through her current situation. Simon in particular immediately takes an active role in looking after her. Getting pregnancy books, offering to accompany her to the doctor's appointments, and holding her hair back while she pukes from morning sickness. Honestly, the amount of physical contact he has with her is way beyond what you'd expect from someone who views her as a little sister. He's constantly rubbing her back and snuggling with her on the couch...with his shirt off. And yet we're told that he still doesn't view her as a potential mate at this point. It was weird.

But although Simon isn't thinking of her that way in the front of his brain, he's still feeling extremely territorial and protective of her. When she gets asked out by one of the other guys at the fire station, Simon actually stalks them on their date and spies on them from behind a menu. Toni has a nice time on the date but afterward feels like she's got to warn the guy that she's pregnant. The guy, Mike, is extremely understanding about the whole thing and encourages her to unburden herself to him, which she does because she doesn't have anyone else she can confide in. She explains the whole thing and he's sympathetic. We never get any explanation for how Toni has reached the age of 25 and not made a single girlfriend though.

Mike agrees to help Toni try to get Simon to see her as a woman and gives her some very explicit instructions on what to wear and how to act to catch Simon's eye. She does these things and it drives Simon crazy. AJ figures out very early on that Toni is into Simon and knows full well what she's doing during the seduction game. He also sees all of Simon's jealousy and pushes him to make a move on Toni. Simon holds back though because he doesn't want to mess up his friendship with Toni or her brother.

Finally Toni has a mild scare about the baby and when Simon is comforting her, she takes the opportunity and kisses him. He responds big time...for about 10 seconds. Then he pulls back and apologizes for kissing her. She takes this as a straight rejection and slinks off to her room. She's too ashamed to see him and fears that she's wrecked the domestic bliss, so she arranges to get a second job so that she'll be out of the house almost all the time. Simon, meanwhile, feels guilty because he thinks he took advantage of her delicate emotional state...even though she's the one who initiated the kiss. So he doesn't really try that hard to get her to talk to him because he thinks she's mad at him and he deserves it.

Eventually AJ smacks some sense into Simon and he runs over to Toni's first job and kisses her to prove he's definitely interested in her. The next part of the book was weird and awkward. They start dating but their interactions came off as very stilted and I didn't feel the attraction between them for quite a while. There's also a strange and largely unnecessary subplot about Simon's ex hanging around with him again.

You think this is setting up and OW scenario but it actually turns out she's just been diagnosed with cervical cancer and didn't have anyone else she could count on to help her through the initial shock. It was weird because her presence was used several times to make Toni jealous and to make her question Simon's commitment to her, and Simon knows full well that this is the case, and yet he doesn't just TELL her what's going on until the ex is conveniently ready to leave forever. When Toni asks why Simon didn't just tell her the truth, he teases her and says that maybe he liked making her jealous. Um, no dude, that is not cool. Not when your relationship is so very new and if it goes south it'll torpedo all you closest friendships. So that was bizarre, unbelievable and unnecessary. And, as an aside, back in 2006 when the book was written it might have been largely unknown that the leading cause of cervical cancer, especially in young, otherwise healthy women, is HPV, Human Papillomavirus, which is contagious and spread through sexual contact, but here in 2018 we DO know that. So my first thought upon hearing the ex's diagnosis was that Toni might now be infected as well and should get her @ss to the doctor!

But eventually Simon and Toni sort out all the awkwardness and angst and are happily dating for a couple of months. Then the boys are out on a fire call and both Matt and Simon are injured. Toni is beside herself with worry and when Simon finally wakes up, she declares her long-standing love for him. When we get Simon's perspective of the scene, he talks about how the love was shining from her eyes and so forth so he had no doubt that she was truly in love with him. Soon Toni gets an opportunity to move into her own place so she takes it. That allows them to be alone together a lot more, now that they're not having to be sensitive to the fact that her brother is in the next room. They're blissfully happy for a few more months, though Toni has the constant nagging pressure that she has to eventually come clean to Simon about the pregnancy and that it could completely wreck everything.

After passing up several opportunities and then calling herself a coward for doing so, Toni finally picks a day and forces herself to tell him. Coincidentally, that day was also the night Simon planned to propose to her, but before he popped the question, he asked her to tell him who the father of the baby was. He'd been doing his best to curb his jealousy over Toni having been with someone else, but worried that she might still care for the guy, or that he'll pop up sometime later to make a claim on the baby.

Finally Toni tells him the truth, but of course, it's not the whole truth because this is a book and everything has to be milked for ultimate drama. She starts by saying "remember that night you and the ex broke up? Yeah, we had sex that night." Simon initially worries that he'd forced himself on her or in some other way took advantage of her, but she is quick to assure him that he didn't. It was all her. She says that she knew what she was doing and knew that he didn't and she did it anyway. He loses his sh*t and accuses her of all kinds of things. He asks if the reason she worked so hard to seduce him was so that she could secure a father for her baby. And talks about how she's betrayed him worse than the ex ever did. That he'd thought she was pure and honest and loyal and instead she'd been keeping this major secret from him. Then he storms off without giving her a chance to explain.

Toni basically spends the rest of the book wallowing in misery. She feels that she completely deserves all Simon's condemnation and that everything is her own fault. Back at the family house, Simon quickly reveals what happened to Matt and AJ and in a totally disgusting plot twist, Matt actually completely condemns Toni too. He's her brother! Even if she seems to have done something majorly wrong, he should at least give her the benefit of the doubt and ask for her side! But he doesn't.

AJ is the only one who takes up for Toni. He points out that they've known her for years and they know she's not a bad person, so there has to be some explanation. And that even if she did make a mistake, it can't have been meant maliciously. Neither of the other two want to listen. Simon you can understand because he's just gotten the shock of his life, but Matt? No, he's a disgusting jerk.

Toni gets in her car and just drives aimlessly, wanting to be away from Simon and the other guys but not having anywhere else to really go. She ends up staying away for two days and AJ is the only one who's worried about her. He even point-blank tells Matt that his sister is missing and Matt just shrugs and says "eh, she's probably fine." AJ calls Matt out for being such a dick, after all, none of this actually affects Matt and she's his freaking sister! His only living relative who, prior to this, he's vowed undying support to. But nope, Matt is totally unmoved. She screwed up and it almost wrecked their happy home life. Therefore, she's on the outs. It's despicable and I'm really baffled as to why MB wrote the book this way.

After Toni's been gone for 1 day, she works up the courage to call Simon and try again to explain. He tells her they have nothing to talk about and hangs up on her. She's pretty much broken after that but eventually realizes she has to go back home some time. She ends up driving home at 2 am in an ice storm and is broad-sided by an SUV and pushed down a ravine.

Meanwhile, the guys are all at the fire station on duty and AJ is berating the other two for not being more worried about the fact that Toni has been missing for two days. Simon has gotten over a bit of his initial anger but is still pretty pissed because he's still in love with her. Then Mike comes in and berates them too and explains all the things Simon wouldn't let Toni say. That she'd been in love with him forever, gave him her virginity and then he'd called her another woman's name. So obviously she was too ashamed to clue him in the next day when he turned up with amnesia. Simon realizes that he overreacted and then feels super guilty about the things he'd said to her. And now he's very worried about the fact that she's not at home. He spends hours calling her house (I guess no one has cell phones?) but of course gets no answer.

Then they get the call to come to the scene of an accident and it's Toni's car. I thought MB did a nice job here with Simon's gut-wrenching fear that Toni and his baby might be dead and the last thing he'll have said to her was something nasty. Once at the hospital, though, things got super unbelievable. Simon is by Toni's side when she wakes up, but because she thinks he still hates her, she figures he's only there because of the baby and barely tolerating being in the same room with her. And for days and days Simon lets her go on thinking that. MB dresses it up as Toni "needing to rest and recuperate" and that now isn't the time for Simon to assuage his guilt by unburdening himself but I don't buy it. She's miserable BECAUSE she thinks he hates her. I don't see how him apologizing for being mean to her could possibly have a negative impact on her recovery.

He picks her up when she's discharged from the hospital and takes her to a house he's bought. Then he apologizes and proposes and she goes from 100% miserable to 100% happy in 5 seconds. The end.



For the most part I liked this book. MB did a nice job of explaining the sex/secret baby scenario so that I didn't feel like the heroine was a rapist. And I definitely give her props for having the heroine's actions result in real consequences. The brother's behavior was just plain wrong, though, and I don't understand why he was written that way. AJ was awesome and I'd be interested in reading a story with him as the hero but I don't think there is one. I did think it was kind of a cop-out that MB used the "scared my true love might die" gambit TWICE in the same story, though. The guys getting injured in the fire could totally have been dropped from the story without losing anything. And I was irritated that the ending was so abrupt. An epilogue would have gone a long way on this one. But all in all, a decent read.

[Penny Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read by this author. She is an excellent storyteller...right from the start I was engrossed by the premise for this book and tore through it to find out what would happen. I also think she did a fantastic job describing the emotional POV of the heroine. But the way things played out at the end of this book killed it for me. First of all, there were too many typos (confident and confidant...how about using spell check???), the ending was horribly abrupt and unsatisfying, the big black moment was awful...the hero comes off looking like a gigantic ass, it pissed me off that no one seem concerned that the heroine's loss of virginity came after a night of drunken (him), unprotected sex with the hero. Her best friends and even her brother are mad at her!!!! instead of questioning what Simon has done? Are you kidding me? And finally, having a group of firefighters is just screaming out for some yummy, sexy brotherhood-style camaraderie (one of my favorite things!) and Banks didn't tap into this at all. Big disappointment. This book sort of has me scratching my head. Up until the end it was heading for an A or B rating, but the end was a killer for me. Grade: C+

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. I usually like Maya Banks stories but this one was just okay. Might have given it a 4 star rating if Simon hadn't used the endearment "little minx". GAG!!! REALLY?!? What guy ever says that? Sorry, that’s one I just can’t handle. The story overall had that harlequin feel to it which is another detractor factor for me.

[Ixthus · Rating 1 out of 5]

AJ's character is way better than Simon arrg. Or Mike's than Simon.
If I should translate my reading experience i feel like it started okay. The story line rises slowly, till it plateaus, a steady pace reading, where there's not much happening until the last 4 chapters where it declines rapidly, that I don't feel like caring for their HEA anymore.

[Elaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars because it made me cry

[Yesmina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Toni lives with her brother and his 2 best friend. They are one big family from teenage years until adulthood. And the 2 best friends are very protective of Toni and think of her as a little sister. However Toni is in love with Simon. She does not know how approach the subject since Simon has a girlfriend he intends to marry.

As fate would have it, Simon's girlfriend cheats on him. He drinks heavily coming home and figuratively crying on Toni's shoulder. Toni is desperate enough to seduce him and they slept together. Simon don't remember anything and Toni feels humiliated enough so she did not want to upset their friendship and kept quit.

But she ended up pregnant after 2 months. Again she chose wrong. Saying that she wanted to move from the house and assume her single mother responsibility alone. Her brother and the best friends did not allow that and did everything in their power to help her feel relaxed and loved. Especially Simon who always had a soft spot for her.

Toni refused to tell them about the father and Simon respected her wish and kept supporting her. Then again Toni had the stupid idea of seducing Simon thinking "if I seduce him, he'll love me and I won't be a single mom"

She succeeded and Simon bought a ring confessed that he loves her and does not have an issue with the baby however he did not propose asking first about the identity of the father. She sobbed telling the truth. And Simon accused her of being a lying bitch like his ex.

The author put the FMC in danger so the hero would come back to her and forgive her. He even apologized for hurting her feelings and they lived happily ever after.

[Deanie Nelder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I'm torn about this one. On one hand, the characters are interesting and they have real chemistry. I love the friendship between Toni, Matt, A.J. and Simon. I even love Mike, Toni's friend/fake love interest.

On the other hand, the main conflict in the book is based on everyone not talking to each other, or lying to each other, and then overreacting when they find out someone else is not being open and/or honest -- and that's totally a trope I hate.

However, the writing itself is good, even if the story line is fairly predictable. It's not a bad book, but it could have been better.

[P.A. Lupton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of Maya Banks better books, in my opinion. Some of her newer books seem to be heavy on the sex scenes and a little lighter on the story, this one was not. This was actually a very sweet romance and I found myself getting teary eyed in a few spots.

The premise of the story is cute. I like the past history between Tony and Simon. They are close friends first, and their feelings for one another come later. Tony has always known she loved Simon, but it took him a bit longer to realize his feelings for her were not platonic. Even when they do get together we are not inundated with gratuitous sex scenes.

Overall, I really liked this story and think it was well executed. I think readers who enjoy books like the Marriage Bargain will really like this one.

[itsmeesahara❤️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Toni and Simon

Well I was looking for a standalone story and come across to Maya Banks, Seducing Simon.. The story was okay however it took awhile for Toni and Simon to be together.
When the time comes that Simon found out about the father of Toni's baby.. Oh my gosh I felt it in my heart the words being thrown 😭😭 it was like I was Toni..

It is a good story, had an HEA however I wish it there was an Epilogue and could've seen them with the baby..

One more thing to love in this book are the firefighters🚒🚒..dayum!!🤤

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an ok read that reminded me of a Harlequin story.