With Seduction in Mind was an exceptionally unique novel, for several different reasons. My overall reaction is to this story is one of pleased contentment.
The characters of this book, Sebastian and Daisy, were very fascinating to me. Daisy’s outspokenness and independence were integral to making her stand out as a strong, likeable heroine. Not once did I feel as if she were irritating or flaky. Sebastian, though, was a bit trickier. For over half of the story, I never felt there was much beneath his playboy, devil-may-care façade. Despite being a character with a flawed past and coping with a professional crisis, Sebastian rarely seemed to be more than he appeared. In some instances, he almost came off as whiny or weak. Normally such depictions from a hero would have my skin crawling, but because of the nature of the story and how the novel was written, these character flaws gave credence to the overall plot.
When considering the plot of the story, I found myself really fascinated by its uniqueness. Essentially the telling of two struggling authors, both undergoing their own vocational tribulations for very different reasons, coming together and aiding one another to find their own true literary voices, the plot actually carried itself off well. Such is interesting to note, for the cast of characters was extremely small since a large majority of the book focuses solely on Daisy and Sebastian, almost to the exclusion of anyone else. One would assume the small character cast would make the storyline seem dull or tiring after some time, but ironically the opposite is true.
As a result, because of such a heavy focus on the hero and heroine, the love story between these two people was very significant in this book as the driving plotline. For the most part, I have almost no criticisms against the romance between Daisy and Sebastian. Such was very believable and enjoyable, to the point that it was almost perfect, at least until the very end. During the final scenes of the book, I found it a bit difficult to believe the sudden epiphany Sebastian has in regards to his feelings for Daisy. I generally don’t mind sudden character epiphanies appearing in novels, but in this case there seemed to be no basis behind Sebastian’s.
However, outside of the seemingly thinness of Sebastian’s character, and his reasons for his change of heart in regards to his feelings for Daisy, the book was very, very good! The pacing of the novel was slow, yes, but enjoyable, too. It didn’t feel rushed or hurried, even though such is typically the case when the middle of a book drags on with several events coming in quick succession towards the last parts of the novel. Normally, this would irritate my picky reading tastes, but Guhrke wrote the story in such a way that this felt believable. Such plot points and their pace seemed to be the way the story naturally developed, rather than being forced as a result of the author’s choosing.