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Tempted by Fire
Certain that with Lord Southam's protection she could have access to London's highest circles and would be able to locate her long-lost father, Janine Beaumont uses her beauty to capture the unwitting lord. Original.
478 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1992
67 people want to read
About the author
Thea Devine
59 books69 followersThea Devine is the author of eighteen historical romances and four novellas, including her contributions to the Brava anthologies Captivated, Fascinated, and, most recently, All Through the Night. Devine lives with her husband of 35 years in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 10, 2021
An earlier work by Thea Devine where she has not developed her signature writing style. There is no vagueness or stream-of-consciousness passages. What remain Devine hallmarks are the erotic scenes, hate-to-love chemistry, and mystery plot.
Everything is spelt out, and it is this that makes Tempted By Fire boring, at times. There is almost a perfunctory feeling to the romance, like this is how a romance should be written, and I do not begrudge Devine for this since it is an earlier work, and for an earlier work, it is well-written, it is sexy, and there is a good, if a little synchronistic ending. As someone who has read the earlier works of other authors and have found them to be juvenile to unreadable, Tempted By Fire is readable but missing Devine's essence.
The pedantic descriptions make it hard to be engaged in the story, despite a captivating prologue. The opening chapters are also intriguing and creative but also bogged down with words. It is when Jenae and Southam's agreement is set into motion that this really bears weight on the pacing of the story, and the plot, feels, at times, rudderless. There is attention spent upon detailing, at length, scenes, that don't have to be. I almost quit reading when Jenae was getting her London wardrobe.
However, there is a good plot in here, and I am a fan of Devine's heroines. Again, I was struck by how Devine can write a good femme fatale. They almost remind me of Emile Zola's Nana, in their unapologetic magnetism to the other sex. Jenae is another heroine who knows their sexual power and their sexual desires and uses it.
Jenae and Southam must be both Scorpios because there is so much power dynamics in their relationship with each other. The main crux to their chemistry is how much they want to make the other submit to their sexual power. They both want to dominate the other. Some of the more risque scenes involve silk ropes, and pots of chocolate. Again, there is a pedantic quality in their barbed conversations. Each volley they throw at each other is dissected minutely by the other. Sometimes, this is entertaining, other times, you want to move on.
Other reviewers have noted that the ending felts incomplete. Even Southam notes with disappointment that Jenae is more focused on wrapping up the mystery than dealing with their relationship. However, deal with the mystery we must.
While I noticed that there wasn't an ending scene where they make their declarations of love and clear up any misunderstandings with their behaviour, it did not bug me because there was at least one moment where we got into Southam and Jenae's brains and they were honest, at least to themselves, that they did care for the other person.
Southam, in particular, memorably has this realization a few times, in his fear that she will leave him, or in telling her that their marriage will not be annulled or end. Jenae had a lot going on LOL - most of her POV was spent trying to figure out how not to die or be kicked out on the street.
Overall, I recommend Tempted By Fire with some reservations. Devine's adherence to writing conventions can drag down the pacing of the story, depending on your reading tastes, but if you like femme fatales and are piqued by the erotic scenes, you might find yourself holding on, and enjoying the ride.
P.S. This cover is gorgeous! :P
Everything is spelt out, and it is this that makes Tempted By Fire boring, at times. There is almost a perfunctory feeling to the romance, like this is how a romance should be written, and I do not begrudge Devine for this since it is an earlier work, and for an earlier work, it is well-written, it is sexy, and there is a good, if a little synchronistic ending. As someone who has read the earlier works of other authors and have found them to be juvenile to unreadable, Tempted By Fire is readable but missing Devine's essence.
The pedantic descriptions make it hard to be engaged in the story, despite a captivating prologue. The opening chapters are also intriguing and creative but also bogged down with words. It is when Jenae and Southam's agreement is set into motion that this really bears weight on the pacing of the story, and the plot, feels, at times, rudderless. There is attention spent upon detailing, at length, scenes, that don't have to be. I almost quit reading when Jenae was getting her London wardrobe.
However, there is a good plot in here, and I am a fan of Devine's heroines. Again, I was struck by how Devine can write a good femme fatale. They almost remind me of Emile Zola's Nana, in their unapologetic magnetism to the other sex. Jenae is another heroine who knows their sexual power and their sexual desires and uses it.
Jenae and Southam must be both Scorpios because there is so much power dynamics in their relationship with each other. The main crux to their chemistry is how much they want to make the other submit to their sexual power. They both want to dominate the other. Some of the more risque scenes involve silk ropes, and pots of chocolate. Again, there is a pedantic quality in their barbed conversations. Each volley they throw at each other is dissected minutely by the other. Sometimes, this is entertaining, other times, you want to move on.
Other reviewers have noted that the ending felts incomplete. Even Southam notes with disappointment that Jenae is more focused on wrapping up the mystery than dealing with their relationship. However, deal with the mystery we must.
While I noticed that there wasn't an ending scene where they make their declarations of love and clear up any misunderstandings with their behaviour, it did not bug me because there was at least one moment where we got into Southam and Jenae's brains and they were honest, at least to themselves, that they did care for the other person.
Southam, in particular, memorably has this realization a few times, in his fear that she will leave him, or in telling her that their marriage will not be annulled or end. Jenae had a lot going on LOL - most of her POV was spent trying to figure out how not to die or be kicked out on the street.
Overall, I recommend Tempted By Fire with some reservations. Devine's adherence to writing conventions can drag down the pacing of the story, depending on your reading tastes, but if you like femme fatales and are piqued by the erotic scenes, you might find yourself holding on, and enjoying the ride.
P.S. This cover is gorgeous! :P
November 9, 2009
Whew! It's been a while since I've read a trashy novel. I think it's best to ease into the genre. Especially if one has been reading nonfiction historical books.
Devine has lovely language. But it is not often where I get the opportunity to complain of a book that has TOO MUCH plot. While I can totally respect the author's desire to make a romance story more than just romance, I feel Tempted by Fire overdid it.
Another thing that irritated me was the complete saturation of sparring between the two. "He was her prey" "She was his victim". The story goes that in order for our heroine to fulfill her mother's dying wish to find her real father in London, she has to deliberately lose at her specialty game of cards...to a rogue man who was in a position to get her to London to look. She offers her body up to pay the debt, but then spends half the book reneging on it because she wants to control the terms. It got very tiresome with the cat and mouse game on both sides of the equation. The repetitive impasses while the romance blossomed were far fetched and contrived. They can't both be the victim and the prey.
A sample of the language. Romance novels always give me the giggles.
"And she quelled the furious arousal of her traitorous body, the unexpected spume of liquid heat to the very center of her female core; she ignored the thrust of her breasts against his hard chest and the erotic and unfamiliar chafing of her tender nipples against the gauzy fabric of her gown."
The book gets a two because I found no less than half a dozen grammatical/spelling errors in the book. Shame on Zebra Historical Romance!
Devine has lovely language. But it is not often where I get the opportunity to complain of a book that has TOO MUCH plot. While I can totally respect the author's desire to make a romance story more than just romance, I feel Tempted by Fire overdid it.
Another thing that irritated me was the complete saturation of sparring between the two. "He was her prey" "She was his victim". The story goes that in order for our heroine to fulfill her mother's dying wish to find her real father in London, she has to deliberately lose at her specialty game of cards...to a rogue man who was in a position to get her to London to look. She offers her body up to pay the debt, but then spends half the book reneging on it because she wants to control the terms. It got very tiresome with the cat and mouse game on both sides of the equation. The repetitive impasses while the romance blossomed were far fetched and contrived. They can't both be the victim and the prey.
A sample of the language. Romance novels always give me the giggles.
"And she quelled the furious arousal of her traitorous body, the unexpected spume of liquid heat to the very center of her female core; she ignored the thrust of her breasts against his hard chest and the erotic and unfamiliar chafing of her tender nipples against the gauzy fabric of her gown."
The book gets a two because I found no less than half a dozen grammatical/spelling errors in the book. Shame on Zebra Historical Romance!
November 23, 2013
I love Thea Devine's erotic romances. And yes although all her work is labeled as romance, sometimes the romance doesn't entirely come through in her books until the last 2 pages. Up until this book, the erotically charged romances she has created was absolutely wonderful. However, this book was just full of erotica with no wonderful ending in site. No, "I love you's", and no other sweet mushy endings us romance readers often enjoy. I love my books with lots of erotically charged sex and then the wonderful endings, this book only has the sex. It's still a Devine book, so if you are truly a fan , don't cull it. Just understand going in that the Romance is sketchy at best.
March 8, 2012
This one was really hard to rate, and really hard to finish. To be honest I put it down A LOT and wasn't certain I could get through the period lingo long enough to understand what the hell was going on. I'm still not sure I completely understood it. Of course, that is entirely on me not the author. If anything, she did a fabulous job of using period language, mannerisms and human interaction. I just didn't always "get" it.
The gist of the story is that Jainee Bowman's mother was a gambler in France who thought playing with men's minds was as much fun as playing cards. She taught Jainee everything she knew, so when the mother was killed Jainee was able to care for herself using her wiles. She eventually made it to London by way of Nicholas, Lord Southam. He has his own serious emotional baggage. There is intrigue, mystery and a traitor in their midst. Through it all they never trust each other and spend so much time arguing I'm surprised they ever actually had sex. But they did and it was hot. Maybe the only reason I kept reading. The ending was an abrupt telling in the past couple of pages that didn't actually lay to rest their innate distrust of each other. It left me sorely disappointed and extremely glad the journey was finally over.
One thing I will say is, thank god I didn't live in that time period, because I never would have put up with people talking to me the way they did to Jainee.
The gist of the story is that Jainee Bowman's mother was a gambler in France who thought playing with men's minds was as much fun as playing cards. She taught Jainee everything she knew, so when the mother was killed Jainee was able to care for herself using her wiles. She eventually made it to London by way of Nicholas, Lord Southam. He has his own serious emotional baggage. There is intrigue, mystery and a traitor in their midst. Through it all they never trust each other and spend so much time arguing I'm surprised they ever actually had sex. But they did and it was hot. Maybe the only reason I kept reading. The ending was an abrupt telling in the past couple of pages that didn't actually lay to rest their innate distrust of each other. It left me sorely disappointed and extremely glad the journey was finally over.
One thing I will say is, thank god I didn't live in that time period, because I never would have put up with people talking to me the way they did to Jainee.
January 26, 2015
Jainee has been abandoned by her father years before, and barely remembers his taking her baby half brother from her mother. Raised in the glamorous word of the Napolean French court, her mother experienced a brief interest by the Emperor that resulted in the baby boy. It also led to her mother's murder. Jainee spends her adult years searching for the boy and her father. Using the only skill she has, which is as a instinctively gifted gambler, she works her way into the British "ton" to find her father, who was part of that circle of elites. Fascinating and great mystery as well as romance.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews