RATING: 3 stars to Temptation ★ ★ ★
While Jenna Hartley has proven herself to be a readable name in age gap romance, I did regrettably struggle to maintain my own interest in what I hoped, as the title declares, to be a great temptation. We have an interesting opening with a 27-year-old Kendall who's been the sole manager of her mother's cancer recovery process and every difficulty that accompanies the general life admin of such a bittersweet responsibility. Her mother's diagnosis changed her life and derailed her dreams, and the deep worry over her parent's ailing health is never too far from her mind. Kendall is then encouraged by her mom and best friend, Emerson, to start living life for herself again, and to revive the dreams of a life of her own. This particular dream job Kendall declines is never detailed, and I have to say that the story doesn't create a clear voice for Kendall's particular career ambitions bar enjoying the diversity of language studies and mildly flirting with potential job opportunities. She expresses that she had a history of taking her measure based on her romantic relationships of past but the story doesn't do very much for her in the space of personal value and development. I didn't feel that she was making choices in regard to her ambitions outside of her relationship with Knox. What began with a life-seizing conversation set within the grounds of a hospital treatment room with Kendall and her mom, a mother giving her daughter a gentle shove in a self-serving direction, the story struggled to grasp the palpability of what could have been a binding development of some form of self discovery which she finds with an older man and as a result of her own choosing. While Knox and Kendall seem to connect and click on-page, their relationship is not something I felt great chemistry with In particular. The romance itself skims the wholesome surface it delivers with a gentle tenderness, without breaking through to touch the gold of a connection I was told to be rather magnificent. Which it was for the two of them, if not for me. Temptation is admittedly sweet, loving, tender, gentle and warm, but without the believable transitions and the tether-some groundwork to concretise a connection I really wanted to feel. Following some very big anticipation, I experienced a fairly consistent level of disconnect with this story and the central characters, and there were different reasons for that I digress.
Through an agency that services wealthy clientele, Kendall receives a placement to caretake a billionaire's new home. It belongs to, unbeknownst to her, her ex-boyfriend's father, Knox Carter. She's unwilling to commit herself to a live-in position but decides to take the enviable job offer and temporarily live in a neighbourhood that houses the ultra rich. She's holding onto a lot of responsibility but taking on the responsibilities of a luxurious home are too thrilling to pass up. Admittedly, we do have a rather dashing, mature and wholesome hero in Knox. He is something of an older man masterpiece. He's entrepreneurial, family-centric, thoughtful, an owner of a successful sports team, a charitable human being, a family man and a dedicated father. He has a lot going for him in quality to his hero potential. The surreptitious yearning of a hero, along with his falling rather fast and hard, is something that always puts a male lead in my good books. Once Knox is dedicated, he's dedicated, and I did appreciate that about him, especially in regards to Kendall, and especially in mind of his own quiet fears and hesitations. He's attentive and thoughtful, mature and composed. He managed the hesitations between himself and Kendall along with the difficulties pertaining to his relationship with his son, with admiration and grace. Taking the risk of losing the most important relationship of his life to pursue something of his own by leading with love is a risky parlance, and yet he was everything a hero should be in thought to Kendall. The general tone and the protagonists do share similarities to the style of another Hartley romance. Knox reminded me of another Hartley hero, Inevitable's love interest to be exact, and the more I thought about it, Knox does resemble him in numerous ways. Kendall also seemed to share some resemblance of a personality to that book's heroine. I do have to circle back to my earlier point because while the qualities and elements of a potential romance were there, the felt connection and the exposition left something to be desired. Knox's thought processes were also rather repetitive in regards to Kendall. I was told on many occasions, and from both sides, how much more potent the attraction was becoming, how deeper it was evolving to be, without both seeing the development of it on-page and without experiencing scenes to support and entrench those feelings into form. The development was much more mellow, much more mild. I have to say that this was one of the reasons I couldn't bridge the gap between what I felt and what I was being told.
Which brings me neatly into my next point concerning the many discouraging romance-inhibiting time skips. For me, there was a great deal of showing over telling with Temptation, and the story did indeed suffer for it. I often had the experience that I'd missed pivotal transitions. The tone was wholesome, tender, loving and forbidden, but the unexpected time jumps disturbed the romance in ways I believe the author hadn't intended for them to. And each time jump formed a distance between my experience of the budding couple and how I perceived the storyline's developing romance. I gradually began to feel a widening gulf that ultimately muted my experience. The relationship growth could have used some fleshing out, and I think the story's scenes could have done more to establish a connection between Knox and Kendall. The sexual tension was rather deep and swift, which didn't particularly encourage the sense of the well- developed intimacy I was expecting. The chemistry was fine but it definitely harboured the potential for an elevated representation through some scene play. Generally, the story felt rather recollective, or recollection-based as opposed to witnessing the intricacies of a romantic development play out in real time. What resulted was evasive storytelling, and a fair sense of ambivalence on my part. I was also rather disappointed that, of the many team games that ostensibly occur within the story's timeframe, we didn't get any on-page team matches with the Leatherbacks when Knox's sports team are said to be akin to family. In addition to that, Knox's chosen endearment for Kendall felt somewhat flat, and likely would have held more gravity if we'd actually had a window into some of their Spanish lessons - which also occurred off-page. The story was intimate without feeling the fullness of said intimacy, and overall, I was left with the feeling that much was overlooked and many opportunities were missed. Knox is said to be rather close with his family, but they weren't given the presence and inclusion in the story I was expecting them to have. I do love a successful unit of billionaire high fliers, but given their lack of presence, I didn't feel particularly invested in their respective lives. What promises all manner of potentials for a live-in situation between Knox and Kendall was additionally rather underwhelming, I regret to say.
To dive into some of my fallbacks, there also wasn't very much going on story-wise to maintain a sense of interest. There was no particular storyline barring the scent of the forbidden in regards to the age gap and the delicacy of disturbing Knox's relationship with Jude. Not very much to look forward to for the most part, and the style of the prose embodied the form of an overview next to an exploration of a romance that I really wanted to feel invested in. The peripheral elements that could have elevated the story, were more or less sidelined or relegated to existing off-page, and the relationship between Knox and Kendall wasn't enough to inspire a great sense of investment in them. Their connection seemed to hinge on some form of mutually recollective attraction. Kendall's attraction to Knox is more obscure, I'm unsure from whence it came, nor how it materialised, only that she begins to develop some feelings for him while living in his new home. Knox's attraction to her was much more clearly expressed. He was smitten since he first met her, and has secretly yearned for her ever since, even in full awareness of the impossibility of his personal desire to have her as his own. Aside from that, then came some struggle with the characterisation, of the heroine particularly. In comment to Kendall's character, It wasn't an easy feat to feel into her personality. Or understand her. I didn't know enough about her to appreciate her. I was routinely told about how kind hearted, loving and caring she was by various characters without developing a knowing and insight to her myself. I preferred Knox, but again I liked him enough without loving him. As I mentioned, I loved how absolutely enthralled our hero was, his fascination was rather intense and deep. We have some very loving moments, loving gestures and a general tenderness that works its way throughout the story with a gentle ease, and between them brew something lovely, loving and of course steamy. I equally appreciated how the fallout was handled, that it didn't arrive at the expense of the relationship. I also appreciated how the loyalty and love between them, when threatened, held true when the situation could have so easily been weaponised in an effort to have them part. I appreciated even more than the separation between the couple was predicated on more of a personal note and a personal need.
Comprehensively speaking, there was something rather incomplete about this and it therefore didn't maintain the satisfaction factor I was looking for. All in all, I do believe that this romance lacked some essential layer and the execution of the storytelling created an unanticipated distance which did mar the experience for me. There wasn't a great deal to feel compelled by and I think I went into this with a loose ideation of what it would be like and what it would be about. That's not to say that Temptation isn't a passable read for romance readers. Even so, readers will still find an enjoyable, well-written romance for some easy reading. Though my interest did regrettably wane, this book does include various tropes that I thoroughly enjoy; a billionaire gent (and sports team owner), an irresistible age gap, an ex-boyfriend's father storyline, live-in proximity and a boss-employee dynamic. Although this was a reasonable piece of romantic escapism, I did like the couple without loving them. The communication between our central couple, however, is what I like to see in romantic relationships. Temptation was admirable on that front. I did appreciate the sensitivity to and the navigation of the vulnerabilities. The dissonance between Jude and Knox was also believably tackled. If you love stories with a hero surreptitiously enthralled, one who always puts his heroine first, a graceful transpiration of the age gap and a broadly tender and loving relationship (with some intense steam) tested by longing, vulnerability with the complication of the forbidden, you'll enjoy yourself with Temptation, and I encourage you to endeavour into this with a full embrace. We always want to love a story, and although I wish I had enjoyed it more than I did, Temptation didn't quite have that satisfying result in addition to the satisfying payoff I was hoping for, even as it did occupy qualities I love in a fictional relationship. I may not have loved it, but I did like it, and my proverbial door is always open for Jenna Hartley romance, and that will not reorient!
Content Warning/Listing:
the heroine's mother has cancer and is presently undergoing cancer treatment. Mentions the past death of parents via plane crash. Sex scenes (some BDSM). Older man/younger woman romance. Initial condom use, after a while the couple forgo protection (the heroine is on birthday control from what we're told).