Vanessa could kick herself! It had been a simple misunderstanding...how dared Benedict Savage imply that she'd deliberately set out to seduce him? The very idea was outrageous; he simply wasn't her type! No matter that he was the last word in cool, suave sophistication — he was also her boss, and a formidable sexual predator in the bargain. But Vanessa had no intention of falling prey to his dark charm - had Benedict met his match at last...?
Perhaps being born on Valentine’s Day was an omen that Susan Napier would become a romance writer. This New Zealand author has written over 30 Mills & Boon category romances since 1984. Napier and her husband Tony Potter met when they both worked at the Auckland Star newspaper. After they married, she left the newspaper to work for a film company where she learned the art of dialogue. After the birth of her sons, Simon and Ben, she was a freelance scriptwriter for documentaries. It was soon after that she decided to try her hand at writing the romance fiction she dearly loved.
She and her husband still live in the home they bought in Auckland shortly after their marriage.
Heroine is the hero’s butler whom he inherited from a distant relative along with the family mansion. For three years heroine has run the hero’s house with care, even though the workaholic hero is rarely there. One of her duties is to keep the beds aired for unexpected guests. She does this by sleeping in a different bed each week.
The fun start when the heroine is “airing” the hero’s bed, and he returns unexpectedly. He doesn’t recognize her blonde hair on the pillow, and he can’t rouse her, so he joins her in the bed thinking she might be an escort his bff sent him as a birthday gift.
This is supposed to be an amusing misunderstanding, but it was a bit cringey for me. The heroine added to the ludicrous premise by slipping out the bed the next morning without waking the hero and then later suggesting that the woman he saw in the bed was the ghost that haunts the mansion.
I kept reading, but I just couldn’t buy-in to the hijinks or the hero’s turn from beta male to alpha (threatening the heroine with scandal, initiating her into sex, etc. . . )
It kept my interest, but I doubt I’d read it again.
Boogenhagen has all the details if you’re interested.
Re Savage Courtship - Susan Napier goes against typical physical descriptions in this tale of a butler h and her inherited employer H.
In an unusual reversal, the h is the tall, buff and statuesque one, while the H is the glasses wearing, slight and shorter skinny nerd physical type.
This one starts with the 24 yr old h passing out in her employer's bed after an evening on the tiles. The h is a butler who is currently restoring the H's inherited grand manor into a hotel. She likes to keep all 16 bedrooms aired out by using them to sleep in at night on a rotating basis.
This h comes from a long line of proper English butlers and she happens to be in Australia because her first butlering position led to a lot of shame and scandal. The h was butler to an older man with a contentious family. The h allowed her 20 yr old self to be seduced by the stepson of her employer as well.
When that employer died, he left his estate to the h instead of his evil family and there was a huge scandal where the h was accused of tarty harlotry and perhaps even murder by fornication. The h was set up by the former employer's estranged wife and step children and they ruthlessly savaged her in the English press.
The inheritance wasn't actually that large and the h ended up signing it over, but she was severely traumatized and so when one of her former employer's friends offered her a post on the Coromandel of New Zealand that included general butlering and estate restoration, the h leapt on the opportunity.
Then her savior employer passed away and his distant nephew inherited it. The new owner is a boy wunderkind architect currently suffering from ennui and bored with it. He unexpectedly shows up when the h is passed out in his bed and he doesn't recognize her with her hair unbound.
Then when his BFF calls up to tell him he had a birthday gift delivered as a weekend loan, the H believes the lady in his bed is a prostitute hired for the weekend. She is out cold tho and it is late and he is tired, so he just crawls into bed with her and figures they can get busy in the morning.
The h wakes up and realizes that she is in a shocking position, she doesn't know what happened while she was passed out, but she is hoping there wasn't anything physical involved. The h sneaks off and the H wakes up alone, totally confused.
He is even more confused when there is no blonde goddess lolling about the place, merely his staid dark haired butler and housekeeper and rented Duesenburg Classic Car that was his friend's gift for the weekend.
The H tries to figure out where the woman went and some fun times are had as the h, desperately trying to hide the bedroom incident, indicates that there might be a genuine ghost on the premises. The h and H exchange classic quotes from Ovid and others as they banter with each other over the renovations.
The H eventually figures out the h's deception when he barges in on her date with the local racing stud owner. The h has been drifting towards a relationship with the OM for a while, but the H's new perception and awareness of the h's astounding voluptuousness sparks the Lurve Force Mojo Extra Passion Engine and the big game is on.
There is some back and forth as the H pursues and the h evades and then the H's parent's selection for his future wife shows up. She is convinced that she and the H are destined to be married and she is at his house to force him to commitment. (It is all very modern Regency Houseparty drama.)
The H is either too manipulative or too entertained to tell this woman to take a running jump, so we get several pages of her snide, condescending and OTT chasing the H drama. Eventually events culminate in a big costume ball that the wanna be OW thinks will be to announce her and the H's engagement.
The h, who has been evading the H physically because of PTSD after her London experience, is provoked into dressing as the manor house's legendary lady of the night harlot, who is the ghost the h first suggested was in the H's bed at the beginning.
The H and h finally manage to celebrate the Lurve Club, in a somewhat forceful seduction that the h has no time to freeze up against, after the H makes sure that his wanna be OW and the h's potential OM see them in a compromising position.
Then the H and h are interrupted by the H's very cold and very socialite parents and for the h, it is a repeat of her London nightmare all over again. The H, who has been manipulating the h in a fairly tawdry misogynistic manner for sometime, lets his parents go on and on and on about sleeping with a harlot servant and says absolutely nothing. More importantly, he tells the h to shut up when she starts to speak in her own defense.
The h is devastated and feels very used and abused. She finagles the H's BFF to drive her away from the estate and the BFF takes her to what she thinks is his apartment. It isn't, it is the H's apartment and he got his BFF to distract the h for enough time to take care of his parents and then get the h into his clutches.
The h comes out of the shower to find the H in the bed, in a little reversal of the opening scene of the book, and the big explanations begin. Supposedly the H did not say anything to his parents cause they don't listen to him and tend to steamroll any responses.
The H claims he just let them spew their venom and then told them off and he claims that he has little contact with them. The wanna be OW supposedly got the message that the H isn't interested as well and the H is happy he finally ran the h's OM off.
The H declares he loves the h and wants to marry her. As the h has been in love for the last 35 pages, the two of them happily decide to marry and we leave them celebrating the engagement in a purple passion kinda way for the big HEA.
This one is pretty average overall, SN puts some very funny scenes in the first half as the mortified h is trying to keep the H in the dark about who was in his bed. It loses lustre in the second half, mainly because the h is so obviously traumatized, the H is passive-aggressively manipulative and we never actually see him stand up to his parents or the OW.
SN does a detailed decrying the h as a harlot scene and we get third hand information on the big Parent/OW shout down. Couple that with the H's dubious behavior on the sincerity vs seduction front and it kinda takes the shine off of the pink sparkly glow of the H's supposed True and Deep Love.
So this one was okay for me and honestly, the H's little inconsistencies aren't very noticeable until you have read this a few times. For a one and done trip to HPlandia tho, it is very funny, nicely written and worth the time and supplies necessary to complete this little HP outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
When you get hooked on HP's, it becomes like a sugar rush to the brain and you can't judge what is really good "candy" versus mediocre. I can't believe I gave this four stars. At best it is 2 stars for the incredibly tacky plot the author plunges us into. Don'tget me wrong, it had potential, but the author blew it.
Downgrading from 4 stars to 2 stars. I'm not a Napier fan and now I know why. Original review below.
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Light fun read by Susan Napier. I really enjoyed this because none of the characters were cast in the stereotypical mode. It's been on my TBR pile for ages and something made me decide to pick it up this weekend. I am so glad that I did.
The heroine was his butler...tall, beautiful, buxom and very smart. The hero was shorter with glasses, but sexy as sin. She wants to hide all her secrets, he won't let her.
I liked the way the relationship developed and I found myself laughing out loud as she led him a very merry dance.
Great ending....with a hero who knows exactly what he wants.
I read this book atleast 10 years ago and I remember it made a big impact on me, not least for the fact that the hero is physically shorter than the heroine - in all the books that I have read ( and I have read a LOT) that's never happened.
2-The butler did it - but the butler is female ( I hadn't thought about a female butler!) 3-Guy wears glasses ( as someone who wears them too - I loved that perspective!) 4 - You can just tell its going to last....
its not wham bam, thank you ma'am stuff that you usually find elsewhere - I highly recommend it!
Susan Napier is always an amazing WRITER, and I love her predilection for twisting tropes. In this one, the heroine is taller than the hero and is the one with a tortured past. It was sexy, well-written, original... should have ticked every one of my boxes. But somehow something was missing. Not sure what.
I really enjoyed this story. It was great fun with an unusual hero and distinctive heroine. I really liked both characters and the back and forth between them. I usually enjoy this author's stories. She isn't afraid to have different heroes from the usual alpha jerks.
The courtship was very much a two steps forward, one step back with a lot of humour.
Benedict Savage is a successful architect, going on 34 when that vague sense of dissatisfaction that has been plaguing him for quite sometime makes him seek refuge in Whitefield House, a property that he had inherited from an uncle who had left it to him, a property that had come along with his deceased uncle’s female butler Vanessa Flynn.
Finding a mystery woman in Benedict’s bed is what kick-starts the story, a woman who disappears by the next morning leaving Benedict flummoxed by the whole thing until he discovers who it is that had been gracing his bed that night. Thus follows a series of twists and turns, a lot of advancing on Benedict’s part and retreating on Vanessa’s part which culminates of course in a happily ever after.
Susan Napier has some very good Harlequin romances out there, in fact she is one of those Harlequin authors who is on my auto-buy list. The aspects that worked for me includes the hero; his intensity is hard not to take notice of. Then there is the novelty of a heroine who is taller than the hero in the story; as most romance readers know, that is something that rarely happens in a romance.
The sexual tension though was a vital presence in the story, I got a bit tired of the continuous back and forth drama that was happening and in the end skim read through chunks of the story later on. Recommended for die-hard fans of Harlequin romances. [...]
I read this because it's on a few Best Harlequins type lists. I wasn't impressed, but maybe I just don't like it when the heroine is Amazonian and taller than the hero. Though this book did have its funny moments.
Another fun read from Susan Napier. This time the H fell for his butler, Flynn. This causes a scandal and Flynn needed to be coerced into believing that there was true love between them.
There was a ghost (maybe), a female butler, a H who was shorter than the h, an OW who really wasn’t really an OW but wouldn’t give up trying to win the H, lots of witty banter, and best of all, 1935 Duesenberg convertible coupé. A little something for everyone.
"Savage Courtship" is the story of Vanessa and Benedict. When Benedict returns back to the inn he owns, he never expects to find a nymph goddess sleeps on his bed, who he mistakes as a birthday gift from his friend. She's gone next morning, and he relentless looks for her. However he can't help notice that his "demure" housekeeper Vanessa is an efficient,strong woman and manages everything without a hitch. An unlikely friendship blooms- while Vanessa tries to hide how she got drunk and collapsed in his bed, Ben's attraction to her grows. At the same time she is also trying to woo her long time friend Richard. Soon Vanessa's past is revealed, and Ben tries to pursue her while fighting her demons. The first half was engaging but the plot drifted away in the second half to the point I felt bored. I did like the reverse bed scene in the end though. Safe 2.5/5
Vannessa was an extremely good Butler: she had to take care of a great and alone house so she used to sleep in a different room each day as a way to mantein each room appropriately aired. One night, her boss returned without telling her and fin a very sexy blond who he thought was his birthday present. The next morning, he wanted to know who was the sexy blonde. Afraid of his reaction, she keeped her identity as a secret. Benedict felt very confused. He was sure he had a beautiful and unconscious woman in his bed that night but in the morning the Sleeping Beauty was missed. He had to know who is she, and he was sure his butler had the answer!!! I love the misunderstanding in the plot, but I whish her identity remain secret a little bit more because was so funny...
Cute story with likeable characters. As so often with a Susan Napier story, it's fun, the dialogue is sparkling in parts,and there are bits of humour thrown in.
I would have given it more stars if not for a few off-putting things:
Maybe it's just me, but I thought it was a bit gross that she, as the household staff, sleeps in her employer's bed when he is not there. If I had staff (chance would be a fine thing!) that would squick me out. Eww. Talk about overstepping boundaries.
Also, although I love that Susan Napier gives us realistic, smart, sexy, attractive heroes who don't look or act like God's Gift to Humanity, I am shallow enough to want a hero who is at least the same height as the heroine. Still, I'm glad he had no issues with it and was super confident in himself, which is sexy in itself. I thought the glasses were adorable too. SN has even given us virgin heroes in a couple of books. It's just not my cup of tea. Thankfully this guy was not a virgin.
Not bad. The h is nearly six foot and not lumbering but neither is she a delicate swan. The H wore glasses (my weakness, swoon!) and was half a inch shorter than her. He initially treats her as a piece of the furniture but the way he lusted for her eventually was cute. The dance scene at the costume ball and what he says to tantalize her was so bold and un-H-like but it worked for me. He then goes on to ensure a complete seduction by carrying her to a sound proofed room and locking all doors and windows which was hilarious. They do the deed with all the marks to prove it and his parents show up next second. The H lets them rant and asks the h to let them have their say which hurts the h. The ending mirror scene was a nice touch, and the fact that the H grabbed a plane to get there fast was adorable.
Interesting story this one. Especially enjoyed the ending when Dale took Vanessa to Auckland. They must've gone the long way around since they took three hours and stopped for food just outside of Huntly. (my hometown :) ) Huntly is an hour south of Auckland and Thames is East of Auckland. Normally you don't go anywhere near Huntly to get to Auckland from Thames but loved my little town getting a mention. Love books based in New Zealand.
Because the h/H are different from the generic. Because the author is a NZer. Because Susan Napier is a favourite in my Harlequin collection. Because I love the thrill of seduction. Because everybody deserves a Happily Ever After.