Tempting Eden

by Margaret Rowe

A scorching debut novel of erotic historical romance set against the backdrop of Regency England.

Eden Emery is no stranger to sin. To keep her sister safe from harm, she's paid a steep price with her body-and very nearly lost her soul. But when Baron Ivor Hartford, the man who has dishonored her, finally dies, her troubles are far from over.

Major Stuart Hartford, the late baron's nephew, is in the market for an honorable wife, but first he has to take care of the matter of his Uncle Ivor's ward, Eden-a young woman who makes him question the virtue of being proper. For the passion she incites burns away his inhibitions and inflames his heart.

But Eden has vowed to never again cede her destiny to a man. And Hart is left with no choice but to tempt the temptress herself...

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical Fiction, Erotica, Historical, Erotic Romance, Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Margaret Rowe is a former teacher, library clerk and mother of four who woke up in the middle of the night, absolutely compelled to create the perfect man and use as many adverbs as possible doing so. A transplanted New Yorker, she lives with her not-quite perfect husband in Maine, where the cold winters are ideal for staying inside and writing hot historical romances.

She also writes historical romances under real name Maggie Robinson.

Reviews

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do I say about a book and a character that broke my heart? I don’t even know where to begin. From the first page Eden’s sorrow hit me square in the chest. To be completely taken advantage of by your stepfather is unforgivable. At the tender age of 12 Ivor Hartford started weaving his web of Eden’s destruction. She was impressionable and lonely and when Ivor started paying attention to her she lit up. She craved love and affection like no other. By the time she was 18 she was giving herself freely to this man of disgusting intentions in every way imaginable. He even goes as far as to mutilate her body with his initials in an extremely inopportune place. When her conscious rears its ugly head and she pulls back from him he threatens her sickly little sister with the same abuse. Thinking she has no other choice, and in a way liking that fact, she continues with her degrading lifestyle for several years.

When Ivor dies suddenly Eden is finally free. Casting aside any evidence of her affairs before the new head of the household, Ivors nephew Stuart, shows up becomes priority number one.The one piece of evidence she needs is missing, and it seems that a household employee knows her sordid details and wants to use it against her.

Stuart is known for his experience on the battlefield and his appropriateness in his life. Never a hair out-of-place, never a look astray. Until he comes to Hartford Manor and meets the stepchildren of his late uncle. Frail and sick Jannah and her older sister Eden who is plain and skinny as a rail. Of course he can’t turn them out into the cold, they are practically related. Instead he allows them to stay and puts up with Eden’s accusatory stares and that little niggling feeling he gets every time he glances her way.

When the past comes to light Stuart immediately gets the wrong impression and sends Eden packing. This makes his growing feelings for her easy to dismiss. She must be weaving a spell on him just as she did his uncle. Appearances are deceiving however, and when Stuart discovers the real truth behind Eden he sets out on a journey not only to heal her, but to make her his forever. Eden is broken inside from her years of abuse. She is jumpy and untrusting. Her belief in herself is degraded so low there may be no turning back. Will Stuart be able to help her live again?

Pretty soon you guys are gonna think I am lying when I say I don’t read a lot of historical romance huh? I swear I don’t usually. I’ve been on a kick or something lately. This story just tore my heart to pieces. Eden almost at times appears to have Stockholm Syndrome. She fluctuates between loving and hating Ivor. And not understanding that if she does hate him why her body reacts to him on a daily basis. She feels as though her body is betraying her in liking some of the acts he makes her do. If she likes it she must love him right? Wrong. When Stuart comes along she thinks he must be just like Ivor and doesn’t understand the emotions he evokes in her. How can a tainted woman begin to feel as if she deserves something better? In a society that condemns such behavior she simply doesn’t have the power to understand or rise above it.

The writing in Tempting Eden is incredibly good and will make you feel as if you are there. It is extremely graphic at times so the faint of heart might have trouble with those scenes. There is also a theme of dominance and the need to feel it woven throughout the book. To say I enjoyed the book almost seems wrong because of the dark and abusive nature of it….but I did. Watching Eden overcome her personal struggles made me smile, simple as that.

Set in the early 1800′s and spanning several years you will feel the times. You will hear the horse-drawn carriages and the spoken dialect. I can’t say enough good things. The book is dark and slightly disturbing. I simply adored it.

[HR-ML · Rating 2 out of 5]

***Warning on pedophile.***

This story happened May 1814 going forward.

Major Stuart Hartford was proper, priest-like and
"abstained from baser urges." Eden was awkward,
ugly, plain and prickly and actively disliked men
(according to H).

When her beautiful Mom married for a 2nd time to
Ivor, a baron, her daughters were 12 & 8 and her
son 10. Son later died @Waterloo. Sickly mother
endured several miscarriages, & became "a poppi
eater."

Evil step-father groomed Eden for sexual advances
by accidently bumping into her when she was 17
and kissing her @18. This led to sexual activity. He
threatened to rape her younger sister if Eden failed
to comply w/ his desires. He beat Eden with whips
and sketched her in the nude. He used alcohol to
make her more cooperative with his demands.

Eden later described to hero, her being Ivor's willing
"sex slave." I disliked that her sex activity was thought
sexy when Ivor was a pedophile. It was disgusting that
the servants overlooked this horrendous behavior. Later
the hero threatened the former servant blackmailer of
h. So this story had 2 baddies.

IMO the author could tell a story but needed to refine
her rationales for character behavior, actions and
reactions.

[Eliza · Rating 4 out of 5]

**MINOR SPOILERS**

He was the devil, and she his handmaiden....


I’ve read a lot of books and I can honestly say no book has ever made me more uncomfortable than this one did. The beginning of this book is incredibly difficult to read, and my heart broke for Eden. She was without a doubt one of the most tragic characters of any “romance” book I’ve read.

I hated everyone in this book at first. I hated the POS stepfather. I hated Eden for being a silly immature and naïve girl. I hated Hart for being such a prick. I hated the valet for his coercion. I hated the aunt for being a meddler. I hated all of them.

Then once I got past my hate and dislike for Eden I thought back to how impressionable and vulnerable I was when I was a teenager. The last thing I should have done was victim shame Eden- and that's exactly what I was doing the first 30% of this book. I wasn't really mad at Eden I was mad that this kept happening. I wanted her to scream, cry, throw herself and deny the monster in her life. It was extremely difficult to read.

Eden was tragic because she made one mistake that haunted her for life. But was it even her mistake? At that age how much blame can be placed? None. Zero. It was so unfair that her whole life was destroyed because a sick man got his claws in her. I wanted her to have a champion so bad. I cried way too much in this book, because even though Hart did prove himself, it felt too late for Eden.

This book really has left me shaken. I don’t know if I love this book because of those feelings or hate it. I’ll have to sit with my feelings for awhile before I assign stars.


***update
Alright, thought more about it…

She wore her misery like the old shawl clutched around her.

4 stars to this book. At the end of the day, it’s not the authors job to make me feel comfortable. Margaret Rowe has a real talent, and it would be a shame for me to rate her work on anything other than her ability to write a compelling book. A lot of my emotions for this book stemmed from me being a mother, I think. Again, not Margaret Rowe’s problem to contend with. Eden wasn’t weak or immature, she was strong and made her choices because she felt she had not other options. She was an unhappy person and in a world that loves to kick you when you’re down, I feel she did the best she could.

[Mina Burrows · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the characters in this book to be extremely memorable and then some. The story itself deals with physical and emotional abuse, plain and simple. The main character, Eden, is emotionally abandoned by her mother and then emotionally/sexually abused by her stepfather. And because of that, I found the written material about the abuse slightly difficult to read.

This book deals with Eden attempting to put the abuse behind her, the psychological scaring she suffers since being abused and whether or not Hart (another member within the abusive family) can forget her transgressions.

Tempting Eden is a very dark yet interesting book. It's not my favorite by this author, same author as Mistress by Mistake, but if you're looking for a different story in historical romance, you may want to give it a try.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dark with descriptions emotional/physical rape which was a little too drawn out. Really don't like when the villian gets the kinky stuff but the hero is very vanilla (at least until the very end). At first Hart was an ass but then he redeems himself. The ending was a little rushed. Liked the book and will definitely read more by this author.

[Jo (My House of Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This starts in a horrible, horrible situation; then the narrative changes to lighter (almost like Mistress by Mistake, which is by the same author under a different pen name). The second half of the book seemed similar to books I'd read before, Mistress by Mistake and The Surrender of a Lady by Tiffany Clare.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning of this book was superb but the ending was disappointing.
I'm going to start with what I liked:
Very very good writing style, truly well written, genuinely I felt like I was in in london and in hartford hall
The beginning was intriguing but the rest of the book really let me down.
Ok so what I didn't like

the PLOT ohmygod how i hated the plot. and Hart. And her.
Why was Hart so suddenly infactuated with her? in the start the buildup and the kiss in the rain were soosososo well done, but after he finds the book, everything is so UGH like theres absolutely no chemistry between them.
Why is the second half of the book so boring. She's so infuriating and Hes so spineless. In general i disliked all the characters except brutus.

[Cherie Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great love story. I loved how these two over came the rough beginning. Do gold they FINALLY got back Together. ☆☆☆☆☆♡♡♡♡♡♡♡☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

[Lynette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seduced and trapped in a depraved relationship with her step-father, Eden feels that she’s finally set free when her step-father dies. Yet, in his place, her guardianship is placed in the hands of his nephew Major Stuart Hartford, known as “Holy Hartford” to his friends. When he arrives on the estate all he wants is to quickly discharge his duties and find a nice wife that could help him live down the scandalous reputations of his late father and uncle. When Hartford learns the true nature of Eden’s relationship with his uncle, he’s torn between horror, fascination, disgust, and an attraction that won’t go away.

Hartford decides the best way to protect Eden is to marry her, but Eden is so damaged by what she’s been through that she would rather do anything, even if it’s to become a whore, rather than put herself under another man’s thumb. So she rebels and it’s up to Hartford to tempt Eden and to show her how good things could be between them when degradation is replaced with love.

TEMPTING EDEN is a hard book for me to review. TEMPTING EDEN is so well-written, and unique to its genre that it captured my attention and kept it. However, I still had issues with TEMPTING EDEN. Eden was such a damaged character and with the way TEMPTING EDEN was written, I found it hard to believe that she could make such a complete transformation and achieve her happily ever after. Honestly, I didn’t believe Hart was man enough to give Eden that. He wasn’t as well drawn out as Eden and I never really warmed up to him as a heroic character. I believe I felt that way because of the lack of respect shown between Eden and Hart.

Eden’s degradation was so complete and started at such a young age, and so well-explained, I found it hard to believe that she would have the strength to stand up to Hart without fear and second-guessing herself. I also found it hard to believe she would fight Hart about their relationship instead of just doing his bidding. This feeling was compounded with her submissive personality. These feelings could be me and my misunderstanding of submission.

The only other thing that bothered be about TEMPTING EDEN was how when Hart went after her back to his estate. That didn’t seem appropriate to the historical setting and I couldn’t see how they could’ve gotten away with living together on the same estate without a chaperone in that era. Why didn’t the neighbors come in protest? Why wasn’t anything said about that? Even with Eden’s past, it wasn’t something that was widely known. To everyone’s eyes, she was still an unmarried maiden. However, I’m not an expert so I could be wrong, but because of that situation it pulled me out of the story.

TEMPTING EDEN is a wonderful tale that left me curious to see how the story was going to play out. Although it left me with a lot a questions, I don’t think anyone would be disappointed with ordering this book!

[La La · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really torn about this book. The description of the story is: to save her younger sister, Eden allowed her stepfather to take advantage of her. That description is really misleading and not the story. Eden is seduced by her stepfather and falls into sin and infatuation with him. But her stepfather goes from being a considerate lover to an abuser, treating Eden like a sexual doll. Making her do degrading things as well as doing degrading things to her. When Eden realize what her stepfather is about she tries to pull away from him but he uses the threat of going after her younger sister to keep her in line.

This book could have a been a real emotional read if the author would have written the heroines flashbacks a little better ot at least let us experience what she went through. The heroine's memories seemed almost like a seperate story within the book. Like the heroine was reading a story of someone elses life. There was some light bondage in the book, the heroine found that she liked the role of being a submissive, but I felt like the author really didn't know what she was talking about so some of the bondage parts came across as unrealistic. The book was also labeled erotic historical but there really wasn't much eroticism to the story. The author used some curse words and the prerequisite words found in erotic to describe sex and feeling, but to me erotica is more than using vulgar words. Not everyone can write erotica and this author proved that she one of those people. In fact she hHas more than proven it to me since I just finished reading a book written under her other name, Maggie Robinson, purely coincidental. I didn't discover this until I went on to Magaret Rowe's website and saw Maggie Robinson's name.


All in all, this book was good not great.

[BRNTerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boy, was this one dark story with a heroine who had an unusual past. We got to hear about it through book excerpts what were written by her sex partner, Ivor. They were graphic and a bit disturbing. Eden really had no choice in the matter when she began a sexual relationship with him four years earlier, at the age of eighteen. Even though she had to do it, she loved every minute of it.

I didn’t really sense a love connection between Eden and Stuart even though we were told they loved each other. I never understood why Stuart wanted to marry her so soon. I never understood why she turned him down so many times. She did feel she was unworthy but that too didn’t seem true. Both characters were very likeable but I wish Stuart had been a little more alpha.

All of the sex scenes were very graphic and I enjoyed them. There was even one with the heroine using a dildo anally. I preferred the scenes that were between Eden and Ivor to those between her and Stuart, the hero. I think the ones with Ivor were more graphic and detailed.

I found it interesting that the author created a young heroine, twenty-two, who was very skilled/experienced at sex and actually liked it. That’s not the usual type of historical heroine we’re given and I found it a refreshing change.

Ms. Rowe also writes under the name Maggie Robinson.

[Janga · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read outside my comfort zone and still find myself engaged with the characters and their story, I know I’m in the hands of a gifted writer. This was my experience with Tempting Eden. It is far darker, edgier, and more erotic than the books I usually choose to read. Had it not been written by a friend, I probably would have passed on this one, but I knew enough about Eden and Hart to be captivated by their story and to want to see them get their HEA. At its heart, Tempting Eden is a story of the redemptive power of love, but the journey to redemption is a stygian one, difficult and disturbing. It is not a book for the faint of heart, but it is a story readers will not soon forget, a powerful tale excellently written. Will TE tempt me to read more erotic romance novels? Probably not, unless they are written by Margaret Rowe.

[Love love · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tempting Eden is marked as an erotic story but to me it's more romantica. I mean that the story isn't mainly about the sex between the H/h it's more about the journy that Eden has to make to find her selfworth after years of being emotionaly and sexualy abused by her stepfather. Margret Rowe used most of the book to show how Eden comes to terms with her past and how she developes and learns to love herself. She didn't have Eden fall in love and all of the sudden become a whole and emotionaly healthy person because the right man loves her. To me, that made the book a more realstic read and a very good book.

[Virginia Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's no secret that I adore Maggie Robinson "aka" Margaret Rowe. She is a wonderful storyteller in a nicely naughty way! The storyline for "Tempting Eden" is not one that I would usually choose, but I trust Maggie/Margaret's voice as an author. "Tempting Eden" drew me in from the beginning, and then it spun me around several times before landing me in a very involving romance. The seducer and the seduced often trade places in this compelling story, and hearts are laid bare as souls' darkest secrets are revealed. A memorable romance read!

[SaturNalia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful cover, interesting story line. So where did this book go wrong? Easy answer, the hero of the story. Every character was ten times smarter then he was. Said inappropriate things at the wrong time. Accused the heroin of being a slut and lier, even when he had proof she was innocent. Very difficult to read when you want to kill the hero. So what did the heroin see in him? I have no idea!!

[☽ Rhiannon ✭ Mistwalker ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this ok. It mostly centers around Eden dealing with having been abused, and how that impacts her sexuality, and that was handled in a way I really appreciated. But overall it didn't particularly wow me. Maybe I am getting over the theme of abused/traumatized heroines? (3.5 stars)

[Lisa Baffi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It had a beautiful love story, with triumph over abuse. the scenes were explicit, but flowed right along with the story. It was one of the best historical erotica I have read in a long time.

[Nastassia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it difficult reading the scenes between Eden and Ivor, I had to skim through these parts. I liked how Eden develops throughout the book.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

different......not bad, just different

[Cicci · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK read but couldve been better

[Bliss · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars...

[Noemi · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the fuck did i just read?