Tempt Me at Twilight

Tempt Me at Twilight (2009) Lisa Kleypas

Set in England in 1852

The third Hathaway sister, Poppy, is at the end of her third season, and is hoping for a match from the son of a viscount. But an unexpected meeting with the owner of the Rutledge hotel changes everything, when Harry decides that he wants her, and nothing is going to stop him from having her.

It’s strange how we tend to ignore just how circumscribed the lives of women were for so much of the eras we tend to romanticize.

Not for the first time, Leo reflected how unfair it was that men were allowed to get away with so much more than women.

This business of manners, for example . . . he had seen his sisters struggling to remember hundreds of inane points of etiquette that were expected of upper-class society. Whereas Leo’s main interest in the rules of etiquette was how to break them. And he, as a man with a title, was unfailingly excused for nearly anything. Ladies at a supper party were criticized behind their backs if they used the wrong fork for the fish course, while a man could drink to excess or make some off-color remark, and everyone pretended not to notice.

I quite liked that this came from Leo, the brother. That he realized just how lucky he is.

It also helps to further redeem him, since he was really awful in the first book. (I really like that his redemption has been slow–and also that his sisters have loved him throughout, regardless of how terribly he has behaved. And because his redemption has come less through his thoughts than through his actions towards his sisters.

Poppy buried her face against his shoulder. “I’m going to die of humiliation,” she said.

“No, you won’t,” Leo replied. “I’m an expert on humiliation, and if it were fatal, I’d have died a dozen times by now.”

“You can’t die a dozen times.”

“You can if you’re a Buddhist,” Beatrix said helpfully.

“You should know, Rutledge,” Leo said in a pleasant tone, “that I had planned to kill you right away, but Rohan says we should talk for a few minutes first. Personally, I think he’s trying to delay me so he can have the pleasure of killing you himself. And even if Rohan and I don’t kill you, we probably won’t be able to stop my brother-in-law Merripen from killing you.”

Cam and Merripen are the outwardly bloodthirsty characters, but it’s quite clear that Leo is just as protective when it comes to his sisters. Additionally, it’s clearly not Poppy’s reputation that concerns him, but her feelings.

So, yeah, Leo is kind of the hero of this book, far more so that Rutledge.

But strangely, for all the awful things he does, Rutledge isn’t irredeemable, and he isn’t over-the-top horrible.

It was clear he was indifferent to the fact that she now knew him for what he was. Harry wanted neither forgiveness nor redemption . . . he regretted nothing.

Well, mostly.

I also really liked the secondary characters in the story–the ones who were not related to Poppy.

(S)he needs a husband.” “She has a husband,” Jake protested.

The housekeeper’s eyes narrowed. “Have you noticed nothing odd about their relationship, Valentine?”

“No, and it’s not appropriate for us to discuss it.”

Monsieur Broussard regarded Mrs. Pennywhistle with keen interest. “I’m French,” he said. “I have no problem discussing it.”

I quite liked this one–and the slow unfolding of Leo’s redemption and Marks, the governess’s history.

Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Rating: 8/10

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