Hathaway family continues..
Spoilers Ahead
https://lisakleypas.com/
After the last two books in the Hathaway series, I started to think sometimes rereading old
books doesn’t work out the way one would wish. I even might be tempted to think writing historical and contemporary romances at the same time might be spreading an author tooooo thin. I had high hopes as I started to reread Tempt Me at Twilight, but it didn’t take me long to recall why I was disappointed in this story the first time I read it in 2010. And, for the same reason – Harry.There are bonehead heroes, and then there are bonehead heroes. Harry is a primo bonehead hero. I see a pattern forming in this series, a dark pattern. Starting with Cam, all of the heroes in this series seem to be trying out for the Steve Morgan Bonehead Award. I thought no one could be as much of a stinker as Kev from the previous book. I was wrong. Harry wins! He’s the top stinker! He’s the most unpleasant hero in the Hathaway series. When he sees Poppy for the very first time, he becomes obsessed with her – he must have her! He doesn’t really care how he does it. He’s a cruel, manipulative, self-centered-looby. He’s such a detestable character that when his redemption came towards the end of the story, I didn’t buy it. Poppy deserved someone better. And, yes I know Kleypas has tons of manipulative heroes in her books. I looked back on some of my favorite manipulative heroes from her other stories. For me, what they had, and what Harry lacked was an underlying humor, an ability to laugh at themselves. There just wasn’t anything funny about Harry.
Once again, Leo almost steals the show in this story. In the first book of the series, Leo was the character to keep an eye on. He was a big boo-hoo drunk with lots of problems and lots of angst. As the series has progressed, his character has started to grow and develop. He has become so appealing that it is easy to forget about the main characters. Of course, I wanted to forget the hero in this book.
Nefarious interlude. Our villain wants Harry to create a weapon that will make the villain rich. Poppy doesn’t want Harry to build that weapon. Harry tells the villain no. The villain kidnaps Harry and locks him in a room. Poppy, Leo, and a bunch of secondary characters run all over London trying to find Harry. They find Harry. The villain is locked up. Harry and Poppy confess their love for each other. The epilogue happens. I found myself asking, what was that kidnapping all about? What was the point? It did not add anything to the story – except filler words. It was just a bit of an interlude.
As you may be able to tell, this story was definitely not my favorite of tales, and I am forming the opinion that the Hathaway family is not one of my favorite Kleypas’ series.
Time/Place: 1852 England
Sensuality: Warm/Hot
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