A Taste of Desire by Beverley Kendall Series: The Elusive Lords #2
Published by Zebra Books on 1 January 2011
Genres: Adult, Historical Romance
Pages: 350
Source: Kindle Purchase
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Summary from Goodreads:
She Challenged His Pride Lady Amelia Bertram may have a reputation as the most brazen beauty of the ton, but she shocks even herself when she accidently--and loudly--derides one of society's most eligible bachelors in the middle of a crowded ballroom. The timing of her faux pas couldn't be worse, for her father is seeking someone to take her off his hands that very night. . . He Challenged Her Willpower But when Thomas Armstrong overhears the so-called "Lady" Amelia slandering his sexual prowess in public, he cannot help but accept the dare implicit in her words. To her father's great delight, he offers to take her to his secluded country estate--properly chaperoned, of course--to teach the girl a lesson in ladylike behavior. . .
A Taste of Desire is another good story in the Elusive Lords series. Amelia is strong and funny and extremely sarcastic, and Thomas had never been nursing hurt pride before he met her for the first time. The way they were both trying their best to not fall in love was well done, and the plot made sense. The love scenes were scorching hot, and definitely written with an adult audience in mind. I enjoyed the barbs Thomas and Amelia threw at each other – Thomas has finally met his match when it comes to verbal sparring.
Thomas had that typical arrogance that is often found in a male character in historical romance books, but his charm was able to make me oversee that same arrogance. And who doesn’t love a good-looking guy with dimples? Amelia was very different from the usual ladies, she spoke her mind, especially when she would have done better to hold her tongue and wait things through instead. Her way of speaking is exactly what gave her so much trouble in the first place.
Growing up, Amelia always thought her father didn’t care about her at all after her mother’s death, this is the reason why she acted out and was so abrasive towards Thomas and other lords. Thomas on the other hand was used to women falling into his arms – and his bed – and couldn’t fathom why Amelia was different. When Harry asked Thomas to look after Amelia when he was traveling to America, Thomas first refused, but then thought better of it.
What started out as revenge became a wonderful love story, and the interactions between Thomas and Amelia were fun. I also loved how Amelia interacted with Thomas’ sisters and mother, and also with his best friend. Their relationship built very slowly, with a lot of back-tracking because they were both afraid to trust each other. All in all a good story, even if there are quite a few historical romance clichés present in this installment as well.
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
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