To Seduce an Earl (The Seduction Series) [Kindle Edition]

I bought this on a Twitter recommendation and I am sooo glad I did. This story is so unusual. I've never read anything like it before. It's never really stated what the time period is (or maybe the history sets it, but I'm not aware of the specific history involved). I think it's early Victorian or very very late Regency. What makes me think Victorian is that Alex is a prostitute in a bordello for women.

Grace's step-brother sends her to the bordello telling her it's a hotel where a man has a book about hidden treasure she would like. She doesn't realize until Alex strips naked that he set her up. The step-brother has gambled and drank away all the family money (that is like a lot of things I've read) and is wanting Grace "trained" so he can basically sell her to his friend to cover his debts. Grace has been trying to get the friend to ask her to marry her for years so she decides to go along with the plan to make herself more seductive. There's a twist I won't ruin for you because it's so perfect.

Alex is trapped by secrets in his past into sexual slavery by Lady Lavender (who in a rare disappointment crumbles pretty easily at the HEA point). He sees Grace as his salvation and reason for living. I love that it's the guy that needs a hero for a change. Alex is so damaged and so heartbreakingly desperate for a new life I couldn't put the book down until I was sure he would make it out from under Lady Lavender's thumb. There were many points when I thought he'd finally succeeded then got snapped back along with him when he was dragged back to his room/prison.

While this was a sort of happily ever after, it wasn't the classic romance all encompassing HEA. There were consequences and there were disappointments. The ending was realistic and believable - so rare in romance. I can't wait for the next book in the series.

I picked up this book, because I usually enjoy stories featuring different types of heroes and in this novel, the hero Alex is a prostitute. Unfortunately, Alex is filled with such loathing for himself and his profession that at times it made the story unenjoyable and made me wonder how he could function. At times his responses and actions seemed rather young and his treatment of the heroine so bitter, it made me like the story a lot less. I can see a naive guy acting this way, but if he hates his job and being an h00ker so much, he should plan and execute his escape.

When half the novel had passed and Alex is still stuck in Lavender's clutches I just grew impatient. I can deal with heroes and heroines being held captive. But if they can't and don't rescue themselves after half a book filled with wangst and rage at their situation, then I lose interest. Such was the case with To Seduce an Earl.

I can't say the story felt romantic either. Alex fell for the heroine, but really I didn't see a lot of great chemistry there. She seems an awkward ineffectual 'John' with Alex playing the bitter abused prostitute and Lavender the evil scheming Madame.

I guess if I were writing it, I'd tone Alex outrage down, and make Lavender less of a villain, or perhaps write it after Alex had time to recover from his traumatic situation. Alex's emotions are just so resentful and raw, I didn't feel he had recovered sufficiently or liked himself enough to begin a relationship with anyone, let alone be the romantic lead of a romance novel.

I am surprised by all the glowing reviews of this book. It started out good, but eventually I was skimming paragraphs just to get it over with.

Lavender Hill is a bordello aimed at servicing women. Thinking she is going to a hotel for a treasure hunting book, Grace's step-brother sends her to Lavender Hill so she can acquire the needed experience to seduce his earl friend into marriage. Later telling her, the family will be ruined if she cannot seduce her earl.

Alex is a prostitute at Lavender Hill. He specializes in helping virgins. He has been trapped, blackmailed, and bullied into prostitution since he was a child. There is an instant attraction between Grace and Alex. By their second meeting they are in love.

My big problem with this book is Alex. He is such an emotional mess; he needs a councilor not a love affair. Though most of the book, I was wondering when he was going to grow a pair and become a hero. His emotional baggage eventually turns pathetic and sad; unfortunately, making the book follow suit.

I have read other Lori Brighton books and enjoyed them, but "To Seduce an Earl" was a definite no for me.

I think this author is very talented and I really, really wanted this story to succeed. I give her a lot of credit for trying to redeem such a flawed character, but in the end, the author has to resort to a magic trick to get him to stay with the heroine. I believe he is on the way to leaving the heroine "for her own good" when it happens. It doesn't matter how he got to be so negative in the first place; the fact is, he fails again and again when his courage is tested, and the only reason he does not in the end is because of the fairy godmother ending.

I will say too that I found it impossible to believe that such a place as a "brothel for women" could exist in that time period, and that upstanding society families would bring their daughters there to be "initiated" before making a bloodless arranged marriage. Give me a break! While it is not unbelievable that a boy could be kidnapped and forced into that type of life, it is not at all likely that a grown man would continue to be a slave once he realized he had the power to leave. The implication is that these men have no money of their own except for pocket change, that they go nowhere unless the madam takes them with her on trips, that they never think of another future other than sexual slavery. Do they really think they will be doing this kind of work in their 50's and 60''s? In that time period, a poor, unprotected woman might have no other choice than to sell her body, but a man could always go out and get a respectable job of some sort. Also, what about contraception? Did none of these clients--virgin debutantes or society women--ever worry about the possibility of conceiving a child? I also wonder about the pox. These things are conveniently unexplained in this book.

The other really "iffy" thing about this whole thing is how a male prostitute can be a hero in the first place. Let's face it, he's having sex with women all day long. In fact, whenever he's not with you, he's probably having sex with someone else. Yuck! The heroine does get a taste of this on one occasion, and it's not pretty. If the respectable guy had come up to scratch, I think she would have married him instead, but when he turns into a villain, she has nowhere else to go. I would like to have seen her have the courage to choose the male prostitute over the titled earl instead of being forced into it.

Another issue: the treasure hunts. I say, treasure hunts because the first treasure hunt that involves some books in Russian which she wants the hero to help her with never goes anywhere. When her world all goes to you-know-where, she doesn't even think of the treasure hunt. But then the hero remembers rumors of another treasure, and suddenly they're both behaving like little children digging on the beach with their toy shovels, finding nothing but sand. Faced with the reality of the leaky roof and the depleted food supply, the hero is ready to throw in the towel. . . and then comes the fairy godmother and everything turns out all right. Well, I like happy endings and all, but I would like to have seen his character develop a bit more so that I could believe that he wouldn't want to give up every time he had to face life's hardships.

For these reasons, I will not be reading the sequels involving the other two male prostitutes, although I do give Ms. Brighton two stars for making a valiant effort.

I decided to finish one of the romances I'd started on my Kindle and stalled part way through before picking up another, so...I finally slogged through all of Alex's depression and got to the end of this book.

"To Seduce an Earl" started out promising. Alex is one of three young men that is serving in Lady Lavender's House of Sin, helping young women get some knowledge of sex before heading into their marriage beds, and in some cases, easing them through the loss of their virginity. He'd been blackmailed into the position by the so called Lady Lavender, along with two other boys. But now, ten years on, the secret that kept him there isn't so terrible anymore and he's tired of the life, but Lavender won't let him out of his contract.

When Grace walks into this bedroom, he thinks that he is, again, breaking in a virgin. Grace's step-brother on the other hand, got her there under false pretenses and she thinks she's there to pick up a book. So the initial contact between the two protagonists is very amusing. Still, if Alex is tired of simpering little virgins, I have a hard time figuring out why he latches on to Grace in the first place, as she seems extremely tightly strung, even when she does return for a real "lesson".

Now...there's something going on with Lavender, another secret as to why she "recruited" Alex and his two other associates at the same time, and while it's discussed, that part of the story line is never really developed. The boys are just terrible detectives. Also Grace's treasure hunting hobby comes to not, and we don't get a rollicking adventure leading to gold and wealth so the pair can buy their way free of Lavender's clutches. No, instead, Alex degenerates in the angst ridden state that gets very tiresome, and a lot of the book ends up being just boring.

Plus I still can't figure out why, if they boys want out so badly, they just don't tell Lavender that if she doesn't leave them alone that they won't go public with her client list, as that would completely ruin her business. But no, the boys won't blackmail the blackmailer in return, and even watching Gracie freak out about someone finding out that she's visiting a "whore house" doesn't help then catch a clue about blackmailing their way free of Lavender.

In the end, it's a pair of minor characters in the book that have to wrap things up, so that Alex and Grace can get on with their happily ever after. I just didn't feel the conclusion of the story was worth all the angst we went through to get there.

And of course the last bit I still don't get...Alex's younger brother shows up in the book in passing as a "rake and darling of the ton". I guess it's okay to be a libertine as long as you're not taking money for it, but once you accept cash you're just a "dirty whore". Perhaps it's because the clients feel ashamed that they have to pay for sex and take it out on the providers? Victorian values...who can figure those out?

So, if you feel like taking a good wallow in self hatred and despair, be sure to check this book out. Otherwise you might want to curl up with something with a lighter tone.