Guys love the chase - Seduced By His Touch (Tracy Anne Warren)

It took me a while to actually chalk up the nerve to get through this.  I looked at the last "recent" photo of my romance shelf and since then, I've read two (now three, counting this one) books, which is a shame since I've had an entire winter vacation to read.

That, of course, was completely sidetracked by my videogames I got for Christmas.  But that's beside the point.

By the way, I want to make a note, that this book is part of a series.  I thought it was going to be a trilogy but Ms. Warren has recently released the fourth book, which I have as an e-book right now.



Our heroine today goes by the name of Miss Grace Lilah Danvers, not very social from the looks of it, and is a girl who's into science - particularly of the botanical kind.  She's an only child, raised by a widower father, who met Grace's future husband through a round of gambling.

Enter our hero, Lord John "Jack" Byron.  I don't know why Johns go by the nickname of Jack.  It's weird.  Anyway, he's entered into this deal with Grace's dad to square some gambling debts he owes the older man.  Court his daughter and marry her.  This is pretty much the premise of the book.

So it's kind of similar to the movie 10 Things I Hate About You, except Grace isn't shrewish, but she forgoes the usual things Society expects her to do.  Jack first meets her at a bookstore, and then at a botany lecture.  She runs off to vacation with her aunt to escape him, and even then, her aunt doesn't play much of a part throughout the book except to facilitate the fact that Grace has a boyfriend without having to mention it to her dad.

Of course, her dad already knows about this stuff.  The time comes for when they're engaged and Grace feels on top of the world - that is, until she finds the document drawn up of the settlement of the marriage, particularly about the fact that this marriage and courtship is to square away Jack's gambling debt to Grace's dad.  She's pissed, but still goes through with the wedding.

They have a "show" of marital bliss for a few months so for the most part she's pissed off at him and he knows why, but nobody else does (not even her father knows that she knows that this was all a sham to get her married.  Frankly he just wants her to be happy).  So before the marriage, actually, Grace tells Jack that she wants to be independent.  She'll be his wife, but she wants to be separated.  Reluctantly, he accepts her conditions.

Now part of the separation reminds me about a certain someone I know (not me!) that is pregnant, because Grace gets pregnant and she doesn't know how to tell Jack.  Well, he comes in for a visit, but when he finds out his wife is pregnant, he refuses to leave.  The tension of their relationship is still flitting between hot-and-cold because Grace is waiting for him to leave, and Jack's waiting for her to throw them out.  But guess what?  Deep down, they really love each other!

I was really surprised that there wasn't something violent-scary in here, like a kidnapping or attempted rape.  I thought for sure it would've happened - that Grace's friend and publisher, Terrence would be the one to steal her away, but no, actually - and this is a kicker and first for any romance novel I've read - but he's gay!  I don't have a problem with it, but seriously, this is a first!

Another part - just like in Scandalous Love, the heroine locks the door of the bedroom to keep her husband out.  Well guess what, unlike Fabio's character who gets the keys for the door, Jack has to break down the door.  And unlike...oh god, I already forgot her name in the previous book -- Nicole -- well, this time Grace has the intelligence to remember to gather up the keys!

But does this prevent the guy from busting into the room either way?  Nawww, not in the least!

Seriously though, Grace's character changes.  She's no longer a wallflower or stick in the mud.  Since she married Jack, she's been getting invitations from everywhere to a bunch of different parties.  During one of these parties, she meets Jack's former mistress, Lady Philipa Stockton.  And Philipa wants Jack badly, going so far as to test him by kissing him (which Grace intrudes upon).  Another similarity to Scandalous Love except in that book, Nicole doesn't catch Fabio with his former mistress.

So that's all I've gotta say for this book.  It's different, definitely, but still one of your average romances.  I've gotten a few heartstrings of mine tugged at, but not enough to actually make me cry yet.