Publisher: Ballantine Books (an imprint of Random House)
Publication Date: 22 June 2010
Related Series: Stud Club, Book 2
ISBN: 034551887X
Format: Paperback
Pages: 384
Websites:
Tessa Dare – Official Site
Tessa Dare – Blog
Tessa Dare – Twitter

Place(s) Traveled to: Buckleigh-in-the-Moor in Devonshire, England; Bath, England (1817)

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

First Line: Rhys St. Maur, newly Lord Ashworth, was a broken man.

Twice Tempted by a Rogue is book 2 of Tessa Dare’s Stud Club trilogy and picks up shortly after One Dance with a Duke (my review) ends. This book focuses on Rhys St Maur, the new Lord Ashworth, as he returns to his country seat for the first time in fourteen years. He had left the area shortly after a devastating fire destroyed Nethermoor Hall – the home of his birth – and hasn’t looked back since. If you’ve read One Dance with a Duke then you know that Rhys recently came into some money and he plans to use that in order to rebuild his ancestral home. What he didn’t plan on was the resentment that the villagers in Buckleigh-in-the-Moor would have towards him and his plans.

 

What follows is your standard boy-meets-girl romance story with little mention of the mystery that was begun in One Dance with a Duke. The main focus in Twice Tempted is the relationship between Rhys and Meredith “Merry” Maddox, a widow who runs the Three Hounds Inn which is essentially the only source of revenue for this small village since the Ashworth’s departed years before. What I liked about Merry is that she isn’t your typical heroine. She is strong and feisty. She is far from a naive virgin and she drinks. She isn’t afraid to bash bottles over the heads of those who cause a ruckus in her inn nor is she afraid to stand up for what she believes in.

I liked Rhys as a character and I was glad to learn more of his past and what made him tick. His is a story that makes a reader’s heart break. But I didn’t like how there wasn’t enough of the characters first introduced in One Dance with a Duke.Spencer and Amelia are mentioned briefly but don’t appear and while there a couple of appearances by Julian Bellamy they are short and quickly over. Julian’s scenes also serve more as a transition/build up to what is to come in the third book in this trilogy, Three Nights with a Scoundrel. Overall, this book is your typical transition novel. It was slower than the first book and a lead in for the final book. Its a book that can be read independently from the others for while it may mention events of the previous book there is little in this story that moves the murder mystery story arc along. With the exception of that one tidbit near the end….but that tidbit again only serves as a lead in to Julian’s story.

If I were to describe Twice Tempted in just two words I would call it brain candy. Its an entertaining read but it doesn’t require much thought in order to keep track of the plot. As the plot is very straight forward. This may sound harsh, but that isn’t my intent. This is the sort of book that is great for when you are taking a plane trip or need something light to read at the beach. Its a book that you can enjoy during those really busy days and just need something fun to relax and forget about the real world for a bit. Its a book that I would recommend to others and its also the story that changes my opinion of Julian – just a bit. Julian is a character that I didn’t really like in One Dance he is moody, volatile and a bit of a jerk to those around him. But in Twice Tempted you see a slightly more relaxed and caring side to Julian and this makes me curious about his story and so I am now looking forward to reading Three Nights with a Scoundrel. Which I just sort of so-so on before.