A big family, a reading addiction, and the occasional celebrity scandal are the ingredients of life that create one woman's opinion on just about everything.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Seduce Me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas



The most important thing to know about SEDUCE ME AT SUNRISE by Lisa Kleypas is that you won't be disappointed. It's such a relief to have an anticipated story deliver. Yay! If you were like me and looking forward to reading Win and Merripen's story, you won't be let down with this book.

By now the faithful readers of Ms. Kleypas know that Kev Merripen is the Rom (gypsy) that was taken in by the Hathaway family as a starved, beaten and abandoned boy. After the loss of their parents the Hathaway siblings have come to rely on Merripen's strength and support to keep the family going.

Winnifred Hathaway and Merripen have a connection from the moment they meet. The connection continues to grow stronger over the years even though it never moves beyond yearning. Win was struck with scarlet fever as a very young woman and left pretty much an invalid and too weak to have a normal life or romantic relationship.

Some of this back story we know from the previous Hathaway book MINE TILL MIDNIGHT which is Amelia Hathaway and Cam Rohan's story. However, I don't feel that you need to read that book to enjoy this one. OTOH, reading MINE TILL MIDNIGHT will enhance your enjoyment of SEDUCE ME AT SUNRISE.

Anyway, as this book opens Win has decided to go away to France to a clinic specializing in treating people with heart and lung weakness like she has. Merripen believes he has come to grips with the idea that Win can never be his in the traditional sense, but just having her in his life is all he needs. Consequently, he is devastated and angry when she decides to leave to seek this unorthodox medical treatment.

Reading excerpts and the back blurb I was a bit concerned wondering how Ms. Kleypas was going to make this story work. I really didn't want a 'miracle' type of healing or a mis-diagnosis of Win's health to be the resolution. I should have had more faith. Ms. Kleypas handles this all very well.

I do have one small complaint. It seemed out of character for Merripen to be such a thick headed pea brain. It is clearly demonstrated throughout much of the book how intelligent, industrious, hard working and practical Merripen is. I think his resistance to Win went on a bit too long. Thankfully Ms. Kleypas did not belabor this point or situation and swiftly segued into another plot twist.

All in all this was a very satisfying story about these two characters. I'm looking forward, as always, to the next book from Ms. Kleypas set in this world with these people.

A solid 'B' read for me.

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8 Comments:

Blogger KT Grant said...

This was yet another lovely read by Kleyas. :D And Kev's love for Win was so beautiful!
What did you think of the relationship twist with and Cam and Kev?

5:13 AM PDT  
Blogger Rosie said...

Weeelllll, Katie, I can't say the news about Cam and Kev was unexpected. There was plenty of foreshadowing. It was a trifle convenient, but then that's one of the things we all love about romance isn't it? The HEA? So from that standpoint it was satisfying.

6:36 AM PDT  
Blogger nath said...

Hi Rosie :) Glad I'm not the only one who gave this book a B :P All in all, I think it was a good story... however, as you said, Merripen's stubbornness just went on too long :( He almost ruined the book by being a butt-head LOL :P

7:11 AM PDT  
Blogger Wendy said...

I'm worried about the back story. I didn't read any of the Wallflower books (the premise didn't flip my proverbial switch) and I skipped Mine Til Midnight because I heard it had a lot of Wallflower "stuff" in it. Now this book....which appears to be tied heavily into MTM.

So um, I guess my long-winded question is - could it stand alone?

8:31 AM PDT  
Blogger Holly said...

Wendy, If I may -

I didn't read MtM either and I had no trouble with this one at all. I did read The Wallflower series, but they're briefly mentioned in this novel and that's all. Basically, IMO, yes.

Rosie,
Excellent review. You're right about Kev being thickheaded for a bit too long, but as many others have pointed out, it was hard to be mad when he was so torn up over it.

Overall a great read. Kleypas really delivers.

12:14 PM PDT  
Blogger Rosie said...

Nath, I keep trying to tell people that a 'B' is a good book for me, just not perfect. I really enjoyed this story and was so happy that Ms. Kleypas was true to the characters.

Wendy, what Holly said. Also, while Ms. Kleypas has connected books and characters from other books appear in the stories it is NOT in such a way that you need to have read a prior book or in any particular order. At least I don't think so.

Holly, thanks for answering Wendy's question. See how long it took me to get to it. I worked yesterday and Friday was frantic at work. Time, I don't have enough of it.

8:26 AM PDT  
Blogger Rowena said...

I haven't read this one yet, Im using it as my award for reading all of the books that I need to read and review soon...so this post made me anxious (along with all of the other reviews/posts that have gone up about this book) I'm so excited! =)

12:15 PM PDT  
Blogger Rosie said...

Ro, it's a very worthy effort and even with my issues with Kev it's a great story for these two characters. You're going to love it.

7:40 PM PDT  

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