REVIEW: Tempted All Night by Liz Carlyle

ISBN 978-1-4165-9313-3

(c) 2009, Pocket Book, Simon and Shuster

Liz Carlyle's website

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"Like all good stories, Tempted All Night delivers."

Due to a tragedy in her past, Lady Phaedra Northampton has made the conscious decision to lead a quiet life, far from gaiety and Society, and resolves never to marry. She doesn't think any man would want her, broken as she is, and there seems to be something wrong with her. She buries her fragility, hopes and dreams, and focuses on running her wealthy brother's household and solving everyone's problems. However, her search for a tavern maid gone missing leads her to London and into the arms of Tristan Talbot, Viscount Avoncliffe and future Earl of Hauxton.

Tristan, like so many historical romance heroes, is a dissolute rake. However, he has a reason. His experiences in Greece are so bad that he turned to licentious living to numb his feelings. Moreover, his relatives have never accepted him, due to his mother's less than exceptional lineage, and he is determined to live up to their perception of him--that of being a good-for-nothing and unworthy to inherit the earldom.

Yet, for all his conflicting feelings, he loves his father, and when the earl asks Tristan for a favor, he readily gives it, and his investigations lead him to a seedy part of the city and to Phaedra, who inspires deep feelings in him and who sees him as no one else.

I like that Phaedra is what Tristan needs in a turbulent time of his life, and that Tristan is what Phaedra needs to understand and accept herself for what she is. I like that Tristan feels regret for his wicked past as it relates to Phaedra, which we don't see a lot of heroes doing. The only other hero that I've read of who has this same feeling is Elliot Armstrong in Liz Carlyle's My False Heart. I like that Phaedra also meets and strikes up a friendship with Zoe Armstrong, a woman as lively and bad as Phaedra is quiet and good, yet Zoe is exactly what Phaedra needs in her life to draw her out of her shell, to live life, so to speak.

I like a good story, and Tempted All Night delivers. Regarding the ending, I normally would've agreed with Phaedra, yet given Tristan's family background and his loveless childhood, it is easy to believe that Tristan would choose a love-filled marriage with her. Love would've been reason enough, but Tristan's history made his choice especially believable for me. Now, I can't wait to read Wicked All Day about the wicked Zoe Armstrong.

Rating: 4 star reviews

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