Tempt Me at Twilight (Hathaways, Book 3)

TITLE: Tempt Me at Twilight AUTHOR: Lisa Kleypas SERIES: Hathaways, Book 3 SETTING: Victorian, London and Hampshire THEMES/TROPES: “heartless” hero, entrepreneur/self-made man, coerced marriage OVERVIEW: Poppy Hathaway, fourth child of an unconventional family, just wants a normal, quiet life. The dream seems within reach as her relationship with a viscount’s son grows, but there are a few problems. First, his father doesn’t approve. Second, the mysteriously hotelier, Harry Rutledge, has decided that he wants Poppy for himself. And Harry Rutledge gets what he wants. With a sharp mind, an isolated childhood, and a ruthless drive, Harry is not well-equipped to provide Poppy with the sweet affection and close companionship she’s always desired, but he’s not about to give up on what he wants. While Harry learns to navigate Poppy’s strong will and her zany, protective family, Poppy learns to see beneath the many masks he wears. PROS: Harry is probably my favorite thing about this book. Not only does he fall into the category of heartless, careless, need-to-be-reformed heroes that I love, but he’s also subtly developed. Early in the story, there are plenty of moments where he’s being an outright villain, and then there’s just a hint of proper feeling in him. Poppy is also a delightful character; she’s sweet, loving, reasonable, and patient without being weak. She pairs perfectly with Harry because she’s so willing to love and to teach him to love, and she has the will to show him he can’t just have his way all the time. The progression of sex in their relationship is also written well to reflect where they’re at emotionally, particularly in terms of trust. And even when the scene ends in frustration, there’s no lack of sexiness. At the same time, there were moments where the question of consent made me a little uncomfortable, but it makes sense for the characters and time period. The supporting cast is also top-notch. The hotel staff are a lot of fun, with plenty of hilarious observations about Harry and his marriage. Poppy’s family are even better (as one might expect since they’re the main characters of the series’ other books). Poppy’s brother, Leo, is particularly hilarious (and lovable) in this book, which made me really glad that I wasn’t reading these books when they originally came out because I’m so happy to move on to Leo’s story right away. CONS: I can’t think of much I disliked about this book, and those are only slight. Harry’s character development feels a bit quick, but I put that down to the nature of the genre, where most love stories go from zero to sixty in a matter of weeks. The plot could have had a little more interest, but it was solid. I was getting close to the end of the book, thinking that the plot was lacking a little when I reached another bit of plot intrigue that finishes the story off well. Having a more intense heroine up against Harry could have created more drama and intrigue, but the story wouldn’t have been as sweet or believable. RATINGS: Writing: 5/5 Always great from Lisa Kleypas. Characters: 5/5 Well-rounded and well-developed. Plot: 4/5 Solid, but not as dramatic as expected. Setting: 5/5 Kleypas writes in great historical detail. Romance: 5/5 A sweet redemption story. Sexiness: 4/5 Matches emotional story well. Humor: 5/5 Omnipresent humor, especially when Leo comes in. Average: 4.71 Well-Written Characters, Sweet Romance OTHER INFO: This is the third book in Lisa Kleypas’ Hathaway series, which stars one of the five Hathaway siblings in each book. The preceding two books are the stories of Poppy’s older sisters, Amelia and Win, and their husbands, Cam and Merripen, all of whom we see in this book. Cam appears previously in Kleypas’ Wallflowers series, and the first book in the series sees quite a bit of some of the leads from the Wallflowers (though none of them appear in this book). This story includes a lot of setup for the following book in the series, which stars Leo and the Hathaway governess, Catherine Marks.

Tempt Me at Twilight is another wonderful addition to the Hathaways universe. This story focuses on Poppy, one of the quirky younger sisters in the quirky Hathaway family. Poppy is fun and intelligent and inquisitive ... and she is in love. She is in love with a young man who has been dragging his feet about telling his father about their relationship. Poppy is patient, though, and she is willing to wait awhile to find her happily ever after. A big, gigantic wrench is thrown in her life plans when she accidentally encounters Harry Rutledge, an enigmatic hotel owner who has a hobby of inventive fun and unique contraptions. Harry decides that he wants Poppy, and he will do whatever it takes to have her. Notice that I used the word "wants", not "loves." This becomes a bit of a problem as Harry goes about grabbing Poppy from her life path and pushing her into his. One practically manufactured compromising situation, and Poppy finds herself married to Harry. And this marriage does not start out well at all. Poppy finds out exactly how Harry manipulated things in order to get his way and "acquire" Poppy as a wife, and she is FURIOUS. Starting out your marriage with the inability to trust your spouse does not foretell good times ahead. This is the story of their path to a happily ever after. My thoughts: I LOVED Poppy's character so much. She is smart, and she usually says whatever comes into her head. This makes her odd according to social customs, but as a main character for a novel I think that this makes her wonderful. Her natural inquisitiveness is attractive to Harry who has never encountered anyone just like her. He is immediately pulled to her. She has the right degree of intelligence and fire to tame Harry's cold and calculating side. As the hotel housekeeper remarks, Poppy is probably the only person who can tame him. There is danger in creating a quirky character such as Poppy that an author can go too far and end up creating a caricature, a person who is too quirky to be believable. Lisa Kleypas manages to keep Poppy real and interesting and strong. Loved her! And I loved her family as well. They are still the odd, quirky Hathaway bunch that I love. In this one Leo comes into the forefront in many ways, and I learned to love him more as a character. I liked Harry as well ... sort of. He really was fairly cold in many ways, treating people as possessions, keeping them at arms length and never allowing himself to fall in love with them. This could be infuriating at times. There were just enough glimpses into his past and the vulnerable man underneath the cold exterior to keep me from hating him. My one concern about him is how quickly he transformed at the end. This is a common problem in books such as these where a tortured hero magically transforms in only a few days. Harry has a lot to overcome. His parents were total losers, and he has suffered his entire life because of them. After understanding his past you can understand his present, but I still felt like there needed to be more time devoted to his transformation. Still, I did root for him to happily end up with Poppy. His methods totally sucked at times, but his heart was in the right place, whether he chose to acknowledge it or not. And I have to say that the initial bedroom encounters between Poppy and Harry after the wedding made me pretty uncomfortable. Poppy was flaming angry at Harry and did not want to be with him, but she felt some degree of responsibility to him since they were now married. Harry didn't force her to do anything, but still, it seemed very icky to me. I don't know how to explain it. Everything works out in the end, but those initial encounters were not the glowing experiences I am used to reading about in these sorts of books. The story was a good one for the most part. I was kept interested through the end, and I read the entire book in a little more than a day. I did think that the drama at the very end was a bit over the top. Simply having Harry and Poppy learn to love and trust one another was a good enough story. I didn't think that the big soap opera at the end added much to the story at all. But I have come to see in the Lisa Kleypas novels from The Hathaways series and The Wallflowers series that there is always, always some giant melodrama at the end of the books before the happily ever after. It is part of their charm for me, so I don't mind too much. So this is a great addition to this wonderful series. After the ending of this one I can't wait to read Leo's story in the next book. I have a feeling that it will be great!

Tempt me at twilight of Lisa Kleypas. This is my second LK book in a month and I’m slowly becoming a fan. Again, this one was a different HR romance read because we could say our heroine finds herself trapped with the villain, as Harry says it in the book, and it’s a long way from there for this two.

Such a wonderful tapestry of characters from animals, to hotel staff and drunken lords. Laughs, action, drama, spice. This series is my favourite by Lisa Kleypas. It’s a lesson in how to write historical romance. Fabulous!

Dos três primeiros livros, esse foi o que mais gostei. Um romance bem gostoso de ler. Ela uma heroína com personalidade doce e forte e ele um anti herói beirando a vilania .

In der dritten Folge ihrer Serie über die Hathaway-Familie weicht Lisa Kleypas vom allzu verbreiteten Schema F für Regencies ab und bringt frischen Wind ins Genre. Die Hauptperson, Poppy Hathaway, ist verliebt - aber sie wird ihrem Auserwählten, Michael Bayning, nicht in die Arme sinken. Stattdessen gibt es bereits im ersten Drittel der Geschichte eine Hochzeit, was aber (zunächst) keinesfalles ein Happy-End darstellt; ihr Bräutigam, Harry Rutledge, bezeichnet sich selbst als den Schurken, und nicht den Prinzen, den sie heiraten wird. Daß er zudem die Heirat mit ihrem adligen Traumprinzen verhindert, indem er einen Liebesbrief dem der Liaison abgeneigten Vater zuspielt, und darüberhinaus einen handfesten Skandal heraufbeschwört, indem er sie vor der versammelten Londoner High Society bewußt kompromittiert, macht Harry auch nicht gerade liebenswerter. Durch den Skandal in die Enge getrieben, bleibt Poppy nichts anderes übrig, als ihren berechnenden Verehrer zu heiraten, fest entschlossen, vielleicht ihre ehelichen Verpflichtungen zu erfüllen, ihn aber niemals zu lieben, was sie ihm auch kurz vor dem Altar mitteilt. Wäre noch zu erwähnen, daß der Rest der Hathaways von der Entwicklung der Dinge nicht begeistert ist und bereitsteht, Poppy beim ersten Anzeichen von Mißstimmigkeiten zurück in den Schoß der Familie zu holen. Es ist äußerst erfrischend und unterhaltsam, eine Geschichte zu lesen, in der das Paar bereits am Anfang der Geschichte vor dem Altar steht und danach erst das eigentliche Kennenlernen zustandekommt. Dies findet weniger in einem heftigen Schlagabtausch statt als vielmehr in einem vorsichtigen Abtasten und Zurückschrecken. Der Held wird nicht als solcher beschrieben, vielmehr als ziemlich rücksichtsloser Manipulator, an dem es positive Seiten erst zu entdecken gilt, während der scheinbare Traumprinz im Lauf der Geschichte zunehmend demontiert wird. Gewürzt wird diese Entwicklung durch die anderen Mitglieder des Hathaway-Clans, die sich auch in den bisherigen Folgen wenig um Konventionen geschert haben und ihre eigenen Macken pflegen, allen voran Beatrice mit ihrem mobilen Zoo, aber auch Leo, der liebenswerter und fürsorglicher agiert als in den bisherigen Folgen, und sich dann doch die - irgendwie in der Luft liegenden - Wortgefechte mit der Hausdame liefert und dabei Unerwartetes entdeckt. Fazit: ein kurzweiliges Lesevergnügen abseits zuckersüßer Klischees

As usual Lisa Kleypas has an extraordinary talent in creating her characters and their stories where you become emotionally invested in their lives. A keeper to be reread and enjoyed time and time again.