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Beauty Tempts The Beast (2000)

by Leslie Dicken(Favorite Author)

3.42 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

review 1: I don't know what's with me these days but more often than not in the past week I've found the titles mismatch the book. "Beauty Tempts the Beast" I support "Tempts the Beast" works. He was rather reluctant. But "Beauty" isn't a suitable title for Vivian the heroine. I'm not saying she isn't pretty or that I didn't like her. I did like her, and we're told that Lord Ashworth (the hero) finds her attractive. But beauty doesn't fit. In fact, I'd say she shunned the title or idea behind being a female 'beauty' as she wears her simple dresses, digs in the dirt, scampers around under bushes, and feels uncomfortable as the centre of attention. I don't really have a suggestion for a better title (Temptress and the Beast? Sanctuary and the Beast? I don't know). Anyway, moving along... more.This was a great read. It's been attached to me all day. There was definitely a Jane Eyre vibe going on: creepy house, reclusive hero who is a bit surely but takes to the heroine in a friendship-y as well as lustful way, mysterious house 'ghosts', child, house staff that isn't extremely welcoming, and lots of mysteries and secrets. What differs is the ending. (I HATE Jane Eyre's ending starting from the wedding part. Let's just say that I would have written things a bit differently with the same basic outcome.) Did I guess the villain and the motive? Why yes I did, but that's because I always hope this exact conflict will come up. In fact, I always guess it as a motive, but am rarely right.There was a great and complex story here that was a bit messy (in a good way, as in not tied in a pretty bow where everything is revealed to every single character at the end). I really enjoyed the read, but it was a bit too dark and creepy for me. I didn't feel that the characters were super dark (other than the main villain in the story) but the creepy house and the mysterious 'monster' grated on my happiness bubble a bit - but that is totally personal preference. Again, I really compare the reading experience to that of Jane Eyre, I got the same sort of spooky 'where is the happy-romance-ness?' feeling from that book two, and I've never re-read it.One thing I didn't think was particularly necessary was the subplot of Martin searching for Vivian. Sure, it rounded out the details a lot better because the book starts when the main characters meet each other so we don't see any of the conflict or other characters involved before the meeting. But I was much more focused on the main characters and their journey (if you will), so I just wanted to take their word on their past instead of seeing it being constructed by the man who linked the two main characters together and was searching for them.But yeah. Good read. I recommend it to anyone who likes the spooky, dark, historical romance that has two great lead characters.
review 2: 3.5 stars ... it's been a while since I read it, so I'm fuzzy on some of the details. As I recall, I think there were some grammatical issues/lack of line editing, which is really down to the publisher, but they were distracting. I found it a bit uneven in terms of characterization, and some of the sex scenes were a bit awkward. Those were my major quibbles. I liked the suspense, the overall story, and the fact that there were multiple antagonists, and thought the resolution was satisfying. less

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