[.ca] Temptation (ISBN 0743537629)

From Amazon.com:
In 1909 New York City, Temperance O'Neil is an upper class intellectual exploring the few public forums allowed her: the campaign against the tenements and the emancipation of women. When her stepfather, Angus McCairn, demands that Temperance move to Scotland to begin a more proper life, she is stuck. Dependent on his control of her money, Temperance moves to Scotland but makes his life a circus of women's committees and good works. To distract her, Angus makes an irresistible offer--once she has found a wife for his reclusive nephew, James, she may return to New York with a modest stipend. Temperance agrees, and heads for the remote laird. Once Temperance arrives, however, she realizes that the challenge of finding James a wife is equally as intimidating as the prospect of cleaning up a tenement. The house is in shambles, the local town depressed, and his welcome perfectly horrible. Faced with this task or the return to her stepfather, Temperance digs in and focuses all her energies on making James presentable and finding a willing bride. Impressed by her tenacity, James begins to care for her, and it looks like the search for a wife may be over, if Temperance agrees. Temperance is the heroine we've been waiting for. The descendent of Jane Austen's women, she is smart, passionate, liberated, and true to her own ideals. While at the denouement of most stories the heroine melts into a slushy pile of self-contradictions, Deveraux's character stands strong in her convictions and wins the respect of the readers, if not her fellow characters. Just like the readers, romance heroines are securing the man, the fortune, and the good ending through the quality of their characters, and not by the leverage of their charms. Temperance is the hero that we all want to be, and Jude Deveraux's work is an entertaining medium for inspiration.--Nancy R.E. O'Brien

TEMPTATION ..to throw it out in the trash..:
My first Jude Deveraux was A Knight in Shining Armor, and I loved it. Then comes The Mulberry Tree, and thought the story had a great plot. Temptation, however, was a disaster. I found the heroine to be an obnoxious brat, and the hero completely shallow. After reading a third of the book, no solid story plot could be found. Its hard to even continue with the story without finding the heroine annoying and irritating. This book has definately tainted me from reading anymore Jude Deveraux books.

Sad Decline of Jude Devereux:
What happened to her writing? I still remember the first time I read A Knight in Shining Armor. Well, Temptation is nothing like it. The plot construction and style of the novel are choppy, which progressively got worse the deeper I got into the book. I liked both of the main characters just fine (especially the heroine), but together, they just don't have chemistry. This book just didn't do it for me and was a very sorry disappointment.

Return of ýOld Judeý:
I was beginning to think Jude Devereaux didn't have a good, funny romances left in her. But ta-da, here is Temptation, a return to the "old" style of romance and humor I loved. Sharp, believable characters. Why can't she write more like this instead of the supernatural crap she's trying to put out nowadays?

Great Storytelling:
Once again Jude Devereaux comes through with another well crafted story. I read some of the other reviewer comments about how this is not the Romance they were looking for. The writing is a little different for a Jude Devereaux novel but that same great character development and story building that I've come to expect of a Devereaux book are all here. The ending is not a surprise but the twists and turns to get to the happy ending are a little different and make a good read. I enjoyed it page after page until the end. It's too bad the book ended. The big brown library cart (UPS) just delivered another Devereaux novel from Amazon as I was writing this - I can't wait.

Cute Whimsical Read!:
Temptation is a light and fun easy read! I enjoyed this silly farfetched story that is typical of Jude's imagination. Temptation is one of approximately 25 books in the Montgomery and Taggert series