The Seduction of Sebastian St. James

  Emma Gates is the beautiful daughter of a wealthy viscount. Her youth was spent playing and running with the children of neighboring estates … and wildly dancing to gypsy music in secret. Now that she is, as she says, on the shelf, she does not dance anymore. There is a reason for this, as the reader soon finds out. She also has no interest in marrying, and will only do so to appease her parents. 

The Duke of Tempest, Sebastian St. James, is in want of a bride. The Angel Duke, as he is known, is engaging his best friend and his wife to help him sort through the social sea of would be debutants to choose from. That is, until he meets Miss Emma Gates, a cousin of his friend’s wife. 

The characters of Emma and the Duke are written well and were obviously, very much attracted to each other. Therefore, the story blunders somewhat over the flimsy reasons why they will not be suited. They each think or voice these thoughts repeatedly throughout the book.  Both characters are supposed to be adults, yet they pout, demand, and scheme in a most unflattering way (mental eye roll). This makes it very difficult to sympathize with them as their relationship deepens.  Also, Ms.Van Dyken’s writing is promising enough that she did not need to pepper the book with tiresome phrases and overused clichés.  The plot, however, was interesting and kept one reading, and the pages kept turning until all ended well. 

Beth Chamberlain