Seducing Sybilla (Zebra Regency Romance)

This cracking read had me up all night. The characters are skillfully portrayed and the plot riveting. The mounting tension in the character of Sybilla is matched only by the depiction of her inner passion for Augustus. Ms. Conway is a mistress of her genre. My only reservation is the impatience at having to wait for her next offering.

I both read and write novels. If I enjoy a writer's style, I will read three chapters, regardless, but SEDUCING SYBILLA drew me on, entertaining but with no sense of urgency. Madeleine Conway has a marvelous vocabulary and uses it boldly. The only improvement I might suggest is breaking chapters at plot turns rather than allowing a reader to drift. I saved the last 30 pages to read as I soaked tonight, then inadvertently flipped the book into the bath. After a blow dry, the pages fanned fatter, but the content held true. I look forward to Conway's next effort.

Seducing Sybilla is fun and a little out of the ordinary for a Regency romance. The heroine and her sister are scientific and, unlike many bluestocking ladies, seem to be genuinely capable, rather than ivory tower intellectuals. The hero is a combination of alpha and beta male characteristics, and there is a range of interesting secondary characters who have a role in the central romance. Unlike many Regency writers, Ms Conway has researched her settings carefully and has a good grasp of the history and manners of Regency England.The writing is engaging and the story powers along. This isn't great literature, but it's pleasantly seductive and is told with more flair than many of its genre.