Seven Secrets of Seduction

I really enjoyed this book ... yes, there were no juicy sex scenes, but that does not matter ... the characters were great, complicated, and educated. The dialogue itself was superb and well worth the purchase. Read it, you will enjoy it. I have re-read it five times since I bought it, and everytime I enjoy it even more. The complexity of both characters. The literary references (there is a mis-use of "alliteration", but that can be forgiven), everything about this novel is great. It is so different from the typical fluff out there. Perhaps the lowly-shopgirl did not remain one at the end, but she remained true to who she was - a woman who could not, even for love, be used as a mistress, a balm for the broken man. I like that in a novel. A woman not surrendering herself.

I was halfway through this book and not that enthralled when I realized that I had missed so much because I wasn't reading carefully. Anne Mallory knows exactly where she is going from the first page, and is laying the groundwork for a very satisfying novel. Many reviewers have posted plot summaries, so I won't bother, but a few impressions: - Satisfying characters - the hero Maxim and heroine Miranda have some depth to them. Miranda is smart and truly independent. Maxim has a damaged family history and is touchingly searching for something, but what he thinks he wants turns out not to be very satisfying. Some nice secondary characters particularly Miranda's friend Georgette, but I even liked Maxim's prospective fiancee. - A surprising twist that is integral to the story from the beginning, which is so refreshing. So many HR books have these last minute twists that seem to be crammed in as an afterthought. - Unconventional in some ways - Miranda's capitulation that some reviewers criticized I thought added to the story, and emphasized her love for Maxim.

This is an exquisitely, seductively written story. Beautiful. It is a Keeper and will be read again. Pay close attention to the prose. Don't read it in haste or gloss over the lines. So seductive.

The only thing I can thing that was wrong with this book was it ended to soon. I will admit I was greedy, I wanted to keep on reading more of their happy ever after.

1. Start the story with a heroine who is not childish or overly innocent. In this case she is described as optimistic tempered with a sense of realism. 2. Lots of sexual tension and build up. This story certainly had lots of it. 3. Keep the dialogue fresh and witty. I actually laughed out loud a couple of times. 4. Have other characters who are actually interesting. Georgette, her friend, was fabulous. Maxim's staff was interesting too without too many stereotypes. 5. Reveal the hero slowly and piece by piece. I personally hate novels that go back and forth between the thoughts of the heroine and the hero so that there is no mystery or uncertainty. He was complicated and multifaceted. I loved in this book where you were along for the ride with Miranda. 6. Don't have the heroine be a martyr or willfully blind. I like that Miranda was able to puzzle out the mystery and that she wasn't so fragile that when she did find out she didn't have a complete melt down. 7. Have your hero truly fall in love with the heroine, perhaps even before she falls in love with him. He was sooooo romantic. The first book I read by Mallory was Three Nights of Sin. After that I read several other of her titles, but none have compared. Seven Secrets of Seduction is, I believe, the first contender and in many ways I believe it may be superior. In this one I would say that Three Nights of Sin ran a little hotter, but Seven Secrets ran sweeter. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and could not put it down. I disagree with the other review about the end. I enjoyed it the whole way though.