Review: Tempting a devil
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 8, 2013
In 1818 Roger Templeton saves a lady from amorous advances in a garden during a party. The lady then thinks he might make a better suitor. This is Harriet Stanley, however, who used to be a mischievous, idolising little girl when they played together years ago. She was married off to a wealthy old man, and now her husband's dead, she's considering an affair.TEMPTING A DEVIL is what Harry's doing, though she doesn't realise that Roger is a self-confessed rake and gambler. Harry has a two-year-old son. There is another rake about town; his name is Faircloth and his father has ordered him to marry respectably. A wealthy widow would suit, especially as reputable young misses would not be introduced to him. He's got leverage, which he isn't afraid to use against Harry. Roger Templeton, her childhood friend and Lothario, looks to be what Harry needs....I'm not sure that feisty was a word used in the 1800s, but that's how Roger describes his playmate. Harry's sister married a man in trade - and was separated from her family, which is sadly believable. Suspense is maintained by attempts to snatch Harry's little boy.  She is determined to remain mistress of her own money until her son comes of age.  The story focuses on the wealthy, and we see none of the squalor that swamped London at the time, apart from a few street boys who help track down a criminal.  Harry and Roger are good characters but somehow I never fell into the story, and I have enjoyed other period romances more. Samantha Kane lives in North Carolina and with TEMPTING A DEVIL she looks at life after marriage at the time, a side that is sometimes forgotten.