The Art of Sinning

June 15, 2015
Veteran historical romance author Jeffries (the Hellions of Halstead Hall series) launches her Sinful Suitors Regency series with two effortlessly crafted charismatic protagonists. Edwin Barlow, Lord Blakeborough, commissions brash American artist Jeremy Keane to paint a portrait of his sister, Lady Yvette, in exchange for introducing Keane’s sister, Amanda, to amenable suitors. Yvette is trying to find the child that her irresponsible brother Samuel left behind in a brothel; Jeremy offers to help in exchange for Yvette modeling for another, more provocative painting. When the two meet in secret at night and Yvette poses for his painting, their meetings become erotic encounters, and Jeremy opens up a world of sensuality for her. Yvette is revealed as a strong, smart woman driven by her quests to rescue her brother’s child and to find a man to love; Jeremy could be that man, but the scars of his past get in his way. Jeffries’s talent is clear, and readers will delight in the multidimensional characters, fast-paced plot, and heaps of emotional passion and sensuality.

August 1, 2015

American artist Jeremy Keane will do anything to have striking, statuesque Lady Yvette Barlow as the model for his newest, unconventional painting, even agreeing to her outrageous request that he somehow get her into a Covent Garden brothel. Although they clash from the start, their secret bargain brings them closer together, and while both are averse to marriage, they find it increasingly hard to resist the attraction that simmers between them. Life-changing secrets are gradually revealed as plot layers are peeled away and Jeremy and Yvette are forced to come to terms with the truth and their feelings. VERDICT Marriage-wary protagonists spar their way to love as their prickly exchanges turn romantic, then sinfully hot in a complex story that gloriously launches Jeffries's new series. Although the story stands on its own, there are enough references to characters and events from previous books (primarily the "Duke's Men" titles) to make reading the earlier works recommended. Jeffries (If the Viscount Falls) lives in Cary, NC.

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