A Passion for Pleasure

March 11, 2013
Based on the title, one might expect Rowan’s second Daring Hearts Victorian (after A Study in Seduction) to be raunchy, but it’s more romantic suspense than erotic romp. Young widow Clara Winter wants to get her seven-year-old son out of her father’s clutches. Sebastian Hall is a pampered scion of aristocracy whose blossoming career as a pianist was cut short by a devastating hand injury, leaving him desperate for cash. Their mutual salvation may be to find the plans for an encryption machine Sebastian’s diplomat-brother is seeking—and to marry. Rowan’s characters are at best angst-ridden and at worst amoral sociopaths; they lie, manipulate, and maneuver their way through a fraught plot that includes synesthesia, property law, automata, cryptography, and the Crimean War. Anxiety is Rowan’s métier; the erotic tension is hot, but the emotional development is minimal. Agent: Kimberly Witherspoon, InkWell Management.

April 1, 2013
In the second of the Daring Hearts series, Rowan features Clara Whitmore, a widow fighting to regain custody of her young son. Sebastian Hall sees her at her uncle's automaton museum when he seeks plans for a coding machine. She remembers studying piano with him when she was a teen and now feels that he is the man to help her. She proposes marriage. His music career is then derailed by a hand injury and botched surgery, which he is keeping secret from his demanding father. Clara and Sebastian find strength and passion in each other in Rowan's lovely, well-written historical romance featuring appealing major and minor characters. The first title in the series, A Study in Seduction (2012), featured an older brother, and more siblings will no doubt continue to appear. Readers who enjoy Alexandra Hawkins and Grace Burrowes will enjoy this evocative, romantic reading experience.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)