Seduction is Forever by Jenna Petersen

Emily Redgrave, the widowed Lady Allington, has had a life a bit more fulfilling than the average society widow. She moonlights as a spy for a group of Lady spies for the mysterious Lady M. But during a particularly dangerous mission Emily was shot and nearly lost her life. Her fellow Lady spies and her superiors feel she’s not fully recovered and going to take unnecessary risks to prove she’s still worthy in the field.

Emily is tired of being in the confines of a house and wants to get back to what she loves best. So when her superiors relent and give her an assignment to watch Grant Ashbury, Earl Westfield, Emily feels the assignment is wasting her abilities. Especially since Grant is the type of guy who obviously can take care of himself.

Grant has been given an assignment of his own however. One very similar to Emily’s. Grant had an incident the previous year that led his superiors to see him as a bit of a loose cannon. He’s been assigned to protect Emily from the same sort of intrigue she’s been sent to guard him from. As the two spies chase each other around London they become attracted to each other and stumble upon a mission that is bigger than they expected and an attraction that is worth fighting for as much as fighting to protect England.

The first two books in this series From London with Love and Desire Never Dies stretched quite a few bounds of historical plausibility. The idea of Regency Charlie’s Angels never really sat too well with me.

Seduction really wasn’t that much different than the first two. And at first Emily really got on my nerves with her stubbornness in getting her way or the highway and her hurt at the runaround given to her by her friends. It’s justifiable, however, since she was shot and they don’t want to loose her. She’s got some post traumatic stress issues going on and I don’t want to read about that in a heroine, ’cause that sort of thing rarely happened.

Grant feels guilty for (in his eyes) causing the death of someone he cared about, and thus in an effort to show his independence and good spy skills.But he tries to overcompensate for his own fears about those he cares about, and he’s taken some risks he shouldn’t. Which is why he’s been given an easy assignment in the hope, and he’s obviously a hero, he’s just worried about the outcome and risks himself instead of others. Very noble but possibly cliche?

But there’s a surprise in Emily and her attraction to Grant: they realize it near the beginning for what it is, a mutual attraction. They lay all their cards on the table with their desire for an affair as well as a desire to show their superiors they are capable in the field, perhaps even better than they had been before their respective incidents. And the attraction does seem real and steamy. To be able to succumb to passion in that way and have it returned is a special thing.

As Emily and Grant fight the bad guys for the good of their country, they fall in love and it fits in well with the rest of the story. Or perhaps the story fits in well with their romance. The subplot of Emily discovering the identity of Lady M is appropriate to the story, but Emily’s emotional baggage about her family and why she at first refuses a future with Grant seems to be an afterthought to the rest of the plot. It was thrown in a little late and showed flaws in the characters rather than adding to the characterizations.

Overall it was a steamy, caring romance, and I was ok with, but not all for, the Regency Charlie’s Angels aspect of the plot. I wish the last bit of characterization thrown in at the end had been worked better into the story. I’m curious to see what Petersen has in store for us next.

Grade: B-