Lawson’s review of Seducing An Angel (Huxtable Quintet, Book 4) by Mary Balogh
Historical romance released by Delacorte Press Hardcover 19 May 09

After having the three Huxtable sisters find their happy endings, though through scandal, their younger brother Stephen, Earl of Merton, gets his story. This book is being released in hardcover, though the first three in the Huxtable family series were paperback. What could Stephen have in store for him? Well, you’ll just have to read and see. If you haven’t read any of the series yet, you may want to, though this book did stand on it’s own rather well.

The titular angel in the book is Stephen, as he has been described that way by his family and those in society in the other books in the series. He is the object of seduction by Cassandra Belmont, Lady Paget, a widow in dire financial straits who thinks that he’ll be an easy target for her to become his mistress and get money to help her out. She sets her trap for him after seeing him in Hyde Park at the Sheringford Ball, a ball planned by Stephen’s sister Meg.

Cassandra gets her way, as she had assumed it would be easy and Stephen would be a pushover, but the morning after, it’s of course a different story. While Stephen makes good on his promises, Cassandra realizes too late that Stephen won’t be easily controlled, and in fact wants to restore her into society’s good graces. Cassandra, you see, is the subject of much gossip, the rumor being she killed her husband with an axe. Not a true story, but rumors are hardly ever true. With Stephen’s help, Cassandra becomes re-accepted into society, but when she has to face her past, a future seems too hard to get.

Stephen, as evidenced in the previous three books, is a good brother and a good man. He’s charming, handsome and doesn’t have a brooding nature such as his cousin Con Huxtable, whom he is often seen in the company of when Con is in London. He really is almost too good to be true. He adores his sisters and their children, has honor without being arrogant, gives more of himself than he asks from other people and has more money than he knows what to do with. His one flaw may be trying to be too overprotective and, being a man, wanting to protect with his fists.

Cassandra, being quite desperate, takes Stephen at his appearance at first, and thinks since he’s young, she can control him. She hasn’t been well treated by the men in her life, her father, her husband, her stepsons, and finally her brother, so she takes her pride and does what she thinks she needs to do. Unfortunately she makes people not like her, because her pride in wanting to do everything on her own gives off an air of contempt for everyone around her. Even when they try to be nice to her. While she doesn’t want to take charity, she doesn’t take the Huxtable’s kindness for what it is.

At least Cassandra is able to make amends with her brother and get out from behind her mask of contempt for everyone else, but she never seems to be the person that Stephen actually needs and wants, which is someone who loves him for who he is, rather than his title, money and good looks. She doesn’t want the latter three things, but she doesn’t like herself enough to truly see other people. There is a happy ending, of course, but to me Cassandra isn’t the best person for Stephen, even though Stephen is almost too good to be true.

The story was well written and I enjoyed the dialogue, but I realized in the last half of the book that it was a little familiar. Or maybe I saw a pattern from the other books in the series. While, of course the characters are different and the story has its own plot, some elements are the same such as one or both characters saying they don’t like or even hate the other, there’s a public display that leads to a marriage to stave off gossip, somewhere in there Con Huxtable warns away the non-Huxtable and the villain comes out of the woodwork and is humiliated in some way. While these elements don’t all happen in the same order, it did make the story a bit predictable.

Though it was predicable, it’s still a well written tale and Stephen is a great hero. It makes me really want Con’s story though, and I believe the next book should be his story. I do like the series because the Huxtables are a fun group and each have a role in all the books, not just token appearances in the stories other than their own.

Grade: C

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Summary:
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The recently widowed Cassandra Belmont, Lady Paget, has arrived in London during the social Season. But she receives neither welcome nor sympathy from society. Quite the opposite. There are questions surrounding the death of her husband, and rumor has it that Cassandra murdered him. Her son-in-law has used threats rather than law to cut her off without a penny. But she had dependents as well as herself to support. Her situation is desperate indeed when she decides there is only one way to save them all from destitution. She goes in search of a wealthy, well-connected protector-and she settles upon the Earl of Merton.
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Stephen Huxtable, Earl of Merton, is now twenty-five years old, handsome, popular, and carefree. He is one of England’s most eligible and desirable bachelors. He has no interest in marrying just yet, but he is quite open to the idea of taking a mistress. When the beautiful Lady Paget appears very willing indeed, Stephen sees no reason to resist his attraction to her, despite her scandalous reputation. Until conscience sets in, that is, at the same time as he understands how Cassandra has deceived him.
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The affair would seem to be over almost before it has begun.
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Stephen’s conscience, however, moves him in more than one way, and he has a proposition of his own to make to the conniving, near-destitute widow. Suddenly the tables have been turned.
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Read an excerpt.

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