Veena’s review of The Art of Sinning (Sinful Suitors, Book 1) by Sabrina Jefferies
Historical Romance published by Pocket Books 21 Jul 15
This is the first book in a new series, but, in reality, it takes off right where the last book in the Dukes Men series ends. Jeffery Keane is a rich American with family in the English nobility. He’s trying to run away from his problems by hiding beneath his art. Lady Yvette, sister to the duke of Blakeborough, calls to something deep within his psyche. Will painting his masterpiece finally exorcise his past and free him to lead a happy, productive life?
Commissioned by the Earl to paint a portrait of his sister, Jeffery moves to the Blakeborough estate. Unknown to the earl, the two have made a secret pact. While Yvette sits for her formal portrait chaperoned by her brother, she will sit in secret for another painting which Jeffery wants to paint, all the while he escorts her to the bawdy houses near Covent Garden in search of an erstwhile actress cum courtesan.
Yvette is a bright, colorful person, who’s suppressed by the fashions of the day and how young unmarried women should conduct themselves. It is inevitable that with all the time they spend together they explore more than paintings and secret errands. As Yvette slowly unburdens her lonely childhood and her near escape from a fortune hunter at a tender age, in turn Jeffery unburdens his own strife by sharing the pain of losing his wife and child. Along the way they explore their own lessons in sinning that definitely don’t fit the mold of respectable behavior.
This is a cute tale. I enjoyed seeing a very different side to Yvette’s brother, rather than the dark formidable face he presents to the world. I’m definitely rooting for him to get his own romance next.
Grade: B
Summary:
At St. George’s Club, guardians conspire to keep their unattached sisters and wards out of the clutches of sinful suitors. Which works fine…except when the sinful suitors are members!
American artist Jeremy Keane refuses to return home and take over his father’s business. He’d much rather sample bevvies of beauties abroad, in search of a model for the provocative masterpiece he’s driven to paint. When he meets Lady Yvette Barlow at a London wedding, he realizes she’s perfect for his work—and determines to capture the young heiress’s defiant spirit and breathtaking sensuality on canvas.
No stranger to scandal, Yvette agrees to be Keane’s subject—in exchange for his help gaining entry to the city’s brothels he knows intimately, so she can track a missing woman and solve a family mystery. But when their practical partnership leads to lessons in the art of sinning, can they find a bold and lasting love?
