Lawson’s review of Tempt the Devil by Anna Campbell
Historical romance released by Avon 30 Dec 08

One can always count on Anna Campbell to deliver an emotional story with a bit of a different view. Tempt the Devil is set in the same world as Claiming the Courtesan, but it’s not a sequel. Another notorious woman, another nobleman and another battle of wills between to very strong people. What comes out by the end is a different sort of story from Campbell, and an unexpected ride.

Olivia Raines is bored with all the men of London lusting after her. They’re all the same, and though she’s a courtesan and used to such things, she doesn’t find any interest anymore in coaxing jewelry out of men and finding young dandies worshiping the ground she walks on. A challenge comes for her last conquest in the form of Julian Southwood, Earl of Erith, a diplomat home for his daughter’s wedding.

Olivia knows what to do to keep a man lusting after her, but she is the one who has rules to follow and when Julian shows that he bows to no rules, Olivia does everything she can to push him away. Julian, though, has his own demons to fight and with Olivia he feels the first cracks in the armor around his heart in many, many years. Though he doesn’t like her rules, he gets past her defenses as well and discovers someone worth treasuring. But can Julian give up some things that he’s gained in coming back to England from abroad to be with Olivia forever?

The potential to be a great, heart-wrenching, emotional story is completely lost in everything else that is happening in this book. Olivia’s rules hide an abused and vulnerable woman, Julian’s actions hide a scared and lost young father who can’t cope with loss. Both act badly on a number of occasions, though not at the same time. The up and down of their actions to each other demonizes one, then the other, than back again and absurd tug of war.

Olivia’s past is horrifying, but it doesn’t justify the things she does to all men, not just Julian, nor does Julian’s past justify how he’s lived his life for the last 20 years and his treatment of women in the meantime. Throw into this Julian’s rocky relationship with his children, Olivia’s many secrets, the censure of London society, Olivia going from wanting him out of her life to demanding everything over a short amount of time and Julian always thinking he’s right and should be the center of the world and it just makes a mud puddle that they’re all struggling way to hard to get out of.

Neither Olivia or Julian are likable characters through much of the book because they are good, then do something bad, then sort of redeem themselves, then hurt someone else, then . . . it just gets to be too much. I suppose I can understand what Campbell was trying to do with these characters, but it comes across as a big mess of shattered expectations, shady actions and the idea that the past justifies your actions and you shouldn’t change.

Grade: D

Summary:

Any man in London would worship her. Yet Olivia is, quite frankly, bored of them all. Despite her many dalliances, she’s never felt true passion, never longed for any lover’s touch . . . until Julian, London’s most notoriously wanton rake, decided to make her his mistress.

From the moment he first saw her, Julian knew he must possess her. And when he discovers her greatest secret, a scandal that could ruin her reputation and end her career, he knows just the way to use this damaging information to his most delightful advantage. He offers Olivia a deal with the devil: he’ll keep her secret . . . if she allows him the chance to show her true ecstasy.

But Olivia must be careful, for Julian has a secret of his own: he will not rest until she is completely, shamelessly his.

Read an excerpt.

Reader Blogger Marg, you can find her at Reading Adventures and Historical Tapestry, was nice enough to agree to share with us her adventure at the Australian Romance Readers Convention this past weekend.

If we get lucky we can talk her into sharing some more photos and stories.

Ever since I have been blogging, each year when everyone started talking about going to either RWA or other major romance conferences, I have sat here in my chair in suburban Melbourne, Australia turning various shades of green. Whether people were posting about meeting their favourite authors, or the goodies rooms, or the signings, I read all the posts thinking about how it was all kinds of awesome that they were getting to do such fun things. The thing was, no matter how envious I became, the simple fact was that at this point in my life there is no way that I would be able to go to the US to attend such an event.

So when I just happened to read something about an Australian Romance Readers Convention back in December 2007, I was over the moon! And then when it was announced that it was in Melbourne, I was again really excited. And then, in what seems like no time at all, the inaugural ARRC is over, all the delegates have gone home and I am sure that the organising committee members are all collapsed in a heap in exhaustion.

It is difficult to give just the highlights so that this guest post isn’t as long as the weekend itself, so instead I will try to just give a taste of the flavour of the weekend. The most obvious place to start is with the keynote speakers – those who were invited to travel half way around the world to come to visit their Aussie fans, and I can tell you those fans were very appreciative! Mary Janice Davidson, Susan Grant, Liz Maverick, Sherrilyn Kenyon (with special guest Dianna Love), and not forgetting Stephanie Laurens (who didn’t come half way around the world, but we still appreciate her nonetheless). We laughed until we cried, we were inspired, we were challenged and above all we were entertained!

One of the things that I often say on my own blog is that I don’t read enough Aussie authors, and I have to say that I learnt something that kind of surprised me this weekend! There are a LOT of Aussie authors out there. They write in various different subgenres, from Mills and Boon (Harlequin), to the big NY publishing houses, to e-books and other publishers like Samhain. I have come home determined that I am definitely going to read more Aussies – Keri Arthur, Denise Rossetti and others, I am talking about your books! An Aussie author that I already read is Anna Campbell and it was great to see her latest book, Tempt the Devil, officially launched in Australia by Stephanie Laurens on Saturday afternoon.

At Saturday night’s dinner, I was lucky enough to be sitting with the gorgeous Kat O from Book Thingo, plus her librarian (yes, librarian and borrower attended together – how great is that!) with some other girls, including two Samhain authors and we had an absolutely fantastic time, so much so that I forgot to take pictures of some of the award winners and of the people sitting at the table. Kat, Vassiliki, Jess Dee and Lexxie Couper, thanks ladies. And don’t worry, what happened at dinner and what we talked about at dinner, stays at dinner. Have to say though – those mini cakes were to die for!

One of the things that the conference coincided with was the National Day of Mourning on Sunday for the bushfire victims from the terrible fires that started in early February with such devastating loss of life and property. As I write this on Monday night, we have been reminded that the fire crisis is not over with existing firest still burning and new fires starting on the outskirt of Melbourne this afternoon with more loss of homes. My point in mentioning this is that one of the initiatives of the organisers was a silent auction with the proceeds being donated to the Red Cross Australian Bushfires Appeal. There were many, many generous authors and organisations that donated great items, and there was over $7000 raised through the auction, plus an impeccably observed minute of silence on Sunday morning at 11am.

There’s so much more that I could mention, but I have to save something for my own blog (*grin*), but I haven’t mentioned the panelists, the books, the signings. So much to talk about!

In closing I want to say to the organizers of ARRC – thank you, thank you, thank you.

You did an amazing job. I don’t think that I can pay any higher compliment to you than to say my friends and I started to make plans on Saturday night to attend the next ARRC – whenever it is and wherever it is held – with at least two more of our friends. I know that I overheard other delegates making their own plans too!

Marg

This just in…

Avon has three terrific historicals on their site that you can read right now at no charge whatsoever!!!

~ Lorraine Heath’s In Bed with the Devil, Sarah Gabriel’s Keeping Kate, and Margo Maguire’s The Bride Hunt are 100% free to read on the Avon website.

~ Plus, with HarperCollins’ new Browse Inside feature we told you about recently, you can also check out other goodies like Glitter Baby by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, At Grave’s End by Jeaniene Frost, Tempt the Devil by Anna Campbell, The Highland Groom by Sarah Gabriel, and Wild by Margo Maguire, most of which are brand new, upcoming titles, to see if they’re something you’d like to read before you actually buy.

~ Check it all out here.

Consider yourself flashed.

Anna Campbell, author of some amazing books (Untouched and Claiming the Courtesan) and fellow Valenduckie, shares with us her top 10 most romantic ”Places I’ve been” and “Places I Gotta Go Before I Die.”

—

OK, this Valentine’s Day my mind is roving far afield. Come back, Mind, I need you! I have a book to write!

Um, right. OK, I thought I’d list the ten most romantic places I’ve been and then the ten most romantic places I want to get to before I turn up my toes.

So here is my official romantic places I’ve actually seen list:

1. Hever Castle, Kent
2. Leeds Castle, Kent
3. Chateau de Chenonceaux, Loire Valley
4. Coeffin Castle, Isle of Lismore.  Actually pronounced “Coffin” (snort) but it has this wonderful legend about a Viking maiden falling in love with a warrior who was killed while he was out a-Viking and she just faded away and still haunts the place, sigh. Would have been nicer if he came back, though!
5. Calgary Beach, Isle of Mull
6. Venice, Italy
7. Rome, Italy
8. Tintagel, Cornwall
9. Cordoba, Spain
10. The Alhambra, Granada, Spain

Here is the official romantic places I want to go list (anyone listening with a credit card?):

1. The Taj Mahal
2. Darjeeling to see the Himalayas in the distance [Ed.: that's those white things in the background.]
3. Topkapi Palace in Istanbul
4. St. Petersburg in the Midnight Sun [Ed.: this photo was taken at 00:05, or 12:05am.]
5. Halong Bay, Vietnam
6. Macchu Picchu, Peru
7. Petra, Jordan
8. Montreal, Canada
9. Big Sur, California
10. The Blue Grotto, Capri

If you could go anywhere for Valentine’s Day, where would you pick? And why? Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

Anna Campbell, author of Untouched and Claiming the Courtesan, shares her list of 12 tearjerkers with TGTBTU’s readers – get your hankie…

My 12 Days of Favorite Weepies…

12. As You Desire by Connie Brockway

11. A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson

10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

9. Persuasion by Jane Austen

8. Cry No More by Linda Howard

7. The Perfect Rake by Anne Gracie

6. Flesh and the Devil by Teresa Denys

5. Crown in Candlelight by Rosemary Hawley Jarman

4. Lady Luck’s Map of Vegas by Barbara Samuel

3. Possession by A.S. Byatt

2. Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale

1. Checkmate (Lymond Chronicles, Book 5 6) by Dorothy Dunnett

I know this has been said before and it will be said again and probably things won’t change much. But I really miss the variety of settings I used to find in romance novels. Am I alone here? Perhaps I am!

I don’t subscribe to the conspiracy theory that publishers for their own nefarious reasons only like Regency England even though the punters are screaming for that fabulous romance set in 9th century Albania or amongst the whaling crews on South Georgia in 1912. Actually, perhaps they could pass that one off as a pseudo Regency by mentioning the Prince of Whales (sorry!).

Hey, I love the Regency! I hope to keep writing books set then and I’ll certainly read them so this is in no way a “Never darken my door with witty story featuring dukes in cravats and high boots” whine. But for the last month or so, I’ve been blogging all over the universe and inevitably I’ve been talking about the books I loved when I was younger and it made me realize how narrow the scope of historical romance has become.

Two absolute classics I read when I was at university (unfortunately, not as part of the syllabus or I would have blitzed those literature classes!) were by a writer called Teresa Denys. One was set in renaissance Italy and one was set in 17th century Spain and those books were utterly compelling, partly because she used the places and the times to build a really convincing world that formed a vital part of the story. I doubt those books would find a publisher today.

Recently I read a Harlequin Historical by Nicola Cornick called Lord Greville’s Captive which was set during the English Civil War. It was a wonderful story that completely integrated the political conflict into the personal conflict between the characters. It was also breathtakingly romantic. I finished it and wondered why more romances weren’t set in that period. It’s not as if it doesn’t provide a dramatic background!

So am I Robinson Crusoe here? Are there settings you’d like to see more of? Sybil, I know you’re a Western fan! Why do you think readers have turned off anything that hints at the exotic? Is it because the Regency is just so comfortable, like an old pair of slippers waiting at home after wearing the Manolos all day at work (snort – last time I wore heels, Victoria was on the throne)?