Friday, November 6, 2009

Review - Tempt Me Tonight




Title: Tempt Me Tonight
Author: Toni Blake
Publishing Date: 2007
Genre: Contemporary
Rating: B-
Sensuality: Hot
Book Disclosure: Borrowed from Paperspine. Also, part of my RT Reading Challenge.

Trish Henderson and Joe Ramsey were a tight item in high school until the night that Joe chose lust over true love. Joe made a choice that he would grow to regret for a life time. Thirteen years have passed. Trish is a successful lawyer and comes home to the town of Eden where she grew up to help her parents sell their diner so they can retire to Florida. She runs into Joe at a local bar. Not making one of her better decisions she plots to seduce Joe to excercise her demons. Only what she ends up doing is opening a can of worms better left unopened and she realizes that she still harbors feelings for Joe after all these years.

Tempt Me Tonight is a fairly entertaining read if albeat a little uneven. The writing excels with the characters. Both Joe and Trish are protrayed realistically and are fully developed. The reader will come to understand both sides of the story and it will be hard to choose between the two. I felt for both Trish and Joe as they both suffered from mistakes made in the past and neither one of them was able to move forward from it. Tempt Me Tonight focuses soley on these two and what they need to do to work out their problems.

Occasionally, where my attention would wander would be when the characters took it in their mind to have a long internal discussion about the romance. I would have prefered to see action as opposed to internal dialogue. But, I can attest to some beautiful scenes, only these were few and far between. One in particular is a scene where Joe and Trish stay up all night talking and watch the sun rise in the morning. That was quite touching.

There is also the character Beverly who is sort of the villain in the story, although she isn't portrayed as "eeevil". I really appreciated that. She has her own secondary romance. I actually wanted more than we got of her story and felt that it ended all to abruptly and only scratched the surface. It got wrapped up with a neat and tidy bow, but I think there was more to the story.

All in all, I can safely say I think Toni Blake has a lot of potential and I will definitely be looking into some of her other books. I would recommend this one to fans of childhood love, or lost love themes in romance.

Here is what others had to say:

Erotic Horizon
Dear Author
Stacy's Place on Earth
Bluegrass Romance Reviews
Lovin' Me Some Romance
Laurie's Laudanum

This book can be purchased in print and kindle format from Amazon.

9 comments:

VampFanGirl said...

Thanks for the review pimpage Jill!

I'm sorry you didn't fall head over heels as I did for TEMPT ME TONIGHT. From beginning to end, I was in love but then again I'm a HUGE fan of unrequited love. It's my absolute favorite romance theme.

Have a great weekend!

;) VFG

Patti (@TheLoveJunkee) said...

I've been looking for contemporary romance lately - I'll add this to my list. Nice review!

nath said...

Hmmm, now I can't remember if I have this book or not ^_^; I know I have one or two by this author... I'll try her before the RT :D

Jill D. said...

VFG - I am a huge sucker for unrequited love too! Any other recommendations for me that you can think of would be welcome. Have you ever read The Winter Lodge by Susan Wiggs? That book also has the unrequited love theme and the couple met when they are kids at camp. I am a real sucker for camp stories. The steam level is more sweet than hot, as the reader is left out of the bedroom, but it's still a great read.

Patti - I have been hearing a lot of really great things about Toni Blake. I also own Letters to a Secret Lover, which I know Kristie J. really liked.

Nath - You might want to look into Letters to a Secret Lover because I know Kristie really liked that one. She also has a new release out, but I can't remember the title.

Marissa said...

I am reading more and more contemporary these days, I like the genre. But I never read anything by Toni Blake, I will add her to my wishlist.

nath said...

I have her new release. I'm not too much into Letters to a Secret Lover because the hero is an ex-prisoner. Not too fond of that kind of storyline.

Jill D. said...

Marissa - Great! I look forward to hearing what you think.

Nath - Oh really, have you ever read One Summer by Karen Robards. The hero was an ex-prisoner and oh, it was soooo goooood! Just ask Kristie J, lol. She is the one who recommended it.

Erotic Horizon said...

Wonderful sum up of this book - I had a few issues with Trish character myself but that's just me..

I actually liked the slow areas of the book - as those two had quite a bit to sort out...

I am moving on to One Reckless Summer soon - I have heard wonderful things about it...

Thanks for the link...

E.H>

Jill D. said...

EH - Sure, I am happy to link you :) I plan on reading more by Blake too. I have Letters from a Secret Lover I need to get to.