The Tempting of Thomas Carrick Mass Market Paperback – 26 February 2015

I have been a Stephanie Lauren's fan from her earliest days and many of her books feature on my list of favourite Regency books. I have been a loyal reader and stuck with her through her various series and once again, I bought this book on pre-order, wanting to catch up on old characters and read about the next generation of the Cynster family. I really enjoyed the mystery element, but am totally frustrated by the cliffhanger ending and the need to wait for the next book in the series before the murderer is revealed, etc, etc.Other reviewers have talked about the plot line in detail, so I will not comment on that, other than to say, one cannot fault Miss Laurens grammar or story telling abilities but the word that springs to mind is, "samey." Nothing fresh or exciting, just more of the same, a formulaic storyline which trades on our desire to keep abreast with the activities of a much-loved family. A feeling I have been experiencing with her last half dozen books at least. Indeed, so strong is this sense of repetition that I skipped all the sex scenes so that I could keep up with the plot and the mystery element of the book.I know that I will not be popular for saying this but unless the author is made aware of this sense of disaffection that many of her loyal readers are experiencing then we are in line for many more books using her so called winning formula. Books which will rely on similar plot lines and repetitive descriptions of sex disguised under a new title. If you are new to Stephanie Laurens work please, please, please go read her earlier works. Then you will understand fully what I mean and have the added pleasure of reading, sparkling, witty dialogue with descriptions of a Regency life that will leave you wanting more.This book did none of that, I just felt that once again, I was being taken for granted as a loyal Stephanie Laurens fan.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. My favourite Cynsters were always Catriona & Richard, and so it was lovely to catch up with Lucilla, their eldest child, and to some extent her twin Marcus (see next book). It was obvious in the previous book that Lucilla and Thomas were to be the next pair, but the book is true to the Cynsters with several twists where 'The Lady' gets involved. Lots of love and as usual the ending you have looked forward to. Poor Thomas has no intention of settling to estate life as he has a good job which he loves in Glasgow but as usual everything conspires against him! Lovely

I thought this book disappointing. We knew that the the couple pair off from the previous novel,so there was no element of surprise. The villain was wishy-washy; he just wanted to live a fashionable life beyond his means,and in the end he scarpers,so justice is not seen to be done. There were some real tensions in Scotland at that time involving the Highland clearances. I think the author has run out of ideas. Her work is normally very readable ,but she is taking her readership for granted at the moment.

I've been a little disappointed with the past few books but this book and the previous have given me a reminder of why I love this series. It a change of scenery and that probably helped massively with some of the aspects of these novels that were getting mundane. I would definitely suggest that if you were in a similar mindset to me and were begging to get bored with these books...try reading this duo...it helped me!

This is story is the start if a series of the second generation Cynsters. I'm glad it started with the children of the lady of t h e vale. It make sense that the lady of the vale designate would know when she was to marry. I enjoyed it so my h I have pre ordered the next book about the brother.