- Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Zebra Books (22 Aug 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0821777750
- ISBN-13: 978-0821777756
- Product Dimensions: 16.5 x 10.7 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 144,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A Season to Be Sinful
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Wyatt Grantham, Viscount Sheridan, is stunned to find three young boys at his door, demanding he right the wrongs of an incident that occurred earlier that evening when he thwarted a determined thief. When he discovers his wily pickpocket is a woman, now gravely injured, he takes his flame-haired attacker under his wing. Clearly, Sheridan's new "guest" is lady of quality. So how did she become a common street thief? He finds himself irresistibly drawn the too clever, cheeky Lily, and determined to unlock her mysteries...The five years since she left the care of the French convent have been a nightmare for Lily. Her secrets are dangerous - as is the powerful man determined to find her. The handsome Viscount is clearly a gentleman with secrets of his own, but staying with him could mean the difference between life and death for Lily. With each passing day, her handsome host turns Lily's convalescence into an increasingly sensual escape. Now her greatest challenge may be imagining anything less than a future in his arms...
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I won't go into the plot because that is detailed above. Let me just say that I don't feel five stars is enough for this book. It is one of the few that I have actually kept and I take it down and read it every so often. I thought it was going to be a bog standard type of historical romance but it isn't. The heroine's deep and dark secrets are really deep and dark. Both characters are strong but not in the normal 'in your face' way that you tend to see and Goodman has produced a hero who has incredible strength of character and understanding and a capacity for deep, lasting love.
There is no wingeing and self pity for what the heroine has been through but rather a quiet acceptance and certain amount of dignity. If you want a book that will have you wiping tears away then this it; an emotional rollercoaster with just enough lightheartedness not to feel exhausted at the end.
There is no wingeing and self pity for what the heroine has been through but rather a quiet acceptance and certain amount of dignity. If you want a book that will have you wiping tears away then this it; an emotional rollercoaster with just enough lightheartedness not to feel exhausted at the end.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
This is a poignant love story that is so well written that it is a genre of its own created exceptionally well by Jo Goodman. She is a genius & she explores & writes about feelings as no-one else can.
Most of JG books are very dark & macabre where the heroine has been abused in her younger years & for that reason is tainted. The hero of the novel learns of this & gently but surely coaxes her out of her insecurities & rescues her. This is so well written that you want the story to never ever end. As you read the situations & turn pages you wish the story to go on for ever so that you can experience the warm feelings that come about as the feelings grow between the central characters.
Lord Sherry is saved from being stabbed by Lily who is in disguise & he does not realise that she has bourne the brunt of the attack on his person till the "scoundrels" turn up on his doorstep & reveal all. He goes to the place where she lies really ill & brings her back home along with the entourage of three young boys. Lily slowly recovers her health nursed back by Sherry.
He learns to like & read this fascinating person & gets to know all about her insecurities & nurtures her back to confidence & self belief. There are some wonderful emotional momemts in the storyline. One such moment is when he realises that she is on the verge of leaving him but you get to see how he is afraid for her but he dare not reveal his feelings as he knows that this will push her over the edge. He handles this so well & you go on this journey with him. Fantastic story telling. Read it & see what I mean.
Its reavealed that the villian in this tale has been known to him all along & the outcome of the story is not predictable. I will not give any of the storyline away & so I recommend that you run & buy this book. What is really really refreshing about this book are the scoundrels - you will fall in love with them immediately. They are Dash, Pinch & Smidge - delectable & soooo cute. Their presence throughout add that magical humane touch & add that extraordinary layer to this story. The godmother character again lends yet another fascinating extra on the border line. This is why JG novels succeed - I feel- is because everything is well rounded.
The interplay between the two of them is well-written from the time he first lay eyes on her, to the recognition of his growing feelings to the very personal moments between them, to the lighter humerous times- his perpective is focused on more. This is what makes this work so well.
You will want to re-live all the precious moments in this book & keep pulling it out & reading excerpts from it so you can re-encounter those warm whoooshy feelings again. Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!
Most of JG books are very dark & macabre where the heroine has been abused in her younger years & for that reason is tainted. The hero of the novel learns of this & gently but surely coaxes her out of her insecurities & rescues her. This is so well written that you want the story to never ever end. As you read the situations & turn pages you wish the story to go on for ever so that you can experience the warm feelings that come about as the feelings grow between the central characters.
Lord Sherry is saved from being stabbed by Lily who is in disguise & he does not realise that she has bourne the brunt of the attack on his person till the "scoundrels" turn up on his doorstep & reveal all. He goes to the place where she lies really ill & brings her back home along with the entourage of three young boys. Lily slowly recovers her health nursed back by Sherry.
He learns to like & read this fascinating person & gets to know all about her insecurities & nurtures her back to confidence & self belief. There are some wonderful emotional momemts in the storyline. One such moment is when he realises that she is on the verge of leaving him but you get to see how he is afraid for her but he dare not reveal his feelings as he knows that this will push her over the edge. He handles this so well & you go on this journey with him. Fantastic story telling. Read it & see what I mean.
Its reavealed that the villian in this tale has been known to him all along & the outcome of the story is not predictable. I will not give any of the storyline away & so I recommend that you run & buy this book. What is really really refreshing about this book are the scoundrels - you will fall in love with them immediately. They are Dash, Pinch & Smidge - delectable & soooo cute. Their presence throughout add that magical humane touch & add that extraordinary layer to this story. The godmother character again lends yet another fascinating extra on the border line. This is why JG novels succeed - I feel- is because everything is well rounded.
The interplay between the two of them is well-written from the time he first lay eyes on her, to the recognition of his growing feelings to the very personal moments between them, to the lighter humerous times- his perpective is focused on more. This is what makes this work so well.
You will want to re-live all the precious moments in this book & keep pulling it out & reading excerpts from it so you can re-encounter those warm whoooshy feelings again. Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
13 reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Well-written romance with rich, complex characterizations
3 Sep 2005
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is only the second book of Jo Goodman's that I have read, but clearly I have been missing something. "A Season to Be Sinful" is a wonderfully rich and complex Regency historical romance of the type that is unfortunately too rare these days. The writing is intelligent and evocative, the characters complex and memorable and the plot interesting.
The story at first glance seems a little bit contrived--a young woman disguised as a scruffy boy rescues a rather stuffy young viscount from an assassin's knife in Covent Garden. Summoned to her sick bed by three adorable street urchins (named Pinch, Dash and Midge), Viscount Sheridan (called Sherry) discovers that the young woman has taken the knife than was meant for him and is gravely ill. He quickly realizes that she is more than she seems upon hearing her gently-bred speech. Lily, the heroine, is actually in hiding in the slums of London after fleeing from the ever-so-evil Baron Woodridge, a pervert who had taken her from a French abbey purportedly to be his children's governess and then used her as his own sexual plaything. This is pretty heavy stuff for a historical romance and likely will not be to all reader's taste, but romance lovers who like character driven romance and prefer grittier, more complex stories will be rewarded for their effort in "A Season to Be Sinful". Jo Goodman transforms this plot (which admittedly has "bodice-ripper" overtones) into a nuanced story of healing and discovery between her well-matched hero and heroine.
The characters of both Lily and Sherry and finely drawn and wonderfully deep. Sherry (and his name to me sounded not feminine as suggested by another reviewer, but *terribly* British upper class) is a remarkable hero--attractive, intelligent and full of dry wit, but also rigidly correct and emotionally restrained. It is a pleasure seeing Sherry gradually open himself up to Lily and the three boys and to peel back the layers of his complex character. Lily is a worthy heroine, damaged but not broken by her horrible past, she begins to slowly and realistically heal her wounds under Sherry's care. The story unfolds gradually as Lily and Sherry learn to trust each other and share the secrets of their pasts. Their developing romance is sweet and believable and the love scenes are not only wonderfully sensual but also integral to the plot and to Lily's healing.
The book is not perfect in that the plot has a few too many coincidences for my taste, and the villain is a little too relentlessly evil; however, the dialogue is so sharp and intelligent, the writing is so beautiful and descriptive and the characterizations so marvelous (even the children are engaging despite their rather "too cute" names) that I found myself overlooking the few flaws.
Highly recommended for lovers of richer, darker, and more complex historical romance.
The story at first glance seems a little bit contrived--a young woman disguised as a scruffy boy rescues a rather stuffy young viscount from an assassin's knife in Covent Garden. Summoned to her sick bed by three adorable street urchins (named Pinch, Dash and Midge), Viscount Sheridan (called Sherry) discovers that the young woman has taken the knife than was meant for him and is gravely ill. He quickly realizes that she is more than she seems upon hearing her gently-bred speech. Lily, the heroine, is actually in hiding in the slums of London after fleeing from the ever-so-evil Baron Woodridge, a pervert who had taken her from a French abbey purportedly to be his children's governess and then used her as his own sexual plaything. This is pretty heavy stuff for a historical romance and likely will not be to all reader's taste, but romance lovers who like character driven romance and prefer grittier, more complex stories will be rewarded for their effort in "A Season to Be Sinful". Jo Goodman transforms this plot (which admittedly has "bodice-ripper" overtones) into a nuanced story of healing and discovery between her well-matched hero and heroine.
The characters of both Lily and Sherry and finely drawn and wonderfully deep. Sherry (and his name to me sounded not feminine as suggested by another reviewer, but *terribly* British upper class) is a remarkable hero--attractive, intelligent and full of dry wit, but also rigidly correct and emotionally restrained. It is a pleasure seeing Sherry gradually open himself up to Lily and the three boys and to peel back the layers of his complex character. Lily is a worthy heroine, damaged but not broken by her horrible past, she begins to slowly and realistically heal her wounds under Sherry's care. The story unfolds gradually as Lily and Sherry learn to trust each other and share the secrets of their pasts. Their developing romance is sweet and believable and the love scenes are not only wonderfully sensual but also integral to the plot and to Lily's healing.
The book is not perfect in that the plot has a few too many coincidences for my taste, and the villain is a little too relentlessly evil; however, the dialogue is so sharp and intelligent, the writing is so beautiful and descriptive and the characterizations so marvelous (even the children are engaging despite their rather "too cute" names) that I found myself overlooking the few flaws.
Highly recommended for lovers of richer, darker, and more complex historical romance.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
mixed emotions about this book
10 Dec 2005
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is the first book I read about this author. I have such mixed feelings with this book. I wouldn't say that this book was terrible, but I also wouldn't say that this book was captivating.
I think that the first half of the book was excellent. The author really shows you how Lily and Sherry fall in love. The secondary characters are adorable. All of the actions are so believable.
Somewhere in the middle, all the beauty book possessed fizzled. The author's descriptions of Lily's past was so cruel and horrid. I was just so disgusted by what men did to her in the past that I literally had bad dreams in the night. Also, the first love scene between the two characters were not as romantic and emotional as other ones are in other romance books. It seemed so dry as if it were out of a textbook. Later on, the story focuses more on the mystery than their love for each other.
Then the ending was good, but it wasn't touching as other endings in romance books. So I think that this book wasn't terrible, but I wouldn't say that I loved this book. There were moments in this book where I sighed, but there were also moments where I was just bored or annoyed that I skipped pages.
I think that Goodman has the potential to write much more romantic books if she just focused more on the drama between the two characters instead of all the mystery. For historical romances that are truly romanctic, I'd suggest reading Lisa Kleypas, Julia Quinn, Pamela Britton, and Lorraine Heath.
I think that the first half of the book was excellent. The author really shows you how Lily and Sherry fall in love. The secondary characters are adorable. All of the actions are so believable.
Somewhere in the middle, all the beauty book possessed fizzled. The author's descriptions of Lily's past was so cruel and horrid. I was just so disgusted by what men did to her in the past that I literally had bad dreams in the night. Also, the first love scene between the two characters were not as romantic and emotional as other ones are in other romance books. It seemed so dry as if it were out of a textbook. Later on, the story focuses more on the mystery than their love for each other.
Then the ending was good, but it wasn't touching as other endings in romance books. So I think that this book wasn't terrible, but I wouldn't say that I loved this book. There were moments in this book where I sighed, but there were also moments where I was just bored or annoyed that I skipped pages.
I think that Goodman has the potential to write much more romantic books if she just focused more on the drama between the two characters instead of all the mystery. For historical romances that are truly romanctic, I'd suggest reading Lisa Kleypas, Julia Quinn, Pamela Britton, and Lorraine Heath.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Complex Character Devlopement
27 Aug 2005
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Sometimes it is so long between truly wonderful historical romances that I forget why I fell in love with the genre in the first place. Jo Goodman's "A Season to Be Sinful" reminds me.
A great historical romance will have highly developed main characters and only slightly less developed secondary characters, which "A Season to Be Sinful has". In this book, not only do I care about the hero, Sherry and the heroine, Rose, but I also care about their three wards and Sherry's godmother. The plot is complex enough to show us who the hero and heroine are the shadows and the light. And why they are that way.
It is a bit darker than one would expect in your typical romance, I don't think I'm giving away too much that you can't ascertain in the first chapter, but the heroine is forced into sexual bondage. So, if that is just a place you don't want to go, I'd recommend not picking up the book.
A great historical romance will have highly developed main characters and only slightly less developed secondary characters, which "A Season to Be Sinful has". In this book, not only do I care about the hero, Sherry and the heroine, Rose, but I also care about their three wards and Sherry's godmother. The plot is complex enough to show us who the hero and heroine are the shadows and the light. And why they are that way.
It is a bit darker than one would expect in your typical romance, I don't think I'm giving away too much that you can't ascertain in the first chapter, but the heroine is forced into sexual bondage. So, if that is just a place you don't want to go, I'd recommend not picking up the book.
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