Southern Seduction (Zebra Historical Romance) [Mass Market Paperback]

Brooke Hammond had not chosen the life of a courtesan. It was the only way for her to survive. Her life changed when she was taken under the wing of Jackson Montgomery, Duke of Devonshire. Their relationship was platonic. Jackson had promised he would leave Brooke and his two nieces, Jocelyn and Shannon, well taken care of. When he had died, he'd left Brooke his American plantation, Moss Grove, and enough money for the young women to leave England for a new life. Mr. Jeffries, the solicitor in charge of the duke's affairs, went with them.

Once in New York, the three ladies have a tearful farewell and go their separate ways. Mr. Jeffries travels with Brooke to Moss Grove. However, the duke had not told Brooke the entire truth. Brooke arrives at Moss Grove, in New Orleans, to find out that Travis Montgomery, Jackson's son out of wedlock, is already in residence. Mr. Jeffries reads Jackson's will aloud and shock Brooke and Travis to their very cores. The two are now business partners; both have inherited half of the sugar plantation.

Travis is furious! He knew Jackson never really cared for him. When Travis was but sixteen, the duke had sent Travis and his mother, Margaret, to live on the failing plantation. Travis has only recently managed to turn Moss Grove into a profitable business. Due to other items in Jackson's will, Moss Grove may fail after all. Currently, Travis's mother is up north with Hesione, his fiancée. With luck, by the time they get back he will have managed to get rid of the unwanted business partner. No matter how lovely the "widow" is, Brooke could ruin everything.

Brooke is not happy with the news either. Due to the will's terms, should Travis marry Hesione, Brooke would no longer have a claim to the estate. No one knows Brooke had survived as a courtesan, but those skills may help her seduce Travis away from Hesione.

***** Do not judge Brooke harshly. There are more terms in the will than I mention in my synopsis. There are more characters than you would guess as well. I fell in love with Mammy, the housekeeper, and twelve year old Eliza, Travis's second cousin. Hesione's Creole family can cause major problems too.

Author Alexandria Scott has created an exceptional tale set during a time in history when such situations could become most volatile. I found this story to be very extraordinary; the heroines of most historical romances are of young, naive, ladies or widows. This author has dared to go against the grain and has earned my high regards. BRAVA! I can hardly wait for the nieces' stories to be told. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

I was intrigued by the opening of Southern seduction; three young women from London have docked in New York hoping for a new beginning in America. The story focused on one woman in particular, Brooke Hammond, a former courtesan who was bequeathed a plantation in New Orleans from her last protector. After the first few chapters I was no longer intrigued by the story, there were missing parts to this plot and the coincidences were a little too much.

Brooke begins her journey in America with the thought that she never needs a man and she is the mistress of her own destiny. Her last protector, a Duke, the one who gave her the mansion, was an old man who never slept with her. We find out that Brooke has always had very old men as her protectors, supposedly so she would not have to grace them in bed too much, but still the thought of an eighteen year old with a man old enough to be either her grandfather or great grandfather was not appealing.

When Brooke arrives at the plantation she is in for a rude awakening because she does not solely own it, seems that her protector had an illegitimate son who owns half the plantation also. The will states that if they marry, Travis, the Duke's son, gets a lot of money plus ownership of the plantation, if Travis marries someone besides Brooke and produces an heir or a pregnant wife within a year Travis gets sole ownership of the plantation. Travis is enraged by these terms as he has been working the plantation since he was sixteen. Fortunately, he is already engaged and luckily for Brooke,his fiance is up North buying her trousseau. This gives Brooke the opportunity to seduce Travis into marrying her. Since she does not want him to know she was a courtesan and not a virgin, she lies and says that she is a widow, then she tries in not so subtle ways to attract him.

Travis falls quickly in lust with Brooke. His commitment to his fiance is nothing short of a joke and he has some major anger issues with his family of proud Creoles. It seemed all his decisions were made in anger.

Brook claims adamantly she has never lied to Travis but what about that fake husband. That seems to have slipped her mind.

So many things in this novel never added up. For instance if Brooke was a courtesan to a Russian prince and the toast of London, then how is it she was never provided for at all. Did she never ask for a settlement with these old men, how ridiculous. Also I never could figure out what year this novel took place, obviously before the civil war as there were slaves at the plantation. Although most were free, it never made sense that very British Brooke would not raise a hue and cry over the ones that weren't. Didn't most Brits loathe slavery?

Finally, there is a mystery toward the end of the book which was not needed, there was enough going on with Brook trying to calculate how to seduce Travis and Travis being unable to control his lust for Brook. But the main problem with Southern Seduction was it lacked emotional depth between the characters.

Brooke Hammond leaves England to take possession of Moss Grove plantation, a present from the aristocrat who kept her. She sees her journey to in Louisiana as a chance to start over.

However, upon arriving in Bayou country, Brooke meets her partner Travis Montgomery. With hard work and intelligent decisions, he has turned Moss Grove from a failed plantation into a money-making operation. Travis refuses to provide his father's mistress any breaks; although he is very attracted to the Englishwoman. However, his avoidance fails him when a storm strands them together forcing him to break a prior engagement and marry Brooke. As they fall in love, less honorable people want to rip asunder the marriage between the co-owners.

Brooke is a fascinating lead character as she bravely travels to Louisiana in search of a new life, but finds prejudice meets her, which in turn she courageously confronts. Her relationship with Travis slowly evolves from disdain to love. Thus she makes the exciting historical romance work with her strong sense of self worth as the audience will root for her to win her new home and his heart, both going up against incredible odds.

Harriet Klausner