The Pleasure Trap [Mass Market Paperback]

Initially appearing to be a standard Regency Romance it becomes apparent when reading this book that there's an element of the paranormal as our heroine, Eve Dearing, has inherited some of her mother's psychic gifts although as yet she hasn't trained her abilities. In fact Eve has tried to ignore them after the death of her mother, knowing that being able to read people's minds doesn't exactly endear her to her peers.

This book is set in the Regency period (the early 1800s) but unfortunately there are a number of historical inaccuracies that meant I couldn't quite be immersed in the story. Firstly the characters tend to speak 21st Century American, "Let's start over" and that kind of thing. Secondly the hero and heroine most inappropriately started calling each other by their first names very early in their acquaintance; bear in mind some couples in those days called each other "Mrs Smith" and "Mr Smith" even after marriage and first names really weren't appropriate at all for people who meet as adults. Thirdly some of the behaviour of our characters just felt wrong for the period.

The story follows Eve and Ash Denison, a Viscount, as they search for the mysterious "Angelo," writer of rather slanderous barely-disguised histories of important family secrets. How does Angelo find out his secrets? Who is Angelo? When Ash Denison's brother is featured in one of the stories Ash decides to try to unmask Angelo and find out if there is any truth to the story that Ash's brother Harry was murdered. His only avenue is to see if any of the other authors of that period have the same writing style and so he meets Eve, an author who goes under the pen name Mrs Beaumont. Eve is clearly not the author of Angelo's writings and yet Ash decides she can help him with the search.

Lots of the action takes place at a country house where they are all staying although 'action' is rather misleading as I found the book rather dragged in the middle. We have a couple of brushes with the mysterious Angelo and his murderous thoughts, we meet a young woman, Nell, who has escaped from Bedlam, Eve and Ash have various naughty dreams about each other but generally the plot drags and it mostly lost my interest.

The story shifts to Brighton where Eve and Ash travel to consult Eve's father about her deceased mother's experiences. Of course eventually the writer of Angelo is unmasked and the person who has killed at least four people is identified. However by this point I really couldn't care, having found the whole story failed to engage me. Even the romance felt rather lightweight with the attraction between Eve and Ash difficult to understand. There are a great deal of other better Regency romances out there - this story was eminently forgettable.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book, www.curledup.com. © Helen Hancox 2007

As a reader (and rather fond of) Regency Romances - I thought I might have discovered a new author to add to a few whose books I keep returning to. However this book will not be making an appearance on my shelf and may even be returned to the library without being fully read! (Rarely happens). The first one hundred or so pages are so littered with historical inacuracies that it is almost laughable - members of the opposite sex never were on first names terms, you would not have had women authors holding a symposium in a London hotel and flaunting their trade and if they did, members of the aristocracy would never have been on first name terms with them and giggling through their wardrobe. It would seem that the author has thought up twentith century situations and placed them in a Regency setting (oh and to live south of the river would make you a social pariah!)

Anyway, due to the lack of research I cannot rate this book highly - I might as well be reading an averagely written modern day novel.

was so good that i couldnt put it down and i stayed up to finish it just to find out what happens. good romantic story with the usual girl meets boy and then something happens that her reputation is in danger of being tarnished so girl and boy must marry with the usual bumps in the road to true love. the other part of the story is what really kept me interested as there is a murder mystery for our heros to solve, great twist that i didnt see coming!!!!