To Bed a Beauty: A Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Having grown up and witnessed her mother's disastrous/hate-filled marriage of convenience, Miss Roslyn Loring has decided that only a love match will do. The only problem is -How the devil do you make a man fall in love with you? Regrettably, it seems that most men fall in love with their mistresses, and not their wives. Being an intelligent and logical woman she goes right to the source for information -her friend, an infamous courtesan.

The remarkably handsome Duke of Arden, is known as an extraordinary lover, a man who is able to make women weep with rapture. At the annual notorious Cyprian's ball, fate finds him on the lookout for a new mistress when his eyes catch hold of a beautiful masked shepherdess. He pursues and confronts her in a deserted alcove. But shockingly this woman seems to be immune to his advances. Hmmm...must be a ploy, for she is quite an actress too, pretending to be all innocent. So he *intensifies* his persuasive skills. And just when things become increasingly heated, she declines his offer and turns to flee with Arden left feeling rather stunned......

Weeks later, at her sister's wedding, Roslyn panics when Arden realizes that it was her at the ball. She fears the only way out of her dilemma is to tell the truth. So she assures him that she was only there for ....er...... investigative purposes. She wants to know how courtesans make men fall in love with them. Arden is intrigued. He admires her honesty but thinks its absurd to try and get a man to fall in love with you (if in fact *real love* even exists). And she wants *lessons* from him?.....What the devil? But after he ponders it for a moment, he's more than willing to help the delectable beauty with lessons on how to snare a man's heart....well someone has to be the guinea pig <grin>!

This is the second book in the Courtship War series. Having not read the prequel, I can't comment on that. I had no problems reading it as a stand alone. In fact, aside from some minor points, I very much like this book and LOVE the hero!

This book quite unusual as far as reformed rake plots go. The twist is that Roslyn doesn't even like Arden and she sees him for what he really is -a cynical rogue bent on enjoying the pleasures of flesh and nothing more. So she has no qualms about using him to help teach her how to gain affections of another man. Arden is confused -like a fish out of water. Here is a woman who has no interest in him (a wealthy duke no less!) at all but rather wants him as a teacher? This irks his male pride to no end. Then, when he realizes that he doesn't want Roslyn courting some other man, its Arden who in fact becomes the pursuer. This is takes up the major part -and best part IMHO- of the book.

I think that the characterizations and romance (including sizzling love scenes) are worthy of five stars and based on that I would recommend this book. But there are a couple of irritating points. The book needs a good editing -way too long. It could have been cut down without affecting the story. And still don't understand why authors completely ignore historical convention. Have an infamous courtesan at a society wedding? or a Lady taking in her deceased husband's mistress and all of her illegitimate children? -No way. I have a hard time believing that. But those things shouldn't keep you from reading an otherwise really good reformed rake book.

Recommended.

Having pretty much read all of Lisa Kleypas and Sabrina Jeffries historical romances I have been searching for a writer who comes up to their standards and Nicole Jordan is just such a find. If you like your romances essentially about the quest for love then To Bed a Beauty is your kind of book. Ms Jordan provides strong and consistent motivations for her characters, making the love story and steamy interludes utterly irresistable. The only reason it got 4 stars rather than 5 is because I thought the pace dragged a bit in the first third of the book. However I certainly will be reading more of Nicole Jordan's books!

A delightful romp but I agree with the other reviewer that this book falls far short of the novels of Mary Balogh who I recommend to anyone and I read and read again as well as Lisa Kleypas who doesn't quite match Mary but most are not bad either.

I was amused by the term dukedom as I always thought a Duke had a duchy but perhaps I am wrong. There were not too many Americanisms here which is always a plus, I do wish they knew we use the word 'got' and in those days 'gotten' would not have been in the dictionary.

The plot has been described above so I will not go into that again. Suffice it to say that this is the sort of thing people want so it has been written for today's readers who will enjoy it. That said, I am surprised Jane Austen still sells so well. As often happens in modern historicals there is sex in abundance; a gentleman would never compromise a gently bred lady and the lady would have been scared witless re sex before marriage. The prostitute friend would not have been allowed within a mile of a society wedding and a gently bred lady would be thrown out of society for associating with one. If you can live with reading that and believing it, well, that's why it is a novel and not real life isn't it. Most historical novels simply put modern day morals into a historical setting but as the saying goes, 'sex sells'.

That said, it was enjoyable enough to pass the time and as long as you approach this book with the full knowledge that it is just light reading with a happy ending it is worth a look and as I always enjoy books which introduce characters from another story (again, Balogh is a master here) I shall be reading the other two in the series.