Suddenly You Book

Fan-tas-tic! One of the best Kleypas' I've read. Why have I waited so long to read this book?

Spinster novelist Amanda Briars doesn't want to celebrate her 30th birthday as a virgin, so she decides to hire the services of Mrs. Gemma Bradshaw, a well-established madam (whom anyone who's read Worth Any Price should recognize), to find her a suitable man to take care of her, er, "problem". Unbeknownst to Amanda, Mrs. Bradshaw decides to play matchmaker and sends her publisher Jack Devlin in lieu of the male prostitue Amanda is expecting.

Jack is London's most successful publisher, the bastard child of a nobleman who's never acknowledged him. During a conversation with Mrs. Bradshaw - no, he isn't one of her customers; he's just the publisher of her book "The Sins of Madam B" - he mentions that he's just bought Ms. Briars' 1st (unpublished) novel "An Unfinished Lady" and his intention of becoming acquainted with her so they could work together and "polish" the novel for publication. Claiming a friendship with Amanda and failing to mention all the relevant facts, Mrs. Bradshaw sends Jack to Amanda's house at the specific date and time the hired prostitute should be knocking on Amanda's door. Needless to say, Amanda mistakes Jack for the prostitute and he's a little confused at first, not understanding what she's talking about. Being an intelligent man, Jack quickly realizes what's going on and is rather amused. Does he come clean and tells her who he is? Of course not! He goes with the flow and gives her the best birthday present ever. ;) However, he isn't a cad, so he doesn't take her virginity. He does leave without revealing his identity, though.

Jack knows Amanda is going to find out who he is soon enough - after all, he still wants to publish her novel and needs to discuss that project with her. He also knows he's going to have a hard time convincing her to work with him, considering how he "tricked" her on their 1st meeting. But he isn't a successful businessman for nothing and he always gets what he wants... So they start working together and what begins as a professional relationship becomes more personal and complicated than any of them expected.

I have to say, I was a little worried when I began reading this book, because the premise wasn't exactly to my liking. Amanda's bold behavior, hiring a prostitute to rid her of her virginity, seemed rather stupid to me and I was afraid she would be a quirky silly heroine who would spend the whole book doing "daring" things only to be saved by the hero. Thankfully, I was wrong. Amanda was one of the best heroines I've ever met: she was smart, assertive, sensitive and sensible. I couldn't help loving her and rooting for her HEA, even when she did something that made me raise my eyebrows in doubt. I won't give any spoilers away here; I'll just say that I usually hate when a heroine does what she did, but I found myself unable to condemn Amanda for her actions. They made sense, considering the circumstances and the time she lived in.

On his part, Jack was the stuff my dreams are made of. He was smitten with Amanda from the start - because of her work, which he truly admired and respected, because of her compelling personality and because of her plump and curvy figure. He definitely knew how to show how much he appreciated her sexy body. The love scenes in this book were sizzling hot! Some of the things that Jack did with Amanda were very kinky and I'd never seen them outside the erotica/romantica genre before. WTG, Ms. Kleypas!

The pace of this story was kind of slow, in a good way. Despite their steamy 1st meeting, Jack and Amanda's relationship didn't feel rushed. Ms. Kleypas gave them time to actually know each other, building their sexual tension to the sky before allowing them to take their relationship to the next level. Then, as I was getting ready to enjoy the HEA, an unexpected event added some heartbreaking angst to the book. I was taken aback at first, wondering where the hell that had come from, but as my heartbeat slowed down, I realized that that event made their HEA more believable. Not to mention, I really enjoyed the way Jack dealt with the situation. *lusty grin*

Another Kleypas, another winner. What else is new? :D