Provocative in Pearls Book

The blurb on the cover of this book from Publishers Weekly states that "Hunter's books are so addicting they should come with a surgeon general warning." This blurb is the farthest from the truth in regards to Provocative in Pearls. I gave this read until page two-hundred and had to put it down because it was incredibly slow moving and boring, in the sense there was no real action to further along the plot. What we have here is Grayson, the Earl of Hawkeswell who has barely a penny to rub together. He thought his money problems would be a thing of the past when he married Verity Thompson two years ago. Their marriage was arranged by her nasty social climbing cousin Bertram, who blackmailed her into marriage. To escape this farce of a marriage, Verity pretended to drown in the Thames, where she has been hiding out at a house run by a woman who helps underprivileged and other women in need, much like Verity. Now that Verity is twenty-one, she can come out of hiding, annul her marriage and claim her fortune. Verity will even make sure Grayson is paid for his woes.

Grayson feels he was played a fool and for some reason, doesn't want their marriage to end. Since he's her husband and "owns" Verity, he wants them to give their marriage a chance. He will ease her into the pleasures of the marriage bed and all he expects in the beginning are three kiss a day from Verity. Soon these two are sharing more than just three kisses a day, where they become husband and wife in truth. Verity loves the pleasure she receives from Grayson, but doesn't want to be married because she enjoys her independence and isn't too keen on the overall high handedness Grayson uses when it comes to her. Verity will continue to try and run away and hide from Grayson until he loses interest. But Verity is in for a surprise because after he has tasted her wonderful kisses, he will never let her go.

Provocative in Pearls is a pretty ho hum read that if I were to have continued reading, it would have been for the sex scenes, Madeline Hunter excels at that, but otherwise this romance didn't have enough substance to move the story along. And, I almost lost it when Grayson remembers giving up all his orgies and debaucheries he used to enjoy as a young man and certainly can't do with his wife. And Verity has no shame in asking about his past and all these fun time orgies he went to. Perhaps if these two went to a few, then maybe this would have become a more interesting read.

After this mention about Grayson's past sex fun, that was where I closed Provocative in Pearls and didn't care either way if Grayson and Verity's passion led to them working on their marriage.