Seduce Me by Christmas by Deborah Raleighreviewed by Cheryl SneedOctober 2009, 352 pages, Publisher: Zebra, ISBN: 0821780468 Back Cover Blurb: Raoul Charlebois is nothing if not notorious. He's abandoned his wild life to search out answers to his dark past, but that doesn't stop his reputation as a rake from following him wherever he goes. In this case, it follows him to the door of a gamekeeper's cottage, where beautiful, optimistic, innocent Sarah Jefferson resides. In all his exploits, he's never met a woman like her…and that makes her all the more tempting…
At first, Sarah will have no part in whatever the devastatingly handsome visitor wants at the estate…until she realizes what he wants is her. For as the snow falls down around them, she finds that the intoxicating scent of evergreen boughs can prove incredibly seductive. And maybe there is some glimmer of good in Raoul hiding deep within. After all, Christmas has a way of bringing lost souls together…
Seduce My by Christmas is the final installment of Deborah Raleigh's trilogy about three illegitimate old schoolmates seeking the truth about their parentage.
Raoul Charlebois is a renowned actor who has just retired from the stage at the height of his popularity and fame. He says he has grown bored with it all - the acclaim, the adulation, the women fainting at his feet - but what he has grown is insatiably curious. There is a deep, dark secret surrounding his father, the Earl of Merriot who treated Raoul abominably as a child, and Raoul finds he cannot rest until he discovers the truth and how it relates to himself.
So, he borrows a friend's hunting lodge in Cheshire and begins tweaking his father and dropping hints that clearly frighten the older man. Raoul also rediscovers Sarah Jefferson. Sarah's father was the earl's gamekeeper and Raoul spent many happy hours in their home while Sarah developed a crush on the handsome and troubled Raoul. Her father has died and Sarah has taken in two young boys who were abandoned by their mother. When Raoul's questions lead to danger, will he be able to protect Sarah, and, is it too late to save his own heart?
I enjoyed Sarah and Raoul, they are both interesting and admirable characters and the boys were fun. I did, however, feel that Sarah and Raoul fell in love very quickly indeed, and the lust-think became a bit much at times. But, the mystery of the earl's deep, dark secret and Raoul's search for answers was well done and provided the most surprising revelations of all the books in Raleigh's series.
While Seduce Me by Christmas wasn't my favorite book in the series, it was a good read and a page turner - a satisfying end to the trilogy. I'm looking forward to what Raleigh will do next.
Reviewed by Cheryl Sneed, October 26, 2009
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