For His Eyes Only

by Liz Fielding

"It's your body that I want to draw, not your clothes."

Well, that's what she was afraid of! Hardworking estate agent Natasha Gordon finds her reputation in tatters when an ad she created gets bungled. She'll do anything to restore her good name—even beg seriously sexy artist Darius Hadley to give her another chance to sell his ancestral home. Only, he drives a hard Natasha must pose naked, for his eyes only…!

He's asking Natasha to take him on trust. But she's learned the hard way not to trust men—particularly those she's working with…and let alone men she's taking her clothes off for!

Darius's next outrageous statement? "I will, too—if it will make it easier for you…."

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Hi, I'm Liz Fielding, and I'm a best selling contemporary romance author with more than 15 million books in print and Katie Fforde wrote, when honouring me with the Romantic Novelists' Association's Outstanding Achievement Award in 2019 said - "Liz Fielding's books, with their warmth, humour and emotion, have charmed millions of readers. She is a true star of the romantic fiction genre..."

And now I've turned to a life of crime with my first cozy mystery. Murder Among the Roses, published on 18 April 2023 - of which Katie Fforde also said, "I was gripped from beginning to end..."

Reading is a big part of my life. I love witty, contemporary romances, not too much sex,, Women's fiction by the likes of Fiona Harper, Julie Cohen, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Jennifer Crusie and Barbara O'Neal. And I love crime fiction that isn't too gory, or focussed on clue hunting, but is big on character.

My best loved series at the moment are the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths, The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch and the Libby Sarjeant Mysteries by Lesley Cookman. I've just read the first in the Georgina Drake crime series from Kate Hardy and looking forward to the next.

For news and excerpts of my new releases, visit me at http://www.lizfielding.com and sign up for my newsletter

Reviews

[The Bookseller · Rating 3 out of 5]

For what you would expect from a Mills and Boons novel, 'Twelve Hours of Temptation' doesn't come close to fitting that stereotype. It is not as steamy or raunchy in any of it's chapters. Neither does it have the misogynistic themes that many from the same publish unsubtley hide. Really this is just a light heart rom-com.

I had read it for a joke month in a book club, where we all had to read a different Mills and Boons novel. So in many respects I am disappointed that this novel doesn't live up to it's many awful counterparts. But at the same time, I can't dislike it because it wasn't terrible.

It had the generic scenario where two people who are in love and really need to say that to each other, but don't. Despite this, it was a pleasant read.

[Cheryl M-M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit that the male lead character really got my goat.

Samir is self obsessed, domineering, and a condescending smug piece of manhood, who thinks he is the best addition to the male community since the invention of sliced bread.

What can I say, he annoyed the heck out of me. I didn't find him charming, loving, supportive or endearing. The stunt he plays near the end of the story would have been enough to kick him to the curb. How very macho and insensitive of him. Not exactly the epitome of a hero waiting to sweep someone off their feet.

Melissa seems to go from someone who has taken a while to recover from rejection, to the strong individual Samir meets, and subsequently seems to revert back to the girl shrinking inward again. Instead of blossoming within a loving relationship she seems to wither away just a little.

This is a romantic dalliance with undertones of control in a culturally different setting. Light on the action with an emphasis on the interactions.
I received a copy of this book courtesy of Harlequin UK & Mills and Boon.

[Ananya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh but why do I bother with Mills and Boon at all now?
The title is misleading, the characters lame and outrageous and in general, nothing worth reading. Meh!

[Meera Nair · Rating 3 out of 5]

A romantic fiction about a couple who strive against all odds to stay together. Melissa and Samir are nothing like each other. They belong from contrasting family backgrounds and have different ideals about life. But the one thing they can come to a peaceful agreement about, is their unconditional need for one another. Brought together by physical attraction, Samir and Melissa veer towards a live-in relationship. One, sure of growing feelings and the other unable to come to terms with it. But when Melissa is no longer able to comprehend the direction of their relationship, she begins to doubt if there’s any hope for them at all.

It was an okay-okay read mainly because it was predictable. It revolved a lot around Melissa’s fantasies and certain insecurities. Then again, it was 200 pages of pure romance. Without these conflicts it would have been a lot more difficult to get a story. Harsh as it may sound, I found Melissa to be an easy to convince kind of person. Not only in the beginning but the end as well. Far from the Indian norms of living, this book (one of the few I’ve read by Indian authors) depicts the lives of the modern section of society. A definite plus point. One of the other things I liked about the book was the author’s writing style, which is very simple yet not boring. A quick read for someone who likes romance.

[Rachelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was going so well until about halfway through the book Samir asked Melissa to move in with him and I'm like,this is going way tooo fast for my liking like y'all just met.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are not many Indian authors who can write a good romance novel.. at least I haven’t come across that any. P. G. Van is also ok. This author writes quite well. However, there are no passionate scenes. The title of this novel is quite misleading and has nothing to do with the story. Also Melissa wears her mother’s old wedding saree. However, Goan’s don’t wear sarees. Especially not for wedding. Sarees are worn by Manglorean Christians. Even in olden times, it was always dress. Dresses were full sleeved and more nun like in olden times. Also, kissing is not allowed in church in India. Kissing is only allowed in western churches, not in India. Couples kiss at the reception. Although probably the author wanted to give it a western outlook, but if the entire book is based on Indian culture, it doesn’t make sense to digress at the end. All in all, it was interesting.

[Svati · Rating 5 out of 5]

First I would like to tell Y'all that Harlequin India is going a great job of promoting Young Aspiring Authors. Its really great thing .Hats off Harlequin India and other publishing houses for taking up such an initiative and helping us to read their great work as well as reviewing it so that they can be encouraged to bring about change in people's thinking and their lifestyles As we all now "Pen is mightier than Sword ".Not only that but also Due to technologically advancement people have stopped reading books (paperback )so to rekindle their friendship with books some-author have started Penning their thoughts and some of stories are awesomely written that you will be forced to read and write comments on their blog or in their Facebook page regarding their work


One of the Author is Shoma Narayanan she is banker -writer .Her stories are nice to read .

Twelve hours of Temptation is her Fifth book with Harlequin India


About the Story :


Being chained to her desk is not how copy writer Mellisa D'cruz imagine of spending her night before her major award ceremony . There was no Cinderella moments for this award nominee -----instead she is facing deadlines for her current ad.But then she is determined to go to the event.... she just has work out how ......

Mellisa 's New boss Samir Razdan catches her burning the midnight oil and offers to drive her to Goa himself .But the minute they off for Goa Samir know that he 's in trouble-- because being this close to Mellisa is already driving him crazy and they have got torturous hours of temptations ahead


My Views:


Shoma Narayanan 's books gives you a joy of reading , as her stories are sweet and nice .

First a fall I like the Cover Photos of all the editions .

I like story line very much as its set in Goa and Mumbai (the place I eternally love)The characters are crafted very NICELY .Importance is given to each and every character Like Brain ,Liz etc .....

I loved Mellisa's and Samir 's character the most because they are total different personalities who fall in love with each .How they are unique you will get to know only after you read the book .

The dialogues between the two of them were 'Maazedaar' .The emotions of all the characters are carefully described .The places and situations which they put in are very well written

[Janhvi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read Shoma Narayanan's books before and I really like her writing style so when I got an opportunity to read and review Twelve Hours of Temptation I couldn't let it pass by. Twelve Hours of Temptation was a cute read but it didn't blow me away.

Melissa is a copywriter who has worked hard to get where she is. Her company has been invited for an Awards ceremony in Goa but her fear of flying keeps her from going until her new boss offers to drive her to the event. Now, let me get one thing out of the way, I first thought this book was a road trip romance but it is not. The road trip is for a very short amount of time and that disappointed me a bit.

I liked Melissa as a character. She was young and hard working and fun in her own way. Though I did find her jumping to conclusions at times. While I liked Melissa I can't say the same for our hero, Samir. Samir is shown as a cold, aloof guy. He was all that but when he was with Melissa he warmed up quite a bit. I thought Samir's character lacked real depth and I would have liked to see his actual thoughts where Melissa was concerned.

The romance was a cute one and though the steamy scenes were all fade to black I enjoyed the rapport between Melissa and Samir. I can defnitely say this was more Melissa's story than Samir's because we get all her background. But where Samir is concerned, I wanted to see more facets to his personality. I wanted more reasoning behind why they fell for each other.

Shoma Naraynan's writing is clean and simple and engaging. The book is a short read which can be enjoyable for a few hours. Twelve Hours of Temptation was a typical Mills and Boon romance so if you're in the mood for one I would say grab it.

*Note: A copy of this book was provided by PRPundit in exchange for an honest review. We thank them.

Find more of my reviews at The Readdicts- http://thereaddicts.blogspot.in/

[Megan]

I enjoyed the characters and liked a lot about their relationship, but I was misled by the cover copy. I love, love, love that trapped-alone-together-with-increasing-sexual-tension story that the blurb promises, but that took up only a TINY part of the book. The situation had barely any emotional or sexual traction. I know complaining about incorrect Harlequin summaries is the very definition of quixotic, but I LOVE that trope, and the book didn't deliver. :(

The depiction of the relationship was uneven to me; the book seemed to focus on the times the characters had doubts and didn't get along easily, rather than when the characters were connecting with one another. Melissa states that their sexual connection was when they got along best, but the book didn't linger for a moment on that connection. I don't mind closed-door or no-sex romances AT ALL. But my objection here is that we're told that this was the best part of their relationship (according to Melissa), but this is basically how the book depicts that sexual relationship: "But he did remember carrying her to bed and undressing her. And drinking in the sight of her near perfect body spread out on the bed before making wild, passionate love to her all night long." i.e. in blink-and-you'll-miss-it bland-and-sometimes-bad prose.

[Priti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read other books by Shoma Naryanan and I was very much tempted to read this book. On top of that, the beautiful cover of the book further increased my temptation. So as soon as I could I got hold of the book and finished it in one go. I loved the book as much as ether alien books by the author. I enjoyed the characters and the way their relationship was portrayed by the author. The male protagonist, Samir Razdan is a handsome hunk and sweet and caring at the same time. I loved the carefree character of Melissa, the way she don't think twice before going out playing cricket with guys on the beach was very refreshing.
All and all I loved the book, though there is not much going on during those twelve hours ;)

For complete review: http://wp.me/p42KXV-6K

[Janice Liedl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely charming romance that provides intriguing glimpses into India as unfolding in the cross-class romance of Melissa and Samir. I struggled a bit to see what common ground these two characters had but other than that, I was sold immediately, thanks to Shona Narayanan's exquisite writing style and lively characterization. The hero and heroine don't exist in a vacuum: their friends and their community come alive in this short but sexily sweet romance!

[Samarpita Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
http://sankshvet.blogspot.in/2014/06/...

[Ishani Malhotra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely read indeed.Read a Mills & Boon after a long time and loved it.
Keep writing such good books Shoma. All the best. :)
By the way folks, its a must read.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best.