I met Karen Booth through Duranie fan circles, but I instantly became a fan of her writing when I first read her novels Bring Me Back and Back Forever. Since then I've read other Karen Booth titles, but I confess this was my first of her Harlequin Desire catalog.
Tempted By Scandal, the first of a four-part series (each book in the series written by a different author), is set in Seattle and features a cast and setting of glamorous, sexy, and seductive people and places. Karen Booth always crafts a great story, and knows how and when to turn up the heat, both in the bedroom and in the plot. As the reader follows the dramas of two sets of characters--billionaire Matt Richmond and his assistant Nadia Gonzalez, who can't keep their attraction contained, and Matt's best friend and tech mogul Liam Christopher and event planner Teresa St. Claire, who have a complicated past. As we sort through what is rumor and what is fact, the two pairs struggle to keep their private lives private while pulling off the launch an important business merger. And yet, all the while they equally struggle to keep their feelings at bay and not let their temptations undo all their hard work.
This is a quick read, which is not to say it is lacking; rather, I turned each page in eager anticipation, and needed to fan myself off after some steamy scenes. This is what Karen Booth is best at: blending passion with tenderness, brevity with beauty, sex with sensuality. The result is an introduction to a world you want to keep spying on, anticipating what comes next. Fortunately, there are three more books to take you there. Tempted by Scandal is an excellent springboard to them.
Better yet, there are other Booth-penned worlds and series to delve into. No doubt I'll be doing so in the near future.