Improper Seduction

English Tudor #1

by Mary Wine

A Rearranged Marriage

Lord Curan Ramsden is home from war, and eager to claim his betrothed. And he arrives just in time--his bride's father has summoned her to London, to wed another man. But Bridget's father promised her to Curan, and Curan means to have her. Especially now that he sees the luscious young woman she has blossomed into. He'll just have to convince Bridget, somehow, that her heart is more important than her duty. . .

Bridget Newbury has always done her duty--to her parents, to the church, to the man they selected as her betrothed. She knows what could happen if she disobeys her father. The king has put nobler women to death for lesser trespasses. But she was promised to Curan first, and his kisses are very tempting. . .

Praise for the Novels of Mary Wine

". . .delightful characters and a charming romance. . .definitely a must-read." --Heather Graham on In Bed with a Stranger

"A bold and lusty hero, a brave heroine, and intrigue at the royal court of Scotland. . .sexy and exciting as the Highland hills themselves!" --Elizabeth Hoyt on In the Warrior's Bed

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Medieval Romance, Scotland, Audiobook

269 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2010

About the author

Mary Wine has written over twenty novels that take her readers from the pages of history to the far reaches of space. Recent winner of a 2008 EPPIE Award for erotic western romance, her book LET ME LOVE YOU was quoted “Not to be missed…” by Lora Leigh, New York Times best-selling author.

When she’s not abusing a laptop, she spends time with her sewing machines…all of them! Making historical garments is her second passion. From corsets and knickers to court dresses of Elizabeth I, the most expensive clothes she owns are hundreds of years out of date. She’s also an active student of martial arts, having earned the rank of second degree black belt.

Reviews

[Elis Madison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book by this author that I’ve read. I might read another, but to be frank I found myself constantly wondering about how deep her research went.

For example, there’s the whole premise of the story: Bridget Newbury was formally betrothed, with a contract, in a church, to Lord Curan Ramsden, who then went off to fight in France. Her father summons her to court, where he intends to marry her to another man. Naturally, that's when Curan turns up to claim his bride.

The conflict of the story is that, if Bridget consummates what was in those days only a few stray hairs short of a marriage, she’ll be ruined, socially, because she’s disobeying her father. But wouldn't she just as easily be ruined by disobeying the man who is, for all intents and purposes, her husband? Wouldn't a husband’s rights take precedence over her father's? By virtue of the betrothal, Curan would in theory have the right to her body, and if she said he gave her no choice (which he didn't), how could she be accountable, especially in a day when most folks figured women had the IQ of a donkey, and women were expected to be pliable?

Anyway, I kept being sidetracked by these questions. If this IS historically valid, the book would have benefitted from historical notes explaining where Wine got her info. People who only care about the story won't bother reading such things, but history wonks like me appreciate those author notes.

That said, there’s a twist at the end I didn’t see coming. On one hand it tied things off rather too neatly, but I liked being taken by surprise when things weren’t all what they seemed. I’ll give this one 3.5 stars. I’ll even round up.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The story was good and kept me interested all the way through. It was an easy Hot read and had a very good ending.

[Bambi Unbridled · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this title from the Kindle Unlimited selection as it had the audible narration included, and I like to listen while I am out working in the yard on the weekend. Unfortunately, the narrator absolutely killed the book for me. I am finding that I do not like male narrators because their readings just do not seem as dynamic as those of female narrators. Of the ones I have listened to so far, the male narrators just do not have the voice range of females, so all the characters sound the same to me. They either sound male, or like a really bad male impersonation of a female voice. And those high pitched imitations grate on my nerves. Plus, this narrator was so dramatic that I felt like he should have been reading Shakespeare. It just did not work.

This story took place toward the end of the reign of Henry VIII, when Henry Tudor was married to Catherine Parr. Our hero, Curan, was a knight (turned baron) that was close to the king and fought with Henry in France. Curan comes back from France to retrieve his bride, to whom he was betrothed 3 years past, and finds that she is departing for London under another marriage contract. Curan was very much anticipating this marriage and is not going to stand for this bride being stolen from him. The bride in question, Bridget, is the dutiful daughter and somewhat of a dishwater miss (at first). I didn't care for Bridget all that much. I am a little tired of females that don't have faith in their husbands and decide to go off on some cockamamie trip instead of just communicating with the poor sod. Luckily Bridget got with the plan (eventually) and she was somewhat redeemed by the end of the book.

Favorite Quote: "Ride me wife! Hold on tight or I shall throw you!"

This book was all about sex, which is very odd for a historical romance. I would say that for at least 75% of the book the characters are either learning about sex, watching sex, listening to sex, or engaged in some type of sexual activity. There was also an overuse of the word clitoris. It sounded very odd coming from this male narrator so much. Also I have a bit of an issue with the cover of this book - I thought I was getting a Scottish historical romance, but I got an English lord instead. An English border lord, but still, that's not a Scot. What's the deal with that?

3 stars / 4 flames

[Candy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I usually avoid historical romances because I have a degree in history and the cheesy factor gets to me. However, I picked up another book by Wine and was pleasantly surprised by it. Wine does a wonderful job of conveying stories without over the top melodrama and does a good job of writing a historically accurate book.
My only complaint about this book is the ending. It was a little too contrived, which is all I can say without spoiling it.
Overall it was a great, easy read, with lots of hot scenes.

[Clarice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lord Curan Ramsden was home from the war and eager to claim his bride Bridget Newbury. They both would be tested by the games that go on At King Henry's court. They need to rise together and meet what the fates have determined for them.

[Exx · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m so torn. The sex and chemistry between the two characters is so good, but the romance aspect is so frustrating. There is very little relationship development, and such a lack of trust between the hero and heroine throughout. The whole storyline was antagonistic and annoying.

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

So what's up with the highlander on the cover? Hero is an English Border Lord and heroine is also English...even the one Scottish guy is a lowlander. Methinks this is slightly deceiving..

Anywho. The story. Three years earlier, Bridget basically married our hero, Curan, and only "celebrating" the marriage remains. For all intents and purposes, she is a bride, but not yet a wife. Curan had to go off and do his knightly thing with the king and has been waiting to get back to make his wife permanently his. However, Bridget suddenly gets a letter from her father stating that she is now arranged to marry some Lord at court and all that previous marriage stuff is irrelevant. He commands her to come to London. Bridget, wanting to be a dutiful daughter, agrees and packs her things. Then, Curan shows up and is none too happy that Bridget and her family have broken their promise to him. He insists she come with him so they can celebrate their marriage.

Now this is where it gets dicey. Initially, I'd say that Bridget is just stupid and makes plans to escape this man that she is wildly attracted to and kind of wants to stay married to. She only insists that she wants to be dutiful to her father and if that means marrying an old, decrepit guy at court even though she doesn't want to, so be it. And that excuse for me, doesn't hold up for long...because Bridget knows this is out of character for her father and that she also owes obedience to her husband. But she starts thinking a bit smarter. The man who has arranged this marriage, Chanellor Wriothelsy (or something like that spelling) is awfully powerful and if Bridget goes against the wishes of the Chancellor, now that the king is nearing the end of his reign, Curan stands to lose everything he's worked hard to achieve. And the more she cares about him, the less she wants that. So, her excuse very quickly turns into having to escape in order to protect an innocent man (and one she's falling in love with). She kind of found herself between a rock and hard place, so I could understand this dilemma.

The relationship between Bridget and Curan was okay. They definitely had quite a lot of sexual chemistry and often times this reads a bit more like erotica than straight up historical romance. No doubt, some of their scenes are steamy. And the whole thing with the courtesan "demonstrating" how to please a man, while sexy, felt a bit contrived...like maybe looking for a way to hook the reader (which it does). It also gave a very convincing excuse for Bridget's not being a sexually inhibited - she's quite bold and confident because of her experience watching the courtesan. Where this fell short for me was with Bridget and Curan's emotional relationship. It didn't really FEEL like these two were in love and Curan's frequent emotional shut downs where he becomes cold and unfeeling contributed to this because he never softened even for her. I didn't think he loved her until she found the letters and he revealed he'd loved her all along. I doubted. I couldn't feel the emotional connection here.

So, as a result, this ended up being a mediocre historical romance for me. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I didn't have to slog through it or force myself to keep reading, but I wasn't eagerly turning pages to find out what happened. I definitely liked the steam factor, but was hoping for the emotional punch to go with it. I'll probably continue reading this series for now.

Also - for those with infidelity issues - Curan does appear to have been unfaithful while "married" to Bridget, though it's not 100% certain. He monologues about thinking of her when "taking his leisure" (which could be masturbation, but I doubt that) and he had a mistress, Justina, who is in this book, but the timeline of their relationship isn't clear. It could have been more than 3 years earlier, but I didn't get that impression. This of course is all revealed before Curan claims to have loved the heroine all along, so I didn't think anything of it at the time, since I didn't think he loved her at all. In retrospect, I think he was probably unfaithful while he loved her. But I try to consider this in historical context as well...YMMV there.

[CoffeeTimeRomance andMore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Improper Seduction is a tantalizing tale that left me breathless and wanting more. From the first page until the last, this story had me in its grip as I watched Bridget fight her desire for Curan and face the duty that was expected of her. Curan is a man who is used to getting what he wants no matter what the cost but as I read further, I saw into the heart of him and viewed the truly wonderful soul he was. To top off the already sensational storyline, the passion, betrayal, and hidden agenda sprinkled throughout this novel adds spice to this tale that attests to this author’s talented skills as an author. Ms. Wine knows how to bring all of your emotions boiling to the surface and falling hard and fast for these wonderful characters and the story that is told between the pages.

Danielle
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More

Full Review: http://coffeetimeromance.com/BookRevi...

[Taria Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Reaction: 1/2 way through the book.

The heroine was an idiot. The narrator is good but all his women sound like Husky 250lb bearded drag queens. I'm always amazed how authors make the young brides in these stories so dense while trying to make them strong. They can't ALL do stupid shit....right?.

AND SERIOUSLY!!! WHAT IS UP WITH THE SCOTTISH DUDE ON THE COVER AND NO SCOTTISH DUDE IN THE BOOK?!?!? If Curan is scottish then the narrator did NOT get that memo because he gave Curan an english accent.

back to listening...

story done and I really did enjoy it. I just wish the cover matched the story. I really wanted a highlander story not a english lord story no matter how good it was. I have the second and third books in the series but I'm gonna take a break and double back before i start them. I still want my highlander book.....lol.

story - 3.25
narrator - 2.5

[Caro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book. I liked the characters and the plot, but the way this was written was a little off for me. It took me quite a while to get into the flow of the thought processes and wording. I liked the story though and the characters were interesting. A good book for passing time and a little escapism. It has me wanting to read the next book too. I would really like to see what happens with the sister. ;)

[Kimberly Rocha~ Book Obsessed Chicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heroine was really annoying! Oh woes me... I've been betrothed to big strong gorgeous Curan for 3 years... But Daddy sends letter from London saying I'm going to marry scary old man instead.... Big strong Curan comes to collect me... I must stay away from Big Strong Curan and obey my Daddy....
I wanted to smack her.... But it all came together in the end :-D

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started out slow, but was well worth staying with. A most enjoyable read.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

[Rhiannon Root · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was just not my thing.

“Improper Seduction” by Mary Wine tells the story of Bridget Newbury, who’s engaged to be married to Lord Curan Ramsden. Right when it looks like she’s about to marry him, her noble father changes his mind and says she has to marry another man.

Bridget is all right with this, but understandably bummed.

Curan is not happy. Not at all. So he does what any rational man would do, he goes to her family home with his army and demands his bride.

Oh, but not before Bridget’s mom is all “Hey, so we live in the era of Henry VIII and men are just, like, divorcing the crap out of their wives. Imma send you to a courtesan to have her teach you some stuff. K?”

Good parenting right there.

Bridget has some fire as a heroine, but overwhelmingly her agency and choices aren’t respected. There’s a point where she’s kidnapped, but surprise! She was never in any danger at all because dude wanted to use her as a bargaining chip to marry Curan’s sister.

Oh, and Bridget refers to her dad as “her sire.” She seems to have to obey him, but it’s never explored as something out of love or duty or fear. We never find out why. It’s flat and it’s boring. We don’t even meet her dad until the end of the third act.

Worse yet, there are scenes that just don’t make sense – both historically and anatomically/physiologically.

Worst of all – one of my biggest pet peeves ever: heroine says she doesn’t want to be intimate, but inwardly she’s excited and thrilled and does want it. Then Curan is all “Hell yes you want it, let’s go” and ignores her words.

This is NOT OK.

Yes, there are points later before initiation that Curan explicitly asks for consent and gets it – but this doesn’t negate the prior actions.

There were all the elements of a good story here. It could have been a lot of fun if the characters had been fleshed out and had actual motivations and there were real stakes involved here. That is to say, if this story had bothered to do basic characterization or create a plot.

At best “Improper Seduction” is an outline. This book is frustrating and not nearly as much fun as it could have been. I do not recommend it in the slightest.

[Mmmhhmm · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first bodice ripper! It was really good! In this day and age of books trying to follow FSG, many romance novels end up grossly misogynistic to a point where sexual assault is treated as a sexy thing. (I know this was how ladies back in the day got around prudish views but this isn't 1920s anymore, we can leave that non-con BS behind) I'm glad to say this book manages to avoid that.

The book doesn't start off immediately with the main male love interest, but rather a courtesan who teaches our female love interest, Bridget, how to seduce men. I was really invested in this part because not only was it devoid of any slut shaming, there were also hints of sexual tension between the two women. Ooh, a lesbian romance? Sign me on!

Because this is a romance first, Bridget is constantly thinking about sex, almost to a point where I was skipping entire pages because she went on and on about "how her body longed to be touched." However the sex scenes were quite nice. Bridget is a virgin, but not an ignorant one; she knew what sex was, knew where babies came from. It was refreshing.

I didn't care much for Curan. I didn't find him charming, and though he wanted Bridget to enjoy sex, he still came off as kinda rapey. Basic "you are mine and I will have you!" type of hero. When he finally took Bridget's virginity, he displayed the splattered sheets of her hymen blood out the window for the world to see, and that scene alone made me recoil in disgust. I dunno if this was something they actually did back in the day but it was still ugly to read.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good read, but there were parts of the story in the beginning that were teasers relating to Bridget character. As you read the story some of these elements start to unravel but it is frustrating. Curan was a solid person that stayed true to his character throughout the book, however, I was really tried of Bridget's father controlling her for his own goal and pulling her away Curan whom she really wanted. Then her cousin Alice did the same which was really sad and I really want more substance on why Alice felt she needed besides pleasing her husband's laird, there is a story waiting to be told. I just glad to finally get to the end where the marriage was finally consummated and Curan could handle issues them as a couple for going against her father.

[Luna C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good book - very steamy and decently romantic, but it left me with a lot of questions, like when did Curan have his affair with the woman who tried to "help" Bridget get to her father at court, what became of Bridget's mom during all of this insanity, did her dad end up being okay in court and how can he say he's had the pleasure of watching his daughter grow up in the country when it sounds like he's always working at court and never home. Etc.?? I think there is just a lot about that time period that I do not know, and due to that, there was a lot about this book - and many historical romances - that confused me. This was not a bad read, but it was not my favorite.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars
I really enjoyed about two-thirds of this book. The author does a good job of building the chemistry between the hero and heroine. They both have really fun personalities, which makes for some great back and forth snarking. The book does lose some steam at the end, which is unfortunate, because I really enjoyed the rest.

[ParkerJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book had a good story but almost too much spice build up. I don't think I would read it again but I don't regret reading it. Curan was a great character. A man that would march a whole army and risk his land and title for the women he waited 3 years to make his wife is only someone you can read about.

[Misnoawl · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 ***
The book Is okay but the ending spoiled it for me. The solution to the problem which is the novel’s plot line is resolved too easily and in a really strange manner. I felt the while last chapter was stupid.

[Roberta Wheeler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Primo romanzo del 2021 e purtroppo non inizia con il botto.
Anzi... piuttosto un botto al contrario.
La storia non mi ha convinto e i personaggi mi sono sembrati un po' insulsi.
Secondo me non c'è stata nemmeno un'accurata ricerca storica.
Bocciato

[Meranda Semeniuk-Wappel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just loving this new series by Mary Wine! One of the greatest authors has created a masterpiece with her words.

[Westysis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was ok. More sex driven than plot driven .Neither character was interesting enough for me but I usually don't DNF so I just got thru it.

[Mindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Very Good Story!

Enjoyed this book very much. Characters and storyline were sweet. Now on the the 2nd book of the 3. Loved this one! 💜💜💜💜💜🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰😊😊😊😊😊

[Lynne Scopazzi]

awesome book - looking forward to reading the next
crazy how women in those days used to be used for political reasons

[Tonileg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like the heroine of this story, Bridget (because I really love that name) but I could not get into her mindset. This is without spoilers and perhaps without sense.... She was really annoying because she kept following the instructions in her father's letter without doubting it although knowing her father's personality well which should have been a huge red light because it contrasted with his values. So very annoying. I really wanted to shake the girl and yell 'Hey! This guy is too good for you!'
There is some smoking hot scenes when Bridget is getting 'lessons' from a courtesan in the beginning of the book, it is perhaps the best part. So perhaps you should stop reading there.

Writing 2 stars
Characters 2 stars
Hot scenes 2 stars

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bridget has been promised to Curan since three years but now her father has sent for her to come to court and marry another. You don´t go against your fathers will, so Bridget is soon packed and ready to leave when Curan arrives to take her to his home.
Bridget is torn between obeying her fathers wish and honouring her promise to Curan, not to mention the feelings he´s stirring in her.
Historical romance, smutty fluff and a surprisingly fresh take on the Tudors. Loved Curan´s scottish neighbor and i´m looking forward to seeing how he´ll tame Curan´s sister. =)

[Shannon Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the start of this book I have not been able to put it down, our heroine Bridget is hilarious, the hero nearly more so but a little too stubborn than I would like to have in a man. But they are great together in this book. Curan has already had the marriage ceremony with his bride Bridget and now he has come for her to consummate the marriage, though her father seemed to have gone back on his word to let his daughter be with the hero.

And like all of Mary Wine’s books, it is very well written, an awesome pace with characters that most of us could no doubt relate to in some way.

[Minna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Other than a few unlikely situations this was an enormously entertaining historical romance. It came in a bundle with the Highlander series I was actually looking to read, but I found myself enjoying it much more than I'd anticipated. I would definitely read Laird Barras' story too so I guess I'll be back for book #2 :)

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy cow!!!

Holy cow!!!

Was a really good story! It held my attention the whole book. The 2 main characters related to each other very well. I was happy that they were able to stay together.