Tempted At Midnight - Jacquie D'Alessandro

TEMPTED AT MIDNIGHT by Jacquie D'Alessandro (Published by Berkley Sensations, April 2009)
Lady Emily Stapleford has a problem. Due to her father's unwise investments, her family is on the brink of financial disaster. Lady Emily had hopes of following in the footsteps of her closest friends and fellow members of The Ladies Literary Society by listening to her heart and marrying for love, not the cold, business-like match that members of the ton usually contract.

In order to be able to accomplish this, Lady Emily devises an improbable plan to help her recoup her family's fortune. Inspired by The Ladies Literary Society's latest reading selection, Lady Emily decides to plant a seed in the minds of the ton that a female vampire is running amok. Then, she will be able to sell her manuscript about a lady vampire and, once again, her family will be financially solvent. Vampire, you ask? Yes, for these Mayfair misses don't regularly meet to discuss Shakespeare, as any well-bred, proper young lady of the ton would, but devour and discuss salacious books such as “The Ghost of Devonshire Manor,” "Memoirs of a Mistress" and "The Gentleman's Vampire Lover."

Complicating everything is Logan Jennsen, a mysterious and secretive American who is rumored to be the wealthiest man in England. Lady Emily believes Logan to be uncivilized and uncouth, while Logan believes Lady Emily to be an uppity, hothouse society diamond. Yet, neither of them can stop their fascination with the other and each encounter they have sizzles with heat. Logan has his own problems as a vicious stalker threatens his business, everyone he holds dear and possibly uncovering of his own secret past. The brash, bold “colonial” unwittingly becomes embroiled in Lady Emily's "vampire" scheme and the two find themselves in a life and death struggle.

TEMPTED AT MIDNIGHT is the fourth and final story in Jacquie D’Alessandro’s Mayhem in Mayfair series of four books. Emily and Logan's story beautifully concludes a sensational series. In each book, Ms. D’Alessandro delivers everything you could wish for in a romance novel: wonderful characters which are skillfully crafted, witty dialogue, warmth and charm, honest emotion, mystery and heat. The characters quickly become familiar friends that you enjoy catching up with in each book of the series. I found myself laughing out loud at many of the circumstances and clever dialogue. The heroines of the books, the Ladies Literary Society, are portrayed as intelligent, warm women, not without their flaws and idiosyncrasies, who genuinely care for each other, support each other and who share their thoughts, hopes and dreams with each other. The heroes, also, are far from your run of the mill, upper echelon, ideal members of the ton.

When I finished SEDUCED AT MIDNIGHT I commented on this board that I found myself sitting there with a silly smile on my face and saying "aaaahhh, what a great book." It seems that, once again, Ms. D’Alessandro’s final book of the Mayhem in Mayfair series has produced that same reaction. Immediately upon finishing TEMPTED AT MIDNIGHT, I found myself with that same silly smile on my face. Aaaahhh, what a great series! I loved these books and highly recommend them. They are "shelf keepers" one and all.

The entire series of Jacquie D’Alessandro’s Mayhem in Mayfair series in reading order is: SLEEPLESS AT MIDNIGHT (Sarah and Matthew’s story), CONFESSIONS AT MIDNIGHT (Carolyn and Daniel’s story), SEDUCED AT MIDNIGHT (Julianne and Gideon’s story) and TEMPTED AT MIDNIGHT (Emily and Logan’s story).