Books Read in 2016: ‘Tempting Mr. Weatherstone’ by Vivienne Lorret (4 stars)
Tempting Mr. Weatherstone (Wallflower Weddings 0.5)
by Vivienne Lorret
My rating: 4 stars
Book Summary:
Penelope Rutledge longs for passion, but only with the man of her dreams: the brilliant, dashing Ethan Weatherstone. If only her longtime neighbor would open his eyes and realize how much she loves him. If only they weren’t best friends with so much at stake. Penelope knows her future—and their friendship—is in her hands, but is she willing to take the biggest risk of all on the man she loves?If it were up to Ethan, life and love would be as predictable as the figures in his ledgers—certainly nothing like the adventures Penelope longs for. Yet his childhood friend has grown into a beautiful, feisty woman blissfully unaware of the danger she causes when near. Ethan knows he must save Penelope and her reputation … but can he save himself from the temptation of her lips?
My GR Status Update(s):
07/10. . .marked as: currently-reading
07/10. . .49.0%
07/13. . .marked as: read
My Review:
I love the friends-to-lovers trope in romance, whether historical or contemporary. One of the reasons I enjoy it so much is that there seems to be a lot more relationship development that happens with this trope—in other words, authors who use it don’t dive straight into the “throbbing members” and “moist-down-there” scenes of insta-lust. They take the time to establish the existing friendship first (even if there is an unrequited attraction on one side or the other) then show it developing into attraction/love.
While the characters here are a little too starkly and simply drawn (hero Ethan Weatherstone is too set in his ways, too rigid, too anti-change to be truly believable), in this case, it works pretty well, since it’s a novella and there isn’t a lot of room for too much nuance in the characterization. Lorret does a good job of establishing her H/H’s characterization and motivations early and then sticking to those throughout.
I keep wanting to use the descriptor “sweet” as I’m writing this, but for me, that term has a specific meaning when it comes to romance—that it’s “clean” (i.e., no explicit sex scenes). While the tone of this is sweet in the general meaning, it’s got some sensuality in it, too, which was well placed and didn’t overwhelm the narrative of the story by taking up too much of the word count.
This is a great introduction both to this author (for me) and to this series, which is now on my radar to be read in the future.
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My rating matrix:
5 STARS = one of the best I’ve ever read
4 STARS = a great read, highly recommended
3 STARS = it was okay
2 STARS = I didn’t enjoy it all that much, not recommended
1 STAR = DNF (did not finish)
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KayeDacus.com 
Thanks, Kaye! I like friendship to lovers stories too so I grabbed it.
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