Blog Tour Review - - Secrets for Seducing a Royal Bodyguard

Secrets for Seducing a Royal Bodyguard
By Vanessa Kelly
Publisher: Zebra Books
Release Date:  January 7, 2014

Though acknowledged as the youngest son of Lord and Lady Thornbury, it's a well known "secret" within the ton that Captain Aden St. George is actually the product of an extra-marital liaison between his mother and the Prince Regent.  In effect, a Royal bastard, a fact that the late Lord Thornbury never let him forget.  Despised by his "father" and emotionally abandoned by his mother, Aden learned early to hold himself apart from the messy emotions that accompany relationships, a trait that makes him perfect for Sir Dominic's secret agents of the Crown.  But after several years working undercover throughout Europe and a recent mission gone wrong, Aden has returned to England weary in spirit and re-thinking his life path...just in time for Sir Dominic to send him on a mission that will turn his life upside down and, perhaps, bring into his life the one thing he never wanted but most needs.

Vivien's family certainly isn't making it easy for her to honor her promise to her father to look after them following his death.  Her mother and younger brother keep piling up debts and her older brother is more interested in his political career than doing anything to help his family.  But her family is the least of her worries when Vivien is kidnapped from a carriage in the middle of Mayfair and stashed in a smuggler's cave. Drugged, manhandled, facing possible rape or, worse, death, the feisty Vivien isn't going down without a fight.  Rescue arrives in the form of the sexy, handsome and enigmatic Aden St. George but, for Vivien, her troubles are just beginning.

Vivien and Aden strike sparks from their first meeting.  When it becomes evident that Vivien is still in danger but the source is unknown, Aden is assigned to protect her and those sparks gradually grow into full-blown flames of desire.  Not only do they desire one another but they also like each other and it doesn't take long for emotions to become entangled though Aden fights it with everything he has.  He's never known true, unconditional love and believes he isn't worthy of it; believes he isn't worthy of her. While Vivien is strong and well able to take care of herself (after all, she's kept her mother and brother afloat all these years by winning at card tables across the ton), she yearns for someone to love her for herself, not for what she can do for them.  She wants Aden to be that man but can he overcome years of emotional wasteland and offer her his heart or will he abandon her at the moment when she needs him most?

Secrets for Seducing a Royal Bodyguard is an exceptionally well-written book.  Perfectly paced, with characters that are brought to life by Kelly's skilled hand, this book also includes a sensually romantic love story, taut drama, a scarily realistic psychopath, snappy banter and a sigh-worthy happy ending.  Aden and Vivien are complex, three-dimensional characters who captured me from the get-go.  While I appreciated their strength, it was the underlying vulnerability of each that engaged my emotions.  Secondary characters, both good and bad, moved the story along and added flavor.  The scenes with Griffin Steele have me eagerly anticipating his story in Kelly's April release, Confessions of a Royal Bridegroom.

While it's not necessary to have read "Lost in a Royal Kiss," the novella prequel to Kelly's Renegade Royals series, I highly recommend it. Set twenty years earlier, it provides the background that will make the reading of the Renegade Royals books a richer, more deeply enjoyable experience.  It's available at $1.99 for both Kindle and Nook.

If you're already a fan of Vanessa Kelly's work, you'll want to add Secrets for Seducing a Royal Bodyguard to your collection.  If you haven't read her books yet, now's a perfect time to begin.  Secrets for Seducing a Royal Bodyguard showcases the strength of her writing.  It's my favorite of her books and going straight to my keeper shelf.

~PJ


Blog Tour Giveaway:

One ARC of CONFESSIONS OF A ROYAL BRIDEGROOM, book two of The Renegade Royals series, and one copy of HIS MISTLETOE BRIDE will be given away per the total number of blog tour stops. (US/Ca only) Please see Terms & Conditions on the Rafflecopter widget.

Vanessa Kelly is also hosting a giveaway on her website for a reproduction of the original art for SECRETS FOR SEDUCING A ROYAL BODYGUARD, and original sketches of the heroines from LOST in a ROYAL KISS (#0.5) and SECRETS for SEDUCING a ROYAL BODYGUARD (#1).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Link to contest on Vanessa’s website:  http://www.vanessakellyauthor.com/contest/

Vanessa Kelly is an award-winning author who was named by Booklist, the review journal of the American Library Association, as one of the "New Stars of Historical Romance." Her sensual, Regency-set historical romances have been nominated for awards in a number of contests, and her second book, Sex and The Single Earl, won the prestigious Maggie Medallion for Best Historical Romance. Vanessa's next series, The Renegade Royals, is due to hit the shelves in November with an introductory novella, Lost in a Royal Kiss. Book One in the series, Secrets For Seducing a Royal Bodyguard, will release in January, 2014, and Confessions of a Royal Bridegroom will be out in April, 2014.

When not dreaming of plots for her next Regency historical novel, Vanessa also writes USA Today Bestselling contemporary romance with her husband under the pen name of V.K. Sykes.  She's also a member of Rock*It Reads, a group of bestselling traditional authors who are self-publishing, and of The Jaunty Quills. 

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