Suzanne Enoch

Regency Romance

Overall:
Sensuality:
Cover Cheese:

I've never really worshipped at the altar of the "Great First Line of the Novel." As writers, we learn The Great First Line is supposed to reel in the reader and give her a sense of the story to come.

True, there are some memorable ones:

"It was a dark and stormy night..."

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...."

"Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot..."

Nah.

Grab me in the first few paragraphs, and I'll probably stick with you through the last one.

Well, I'm here to tell you, the first few paragraphs of "Sin and Sensibility" left me gasping.

There we meet our hero, Valentine Corbett, the Marquis of Deverill, enjoying several of his vices.

Simultaneously.

Valentine's a jaded rake, about to be brought to his knees by a woman he's known forever, but of whom he's never thought in that way.

Young, spirited Eleanor Griffin is tired of enduring her three overbearing brothers. Especially the eldest, Sebastian Griffin, Duke of Melbourne.

Eleanor demands her independence and her brothers reluctantly agree. Without her knowledge, however, they send a protector to keep her in his sight lest she get into trouble and tarnish the Griffin family name.

Her brother, the duke, couldn't be more pleased with the plan, because he's chosen the man he most trusts, his best friend …

Valentine Corbett.

Sebastian is certain Valentine will obey the gentleman's most sacred rule: Never lay a hand upon the sister of a friend.

Well, let us just say that if Valentine did lay a hand upon Eleanor, Suzanne Enoch would know how to write a love scene that left the reader's pulse racing and heart aching. Her realistic, sometimes humorous sensuality would be layered between sweet, often awkward burgeoning emotion.

With nary a "jewel of her femininity" or "evidence of his maleness" euphemism to be found.

Gotta love that.

Enoch writes well and paces a novel in a way that makes one want to learn what makes the lovers tick and how each character has grown by the last page.

If you've never read a Regency Romance, "Sin and Sensibility" is a great way to begin. In fact, I'd recommend pretty much anything by Enoch. I especially like "England's Perfect Hero." I really dig the wounded-in-his-soul war hero type.

I hear Enoch's penning a sequel for each of the Griffin brothers of "Sin and Sensibility." While we're waiting…

Go buy the book!

Visit www.suzanneenoch.com for info about Enoch's new historical, "An Invitation to Sin," (Dec. 1), and new contemporary, "Don't Look Down" (Jan. 1).

Next Week's Review and AuthorView Interview: "He Loves Lucy," by Susan Donovan