Sara Lindsey broke onto the publishing scene this year with her terrific debut novel, the first of her Weston family series, PROMISE ME TONIGHT.  In this second of what hopes to be a long line of novels about this wonderful family, TEMPTING THE MARQUESS, she once again shows her wit and her talent and her skill at making us sigh.  Lindsey looks to be another author from that great list of Avon FanLit friends who’s making her mark on the romance world.  For more about Sara, her journey, and her novels, please visit http://www.saralindsey.net/

And the reviews:

Brynna said: Olivia Jane Weston has spent most of her life reading novels of romance and intrigue. And yet, somehow she’s maintained her pragmatic view of life. Since her sister’s marriage, Livvy’s own Season is just around the corner and she knows she’ll find a suitable match, one that will lead to a marriage of convenience. For Livvy has sworn never to risk the pain of heartbreak by falling in love. But before real life intervenes, she wants one chance at adventure. An adventure that leads her to a haunted castle in the wilds of Wales and a reclusive widower she thinks of privately as the mad marquess.

Jason Traherne, the Marquess of Sheldon, has known the heartbreak of losing his wife too soon. But the “truth” he believes about that accident has caused him to close off his emotions for everyone except his young son. He’s taken himself out of society and lost himself to his home, the medieval Castle Arlyss. No matter what his stepmother might believe, he knows well what he needs—to be left alone. No society. No guests. And certainly no young woman to torment him and tempt him into falling in love again. But from the first taste of Olivia’s lips, this marquess knows he’s in for a touch of madness of a different sort.

I love series and Sara Lindsey’s Weston novels have already proved to be a reason why. The chance to meet new characters while becoming reacquainted with the old makes me feel like the stories I fall in love with will never really end. Tempting the Marquess is the story of the younger Weston daughter we first meet in Promise Me Tonight. In fact, Livvy’s story actually begins in the first of the series when she discovers the hiding place of an engraved broach and the late marchioness’s diary. This discovery has her jump at the chance to visit her Aunt Kate’s stepson, the mysterious marquess himself. Tempting the Marquess begins with this journey. Because of her extensive reading of gothic romance novels, Livvy has an entire story worked out about who this mad marquess really is and she is determined to help him find a way out of the darkness of his grief. Unfortunately for Livvy, the Marquess of Sheldon suffers from a madness of a different sort. He’s simply furious at the intrusion of someone outside his immediate family. Common courtesy be damned, he has no inclination to hide that fury, a fury with Livvy for making the trip, a fury with his stepmother for inviting her without permission, a fury with himself for reacting to her beauty the minute he lays eyes on her. And the battle begins. Jason is determined to keep his distance. Livvy is determined to help him heal. Both are drawn together to disagree and to argue and to feel the heat of their angry passion until it turns into another kind of passion altogether. And still Jason cannot trust her, or any woman, not when his own mother and his wife have proven all women to be deceitful. What will happen when Jason learns Livvy’s secret? Can Livvy survive a broken heart?

Set primarily in Wales with its magic and mystery, Tempting the Marquess gives us a terrific cast of characters both familiar and new and takes us on a journey of forgiveness and friendship, of hope and healing, of laughter and loyalty. While the first part of the book follows the familiar path of push and pull between the two main characters, the turning point that comes from an innocent conversation Livvy has with Jason’s son makes this book impossible to put down. And as we follow the twists and turns of Livvy and Jason’s journey, we find there’s nothing quite as tempting as true and lasting love.

Kelly said: For Jason Traherne, time stopped when his wife died. The mysterious marquess has spent the last five years holed up in his Welsh castle, wanting nothing more than to be left alone with his grief and his ailing son, with only his superstitious staff and occasional visits from his stepmother and brother-in-law to keep him connected to the rest of the world. But when an unexpected guest lays siege to his castle and his long pent-up emotions, he is forced to reevaluate whether his heart was buried with his wife, or if it can beat once more.

Though Olivia Weston is a lover of romantic novels, she shuns the thought of romance in her own future. After all, who wants to risk their heart and their happiness merely for a kiss that leaves one weak in the knees? But her imagination is peaked when she finds a broach with a heartfelt inscription, and she can’t help but yearn for the broken heart of the man who would go to such lengths to please the women he once loved. So she invades his home, intent on healing him, but doesn’t count on the irascible, and impossibly handsome, lord breaking down the defenses she’s erected around her own romantic heart.

Sara Lindsey has crafted a cast of characters that we, the audience, can become completely invested in. From the irrepressible Weston clan to the feisty Scottish butler, each individual is a bright thread the in richly constructed tapestry of her stories. Honestly, there’s simply nothing not to love about both this book and its predecessor, Promise Me Tonight. The romance is solid, not instantaneous in this instance, but growing out of mutual attraction and a sense of finding one’s perfect fit. And the revisiting of characters and events from the previous story lend an air of continuity that further endear the Westons and their futures to us.

Jason is a deliciously tortured hero, full of self-flagellations and a desperate struggle to cling to the darkness within. And Livvy is just the person to bring the light to his darkness – full of optimism and hiding secrets that are not her own to share, she holds the key, in more ways than one, to bringing Jason back to the world around him. Livvy and Jason’s journey is not to be missed, and once begun, is far too tempting to put down.