Tempted by Trouble - Liz Fielding
Mills and Boon RIVA
Harlequin Mills and Boon, 2011
ISBN: 9780263883848
My rating
From the back cover:
"T is for… Trouble?
Elle Amery knows her late mother’s bad-boy-loving reputation was not the best inheritance…
Tempted?
So when smooth-talking Sean McElroy turns up with a pink and white ice cream van called Rosie – that’s apparently hers – Elle’s ‘playboy’ radar flashes red, and she tries to ignore the traitorous flicker of attraction!
Or the Time of their lives?
Family-orientated Elle is the last girl Sean should ever want – he’s not a fan of responsibility in any form! Yet as they embark on a journey filled with ice cream, these two misfits find that life comes in many flavours – and that they’re better all mixed up than apart…"
First of all I would like to say a massive thank you to Liz Fielding for sending me this as an advanced copy, and also apologies for the lateness of this review! Secondly, even though this has nothing to do with my enjoyment of the book, I just wanted to say how much I love this cover! It's gorgeous, so bold and colourful, I really think that Mills and Boon have got it bang on with the RIVA covers! Anyway, moving on...!
This is the story of Sean and Elle. Elle has spent most of her adulthood looking after her younger sisters and her slightly unhinged grandmother. Her carefully ordered world is thrown into disarray one day when handsome Sean turns up at her doorstep with a vintage ice cream van "Rosie" that has been given to Elle by her great uncle, whom she didn't know existed. Elle is forced to take on the responsibility of bookings for Rosie, and Sean, feeling guilty for unwittingly piling this extra pressure on her, agrees to help Elle. As they spend time together Sean and Elle's feelings for one another begin to grow, yet neither of them are willing to open their hearts to the possibility of a relationship.
I really enjoyed this book, it's a very sweet (no ice cream pun intended!) yet witty romance that really left me with a warm feeling inside. I loved both of the characters; Sean was such a charmer and the typical committed bachelor, yet he also had such a caring and protective side. Elle was dedicated and caring but quite guarded and a bit of a control freak! In my opinion Liz Fielding has written a female character that is more complex than the male character, which in the romance genre is actually quite rare, I found this a really interesting and enjoyable element of the book. Bravo Liz!
The relationship and story are relatively simple, it doesn't have that one massive explosive conflict situation that ruins everything. Instead it uses the insecurities and issues of the characters as a running conflict throughout the book, it's more of a simmer than a boil, and I think the mood is created better by this. The surroundings are wonderfully described, the characters are able to have that all important growth and the entire book is beautifully written, I particularly liked the little anecdotal excerpts from Rosie's diary at the beginning of each chapter, each one made me smile! In short, I loved this book!
The book is available to purchase now on the Mills and Boon UK website and will be available for general sale in the UK in June. You can read an excerpt on Liz's website (link), and while your there check out Liz's other books, I recommend them (her book 'The Bride's Baby' is currently available for free from the Amazon Kindle store, bargain! I have it on my kindle but I haven't read it yet, shh, don't tell Liz!). Liz Fielding is a fantastic writer, I have enjoyed the books of hers that I have read. Her books are warm, emotional, full of wit and very relatable. This book is simply wonderful as it's true to Liz's style with a modern feel that fits perfectly with the RIVA line.
Xx
P.s. This was another book I read on holiday so here's a photo of my copy of the book sitting on the door handle of my hotel room in the Grand Hyatt NYC!
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