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Season for Desire (Holiday Pleasures, #4)

Theresa Romain

Start date: December 1, 2014

Finish date: December 31, 2014

Discussion: Monthly Read

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What Members Thought

Jan 28, 2014 Caz rated it really liked it

Shelves: 4-stars, arc, romance-1800-1850

In this, the final book in her Holiday Pleasures series, Theresa Romain has skilfully melded together a tender and insightful romance and an intriguing mystery which takes her hero and heroine on a journey across a England at Christmastide - and on a journey of personal discovery.

Lady Audrina Bradleigh, the fifth and youngest daughter of the Earl of Alleyneham, has, since her début, cultivated a slightly scandalous reputation as an act of rebellion against her autocratic and uncaring father In this, the final book in her Holiday Pleasures series, Theresa Romain has skilfully melded together a tender and insightful romance and an intriguing mystery which takes her hero and heroine on a journey across a England at Christmastide - and on a journey of personal discovery.

Lady Audrina Bradleigh, the fifth and youngest daughter of the Earl of Alleyneham, has, since her début, cultivated a slightly scandalous reputation as an act of rebellion against her autocratic and uncaring father. Unfortunately for her, what has hitherto been little more than a series of excursions into dark, secluded corners with her dance partners has turned into something far more dangerous. One of her suitors has decided his debts won’t wait any longer, and has drugged and kidnapped her with a view to marrying her in order to get his hands on her dowry.

Giles Rutherford and his father, Richard, have left their home in Philadelphia in order to search for a set of valuable jewels that belonged to his late mother, the daughter of a marquess. When she fell in love with an American jeweller’s apprentice, her family took away everything of value that she owned – with the exception of this set, which she hid before running away with her lover. Giles has travelled to England with Richard in order to fulfil his mother’s dying request – that her jewellery be found and used to the benefit of her family.

Father and son have been travelling around the country and have recently arrived at The Goat and Gauntlet inn in York when they receive an unexpected – and odd - message from the Earl of Alleyneham, more or less ordering them to put a stop to his youngest daughter’s flight and to detain the couple until he arrives.

Giles takes umbrage at the earl’s high-handedness and is reluctant to get involved, but Richard, never one to pass on “an adventure” is only too pleased to be offer their assistance.

When the earl arrives, he is absolutely furious – but with Audrina rather than her unscrupulous abductor. She is to remain with the Rutherfords and Lady Ingram (an old friend of the family) until after her sister’s wedding, in case the scandal that threatens to surround her causes the prospective bridegroom – a duke – to call off the nuptuals.

Once her father has left, Audrina has no alternative but to join the Rutherfords’ quest for the missing jewels – and to embark upon an adventure that will change her life.

Season for Desire is a thoroughly enjoyable story which brings the traditions of a Regency Christmastide vividly to life. Of course, the path of true love is never without its pot-holes, and there are a few bumps along the way for Giles and Audrina. She is perhaps a little too quick to act first and think later, but as the story progresses and she begins to rediscover her sense of self-esteem, she realises that she no longer needs to fulfil anyone’s low expectations. Giles is a lovely hero – kind, perceptive and reliable - but he fails to see that he’s living his life for everyone except himself. He’s taken on the responsibility of looking after his younger siblings while he also tries to make sure his father’s flights of fancy don’t get too out of hand. This - coupled with the fact that he has eschewed his desire to become an architect so as not to disappoint Richard, who dreams of setting up shop as a maker and designer of jewellery, and his concern that he has inherited an arthritic condition from his mother which renders him unsuitable for marriage to anyone - weighs very heavily on Giles’ admittedly broad shoulders. He can’t abandon the family that needs him in order to remain in England with Audrina, and he certainly can’t ask an earl’s daughter to cross an ocean to an uncertain future.

The relationship between the two principals is tender, passionate and written with a great deal of warmth and humour. It’s clear they belong together, but before that can happen they have to confront the fact that they have been living with false perceptions of themselves which they have to adjust before they can become the person they are meant to be, and be with the person they are meant to be with. I enjoyed the way Giles and Audrina are able to help each other with that adjustment, but ultimately, these are decisions and choices they have to make for themselves, and I was particularly impressed with the way Ms Romain dealt with that aspect of their respective journeys.

There is a strong and quite large cast of secondary characters in the book, many of whom get to narrate the story at certain points, which I admit, I did find a little jarring. It’s usual in a romance to have the story told from both the hero and heroine’s point of view, but in this book, the POV jumps around a bit, which did detract a little at times from the principal story. That said, the characters themselves are all very well rounded out, especially the waspish, be-turbanned Lady Irving, who is one of those terrific, sharp-tongued mature ladies one often finds in the pages of historical romances – a lady with an opinion on everything who isn’t afraid to voice it but who is, underneath, a little lonely and not at all as dragon-like as she seems.

Theresa Romain has become a favourite author of mine over the past couple of years. Her stories are intelligently written, strongly characterised and show her to be a talented storyteller, all traits exhibited in Season for Desire. I enjoyed the slow-burn romance and was thoroughly drawn in by the mystery surrounding the puzzle boxes. If I have a criticism, it’s that the book is perhaps a little “busy” – the large number of secondary characters and secondary storylines did distract me sometimes – but overall, I was captivated by the mystery and by the two central characters and their story.
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Nov 09, 2015 Tin rated it liked it

Shelves: 2015

Theresa Romain's Season for Desire takes a very different approach to the other three books in the series. The first three books are very straightforward romances and focus on the interaction between the hero and heroine, but, in Season for Desire, Romain's plot involves the following:
1. The Quest for lost treasure
2. The Love Stories (yes, plural)
3. The interaction between the main hero and heroine
4. A villain
5. Lots of interesting side characters

Giles Rutherford and his father are in England to ...more

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Oct 21, 2014 Janga rated it it was amazing

Theresa Romain’s Christmas books have become an anticipated part of my winter holiday reading, and Season for Desire may turn out to be my favorite in the series. I love American-in-England heroes, and Romain gives readers an exceptional one in the upright, responsible Giles, and the quick-witted Audrina is a perfect match for him. The quest for the jewels adds just the right touch of adventure without overpowering the romance, and the secondary characters are so superbly drawn that they almost ...more

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Sep 05, 2014 Diane Peterson rated it really liked it

Shelves: kindle-doc, historical-romance

Theresa Romain is an excellent writer. She always adds depth and reality to her stories so there is always more to the story than it appears. This particular holiday installment, however, just didn't work as well as the previous one for me. I had trouble grasping the whole situation at the beginning. The characters were certainly quirky, maybe a little too much. I think that there were too many characters involved and too many jumps to different points of view. Still, I enjoyed the story and onc ...more

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Nov 11, 2014 Charlene rated it really liked it

Shelves: group-read, group-author-book, series-by-author, public-library, rated-not-reviewed, historical-fiction, follow-this-series, reviewed, romance, regency

This fourth in Theresa Romain's Holiday Pleasures series is a very solid read. There are several strands of stories that overlap or intersect in this one. We have the ruined heroine, the acid-tongued dowager, the totally disgusting kidnapping suitor, the rigid father, the older widowed American gentleman who comes to England to find a treasure his dead wife left before she eloped with him thirty years before, and we have a very interesting beta hero (the latter's son). Add to this a senior coupl ...more

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Dec 09, 2014 Melissa rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014-reads, holiday-romance

Meh. Nothing really bad to say about this book, but nothing extraordinarily good either. The relationships didn't pop. There was no spark, no real connection between the characters that jumped from the page. The conversations were lackluster, uninteresting, mostly revealing nothing, and did nothing to spice up this novel. There is a mystery involving boxes with hidden codes that drives the action of almost everyone in the book, but it never really captures the imagination. Unfortunately, I just ...more

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