Seize Provoked (Enlightenment, #1) Conveyed By Joanna Chambers Distributed As Interactive EBook
was a very enjoyable historical romance, with a plausible period feel, an interesting beginnings of a plot, a sympathetic narrator and a nicely enigmatic love interest,
David is a man with a deep sense of honor, and integrity, This sets him at odds with his sexual desire for other men, because he sees it as an unnatural failing, He tries to remain celibate, but occasionally gives way to temptation, Afterward he battles selfdisgust, sometimes with the help of a dram or two of whiskey, Until now, he has limited his sexual encounters to faceless, fast and mostlyclothed moments of mutual release, But meeting the man named Balfour shows him the pleasures of doing more, It's not a knowledge he wants, but it's his now and very hard to resist, Balfour makes his own desire clear, but his larger intentions are less obvious, And the ambiguity doesn't make it easy to know how to deal with the man,
It doesn't help that these are unsettled times, and David is caught between the law, his employment, and his sympathies for the downtrodden and oppressed, And then there's the daughter of his employer, who is kind and clever, and makes him wonder if marriage without passion would be altogether an unthinkable thing, . .
If you enjoy historical romances I urge you to give this one a try, with the caveat that this story, while a complete episode, does not end in even a HFN there is clearly still a lot of story left to tell.
I'm eager to dive into the next book, Recommended, as long as it's clear that this book doesn't really stand alone, omg, how could I not love this book! David and Murdo are everything, The back and forth between Murdo and David didn't infuriate me at all and only made me too excited to see what would happen the next, I was emotionally invested in the story the whole time, If you never read a historical romance, just read this, It will give you a reason to make a soft spot inside your heart only for historical romance,
David was a farm boy who became now a lawyer and has a deep and sensitive heart, He has been working so hard to make a good reputation for his profession, David always found himself helping others, I was in love with David instantly, He was too good to be true, Oh boy, lastly I knew when I finished the book, I was seduced by Davids kindness and humanity,
Murdo was an aristocrat, He came to Edinburgh for duty, and finally, met with his soulmate David, He was too direct with what he wanted, and at first, David was too stunned by his selfpossession and the blunt way he has expressed his desires to David without being ashamed.
Murdo was captivated by Davids glamour, Every time he was with David he found himself wanting another chance to be with this gorgeous man,
“because youre beautiful, virtuous and utterly unthreatening”
But there was one problem that constantly made David regret, He wanted men. But whenever he was with a man, the inner voice of his heart told him that it wasn't okay, But that voice just stopped once he was with the man who could forget every nagging voice inside of his heart,
The slowburn relationship between Murdo and David was what I loved the most in the book, Step by step in their every encounter, the chemistry has grown, I was too excited and was grinning like a fool when they kissed each other, Oh man, it was hot, I didn't put this book down for a minute, I love these two boys so damn much, It was a long time, I was utterly fascinated by two boys who really make my heart swooning,
Nevertheless, in the end, I wanted to cry and whine, But this is a trilogy and we can cross our fingers about what will happen to them in the following books, Written March,
/Huge Stars a charming, wellwritten super romantic genuine historical romance just stunning good
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I LOVE this traditional old historical romances genre though here with men who loves men.
Speechless, overwhelmed, devastated and so surprised, I couldn't imagine that this HR book would be that good, I would like to write a stunnig and loving "tributereview" about this fantastic romance, . . but you better read it instead, I dried my tears and here we go:
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, . . Edinburgh, Scotland
Provoked is the story of the former peasantboy David Lauriston who moved to Edinburgh and studied law.
He is now a, twenty five years old, unestablished poorly paid lawyer advocate who just lost one of his first hopeless from the very beginning, . own cases. Two freedom embattled Scottish workers have just met the executioner, David is in Stirling to honor these men and to say farewell,
At an inn, meets David, the same evening, a tall stately, a few years older, welldressed and very goodlooking, charming man, David gets later seduced in an dark alley by this sexy man, He will never forget this new amazing feeling he got when this stranger tenderly caressed him and kissed him passionately, Some time later, they face up in Edinburgh on a dinner party in the house of some mutual acquaintances, David is shocked and the cheeks flare on this beautiful redheaded young hero,
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The attractive man a witty hunk shows to be Lord Murdo Balfour, the youngest son of a mighty Scottish Marquis.
A thrilling and sentimental carousel begins and David kind of closeted, . take big steps, slopes back, hesitates and experience another earthshattering erotic nigh with Balfour,
Slowly and reluctantly admits David once again that a man has taken a big place in his heart, Would he dare to unleash his feelings, needs, and what he longs for
Lust didn't make you forget all the reasons you shouldn't do something, It just made you not care,
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Besides this heartbreaking romantic story, we also get an intricate mystery about a snitch, . or a authorityspy and a bitter younger brother who lost his big brother to a distant life in a labor camp in the new continent,
What my heart was hurting a bit extra for was perhaps these poor sweet gentleman daughters' and their hopes of marriage, David actually meet a very nice and brilliant youg girl he really likes, but he is doubtful, Should he listen to a noble gentleman's Balfour's crass, and partially masculine practical, view of marriage and how it should be handled when a man is fond of, and want to bed, other men
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“I played the game wrong with you before,” he murmured.
“I thought I should appeal to your reason but I needed to appeal to your body, didn't I, . . ”
Dear sweet David, you captured my heart, Big hugs!
You conqueror, . . , Lord Murdo Balfour, I don't know if I should hate or love you right now, . .
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Highly recommended! If you like, or used to read a lot of, m/f historicals with the Lord's amp Noble and cynical, largerthanlife heroes and lovely, witty heroines am I sure you will enjoy this M/M version also.
Provoked is a wonderful and captivating start to this three books series se below, It was a pleasure to take part of this earlycentury citylife, . . no oldfashioned alpha highlanders here in Scotland, Very well done Ms sitelinkJoanna Chambers!
There is so much to say about this heartbreaking romance, but I shall confine myself here, Time to finish the next installment sitelinkBeguiled my review about these gorgeous gentlemen,
I LIKE very much seduced and enamored
A novel ecommended by Elizabetta a time ago, Thank you!
and Thanks my sweet "SpringSanta"
The "Enlightenment"parts series:
sitelink sitelink, . and in May: sitelink Chambers makes Harlequins fun again! The prose wasn't particularly enjoyable, I found David a honorably dull and uninspired Mary Sue and I can't say I enjoyed spending time with him, The ending annoyed me to no end too, BUT . the nice pacing and Balfour made this an unputdownable book for me anyway, Though all would've been much better if Balfour had gotten his way, . . If you know what I mean, . . eyebrow waggle.
Other than that, I find myself agreeing with Rachel, and will therefore lazily refer to sitelinkher review,
Earlier ramblings
Upgraded from 'perhaps' to 'want to read' due to the lovely short story Introducing Mr, Winterbourne in sitelinkAnother Place In Time, AugAddition: sooooo, in the last week or so, I've received my order of the paperback copies of this series with the new covers and I've purchased the audio book for this, the first in the series just this morning.
contented sigh David and Murdo, . .
Take the plunge, Oh! And the narrator is a Scot, :D
PS: how the HAYULL has it been almostyears since I first read this
From the opening pages, the setting for this story makes sense when paired with the characters, the politics and society as a whole:Scotland, Edinburgh to be precise, strongly under British rule, rebellion against taxes and many other things bringing conflict that needles itself into everything.
This everything includes our two main men, David Lauriston and Murdo Balfour, David is an advocate a lawyer and is a sympathetic one, at that, Hes a caring man unable to keep from wanting to help another man when hes been wrong persecuted and prosecuted, Hes a bit of an idealist at least according to Balfour, and well get to him, I promise, a bit unfair to himself and definitely a determined fellow, at least professionally speaking.
This story is told from his point of view and its an excellent choice, His voice is strong.
Now, Balfour Murdo Balfour, Yep, I like him. Most of all because he likes David so much, and so easily, Murdo is intelligent and hes quiet unapologetic and unafraid to say what he wants, which is namely David, I hesitate to say more because David well, Ms Chambers does such a wonderful job in giving us insight, a taste, a full meal of a description of Murdo whenever they encounter each other.
Both of these men are confident in their own ways, This is a simple and yet delicious equation: differences contradictions X confidence a simmering pot of hotness heading for an unavoidable explosion.
Yeah, yeah, so many ways to take that and you can enjoy them all,
Despite the times and the illegality of being gay, David doesnt torment himself over the fact that he is or that he even has his desires.
He doesnt deny it or try to fool himself into thinking he can fight who he is, What he struggles with is how to allow it to be a part of his life, His strength of character is a constant companion to his decisionmaking, Balfour has the type of personality that can, not necessarily open the door for David as he can do that for himself, show David that this is a life that can be achieved.
I dont know if anyone like Balfour existed ins Edinburgh, but given the diversity of this loony human race, maybe he did, He would have been a challenging, safe and strong place to be for a man like David to be, and vice versa,
Ms Chambers writing allows the creation of this world and these characters to easily find a place inside my mind, I can see the wardrobes and the puffs of cold breath, I can hear the exhaustion of one and the smirking lips of another, The style strides comfortably, no matter the action or emotion, Not all writers can do both equally well but she can and does,
There is a turning point
for David and Balfour, Its an event in which they both feel compelled to participate lest someone, more than one someone, comes to harm, Neither of them directly addresses this but I felt it, that slight change, a shift in their attitudes towards each other through the dialogue and reactions, Couple this with a very intense situation, in which I had no idea which way things were going to go, and youve got me as a reader, The connection is made.
Things arent easy between David and Balfour, not in the beginning and definitely not now, They both feel something, strongly, and act upon it, but it always seems to complicate things, Theyre complicated. Thats David and Balfour in a nutshell if I had to choose one, Whether theyre together or apart, all throughout the story, I can feel that undercurrent of complexity and tension, I will tell you that there is sex in this book but not a lot, which may frustrate some readers, Believe me when I tell you that when it does happen, it's incredibly hot, And just as importantly, when it's not happening, that tension is just as palpable and I loved it,
Exciting.
Sexy.
Gutwrenching.
Sad.
Quiet.
Shameful.
Heartfelt.
Honest.
Hopeful A question that remains unanswered at the end of this story,
Be ready to begin reading the next installment of this series, sitelinkBeguiled, once you have breathed the last word of this one, Dont say you werent given fair warning,
This one is,for me.
sitelinkCheck out the review at Prism Book Alliance,