Desire Me Now by Tiffany Clare

Desire Me Now by Tiffany Clare

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I feel it important to begin my review by stating unequivocally that I enjoyed Desire Me Now and consider it to be a solid 3-star read. Ms. Clare does a very nice job of combining historical romance with erotic elements in the first book of her Desire Me series. Why do I feel the need to clarify my enjoyment of the book from the onset? Because I fear that much of my review is going to sound like a litany of complaints, which may distract a potential reader from the fact that I did find Desire Me Now to be well worth the read.

Ms. Clare wastes no time in revealing our hero’s sexual appetite as the first scene of the book is between Nick and his longtime lover, Victoria. The scene is sensual in its intensity, yet it is clearly the end of their arrangement as Nick has no intention of offering Victoria what she has apparently begun angling for – marriage. Similarly the second chapter gives us a tiny glimpse into Amelia’s past based upon her reaction to her employer’s attempt to molest her, after drugging her. It is no surprise that she leaves her post without notice, nor is it a surprise that as a young single female alone in the streets of London at the wrong time of night that she finds herself yet again the victim – fortunately it was only that of a pickpocket. As providence would have it, Amelia stumbles into Nick’s life quite literally and as a collector of strays, he finds himself immediately taken by and protective of Amelia, whisking her away to his home so that he can have her injuries seen to. While I found the sequence of events believable, I had a hard time staying immersed within the story as the author seemed to be trying a bit too hard with the historical elements. By this I mean that the story would flow along smoothly and then suddenly there was too much of a formal tone to the book. It actually took me a while to figure out why I kept getting yanked out of the story and I think (because I did not go back and reread the book to confirm it) that much of the formality occurred during the characters’ internal monologues, a time at which I would expect thoughts to be more free flowing rather than stiff. Fortunately as the book progressed this seemed to occur less and less, so I am hopeful that it will be a non-issue in book two.

My other issue with the book is the speed at which Nick and Amelia’s relationship became sexual. I am a reader of historical romances, erotic romances, and erotic historical romances and I enjoy them all. While I do not pretend to be an expert in historical periods, I am well read enough to know what was expected of a woman in the late 1800s. Taking into consideration the era and Amelia’s upbringing, there was nothing revealed about her character that would indicate that she would succumb to Nick’s advances as quickly as she did. The mere fact that her brother had allowed men to grope her is not enough to override her being raised as a proper Earl’s daughter. As such, it was unrealistic to expect her to allow herself to be seduced within what seemed to be less than a two-week period (if that long). The rush to bedding seemed inauthentic, especially in light of how hard the author seemed to be trying to maintain the formality of the era. And even though Amelia’s sense of propriety should have had her putting a stop to Nick’s advances, the seduction and subsequent sex scenes themselves were scorching. Ms. Clare can clearly handle the erotic elements of the genre and I doubt readers looking for an erotic historical romance will be disappointed with the aspect of the book – I know I’m not complaining about it. Given that this is the first of a series about the couple, I would have preferred to see their personal relationship develop more before their sexual relationship commenced. That said, and in spite of my review sounding like one big complaint, I am actually looking forward to reading Desire Me More to find out what the author has in store for the couple and how much Amelia’s past will affect them – especially as it seems to be ratcheting up the danger around them.

I received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.
Check out the Desire Me Now by Tiffany Clare Blog Tour post on Wicked Reads.


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