Caroline Broadhurst was married young to a much older man in an arranged marriage set up by her father. Caroline's bloodlines were just what her new husband needed to establish himself in society, and their child would elevate him to respectability. The problem is that the hoped-for child never appeared, and now Caroline is faced with an abhorrent proposition from her husband: select an appropriate man and do everything she can do to get pregnant. He's even enlisted her own brother to help him handpick studs from which she can choose. Sadly, Caroline is further propelled into this distasteful sham by the fact that her husband threatens to cut her off completely or divorce her if she doesn't comply. What's a proper, obedient wife to do?

Jack Applegate is a man determined to pull himself up out of obscurity into a life of wealth and ease with his inventions. He's scrimped and saved for years to be able to afford a trip to London to display his ideas, but when an accident at the local Broadhurst mill crushes his foot and causes him to have to recover at the Broadhurst home; he is placed in close contact with the woman of his dreams, Caroline. His hard-won savings gone, his dreams all but destroyed, he finds the lady of the manor eminently approachable...and in need of something he will gladly provide, the means to making a child.

All About Seduction is a tale about passion and premeditated adultery. I myself am not a fan of adultery, and, in my opinion, just about everything about this book was ill conceived. I felt that the author painted herself into a corner with the limitations of Jack's grievous injury, Caroline's complicit family and her husband's cruelty. Also, the whole tone of the book was just a bit off, as far as pacing and the awful humiliation Caroline suffers at the hands of her husband (heads up for a forced bout of sex) and several would-be sperm donors. I genuinely liked Caroline and Jack, but I didn't appreciate the situations into which they were placed, nor did I feel that the storyline was at all plausible or even defensible. Jack's family situation was as horrible as Caroline's, in an oddly similar fashion, as all they wanted from him was money. The best thing about this book was the ending, with Jack and Caroline getting their happy-ever-after; it was the least they deserved. Three Angels.

Reviewed by: Michelle B.