BEAUTY TEMPTS THE BEAST by Lorraine Heath

Sins for All Seasons, Book 6

From the publisher:

Lorraine Heath ends her bestselling Sins for All Seasons series with the hero readers have been waiting for!

She wants lessons in seduction

Althea Stanwick was a perfect lady destined to marry a wealthy lord, until betrayal left her family penniless. Though she’s lost friends, fortune, and respectability, Althea has gained a scandalous plan. If she can learn to seduce, she can obtain power over men and return to Society on her terms. She even has the perfect teacher in mind, a man whose sense of honor and dark good looks belie his nickname: Beast.

But desire like this can’t be taught

Benedict Trewlove may not know his parentage but he knows where he belongs—on the dark side of London, offering protection wherever it’s needed. Yet no woman has ever made such an outrageous request as this mysterious beauty. Althea is out of place amongst vice and sin, even if she offers a wicked temptation he can’t resist. But as the truth of his origin emerges at last, it will take a fierce, wild love to overcome their pasts.

This has been such a good series, but alas, it’s time for it to end well. Heath finally finds a bride for the Beast. I’ve read all the books in this series so I knew it was just a matter of time for him and all I can say is that it was worth the wait. This is a very sexy romance as our heroine asks the Beast for lessons on how to seduce a man.

But let’s back up a bit here. This series is based on the Trewlove family. Ettie, the mother, is a poor single woman who takes in by-blows to raise. They form a tight-knit family, and most don’t know much about their parentage. All Benedict (the Beast) knows is that his mom dropped him off with Ettie and swore she’d be back for him. But that never happened.

When the Beast sees Althea working as a waitress in the pub his sister owns, he immediately recognizes her as the Duke’s daughter that she is. She denies it but her upbringing is undeniable. Trouble has fallen on her family, leaving her a penniless outcast. She really isn’t cut out for waiting tables in a pub, but she’s not sure what else she could do to earn a living. Then she realizes that should could become some rich man’s lover, and he would keep her in the style in which she was accustomed.

Althea is a virgin, of course, with no notion about how to seduce a man. Until she convinces the Beast to help her. He owns a brothel and she figures he would be an expert. Theirs is a strange coupling, but the chemistry cannot be denied. Beast had never planned to marry but starts thinking differently about Althea.

There are a lot of bumps in the road for this couple to traverse as they find their happily ever after. It is a joyous ride to get there, and I was sad to turn the last page on this series. No doubt whatever Heath comes up with next will be on my reading list.

In case you want to read them in order:

Beyond Scandal and Desire

When a Duke Loves a Woman

The Scoundrel in Her Bed

The Duchess in His Bed

The Earl Takes a Fancy

10/2020 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

BEAUTY TEMPTS THE BEAST by Lorraine Heath. Avon (September 29, 2020). ISBN 978-0062951922. 384 pages.