stacey_is_sassy
Written on Apr 26, 2016
Some parts were OK…
The Seduction of Kinley Foster had a lot of great components but for me, the end product just didn’t come together right. Think of it like building a car. The car maker decides he wants to use only the best, like BMW, Mercedes and Lexus parts. Once the car maker has all the parts he wants to use, he puts them all together. With a little tweak here and a little tweak there, he gives it his own signature and make it an original. But the tweaking means that some of the parts aren’t meeting up properly and just don’t seem to fit. For me, The Seduction of Kinley was just like that. I really liked parts of the storyline and the characters were lovable and funny but it just didn’t mesh for me.
Kinley is a Librarian who has dreams of getting her romance story published. With her manuscript ready, she decides to go to Vegas for a Writers convention to meet literary agents. Kinley is not a great flyer, but the people next to her on her flight managed to distract her enough to get her there in one piece. Happy to arrive at the airport, she is surprised when her brother’s best friend is there waiting for her and informs Kinley that he will be keeping an eye on her as per her brother's instructions. The only problem is her brother's best friend is also the man who rejected her when she was sixteen. He is also the same friend who stole her brother's fiancé…but her brother forgave him. Kinley, not so much.
Ian is a literary agent who is going to be in Vegas at the same time as Kinley. He wants to use this time to try and mend fences with Kinley but knows that even though ten years have passed, she still hasn’t forgiven him. He misses her and the friendship they had before everything went to hell in a hand basket. Ian wants to explain everything that happened back then but getting her to listen to him isn’t his only problem. Kinley’s brother gave her script to him to look over and even though her writing style has potential, considering it’s a romance, the sex scenes were bad. It doesn’t look like he’ll have much success with either problem.
I liked that Ian read romance and seemed to understand what was needed to be appealing to readers. The setting for the convention and how it played out was similar to a conference I’d been to so that part was enjoyable for me too. I enjoyed reading the parts where we see into Ian’s thoughts and feelings but hated that he never expressed those feelings.
I struggled with Kinley’s immaturity. She’s supposed to be 26 but seemed a lot younger. Her issues with Ian seemed over the top and based more on her embarrassment than the injustice to her brother. She hero-worshipped Ian and thought he was amazing but didn’t listen to his side of the story for ten years??? If you really hated a person as much as Kinley says…why would she even contemplate sleeping in the same room as him? Why would she even think to make a bet with him so that he could teach her how to improve the sex scenes in her books?
In regards to Ian, we are supposed to believe he’s a DoM? I just didn’t get that vibe. He says that he never lies, but that’s because he just doesn’t say anything. He is one of the worst communicators ever. Ian studied BDSM as research for erotic books he edited, and then claims to have experienced it because a few of his previous women were into it. I wasn’t really convinced. I’m pretty sure spanking a woman’s butt and scowling, doesn’t make you a Dom.
Finally the ending…NOPE. She did the chasing. Enough said.
So, The Seduction of Kinley had lots of great parts that had the potential to be a great final product. Unfortunately the BMW, Mercedes and Lexus parts all mixed together, gave us a beetle instead. With all the flashy parts, I expected a luxury car and what I got was a quirky little hatchback that needed some adjustments to run smoothly.
I’m an Aussie chick who loves to read and review romance, drink coffee, be a Style Setter and stalk David Gandy. To see more of my reviews, fashion, food and pervathons -