Who is seducing who?

Blurb:

Investigator Tristan Bonnaud has one aim in life - to make sure that his half-brother, George, can't ever ruin his life again.  When Lady Zoe Keane, the twenty-one year old daughter of the Earl of Olivier, shows up demanding that the Duke's men find a gypsy woman.  Tristan seizes the chance to hunt for his gypsy horse trader friend, who might know secrets about George that he can use against him.  But along the way, Tristan discovers unexpected Keane family secrets, but will they stop him from falling for the woman who will risk all to discover the truth.

Review:

Although this is the third book in the series and there are references to related characters in the first two books this novel can be read as a stand-along book.  It may be that reading the previous books will enhance the enjoyment of the subsequent books.  I did however, read this as a stand-alone book and that is how my review has been written.

The backdrop of this particular novel was interesting and not expected.  The writing was alright but not great and this reader was not particularly drawn in by these characters.  Zoe was intelligent and strong despite the prejudices she faced due to her back story but Tristan was a bit flat.  As expected these two characters initially got on each other’s nerves which did produce some witty banter that felt genuine but eventually, well you know the formula.

The addition of the secondary characters provided additional mystery and colour; and, I am sure, will provide the subject of future books in the series.

This book has just the right amount of everything, romance, drama, intrigue, secrets; a hero, heroine and the ubiquitous villain.  All that said though some of the scenes in this book are just too contrived to be true, a definite case of cause and effect.

It is a quick, light, fast read so is therefore perfect to read on the beach.

Full Disclosure: ARC received from Netgalley for an honest review.

I rated this 3 stars on Netgalley and 'It was OK' on Amazon (3 stars) and Goodreads (2 stars).