The Tutor
Grade : B

With The Tutor, Hope Tarr gives readers a very enjoyable late Victorian tale with both plenty of steamy scenes as well as plenty of romance. I've read erotic romances that were erotic without being very romantic on an emotional level, and I've read some where the cover was the steamiest thing about the book. However, Hope Tarr balances this book quite well, and the result is a good, hot read.

Fans of her Roxbury House series may recognize the leads in this book that takes place after the action in that trilogy. When Beatrice Lindsey first met Ralph Sylvester, her brother-in-law's secretary, he made quite an impression on her. There was definitely a spark between them, but Bea's sister warned her off, saying that she was the sort of innocent girl Ralph would eat for breakfast. Now Beatrice is back in Scotland to visit and she will be seeing Ralph again. This time around, Beatice is no innocent young miss. She is engaged to a very proper - and dull - Englishman and she is on a mission.

Apparently, sexual relations between Beatrice and her proper, dull fiance were not all she had hoped for. Determined to have an enjoyable married life, Beatrice decides that at least one of them will have to know what she's about in the bedroom. Knowing Ralph to be attractive and experienced, she approaches him for lessons in sex. It's a contrived setup, to be sure, but it's a credit to the author that she manages to make it feel at least somewhat natural for these characters.

Ralph grew up on the streets of London and, while he now has respectable employment with his friend, he's hardly a gentleman in the eyes of society. He feels a certain attraction for Bea, but knows her to be out of his league. Still, when she makes her request, he cannot turn it down. He's startled by her request, but has also felt quite drawn to her since meeting her. He tells Bea that he will give her the lessons she seeks, but that she must turn herself over to his control during their nights together. Bea agrees, and so begins a steamy tale.

Much of the story concerns Bea and Ralph's "lessons," but the author uses their sexy interludes not only to explore facets of their characters but also to show the reader how their relationship evolves and changes. She reinforces this with scenes set during the day in which they interact in what starts off as a completely platonic fashion as they work and socialize with Bea's sister and brother-in-law. By and large, it works quite well. There's a little too much by way of info-dumping from previous books, an oral sex scene with anatomical descriptions that had me gagging in sympathy for the heroine, and a few moments where the action of the book felt a little too contrived, but I enjoyed the novel for the most part. The blend of intense love scenes with emotion worked for me.

The social changes of the late Victorian era suit it quite well to stories with a hint of the subversive or tales that bridge the gap between Victorian and modern ways of thinking. The possibilities for an unusual story are certainly there, and The Tutor makes use of them. With regard to the sensuality rating, this is one that walks the line between hot and burning, and I suspect readers who like hot books as well as romantic ones will enjoy it.

Reviewed by Lynn Spencer
Grade : B
Book Type: Series Romance

Sensuality: Hot

Review Date : July 26, 2010

Publication Date: 2010/07

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Lynn Spencer

I enjoy spending as much time as I can between the covers of a book, traveling through time and around the world. When I'm not having adventures with fictional characters, I'm an attorney in Virginia and I love just hanging out with my husband, little man, and the cat who rules our house.
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