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    The Temptation of the Night Jasmine: The page-turning Regency romance
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    The Temptation of the Night Jasmine: The page-turning Regency romance
    Unavailable
    The Temptation of the Night Jasmine: The page-turning Regency romance
    Ebook532 pages9 hours

    The Temptation of the Night Jasmine: The page-turning Regency romance

    By Lauren Willig

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    After twelve years in India, Robert, Duke of Dovedale, returns to his estates in England with a mission in mind: to infiltrate the infamous Hellfire club to unmask the man who murdered his mentor at the Battle of Assaye. Intent on revenge, Robert never anticipates that an even more difficult challenge awaits him, in the person of one Lady Charlotte Lansdowne.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAllison & Busby
    Release dateAug 29, 2011
    ISBN9780749040253
    Unavailable
    The Temptation of the Night Jasmine: The page-turning Regency romance
    Author

    Lauren Willig

    Lauren Willig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Band of Sisters and Two Wars and a Wedding, plus four popular historical novels cowritten with Beatriz Williams and Karen White. An alumna of Yale University, she has a graduate degree in history from Harvard and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She lives in New York City with her husband, two young children, and lots and lots of coffee.

    Read more from Lauren Willig

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    Reviews for The Temptation of the Night Jasmine

    3.5/5

    257 ratings19 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Well, I guess it had to happen at some point. As much as I enjoyed the first four installments in Willig’s .Pink Carnation series, I found this one to be a bit of a dud. I struggled to get my footing, in part because, for the life of me, I could not recollect Charlotte’s role in the previous books in the series. Good thing Willig, at one point, mentions that Charlotte’s best friend is Henrietta…. although that still didn’t do much to help my memory along. Having thoroughly loved the intellectual/electric vibe between Lord Vaughn and Mary in Book #4, I found Charlotte’s sweetness/goodness, her dreams of a storybook hero and Robert to be quite the 180 degree turnaround, and a rather boring one at that. Even the espionage bit struck me as being more contrived than I was willing to accept. Yes, I do expect to dispel belief to some extend when reading historical fiction/romance stories of this type and I can usually just “go with the flow” and accept the story for what it is, but this one was just a bit too far-fetched for my tastes. Thankfully “Hen” and Miles, from previous installments, are along for the ride and at least Willig does provide a dragon of sorts in the form of Charlotte’s grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Dovedale, and a “Lord Vaughn-like” devious rake but even these wonderful characters are unable to save the story from becoming a bit of a snore for me. Even the modern day story of Eloise and Colin’s budding romance was unimpressive – dare I say they have slid into the “mundane”? – and was not helped by having their story take some weird detour down espionage lane that, at the reveal stage, had me going “Really? Thatis the big secret?”Overall, a very underwhelming read for me. Here is hoping that the next installment is an improvement.
    • 3/5
      While this was an entertaining installment in the flower-spies series, I think the author is concentrating too much on the romance and too little on the intrigue. The first three in the series were wonderfully interesting, but even the well-developed characters from previous books felt flat here. I don't know that it was the new characters themselves or the fact that the stories have gotten so distant from the mystery of the Pink Carnation that there doesn't seem to be a purpose tying them together any longer. The intriguing spy didn't even appear in this book, the villain was cliche and not utilized well, the heroine's change from starry-eyed innocent to cynic was too quick, and the modern-day love story tying the books together just made me roll my eyes. Someone doing scholarly research, even if it is on a spy during the French revolution, is going to assume from a scrap of paper and one call from a Dubai area code that her new boyfriend is a super-spy? Please. Somewhat entertaining, but disappointing.
    • 2/5
      This is my least favorite in the series so far. This book was disappointing because there was very little progress in both the mystery aspect of the plot and in Colin and Eloise’s relationship leaving me to question what was the point of this book. It seems to me that Willig wrote it simply to marry Charlotte off and to progress the story line to another country, but as far at the mystery aspect it seems rather pointless.

      In the previous books, the ever elusive villain the Black Tulip features prominently. The Black Tulip really started getting interesting in the last book The Seduction of the Crimson Rose and it even ended in a bit of cliff hanger that I was hoping would get picked up by this book. Unfortunately, Willig seems to have dropped the ball. The Black Tulip gets a passing mention in this book. That’s it! We’ve been following this villain for 4 books now and all he/she gets is an honorable mention? I don’t get it. The mystery we do get is mediocre at best. A new villain with the scent of Jasmine is introduced. Perhaps the Black Tulip has changed flowers? Not sure, but even though the mysterious Frenchmen was interesting the storyline with the king was predictable.

      Also predictable was the romantic aspect of the story. Charlotte and Robert’s chemistry was simply meh. I didn’t care for the fact that they called each other cousins, grew up together for a short time period and then end up together in the end. It’s great that they were friends beforehand, but weird to me that they went from a family relationship to a romantic relationship without much of an explanation. Other reviewers have commented that Willig cleaned up the romance by offering no sex scenes, but quite honestly even though I love a good sex scene I was relieved that there wasn’t one in this case. For a lack of a better word I would have found it “icky” in this book.

      I also didn’t care for the Eloise and Colin storyline. There was very little progression now that they are girlfriend and boyfriend. I didn’t like that she went about spying on him trying to figure out what his career is rather than being straight up and ask. I’m sure that in the books to come their relationship will be inching forward because it seems like Willig’s written herself into a corner now that they are together and there is still more books in the series to be written.

      What I did like about this book was the comedy relief that the secondary characters provided. I absolutely adored The Duchess and her cane! I also loved Henrietta and Miles. Those two are really great together and helped moved the storyline nicely. Penelope was also very interesting. She’s such a spitfire! I would love to see what happens to her in the next book.
    • 3/5
      While I love a good historical romance and Willig does this well, it is really the way she drags out the modern romance between Eloise and Colin that sees me coming back to her books. Willig's characters are always likeable (well, perhaps with the exception of those in The Seduction of the Crimson Rose, but I liked them for their unlikeableness) and her plots good fun. This book is certainly no exception but I wasn't as taken with them as in previous books, and so was perhaps a little more interested in the modern romance than usual. (On a side note, surely Eloise would have noticed that Colin wore contacts before she looks in the bathroom at Selwick Hall. After all, they had already spent nights together and what about all the gazing into one another's eyes they ought to be doing?)
    • 3/5
      All the books in this series have been quick reads, and I am happy that the author has finally managed to produce a book that didn't contain a graphic description of a first sexual encounter (or almost-encounter) between the main characters. That said, I thought her descriptions of the atmosphere surrounding the "ceremonies" of the Hellfire Club cancelled out that boon. While I quite liked Charlotte and Robert as the main characters (second perhaps, only to Henrietta and Miles -- of the second book in the series), I found myself quite frustrated with several sections of the story where I felt Ms. Willig was bogged down in being overly impressed with the amount of descriptive detail she could provide. I am not one to leave a book unfinished once I start it, but I did catch myself skimming at times when the words on the page were not adding any value to the experience. I will read at least the next book in the series (particularly since I already have it in my possession), but I am beginning to think the new-couple-unwittingly-falls-in-love-while-inadvertently-becoming-successful-amateur-spies conceit will wear thin before I can work my way through the entire series.
    • 3/5
      This is the 5th book in the Pink Carnation series. In it the new Duke of Dovedale returns from his military service in India to assume his responsibilities and realizes that his young cousin has held his heart in his absence. But pledges that he has made to find and eliminate the Night Jasmine make his romance difficult.The plot in this installment was most probably the lightest when in came to the French espionage and also involved more of the modern day romance between Eloise and Colin than the previous books.The mystery side in this book took a backseat to the romance this time, but still an enjoyable experience.
    • 2/5
      Weakest in the series so far; I find myself annoyed by the intrusion of the modern romance.
    • 5/5
      This fifth book in the Pink Carnation series stars Lady Charlotte Landsdowne who is the granddaughter of the Dowager Duchess of Dovedale and Robert, Duke of Dovesdale, who has just returned from a long sojourn in the army in India.Robert arrives home just at Christmas time and reconnects with the dreamy little girl he met when she was nine. Charlotte has always been dreamy and imaginative and she has cast Robert as her own knight in shining armor. Unfortunately Robert's main purpose for coming home is to track down the man who killed his mentor in a friendly fire shooting. To do that, he has to become a member of the fast and dissolute Hellsfire Club. He thinks the best way to protect Charlotte is to break her heart by saying that their romance was just a product of the season and proximity.Charlotte is changed by Robert's dismissal of their love. She becomes more cynical and less trusting. When she stumbles onto a plot to harm George III, she calls on her own skills and talents to solve the problem and becomes her own knight in shining armor. Robert will have his work cut out for him getting back into Charlotte's good graces.Meanwhile, Eloise and Colin are currently living together at his home in Sussex where all the historical papers that she needs for her dissertation have been stored. Eloise's most recent dilemma has to do with the fact that she doesn't know what Colin does for a living. For some reason, she is determined not to ask and he is reluctant to tell her anyway. I liked the conclusion that she jumped to but had already guessed what his actual job was.This is a fun series that keeps getting better and better as it continues. I can't wait to go to India for the next installment.
    • 4/5
      Forgive me, but I may have developed a slight addiction to Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation series. The first, eponymous novel was fairly dire, granted, and I can see why a lot of reviewers threw their copies across the room in disgust and refused to read any further, but with each sequel, the writing improves and the characters grow more endearing. Henrietta and Miles in The Black Tulip were good fun, and the fairytale-turned-friendship pairing of Charlotte and Robert in this book fair melted my heart (not least because I can empathise with Charlotte's bookish fantasties). I even love the updated, hopelessly anachronistic and blandly generic new cover designs!The one nagging question with me is how the twenty-first century narrative of Eloise Kelly, and her living-family archive boyfriend Colin Selwick, relates to the early nineteenth century story which unfolds in every novel from Eloise's research. Surely the various journals and family papers in the Selwick library wouldn't go into such laborious detail, with conversations recounted word for word, or recount private moments in almost graphic imagery? Therefore, Eloise must be embroidering the facts while reading, and filling in the blanks - which would explain the modern behaviour of the characters or occasional Americanism ('No fair!'). However the parallel storytelling works, I enjoyed the synchronicity in this novel, with Eloise's flights of fancy regarding Colin, against Charlotte trading grand romances in novels for a very real relationship with her childhood hero. I could only nod fervently in agreement whenever Charlotte said something like, 'I like books, they're so much grander than real life', or Eloise's modern translation of 'It's so much easier to live the lives we'd like for ourselves when they're printed on celluloid in two hour long packages'. I think that reveals more about the reader than the book, but that's why I'm starting to love these novels so much. (That, and the continued references to the Scarlet Pimpernel - I recognised the wallpaper by Morris before Colin identified the in-joke, and the nod to the film version when Eloise is sneaking around in Colin's study made me smile.)Lauren Willig openly folds, spindles and manipulates history to serve her story - King George III and the Hellfire Club, in this instance - but as Eloise observes: 'no matter how faithful you tried to be to the historical record, there would always be that element of guesswork, of imagination, of (if we're being totally honest) fiction'. And I'm all for it - except to point out to the author that the word 'cheers' doesn't mean half of what she thinks it means!
    • 4/5
      The Temptation of the Night Jasmine is the fifth installment in Lauren Willig's "Pink Carnation" series of historical fiction novels. The series follows American graduate student Eloise and her search for information on the English & French spies of the late 1700s/early 1800s that all seem to be named after flowers. Turning a bit of fiction into reality for her world, Willig's books exist in a reality where the Scarlet Pimpernel was a real spy for England during the French Revolution, though the existence of other flowery colleagues is somewhat dismissed -- incorrectly, it turns out. Eloise has focused her dissertation on proving the identity of the Pink Carnation, a spy that picked up where the Pimpernel left off. In a stroke of luck, she gained access to archives at Selwick Hall that hold a wealth of secret correspondence to support her theories -- and she got herself a British boyfriend, too. Colin, the descendant of certain flowery spies, was originally suspicious of Eloise's intentions, but appears to have warmed to her, as this book opens with Colin and Eloise marking a month of their relationship. Fans of the series will know that it's the meeting and courtship of Colin and Eloise that frames the series, but each individual book follows a different couple, though they all have some connections to each other. The historic romance in this book centers on Lady Charlotte Landsdowne and Robert, Duke of Dovedale. When Charlotte was nine, she met her (very distant) cousin Robert, who was fifteen, at a time of family turmoil. Her father, the Duke, was dying and as a result of male heirs and all that, Robert would become the next Duke. Instead, he ran away to India, becoming an officer and leaving Charlotte and her somewhat tyrannical grandmother to retain control of the estate in practice if not in name. For all those years, she had a rather dreamy image of Robert and now that he has returned to England, you can just bet where she's set her cap. Of course, that would be somewhat easier to do if he didn't seem a bit distracted. He returned home to take up residence at his estate and be a Duke, right? Well, actually, Robert returned to England to exact revenge on a traitor who killed his mentor. Until he's done this, he had no idea what the future holds for him, but his pretty young cousin seems to be making a mess of his concentration. The traitor in question has a foppish way of wearing a spring of jasmine on his clothes; since Robert hasn't been in the country for a while, he's completely unaware of the whole thing with spies named for flowers and he doesn't quite realize that he might be stumbling into something that's on a grander scale than he originally believed. By returning to England, he seeks to track down this murderer and to do that, it appears that he has to insinuate himself into the ton, or at least a particularly loathsome segment of it that consists of rather seedy gentlemen. So despite his concern for his cousin's well-being, his feelings for her catch him a bit off-guard and he resolves that the only way to protect such a delicate and innocent girl like Charlotte (from evil fellows like his latest chums and from himself, a man bent on revenge) is to stay away from her. Well, unsurprisingly, Charlotte is not the delicate angel that Robert believes her to be. She might be sweet, innocent, and dreamy, with her head full of the romances in books, but she is not delicate. We readers suspect as much, but she's given a chance to prove this when, as one of the Queen's ladies in waiting, she stumbles upon a potential plot to overthrow the mad king. Ultimately, the Charlotte and Robert must recognize each other for who they really are if there's any hope of a lasting romance.Fans of the series will sympathize with me when I say that I tend to get a mixed up about all the couples and characters that populate this series. It's always a charming young couple that almost assuredly gets together in the end, but I suppose that's part of the appeal, too. The only trouble, then, is trying to remember who is who when you meet old heroes/heroines in new books where the focus has shifted. Charlotte's best friend is Henrietta Dorrington (formerly Selwick) and while I knew she had been a previous heroine, I had to go look up that her book was The Masque of the Black Tulip and remind myself of those plotpoints. Like I said, things might blend together a bit, but the formula is part of the fun. Willig knows her audience quite well and knows what we want, but she always tosses in some exciting details. This particular book hangs heavily on the idea of the reader appreciating the formula. I was not as delighted with this novel as I was with others, but that being said, I still stayed up until 2.30am on a weeknight to finish reading this book in one sitting. Clearly, Willig is doing something right, even if I still prefer some other couples.Readers might be keen to know that this the first book that Willig wrote as a full-time author. She originally wrote The Secret History of the Pink Carnation as a student and continued writing, even as she got her graduate degrees and started practicing law, but she's tossed it all in for a full time writing career. I suppose the idea of a fifth book in a series convinced her that the whole writing thing was not a dream. Yes, there is a wide audience clamoring for her easy to read but easy to enjoy romances. Yes, she can make a living off of these delicious romps. Of course, she's gotten a bit more conservative with the romances as she's gone through the series. In the Pink Carnation there was fellatio in a boat on the Thames for goodness sake! Here, we get some making out on a roof in the cold. (Granted, someone else ends up in a scandal, but we don't get that one described for us. And here, we're trying to let two characters get to know the deeper truths about their chosen partner, so perhaps it's best that they aren't tumbling around in boats.) Willig has stepped back from the more sensational things, which is a bit of a shame, as I enjoyed her ability to write whatever she liked as long as it was fun. She still captures the romantic ideas, and she even tempers some of them to focus on what love is as opposed to just infatuation and lust. But I think we could have gotten a bit more lust. Thank goodness the next bit features a redhead who was involved in this book's scandal. If you enjoy the series, I'm sure you'll enjoy Night Jasmine. (If you haven't read the others, then I highly recommend that you start at the beginning. Thankfully, Willig doesn't waste too much time in summarizing, particularly when every book doesn't necessarily have any bearing on the others.) I continue to be excited for whatever Willig might put on the market and I hope that she continues to produce such delightful novels for a long, long time.
    • 3/5
      Let me be up front in saying that I honestly grabbed this audio book, not just because I had already listened to the previous four that came before, but because I was so invested in the "modern-day" story that is embedded in these spy novels. While the spy stories are being told, we as readers understand that it is through our modern storyteller, Eloise Keller, that we are getting anything at all. It is her story, and her romance with modern day descendant to the Pink Carnation, Colin Selwick, that I was so involved in this installment. The two have finally gotten together romantically, but there is still much that American, Eloise, is uncertain about her dashing new boyfriend. She finds information about him that might stake him to some spy activity of his own And, how can this swashbuckler of his own rights be interested in an academic who has her nose in old journals and diaries all the time?I really enjoyed the more modern side to the story this time around, especially since I found myself lost in the story of Robert and Lady Charlotte so often. For one, Robert and Charlotte were often at cross purposes and didn't understand where the other was coming from throughout most of the story. The miscommunication, jealousies, and misdirected frustration was enough to drive me batty. To top it off, the story included the mad King George, so I was often thinking about history and where that placed things, rather than truly following the story. My bad, I'll admit, but I was a bit distracted by the real history that went behind the story.As always, the story was highly entertaining. That is high praise from a reader, such as myself, who doesn't like mysteries hardly at all. I like the romantic and historical twists to be found in this series, and find the author's writing style engaging. Although this particular story lost me at times, and I found myself wanting more out of the modern story, I can still say that the series is great fun and a nice, historical diversion.
    • 4/5
      This is part of the Pink Carnation series, which are historical romances with an espionage twist. Heavy on the romance, lighter on the history, although that fills in the edges with plenty of accurate details. Let's be honest, though, I'm reading these for the romance, and the history just creates an elaborate setting. The espionage bit is good fun, as I don't like romances that have no other plot device than the love story, they generally fall flat. I'm still looking for a story.In this fifth outing of the series we have Charlotte and Robert as our primary characters. Charlotte is the Duchess of Dovedale's granddaughter, and has been living with her imposing grandmother for many years, her parents having died when she was little. She is a quiet and shy person, preferring to live in her books than the real world, and a customary wallflower at the parties her grandmother throws (she reminds me an awful lot of my pre-college self, actually). Enter Robert, her very distant cousin, hardly a relative at all, who has finally returned to England. While most, including Charlotte, think that Robert has returned to finally assume his ducal title, his true motives are far different. Actually, he is hunting down the assassin of his former mentor, and using his home front as a cover for some sleuthing. In an attempt to keep Charlotte safe, Robert breaks her heart, but she manages to find her way into the mystery through another angle just the same, and they are thrown together again. As they pursue assassins and nefarious French spies they'll need to work through their past mistakes and miscommunications if they hope to find happiness together.The novel is just as silly and fun as it sounds. I liked Charlotte and Robert. They were good people, with integrity and strict moral codes, and their romance was appropriately chaste. I know that some readers were upset by the lack of more ... mature ... love scenes, but I'm not looking for sex scenes when I'm reading, and I thought the way the main characters behaved was true to their natures. It was a simple and sweet love story. The espionage aspect of the plot was less involved than in other stories, since Charlotte bumbles her way into it by accident, and Robert thinks he is just hunting down a killer; neither of them realize that national security is at stake until late in the novel. This is a small strike against the novel, which I still thoroughly enjoyed. A perfect book for escape reading. The third book is still my favorite thus far, but this one is a nice installment in the series.
    • 4/5
      While not my favorite book in the "Pink Carnation" series, Willig continues to sparkle with her history, her research, and her relationships.
    • 4/5
      Charlotte has long dreamed of knights and romance. When her distant cousin Robert, the Duke of Dovedale, returns from army service in India, she hears trumpets. But he has a dark past, and a mission. In the present-day frame story, Eloise and Colin are now a couple, but they are still getting to know each other. Could he be a spy like his ancestors?
    • 4/5
      This book would have benefited from a little more editing of its first half. I thought it would never end due to lack of action. The book gets off to a great start and then bottoms out for a hundred pages or so. Once the halfway mark rolls around, things start to move again. The book has a clever ending that leaves the reader wondering what will happen in the next installment, but it's not as strong an entry in the series as the previous novel.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this series about the Napoleonic Wars. This is not my area of expertise/normal area of interest, so I cannot speak on it's historical accuracy. But, I did enjoy the writing and the mystery created by the author. I thought the story fit the characters written and the ending was realistic. This is a new-to-me series that I am truly enjoying.
    • 4/5
      Another fun installment of the series! Starting to get more interested in Eloise and Colin in the present day than I've been before. I'm not sure he's telling the truth!
    • 3/5
      In this, the fifth entry to the Pink Carnation series, Lauren Willig continues to deliver a light, engaging story that advances the modern day romance of Eloise and Colin while also delving into the historical romance of Charlotte Lansdowne and William, Duke of Dovedale. This time Willig only tosses in a teaspoon of espionage with a kidnapping plot involving King George III. Some familiar characters from both the past and the present are included and help to move the stories along.While I enjoyed The Temptation of the Night Jasmine, I would say it is probably the weakest link in this series. What I mostly found lacking was conflict. The danger never seemed all that dangerous and I never felt any party was in peril. I did however really like the main characters and was glad to see them off to their well deserved happy ending.So slightly dull, and perhaps a little on the frothy side (unicorn hunting??) but I will still follow this series along as I relish the romance and enjoy the historical twists.
    • 5/5
      Incase you haven't been following along, this is the first Carnation book I've given five stars to. I loved The Masque Of The Black Tulip and The Deception Of The Emerald Ring, but there was something that was holding me back from giving them a full five stars. Perhaps having a few "Oh, please! Spare me!" moments was why. The Temptation Of The Night Jasmine had none of those moments. There were quite a few "Aww" moments, though, which I quite loved.And Robert? I'll take him to go. Please and thank you.I found the relationship - and sometimes lack of one - between Charlotte and Robert quite endearing. And Robert is probably the most endearing of all the Carnation heroes. At least, in my eyes. His concern for Charlotte was always the top of his priority list, no matter if it pained him. Seriously, where can I get one of him?I always love a interesting quarry of side characters, even the diabolical ones. And this installment was full of them.And the present day romance of Eloise and Colin intrigued me more than usual this time. Sometimes I wish they had more chapters, but that would take away from the historical story and that just won't do.And the cherry of the top of the sundae is that this installment had quite large roles for my two favorite Carnation characters: Henrietta and Miles. Miles, with his somewhat misplaced humor, never fails to make me giggle.I gobbled this book up in three days. I frankly couldn't read it fast enough. I might even dare to call it my favorite. Lauren Willig will have a time thinking up heroes in the future Carnation installments to beat Robert. If that happens, my heart may explode.