Seduce Me

Sizzling romance mixes clumsily with ancient legends in DeHart's late-Victorian romance, the first in the Legend Hunters trilogy. Fielding Grey, viscount of Eldon and freelance archeological treasure hunter, reluctantly enters into a business alliance with the club of gentlemanly legend hunters he holds responsible for his father's death. When Fielding's mysterious uncle finds Pandora's mythical box, he kidnaps beautiful Esme Worthington, believing she holds the key. The curses imprisoned in the box escape into the world, and Esme (who is referred to as a scholar, but displays little scholarship) and Fielding fight their growing attraction as they race to prevent disaster. While DeHart (Tempted at Every Turn ) makes the romance believable and enticing, the multiplication of unlikely supernatural and familial subplots distracts from it, and the layers of artificial complication added to the original myth feel forced and unconvincing. (Aug.)