Temptation and Surrender

In Lauren’s 17th Cynster novel, romance abounds, but the plot lacks drive. Twenty-five-year-old Emily Beauregard escapes her hateful uncle’s house with her four younger siblings and settles in Colyton, getting a job as the manager of Red Bells Inn, a rundown establishment in need of an overhaul. She is drawn to her new boss, Jonas Tallent, a dashing, wealthy aristocrat and Cynster relation, who returns Emily’s affections, but Emily can’t be distracted from what she came to Colyton for—to find her family’s long-lost treasure and regain her status in society. The suspense of where the treasure could be is not enough to hold this story together; when Emily excels as the inn’s manager, Tallent professes that he wants to marry her, and the town showers her with affection, it becomes unclear why she so desperately needs the treasure anymore. The extended sex scenes will delight Laurens’s fans, but the repetitive arc (Emily swooning over Tallent then denying his advances, Tallent trying to discover what brought Emily to his town while seducing her) is wearying. (Mar.)