Do take a good look at the cover of The Seduction of Sydney because it manages to be very sensual, romantic and sweet, which about sums up the hero of the story. But whatever you do, do not read the silly back blurb. And trust me on this one – do not make the mistake of letting your husband get a gander at it either unless you want to see a grown man explode into hysterical giggles.

Twenty-eight year old veterinarian Sydney Travers has a successful practice, a nice home and only needs a baby to make her life complete. The trouble is, she needs a man in order to make one. And Sydney doesn’t want a man. She’s been there and done that and still has the emotional scars to prove it. So she gets artificially inseminated. Later that night, after her exceptionally grueling day, she does something totally out of character and ends up in bed with her best friend, sexy scientist Derek Buchanan. And as the cheesiest blurb I’ve read all year exclaims: . . . they have the most incredible sex! Three times!. They get so carried away that neither considers using a condom, paving the way for a major conflict when Sydney turns out to be pregnant.

For weeks (before they had the hot sex), Derek had been trying to find a way to tell Sydney that he was in love with her but couldn’t spit out the words. After the hot sex Sydney spills her guts and tells him about her insemination. When the pregnancy is confirmed, he immediately proposes marriage, not caring that the baby may not be his, and she flatly refuses. He then takes a scientific approach to wooing her, makes himself a plan and fails – badly – several times. It’s pretty painful and often times funny to witness his efforts to win her heart.

Derek is a great guy. He’s loving, sweet, patient, persistent and, of course, sexy. He is a bit of a scatterbrain but we can’t all be perfect, can we? And it only adds to his charm. For a change, it is the heroine who is commitment-phobic rather than the hero. Once he finds the words, Derek freely admits his love and wants more than anything to spend the rest of his life with Sydney. I liked the turn-around on this romance cliche. Eventually, however, Sydney’s stubborn refusal to trust Derek, her best friend for twenty-two years for goodness sake, became just as tiresome as reading about a hero unwilling to trust any woman ever again because he had been spurned by one evil bitch.

Despite that one troublesome plot point, this was a well developed and a sensual romance, albeit far from the “red hot read” emblazoned on the cover. The Seduction of Sydney is part of Harlequin Temptation’s Blaze series. I’ve read several to date and find the name somewhat a misnomer. While most readers find wonderful love scenes to be icing on the cake, readers particularly looking for hot love scenes should be advised that this one is merely “warm.”

Emotionally engaging romances where the couple plainly like each other and enjoy each other’s company seem to be in short supply these days, so if you prefer this type of romance I’d recommend grabbing a copy of The Seduction of Sydney.