This is the first Sari Robins book I’ve read. She’s one of those authors that I always look at in the bookstores, thanks in no small part to her wonderful covers. This one is no different, with the appropriately red-haired heroine, wearing a very mischievous expression, disrobing the hero, displaying his lovely broad back. Unfortunately, the story did not live up to this potentially wonderful start.

Tess and Heath were childhood friends, his father her art teacher. But scandal entered their lives, and Tess and Heath were separated. Because they moved in different social circles, it was unlikely the two would ever meet again. However, meet they do, and in unpleasant circumstances. Tess married for passion, and her husband promptly drove her inheritance into the ground and died, leaving her penniless and widowed. Salvation came in the form of a mysterious old spy who recruits Tess, sets her up as a bookseller, and pays her for the information to which her title makes her privy. Her reputation, however – as a woman who “killed” her husband and then sets up in trade – is pretty much shot.

Heath has dragged himself up by his bootstraps, and is now and up-and-coming lawyer in the service of the crown, who has the potential of marrying into the ton, thereby raising himself even higher. He is driven to succeed, desperate for respectability, and willing to do anything to get it.

The two meet unexpectedly in the hallway of an orphanage, get off to a bad start, and part ways. Then it gets worse; Tess is being accused of theft, and Heath is asked to investigate by the family into which he wants to marry. And, naturally, the two are incredibly attracted to each other and can barely keep their hands off one another.

Normally I’m a big fan of childhood-friends-reunited and best friend romances. But this one felt rushed and unfinished. I have the impression of quicksand – if I’d skimmed across the top of the novel, I probably would have enjoyed it, but because I sat down to read it, the many sinkholes appeared.

The plot felt unplanned and bloated – there were a lot of secondary characters, and a lot of twists and turns that in the end weren’t really necessary and detracted from the main plot. Tess had already been accused of one crime, adding a second was over the top, and added unnecessary weight to the plot line.

The extra baggage also drew away from the character development. Tess married once for passion, and it nearly destroyed her. Yet, in the end, she repeats old mistakes. The proof that Heath offers up as evidence that what he feels is more than lust is, in my opinion, weak. For a woman who’s been burned as badly as Tess has, the HEA didn’t ring true.

There are problems on Heath’s side as well. He has tried desperately from childhood to gain respectability, and it’s in his grasp. But he’s too easily seduced away from all his plans by great sex. Heath’s character is set up throughout the book as someone who thinks things through and really considers before he acts. So the leap from “I want to be respectable” to “I don’t care anymore!” – especially when it risks his career – was uncomfortable to me.

There are other plot devices that moved the story forward that felt forced, but I don’t want this review to turn into a litany of problems. Sari Robins’s undemanding writing style makes it easy to skip over many problematic parts. And her sex scenes were hot. At one point, Heath and Tess are alone in the woods, making use of an obliging tree, and sensible me (ouch!) was completely silenced by romantic me (look how much they love each other!). But in the end, the plot holes and discrepancies allowed sensible me out to have the last word: I remain unseduced.