Author: K.M. Golland
ISBN: 9781743568019
RRP: $16.99
Temptation is the first book in the Temptation series by K.M. Golland, whom we interviewed recently and you can read the interview HERE. The book has received rave reviews and many readers have rated it 5 stars, the response has definitely been mainly positive. I am not one to blindly follow the trail of 5 Star reviews but there was enough information to intrigue me and tempt me to pick up this book.
In our recent interview Golland describes the book as “a little like Indecent Proposal meets Pretty Woman meets Bridesmaids.” Tempting? I thought so.
The premise definitely had promise but like many books of this genre, well like any books really, it is always going to come down to personal preference and I wasn’t a fan. I am going to try and remain objective writing this because I know there is a huge market out there and there are millions who are going to absolutely love this book, unfortunately I wasn’t one of them.
Temptation is not classified as an erotic fiction but it certainly is steamy. The sexual tension is ever present from very early on but it isn’t consummated until the closing chapters. I had to sit back and consider whether to put that in or if it would class as a spoiler but this is a 4 book series about these two so you can pretty safely assume from the beginning that at some point there will be consummation.
I think one of my biggest problems with this book is that Alexis is happily married to her high school sweetheart and they have 2 wonderful children. How happily married can you be if you are in this situation? And you don’t try to extract yourself from it?
Bryce Clark is the billionaire hero of the series, and he is of course magnificent in every conceivable way. He is drop dead gorgeous, filthy rich, arrogant but also down to earth and approachable. There was nothing he couldn’t do and couldn’t do well and I found him to be a little too perfect and a little too cliche. He’s the type of man who knows what he wants and he doesn’t rest until he gets it, even if what he wants is a happily married employee.
Alexis is married to her high-school sweetheart and returning to the workforce after 9 years as a stay at home mum. She is just finding herself again and trying to juggle a new career path with her mother-guilt at putting the kids into before and after school care. In the beginning I thought she was a very relatable character, she embodied many mothers across the country I’m sure. She was quite likeable with her inner struggle as to what was the best thing to do; should she be going back to work, would the kids cope, how would she keep on top of it all – questions all working mothers have asked themselves. This empathy lasted until she arrived for her first day at work and then it all went downhill for me.
From their very first meeting Bryce was suggestive and Alexis was attracted to him. She was so busy trying to reassert her identity as a woman in her own right that she got caught up in his flirting and from the very first day started behaving questionably – but she made it ok with her inner dialogue of guilt and determination not to break her wedding vows. This is where I think it all gets into shades of grey and will come down to people’s personal moral compass as to what constitutes cheating.
Personally I found the dialogue a little stilted, the writing felt a little wooden and it all seemed very cliche. Yes it was a little Pretty Woman, there were scenes that had me visualising Julia Roberts in her gorgeous red dress and the more I think about it the more the scenes seem to match. Yes, there are also big parallels to Indecent Proposal, from memory because I think I only watched that one once. For me the sexual tension was written in more than I felt it, and the prose was dripping with adjectives so I was reading it but I wasn’t visualising it.
Temptation reads like the fantasy of a bored housewife dreaming of getting out of the house and embroiled in sexual adventure. I didn’t feel the possibility of it, I couldn’t suspend my beliefs to get caught up in the story but that doesn’t mean that you won’t. I am sure that there are many who will love this, the sensuality of it, the thrill of the chase, the spice of the forbidden. Part of me got too caught up in the infidelity of the situation. Alexis protested that she wouldn’t be unfaithful, all the while walking a very fine line in anyone’s book but well and truly crossing the line in mine.
I found it to be very predictable and there were too many things about both Bryce and Alexis that irritated me for me to enjoy the book but when it ended I still found myself wondering what will happen next. I think I will get that information from spoiler filled reviews though rather than reading it.
Will it be the next big thing in the genre? Will it rival Fifty Shades? That remains to be seen but I would not be surprised in the least.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!