A lovely review from Fresh Fiction!

Reviewed by Kate Garrabrant


Raoul Charlebois, the beloved actor with the cobalt-blue eyes and silver-blond curls is retiring from the London stage. He's known as an enigma who doesn't answer to anybody. His past haunts him as the illegitimate son of Lord Merriot. Raoul was exiled from Cheshire to London, England by his father to a school that taught other boys like him. Raoul has bought the building he stayed in as a boy because Dunnington, who ran the school, left Raoul and his boyhood chums twenty thousand pounds. It looks as if Dunnington extorted this shocking fee from his father, among others, and wants to know why. Raoul will travel back to Cheshire where his father and his wife reside and find out this deep dark secret he hides that he would pay to keep quiet.

It has been twelve years since Raoul has been in Cheshire and he is in for some surprises. Not only does he find a young boy passed out on the side of the road, but the young charge and his brother are orphans, left behind by a carless mother and now being taken cared of by Miss Sarah Jefferson who resides in the gamekeeper's cottage on Merriot's estate. Sarah's father was Merriot's gamekeeper up to seven years ago when he died. Sarah barely remembers Raoul because she was so young, but now that Sarah has grown into a beautiful woman, he is intrigued.

As Raoul gets closer to the truth, he begins to romance the fair Sarah. She knows that Raoul is destined for better things and if she allows him to seduce her, she will be like all the other women he left behind. When Raoul is with Sarah he feels he belongs and dreams of a future with her that entails marriage and children. He must decide to let his unfortunate past go and look towards a new and exciting future with Sarah by his side.

SEDUCE ME BY CHRISTMAS is a warm holiday historical romance with a touch of mystery within the pages. Raoul Charlebois may seem to be a disillusion rake who only cares for his own pleasure, but underneath this façade is a man looking for love and acceptance. And Raoul is not your typical rake because of his career as an actor. He also embodies the spirit and charity of the holiday, especially in regards to Sarah's two charges.

Sarah is more a stereotypical heroine where the reader won't expect any big surprises in regards to her actions and feelings towards Raoul. These two have some chemistry and nice interactions, as well as their love scenes together that lead to some more surprise. The mystery of Raoul's past keeps the tension going and the outcome brings to light many things Raoul has ignored about himself and the man he thought of as his father and why he was treated so poorly.

For some light and enjoyable reading, definitely give SEDUCE ME BY CHRISTMAS a read. Deborah Raleigh has a delightful way of taking the reader back in time, as well as writing a romance that will leave you with a smile.

Seduce Me By Christmas by Deborah Raleigh
Summary
Even a rogue can believe in miracles. . .

Raoul Charlebois is nothing if not notorious. He's abandoned his wild life to search out answers to his dark past, but that doesn't stop his reputation as a rake from following him wherever he goes. In this case, it follows him to the door of a gamekeeper's cottage, where beautiful, optimistic, innocent Sarah Jefferson resides. In all his exploits, he's never met a woman like her. . .and that makes her all the more tempting. . .

At first, Sarah will have no part in whatever the devastatingly handsome visitor wants at the estate. . .until she realizes what he wants is her. For as the snow falls down around them, she finds that the intoxicating scent of evergreen boughs can prove incredibly seductive. And maybe there is some glimmer of good in Raoul hiding deep within. After all, Christmas has a way of bringing lost souls together. . .

A lovely review :)

Raoul Charlebois has abandoned his wild life as an actor to search for answers to his past. But that doesn’t stop his reputation as a rake from following him wherever he goes. In this case, it follows him to the door of the gamekeeper’s cottage, where beautiful, optimistic, and innocent Sarah Jefferson resides. In all of his exploits, he has never met a woman like her. At first, Sarah will have nothing to do with the devastatingly handsome visitor, until she realizes that what he wants is her. For as the snow falls down around them, she finds that the intoxicating scent of evergreen boughs can prove incredibly seductive. And maybe there is some glimmer of good hiding in Raoul. After all, Christmas has a way of bringing lost souls together.
From The Romance Readers Connection

SEDUCE ME BY CHRISTMAS is a must have romance novel! From the first page, I was captured and enthralled with Raoul Charlebois. Who is he? Where did he come from? With a story that is as old as the hills, Raoul is determined to find out the history of his roots. Where he is led is back to his childhood home that is full of secrets and possibly a future. SEDUCE ME BY CHRISTMAS has exquisite love scenes and meat to its story line. I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end. Nicely done, Deborah Raleigh!



Reviewed by Kathy Fisher

Rated: 4 1/2

Hello!

Exciting news coming soon :)

Release Date

Seduce Me by Christmas is at last hitting the shelves!! I hope you enjoy :)

What's up???

Well, I go my eldest packed and off to grad school. My husband is deep in football season, which means I'm more or less a widow :) and my youngest is off doing his thing (whatever that is) so I should have plenty of time to get my work done, unfortunately for me the silence is quite often more disturbing than the endless noise and I'm constantly letting things distract me when I should be focused. I think a part of the problem is knowing it's the last few days of summer, so anytime I can get out and enjoy the sun seems like a good excuse :) What about all of you? Are you back in your usual schedule or are you still lingering in summer mode???

Best,
Alex

RT Review :)

Seduce Me By Christmas

Raleigh delights with a tale of the bad boy and the lady that has the added attraction of the warmth and joy of the holiday season. With both sensuality and poignancy she charms readers as she explores a relationship that goes beyond the sensual toward the trust and love that is the basis of romance.


Summary: Notorious, illegitimate Raoul Charlebois has left London and his rakish life to search for the answers to his past. On his first day back on the family estate he nearly runs down a small boy. When he brings him home to the gamekeeper's cottage, he meets Sarah Jefferson. Exotically beautiful, yet unaware of her beauty, Sarah cares for three orphaned boys. She is more of a temptation to cynical Raoul than the women of the ton, but Sarah wants nothing to do with him. As he hunts down bits of information about his parentage, he and Sarah form a bond, and as the truth emerges and danger awaits, Sarah prays for a Christmas miracle that will bring Raoul the peace and love he needs. (ZEBRA, Oct., 352 pp., $6.99) HOT

Raoul

Hello to all. I hope you're busy enjoying your summer. I've managed to get a small garden out and a few flowers, but most of my days are spent in my office :) My next book, Raoul's story, Seduce Me By Christmas, is scheduled to be released in October and is the last book in the trilogy. I hope you've had as much fun with the three friends as I have!

New Cover

Guest Blogging

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I'm blogging at:

http://booklover125.blogspot.com/

Stop by and enter to win either a copy of Darkness Revealed or Seducing the Viscount!!!

Hope to see you there,
Deb

Seduce Me By Christmas

Just a quick update to let you know that my next book SEDUCE ME BY CHRISTMAS will be released Oct. 2009! As soon as I get the cover art I will be sure and post it :)

Deb

Hello

Well, the release date for Seducing the Viscount is rapidly approaching, although I’ve heard from several sources that it’s on quite a few bookshelves already! I always love a new release J After months of work I can at last see a finished process…woo hoo and I have to admit that the cover for this story looks particularly nice on the shelf. My historical have had some of the best covers, but this one…sigh. I just received word that I’ll soon have the copy edits for Seduce me by Christmas (Raoul’s story) and it’s scheduled to be released in October. After that…well, I haven’t really decided. I’d love to hear from readers what they’re looking for in historical. I’d love to try something completely new and different. Let me know what you think!

Deb

Characters

Since I've been working on my latest synopsis it got me to thinking about my characters and just how important they are to a story. Granted, a rip roaring plot is always fun, but if you don't care about the people involved then it falls flat. So, what makes great characters? To me it's always complexity. Just take Scarlett O'Hara. On one hand she's vain and shallow and instinctively selfish and yet, we find ourselves rooting for her because of her relentless courage and refusal to allow life to get the better of her. Even at the end a reader is conflicted by her character. Does she truly deserve Rhett? That sort of character stands the test of time. Even a heroic figure like Batman is shadowed by his own doubt and a readers uncertainty of where heroism ends and vigilanty starts.

So what makes a great character for you?

Welcome

Hello to all and welcome to my very first blog!! I'm so excited to have this up and running just in time for the release of Seducing the Viscount. To get the blog off to a bang I'm going to be giving away a copy of the book next week, so I hope you'll check back for the details!! In the meantime I'm going to be offering a contest of my Alexandra Ivy site! Over the next few months I intend to spend some time answering the questions of those of you who are interested in writing or just historical trivia. So if you have any question concerning publishing or writing, I hope you'll take a minute to let me know! Until then, happy reading :)

Deb