A Woman Made for Sin by Michele Sinclair

August 29, 2014
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain…

http://michelesinclair.com/
Or in the case of A Woman Made for Sin, pay no attention to the blurb on the back cover. Why the back cover, you ask.  Well, let me tell you! On the back cover we are told that Lady Aimee Wentworth is tired of waiting around for Reece Hamilton, so she is going to force his hand and sneak on board his boat and have an adventure. That is my interpretation of what the back cover says. So, it’s a romance about Aimee and Reece, right? You wouldn’t know it by reading the story. It’s more like Aimee and Reece have been relegated to secondary characters in their own book. The largest percentage of time is taken up with Millie and Chase from A Woman Made for Pleasure.

Let me review some of the shenanigans in this tale.  I have never read any of Michele Sinclair’s books before and because I’m coming in on the second in a series I was a little lost as to what was going on. However, I was smart enough to catch on that the three women in the series are Aimee, Millie, and Janelle, also known as the Daring Three – but as it turns out they are all struck numb with TSTL syndrome. Janelle doesn’t have a big part in this book, thank goodness. For this outing she seems to be assigned the glare-at-the-man-who-has-done-wrong  part. And, that man isn’t our hero Reece, but Chase from the previous book. In fact, except for one flashback scene, Reece doesn’t put in too much of an appearance til around page 200. Before that we only see him wondering around his boat pondering why his crew is so odd and thinking he can hear a woman sing. Of course he can hear a woman sing – that would be Aimee. You see, Aimee dressed up in boy's clothes in order to catch a thief, then forced Reece’s crew to kidnap her. She received some bumps and bruises in the process, but because she is so plucky and pretty and charming she persuades allllll of the crew members to hide her from Reece until she can heal. Then her plan is to convince him she loves sailing and she was meant for him. Through pages and pages and pages we get to watch Aimee charm one crusty seaman after another… even zee temperamental French cook is charmed. Then during a storm (of course) she climbs the rigging to save the crew and is spotted by the oblivious Reece - and this is more than halfway through the book! For all of you who love l-o-n-g whankee-roo scenes there is a doozey of one in this book. After pages and pages of separation between Reece and Aimee, there is one–whole–chapter dedicated to tossing, sucking, biting, shucking, wrapping, and bouncing. It was a really big yawn. There is no chemistry between Aimee and Reece, there is no bonding, no friendship, no nothing. There is more chemistry between Aimee and the crew members. That would be because she spends time with the crew members - making friends, singing songs, swapping jokes, sewing sails, climbing yardarms, and just being an all-round pal.

Then there is Chase and Millie. In the first few chapters, Chase gets mad at Millie because of Aimee’s disappearance (Aimee is his sister). He sends Millie to the country. Well, as I mentioned before, Millie is part of the Daring Three. She actually seems like the leader.  She cannot sit back and let Chase find her dear friend Aimee! She must be the one to find her! She has a plan. She will disguise herself as a poor woman and work in a bar close to the wharf waiting tables. While she is there, she will make friends with all of the men. It was my observation that the Daring Three seem to be men magnets because whenever they enter a room all the men stop whatever it is they are doing and turn into slobbering, drooling boobs. Anyway, she is hoping one of the men in the bar will have seen Aimee being kidnapped. All the time she is slyly questioning men and they are alllll falling in love with her, she is also trying to make friends with a seamstress, some people at a boarding house, a kid that can read, and the other waitress. In the meantime Chase is back home pacing the floor and recruiting Bow Street Runners to find his sister and his wife. Chase and Millie are separated through almost the whole book, and their story/stories take up about 60% of it. So what we have is a romance about Reece and Aimee who are separated through most of their part and a much longer story about Chase and Millie who are also separated through most of the book. Throw into that mix a villain with a limp who isn’t caught at the end, which leads me to think this story is going to continue.

I was disappointed in this book. I was looking for a romance between two people, not an adventure story with four people who are separated throughout most of the book. I was hoping for better and I’m sorry to say I cannot recommend this book, unless you want to check it out of the library. For a romance to work for me, the couple in love need to be together for more than a chapter or two.

Time/Place: Regency England, Tavern, Ship
Sensuality: Supposed to be hot