When Diana Sommerville returns to London following the death of her father and her brother, she expects to take up residence at the family home. However, what she doesn't expect is to find her former finance and her brother's best friend living there already. A story about the twist and turns life sometimes requires to get us where we belong told in a. light, engaging way. Very enjoyable!

At the start of this 1902 English-set novel, Diana Sommerville returns from South Africa to discover that the London home she thought her recently dead soldier brother left to her alone was left to both her and to her former fiancé, Rupert Lacey. Everyone in England thinks that the two married while in South Africa, and they decide to pretend it is true, because stubbornly neither wishes to give up the house to the other.

"Rupert subverted everything she tried to do to assert herself, her own control of events... He made her feel like an obstinate child in the throes of a tantrum" (Kindle Loc 1363). Both of these statements felt only too true to this reader. Rupert is controlling and obnoxious, dealing out "punishing kisses" and upbraiding Diana for jilting him because he wouldn't tell her the truth behind gossip she had heard, while Diana swans about and is thwarted at every turn, mostly because she's TSTL. And of course, the two keep falling into bed.

The sexual politics here are not at all amusing, even though they are meant to be:

"I give you fair warning, Rupert Lacey, that I shall never hesitate to ask you anything I want to, and if you don't give me a proper answer I shall withhold my favors. So there." (2294)

"Oh, mercy me," Diana murmured... "What's a poor maiden to do?"
"Exactly what she's told," Rupert responded smartly. (2464)

Old Skool romance published in 2018? Save us, please.

Okay, so, this book was neither great nor bad. The premise was intriguing - I do love pent-up sexual tension, independent women. What I don't like, though, is miscommunication. In part, sure, if the explanation to the miscommunication is logical, but in this case, I felt like the issue could be more developed.

I also had some time before I came invested in the characters - Diana seemed spoiled and entitled and Rupert frankly felt like a man with an exaggerated opinion of his self-worth. I could overlook this, though, since they were grieving and stuck in their own heads, I guess. They seemed to feel greatly for each other, though. I did like the secondary characters, as well, like the staff and the friends.

Another thing I couldn't look past in this novel was the constant changing of POVs. Personally, I prefer to hear from both characters in a romance, so that's great. But it's not okay to change POVs in the middle of a paragraph and then change back just as quick and then change to someone else entirely. This unfortunately is a big drawback for this book. I hope it's dealt with in the final version - I've been quite late with this feedback.

So, the book has some redeeming qualities, with banter, unraveling secrets and sex. It's just not something I feel inclined to read again.

Thank you, Netgalley and the publisher, for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC before the publishing date. This review and the opinions in it are entirely my own
/ Denise

I received a complimentary ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5 stars from me because I liked our hero.

After the death of her brother in the South African Boer War and her father soon after, Diana is left alone in the world and the sole heir to her family's South African diamond mines and fortune, including estates in England as well. Or so she thinks. Upon returning to England, however, she finds that she must share her inheritance with her brother's heir and best friend, and her former fiance, Colonel Rupert Lacey. Rupert fought at her brother's side during the war and feels guilty for his survival and his friend Jem's death. Despite their estrangement, he has always loved Diana, whom he has known forever, and harbors a small hope that their relationship may yet be repaired. Diana, on the other hand, is fiercely determined to maintain her independence and exclude Rupert from estate business as much as possible.

It took me awhile to get into this and get it read, but overall it was enjoyable and I would recommend it.

**Potential spoilers ahead**
Full disclosure: I hated Diana. She just came off as a spoiled little brat and once the reasoning for her year long estrangement from Rupert and their broken betrothal was revealed, it was just ridiculous to me. Their problem was nothing more than a minor tiff which could've been easily resolved by communication, which Rupert was too hurt to endure and Diana was too stubborn to hear or ask for. While their was indeed some fault on both sides, I felt that mostly it was just Diana being determined to believe the worst and being set in her beliefs and refusing to hear anything else. Upon being forced to share a house with Rupert, who tries to be gentle and caring with her, Diana is just hateful to him at every turn and tries to make his life a misery, except at night when she basically just uses him for sex. Then the end is rushed. The two finally talk as they should have done from the beginning, both realize their assumptions were wrong and they really do want to be together and boom, without any real words spoken, they're just going to live happily ever after, the end. So while the ending was happy and all, it wasn't entirely satisfactory; more development would've made it better to me.

Available January 29: Tempt Me with Diamonds by Jane Feather
****3.5/5 stars: Liked it. A fiery and passionate character makes for a quick-reading, fast moving fiction in Jane Feather's latest historical fiction.



Recommended readers:

If you like a real taste of the life of that period
If you are a historical romance lover or Jane Feather fan
Here's my Rankings:

3.5/5 for characters
3.5/5 for plot
3.5/5 overall
Note: Steamy factor (3 of 5 ... little steaminess)
REVIEW FROM BOOKS FOR HER:
There was sure to be fireworks when Diana Sommerville moves to her deceased brother's home and finds her former fiance (also her brother's best friend) lives there too. Lady Diana's brother left the diamond mines and home to be split between the two - his sister and Rupert Lacey. While the two try to co-exist, Lady Diana can't let go of the hurt and unfaithfulness Rupert left her with. A fiery and passionate character makes for a quick-reading, fast moving fiction in Jane Feather's latest historical fiction. You'll love the witty arguments and passionate fights from this duo.

Available January 29: Tempt Me with Diamonds by Jane Feather

"Tempt Me With Diamonds" had a good story line and character development however it moved slowly at times. I found myself getting a little bored here and there.. With that said though I did enjoy reading about a book in this time period, most historical romance novels are set further back in history.

❤️❤️❤️❤️
💋💋
Really good book .
An incendiary relationship, between two people, ex betrothed , and now forced to live in the same house due to the will of her brother ,his best friend.
The two have the most fiery relationship I’ve ever read , the result being I got quite annoyed with them , wanting to shout at them to listen , wise up, and for god sake get over it .
I got a small amount of anxiety at their attempts to make the other jealous or if they one of them left after a row .
I was so engrossed in there exploits it was quite unnerving.
A brilliant read , it will have you very vocal and willing them to sort it out .
I received an advance copy of this book and chose to submit a review

I have been a Jane Feather fan for years. This one did not disappoint. The historical romance tells the story of Diana, a young, independent women who has just returned to England after living in South Africa with her father, brother, and her brother's best friend. Diana's father and brother have passed away causing Diana to return home with the racehorse she and her brother owned. Unbeknownst to Diana, her brother's friend, Rupert, has inherited the brother's half of the family estate. I enjoyed the banter and conflicts between Diana and Rupert. I also appreciated Diana's strength and independence while traveling and standing up for her rights as an heir to her families many riches.

A FINE ROMANCE…

Diana Sommerville seems to have it all—beauty, brains, and vast wealth, thanks to her family’s ownership of a diamond mine abroad. But when her beloved brother dies in battle and leaves a lion’s share of his estate to his best friend, Diana finds herself in a situation that seems scripted for the stage: Sharing her family home with the man she used to love—and now loathes. Worse, her unfaithful former fiancé has already moved in . . .

OR AN EXCELLENT FAKE?

Rupert Lacey didn’t expect Diana to take the news without a fight. Still, he didn’t expect her to bring the battle directly to their newly shared doorstep—complete with a full set of trunks, and a full set of orders to the staff. Yet there she is, bold, regal . . . magnificent as ever. Now they would face a formidable challenge: to ignore each other—and the unanswered questions that stood between them. The only sure thing is their still blazing desire. But with a woman like Diana, it will take nothing less than a momentous misunderstanding, a missing prized mare, and a shocking revelation to restore a love that hasn’t lost its shine.

A good story about a misunderstanding between two people and what you do for love.

.
Thank you netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest opinion I this review

Would have been better if it had some passion in both the anger and the love. If felt lacking in everything really from the beginning Rupert was just mean and not caring what Diana is going through. He got everything that Diana’s brother would inherit when her father passed away and now bother her brother(Jem) was killed in the war in South Africa and then her father the year after Jem, and finding out she has to deal with the man that she had loved and still does but has hated for years because of a misunderstanding is now living him her town house, has Jem’s half of the diamond mines, the race horse, housing and so much more. So she is all aover he place in her feelings and add him into the mix of daily life and his meanness towards her,

I had to re-read sentences because they changed povs each one and I don’t mind different peoples views but to have 3 with in 1 paragraph was getting me wanting to just skip and to gloss over it. I managed to read most but the lack of passion just put me off this book or author not sure what yet since this is my first Jane Feather book.

I wish I could give this book more than three stars but I can’t. I found the story disjointed and difficult to connect with. When Diana Sommerville returns from South Africa, she finds her ex-fiance living in her home. Thanks to Diana’s dead brother Jem, Rupert Lacey her ex-lover has inherited half of her estate. The result is a tedious turf war over just about every little detail of the estate. Diana’s character comes across petty, childish and bitter through half of the book. Then Feather throws in a few sex scenes that are like porcupines having sex - just angry moments that feel pointless.
This book had potential but I felt it just fell short of the mark.

Diana and Rupert were once engaged. She however is no longer a fan of Rupert. Diana's brother died and left his shares of everything including a house to Rupert. This forced the ex-lovers to live together. This story was not that great. I greatly disliked both characters who were extremely immature. In all honest, this book was a struggle to read. It felt disjointed at times.
I received this book as an ARC from Net Galley for an honest review.

Jane Feather never disappoints. Rupert and Diana are characters you come to love. Both of them have so much personality that I loved how they came together. Rupert very much is not the demanding hero of the book and I sometimes felt Diana was just mean to him, but he loved her anyway. This is a romance you will want to read. I couldn't put it down...

I wanted a quick and light reading since I'm sick. this book was meh. I've read better romance books than this one. I just didn't get too much into it. The couple was boring. Was disappointed I received this ARC from Net Galley in an exchange for honest review .

I would not say I did not enjoy Diana and Rupert's story. But I did at times wonder if I was going to finish the book. It just wasn't engaging and did not capture my attention.

The story line was intriguing and new. I wondered how they would manage to break free of their situation. It was interesting that Rupert was banking in somehow being able to change Diana's mind. There really was no backup plan when it came to their marriage.

Diana was annoying, most of the time...well- pretty much for most of the book. While we established that she and Rupert could not keep their hands off each other, it was pretty annoying that she reverted back to her cold attitude the following morning. Her flirting with other men so openly in front of her 'husband" was disappointing. I realize that this is was common practice during those times, but it made it hard for me to really like her and root for her.

The ending of the book seemed a bit rush. The back story behind why their engagement was broken at the beginning fell flat with me. It didn't paint Diana in a better light for me, and certainly didn't win points for Rupert either. I just had to shake my head. I was also surprised to read about her trek to find him, traveling alone with no companion.

I am saddened that this story did not move me. Diana and Rupert lacked the spark that I so often look for in a romance book.

I really enjoyed Rupert and Dianna story. Starts off in Africa and then moved to england. Two headstrong people used to getting their own way keeps it interesting. I'm looking forward to reading books about her crazy two friends ty

In "Tempt Me With Diamonds" Diana Sommerville finds herself living in the same house - her family estate - with her former fiancé after the death of her brother on the battlefield. Needless to say, there is a lot of tension - Diana had broke off the engagement to Rupert before, who now owns half of her home after her brother's will. Both of them need to keep up appearances in front of the ton while figuring out how to solve their problems and where this unusal relationship will go. I found myself charmed by this novel of second chances. A very enjoyable read.

I usually like Jane Feather's books but this one was very hard to get through. I didn't care for either of the main characters and thought they were both quite flat. Story line was okay but I really did feel like I was forcing myself to read to the end, I was quite disappointed overall in this book.

Rupert was Diana's brother's best friend. Then they went off to war. Diana's brother was killed in that war, and left everything he owned (which was half of his and Diana's parents' empire) to Rupert. Diana and Rupert have some sort of past, which includes a broken engagement, which was supposedly a secret, and when Diana finds out Rupert now owns half of everything she owns, including her childhood home, she throws an epic fit. He refuses to move out, she refuses to move out, so they decide to live together. They then decide that in order to avoid gossip, they will pretend to be married. No one seems concerned about the future outside of sticking it to the other one.

Honestly, I can't decide which one I hated more. The past between Rupert and Diana is only hinted at, because the author apparently thinks this makes it more titillating. It doesn't. They are really both too immature to have an adult relationship. Thankfully, they seem to do some growing throughout the story, but really I can't see what they see in each other. Not a single conflict was handled in a way that seemed was healthy or even made any sense. I was able to finish it, but I can't say I enjoyed it too much.

We meet Diana Sommerville and Rupert Lacey when she arrives at her home to find him already living there. She gets some news from Mr. Muldoon, her solicitor after Rupert suggests finding out more about her brother's will. Diana and Rupert must play a game of pretend to the rest of the ton and her family to keep up appearances as they figure out their situation. Their past relationship hinders their present while misunderstandings and distrust put them at war with each other. They must find a way to get past what they think and understand who they are now to move toward a better future.

Jane Feather creates a situation which intrigues the reader at the start that draws them into Diana and Rupert's story. It is funny at times as you read about Diana and Rupert trying to figure out ways to solve their situation and try to avoid each other in the house while trying to avoid their feelings. It is a nice progression of feelings of distrust and antagonism at the beginning of the book and how it changes throughout their story.

I enjoyed reading their story and look forward to reading more from this author. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I would like to thank NetGalley and Kensington Books for this privilege.

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#TemptMeWithDiamonds