Cover Image: Beauty Tempts the Beast

Beauty Tempts the Beast

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

This book had me laughing one minute and crying the next. It’s about two people who have had to deal with what life has thrown them. After being with each other they change their outlook and what they saw for their future. It’s full of strong characters with family love and a steamy romance.

Was this review helpful?

“Sometimes when life puts us on a path we don’t necessarily want to travel, we discover it was a journey we needed to take in order to secure happiness.”

Benedict “Beast” Trewlove has a powerful reputation in Whitechapel, and not just as being born a bastard. Vowing to protect those unable to do so themselves, Beast has found himself on the receiving end of a proposition he never dreamed possible…being asked to teach seduction by the former Lady Althea Stanwick. But Beast is not sure if he will be able to hold true to his principals of not sleeping with those he has sworn to protect…but sometimes the heart has other ideas…

Lady Althea Stanwick and her brothers find themselves outcast and directly cut from the ton after their father has been tried and hung for treason. Althea has been given the opportunity to tutor less fortunate women on how to behave more “lady like”, but in return, Althea proposes to receive training on how to be the ultimate seductress so she may make her own choice of how to live her life, and she’s decided to become the most sought after mistress in London. But when Althea sees how kind her Beast is, her heart shows her the possibilities of how love can provide so much more than she ever dreamed…

Althea and Ben are lovers that are forced to make difficult decisions when it comes to matters of the heart, but even in their darkest moments they are reminded “We always have a choice, even when it seems we don’t.” Their happily ever after is fraught with hurdles of heartache, and it will take their combined strength to prevail and prove that true love does in fact conquer all…

Oh, dear reader I so loved this story! I’m a sucker for Beauty & the Beast romances, and had no clue this was the 6th installment to a series. While it took me a bit to get all the Trewlove characters straight, Beauty Tempts the Beast may be read standalone, and I highly recommend!




**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **

Was this review helpful?

I devoured this book and fell in love with every single character.
Althea suffers some from being a bit too much of a damsel in distress at times, but she's the perfect match for Beast and seeing them come together and find the things that will make them happy hit all my happy spots.
I think a big part of what made this enjoyable is that it's not the typical historical where you're only in the world of The Ton. Althea was once a member and several plot points revolve around it, but you get to see a lot more of the demimonde and the people who inhabit it so it's a nice change.
This is the last book in the series but the first one that I've read and I'm definitely going to read the previous volumes because I need to know more about all of the Trewlove siblings and how they found love. It's also a book that could be read as a standalone and not worry about having to know all the background stories to enjoy it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books/HarperCollins Publisher for the early read!

Was this review helpful?

This book is so good. I highly recommend it. There is plenty of drama. I found it heart wrenching at times. I couldn't put it down. It has to be difficult to suddenly be thrust into a wolf you have never known. That his exactly what happens in this book. I disgraced Duke's daughter and a bastard, that runs a brothel come together in a most unusual way. She serves him a scotch and he falls in love with her. She is crazy attracted to him. It only gets better for here.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was a pleasant surprise. Althea is a strong woman forced to wait tables at a bar due to unforeseen circumstances that changed her status from aristocrat to lower class. Bennedict sees her worth the minute he encounters her at his sister's bar and is intrigued by her willful and graceful persona.
He proposes that she works for him as a tutor to the women in his brothel that wish to live a more respectful life. In exchange he agrees to teach her how to be a seductress.
I loved how gentle and loving he is with her. He puts her needs before his and engages her mind. The sexual chemistry between them is sizzling hot and their resistance makes the tension even more dire.

Of course, the story wasn't perfect as the hero is so obsessed with preserving her social status that it drove me nuts because she clearly didn't care to return to that life.

Overall a satisfying romance.

Was this review helpful?

I loved this book. It (and the series as a whole) are fun, engrossing, interesting play on historical romance with the siblings all being from the 'wrong side of the blanket'. The characters are well developed and the chemistry is steamy. If you love a hot historical romance this one is a good one to grab.

Was this review helpful?

A great finish to this six-book series by Heath! Beast has always been the most mysterious sibling and learning why was a heartfelt journey. Althea's growth into her own person was a great story arc. Highly Recommended.

Was this review helpful?

This is the first book in this series that I have read, and I was so intrigued I want to go back and start from book 1! Althea (Beauty) meets Benedict (Beast) under unusual circumstances, and he makes her an offer that she can't refuse. As Althea learns more about the man that Benedict is, she falls more in love with him. When the origins of his past are reveiled, Althea and Benedict must decide if they can overcome this twist of events and allow their love to take precedence over all. Wonderful ending. I thoroughly enjoyed this great story!

Was this review helpful?

A great story of Althea, a lady who is shunned by society after her father is hung for treason, and Beast, a bastard brought up in the Trewlove family in the slums. Ben (Beast) protects her in the slums and she helps him reform ladies of the night. They fall in love and fate intervenes to try to take them apart. Can’t wait to read the next series which starts with her brother Griffith’s story! I received an ARC from NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for my honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Lorraine Heath is one of my favorite authors; but I just couldn't get into this book. Their love story didn't seem natural. Their conversations and even the sex was awkward. They had too many insecurities that I just couldn't get past. They needed to work on their selves to grow together and that just didn't happen in the book.

Was this review helpful?

Beauty Tempts the Beast (Sins for All Seasons, #6) by Lorraine Heath....WOW wonderful series full of family, redemption, laughs, tears, love, and a whole lot of steamy stuff. I can't wait for the next book. Thanks Lorraine...
Reasons I enjoyed this book:
Great world building Wonderful characters Tear-jerker Page-turner Funny Action-packed Easy-to-read Happily Ever After Unpredictable Entertaining Steamy Romantic

Was this review helpful?

This was a fun and enjoyable tale in the continued saga of the Trewlove siblings. One of the things I love most about this awesome family is how each of the siblings is always there for the others and how much they respect and love their adopted mother. Each of the siblings has a high moral compass including Ben "The Beast" Trewlove. The framework of this story is that Ben would like to help the ladies in the brothel that he has in a round about way inherited, to each find a better life. To this end, he realizes that there is more to the new barmaid in his sister's establishment than meets the eye. Ben recognizes that Althea Stanwick is definitely a lady of refinement and is eager to learn her story. Hence, he and Thea reach an agreement where she will help educate his women on how to be more refined and Ben will teach Thea how to become a sought after courtesan. I look forward to reading more about Thea's brothers is future books. You don't have to read the other books in this series but it would help for continuity.

Was this review helpful?

I received a free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I am so glad that I got this ARC because I could not wait for this book. I just finished Fancy's story when I got this one so of course I read the whole thing in 24 hours. Beast has been present in the other books but we had to wait until the last book to know his story. And it was worth the wait. I think this might be my favorite book in the series. There are no alternative motives and no deception just two people who make each other's lives better. The has been cast out of society due to crimes committed by her father and know must adjust to living and working in Whitechapel and proposition by Beast leads to a unexpected connection. But when Beast's past is revealed all they have come to cherish is put in danger. I loved Thea's strength and Beast is the embodiment of the soft teddy bear trope. I can wait to read the new series with Thea's brothers.

Was this review helpful?

I love the first two books in this series and was so excited when received this ARC! I love those first two books, so I went into this one with pretty high expectations - which were not only met, but surpassed! Once I started this book I found it quite difficult to put down. The story moves along at a good pace and the writing is so fantastic that it proved to be a quick read.

Beast and Thea were interesting characters as individuals, so them together made for a great romance. I found Thea to be a complicated character as well - she was treated so poorly by Society, but at the same time wanted to get back parts of that past life. She becomes more independent, but would have happily gone back to her days of having servants. So often in these types of stories the character who has lost everything comes to fully embrace their new life, it was probably more realistic that they would want to get back at least some of their past luxuries. I liked that she was able to look past what the ladies in the brothel were doing for a living and never really seemed to judge them for it. She, like Beast, wants to help them find a safer and better lives for themselves. It also tells you a lot about what kind of person Thea is that she is the only one (other than his bio parents) that calls him by his actual name. I did want to smack her, however, when she pushed him away - I completely understood her reasoning, but I hated that she broke his heart.

I love all the male characters I've met in this series, but I think Beast has always been my favorite. Even in the first two books where he is just a supporting character I wanted to learn more about him and see him get his happy ending. You never get the sense that he feels the need to protect all these women because he thinks they're weak, he just can't stand to see someone hurt or threatened. The relationship between him and his bio parents was resolved quite quickly, but had it been stretched out for too long it would have dragged out the story.

I'm not a fan of the "break up to make up" plots turns, but I didn't 100% hate it in this story. It made sense, but I still wished they could have worked it all out before their brief separation. The first proposal was my favorite part of the book, with the second proposal being a close second.

Lorraine Heath is one of my favorite historical romance authors and I am never disappointed with her books. I will definitely be buying this when it comes out so that I can keep it on my bookshelf to read over and over again.

Was this review helpful?

Beauty Tempts the Beast is an amazing story written by Lorraine Heath. This series has been such a joy to read (even though I've cried in every book). This book can be read as a standalone book, but the series is phenomenal.

This story is about a woman who had and then lost everything and a man given away as an infant and raised in the poor side of London. Both main characters are written with such depth that you can almost close your eyes and see the story take place in front of you.

Our heroine had her home and everything she loved ripped away when her father was charged with treason against the crown and then executed. She and her brothers are forced out of the only life they knew due to lies (not their father's). She then meets our hero who offers her a proposition (not the naughty kind)

Our hero was given away to a baby farmer as an infant (wasn't supposed to be permanent). But he and his siblings rise above their circumstances and become powerful, titled men and women. When he meets our heroine, there is instant chemistry.

Together, our hero and heroine find love, family, and a life beyond what either ever imagined. They also find that not everything in life happens the way you see it because others play a hand in what you are dealt.

This story is perfection written on a page. It's beautiful and heartbreaking all in one. This is another Lorraine Heath book that I will read far more than once and I cannot recommend this book enough. It also introduces us to her next series: our heroine's brothers (she has two) who fight to prove their father's innocence (I CANNOT wait for them to be released).

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley and the publisher and am volunteering an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I loved this book! I thought the chemistry between Beast and Althea was perfect. I liked how the secondary characters in this book were realistic and had a lot of depth. I felt that the ending was a little rushed. It was nice to see the other members of the Trewlove family again. I think that Lorraine Heath did a great job wrapping up the Sins for All Seasons series. It really made me feel a sense of closure about the characters that we would be saying goodbye to after six books. I am really interested in reading about what will happen to Althea's brothers in future books. For fans of Lisa Kleypas and Kerrigan Byrne.

Benedict "Beast" Trewlove is immediately drawn to Althea Stanwick when he sees her working in a pub. He knows that she does not belong in the dangerous parts of London. Althea was abandoned by her fiancé when her father was arrested for treason and for attempting to assassinate the Queen. Althea and her brothers have lost their reputation and money. Althea's brothers are working on finding proof that will show that they are innocent of their father's treason. Beast lives in a brothel, and he grew his empire by protecting the innocent. He wants the women who work in the brothel to be able to leave the profession. He hires Althea to teach the women the skills they need to find other work. Beast has made a promise to himself to never get involved with the women he works with, but he is drawn to Althea. When the truth about Beast's birth parents is revealed, will his relationship with Althea still work out?

Was this review helpful?

A very interesting yet unique rendition of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale with a twist at the end. I loved the author's attention to detail and only wish the heroines brothers found some resolution in the end.

Was this review helpful?

Here’s to Lorraine Heath, who has been making me cry (in a good way!) since I was 12 years old. Beauty Tempts the Beast is a tender, simmery (I’m making that a word) ending to the Sins for All Seasons series. And it perfectly sets up her next series too. So yay.

This one might be my favorite book in the series. And not just because of Beast. (But, yeah, Beast. I really love Beasts. *see my tattoo*)

Lorraine Heath is so SO good at writing intimacy, physical and otherwise. I felt goosebumpy several times with this book and with just the simplest gesture or touch. Masterful!

I also was appreciative of a heroine coming to terms with her (former) privilege. That feels very timely right now.

Additionally, this epilogue made me so weepy. I needed some warm, soft, fierce family love and it delivered.

Thank you Avon and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Was this review helpful?

I haven't loved a romance this much in a long time. The familiar tropes are there, but somehow Heath makes them seem fresh. Beast is such a kind hero, and he never wavers from that. He is never mean to his heroine, but he's always honest. I've been getting sick of romances that turn on the heroine in order to create suspense or a plot twist. The heroine is clever and capable. Her beauty isn't the most highlighted thing about her, and I appreciate that as well. The steamy scenes are fulfilling, and also sweet. I read a lot of romance, and this one really stands out for being one that I want to savor, and read again.

Was this review helpful?

I have never come across a book by Lorraine Heath that I didn't love and Beauty Tempts the Beast is no exception! Althea and Benedict's story was charming and I loved seeing the evolution of the Trewlove family. The story was so hard to put down and before I knew it, I was bidding the Trewloves farewell! While I'm sad to see the series end, I can't complain about any aspect of it and I can't recommend this book enough.

Was this review helpful?