Seduce Me at Sunrise

After Amelia Hathaway's Story "Mine Till Midnight" it's now her sister's, Winnifred's, turn to find a husband. Winnifred, or Win as she is always called by her family, has lungs problems ever since she suffered from scarlet fever, which she only survived with the help and care of Kev Merripen, a Rom who was left behind as dead by his tribe and was taken in by the Hathaway Family. He has become a tall, dark, and sinister man by now with a sometimes violent temper, but Win has always been able to sooth his darker moods and ever since her dreadful illness she is secretly in love with him. He seems equally attracted to her, but every time she tries to make advances, he shrinks away. After hearing about a doctor who has cured many patients with lungs problems in his clinic in France, Win decides to try the doctor's methods as well. Accompanied by her brother Leo she travels to France and stays at the clinic for two years. After her return with recuperated health she wants to find out, if she can initiate a marriage proposal from Merripen now. If not, there certainly is Doctor Harrow, who could also be taken into consideration! "Seduce Me At Sunrise" is a true follow up story to "Mine Till Midnight". Not only the main protagonists, Win and Merripen, but also all the other family members of the Hathaways introduced in "Mine Till MIdnight" make their reappearance in this second book, so it is not only a love story about Win and Merripen, but almost like a real family saga. Everybody who liked the first part will enjoy hearing the continuation, as there were many problems unsolved and dark mysteries already hinted at, which now can be revealed and solved. I liked this second part even better than the first because of ist many facets!

This was recommended to me as having a vibe similar to Wuthering Heights, and it didn't disappoint me. Win & Kev are both raw and really loveable. Also I loved Cam & Kev both being Romany characters... Of course there are still some stereotypes involved (Romany having 'black' eyes, Romany living in vardo waggons) but overall one could really sense Lisa Kleypas made every effort to be as sensitive and nuanced as possible. ==> This especially includes using no racial slurs referring to Romany at all throughout the entire book, which is hard to find in Romany depictions in Historical Romance. (Apparently the original edition which was published roughly 10 years ago did include the g word but she revised all of her Hathaway / Wallflower novels featuring Romany characters and removed the word entirely.) As I am usually not a cheesy reader, I am really surprised how much I loved this book, which was my first Kleypas work, and I will continue devouring the other books of the Hathaways and Wallflowers

Eigentlich bin ich ein großer Lisa-Kleypas-Fan, aber "Seduce me at Sunrise" konnte mich nicht recht mitreißen. Vielleicht lag es daran, dass ich den Vorgänger "Mine Till Midnight" so wunderbar fand, dass dieses Buch zwangsläufig dagegen abfallen musste, aber ich konnte mich die ganze Zeit über nicht des Gefühls erwehren, dass der Held Merripen nur ein schaler Abklatsch von Cam Rohan, dem Held des Vorgängers, war. Cam, der zugegebenermaßen auch über mehrere Bücher hinweg aufgebaut wurde, nimmt auch in diesem Buch eine prominente Rolle ein, was zwar seine Fans freuen, es aber dem Helden hier nur noch schwerer macht, sein eigenes Profil zu finden. Neben Cam können noch die Szenen mit dem Bruder der Heldin erfreuen, auf dessen eigenes Buch man gespannt sein darf. Doch in einem Liebesroman erwartet man natürlich, dass es das Heldenpaar ist, dass einen begeistert, nicht die Nebenfiguren. Klar, Lisa Kleypas kann schreiben, stylistisch gibt es nichts zu meckern. Aber man erwartet doch mehr von einer Autorin ihres Kalibers, hat sie doch bewiesen, dass sie es viel besser kann.