Review: A Passion for Him by Sylvia Day

AMAZON | KINDLE

A Passion for Him (Georgian #3) by Sylvia Day
Historical / Erotica 
Brava (January 29, 2013)

Rating: C
Heat: Hot

Heroine: Amelia Benbridge – Viscount’s daughter, Grieving
Hero: Colin Mitchell – Gypsy, Spy
Setting: England

Synopsis:

Amelia Benbridge and the Earl of Ware are the most anticipated match of the Season. Lord Ware is handsome, wealthy, and kind, and he understands that her love will always belong to her childhood sweetheart, Colin. When Colin died, Amelia believed she would never feel such passion again. But her primal reaction to the brooding stranger who approaches her at a masquerade, coaxing her into a moonlit minuet and a single, sensual kiss, proves otherwise...

Colin Mitchell knew a pairing between a peer's daughter and a gypsy stable boy was impossible. Amelia's mistaken belief in his demise afforded him the opportunity to return to her as a man of means. But time has slipped through his fingers. She is preparing to wed another, and danger prevents him from revealing the truth. Colin can only bid her a secret farewell, but he underestimates her determination to unmask her phantom admirer. A forbidden kiss leads to her ardent pursuit and a soul-scorching affair. Amelia is perfectly attuned to his every desire, every thought—and hungry for stability he can't offer her. For deception lies at the heart of their love, waiting to drive them apart once again...

Review:

I love Sylvia Day. She writes incomparable sex scenes that simply melt your insides. I love second chance romances. Watching two characters get another go at getting it right. I also love mistaken identities and masks and gently bred young ladies falling in love with rough gypsy boys. A Passion for Him is all of those things and yet... I felt no passion for this book.

Amelia Benbridge has always loved the gypsy boy that works in her father’s stables. That gypsy boy, Colin Mitchel, has also always loved Amelia but knows he can’t have her. As with all forbidden loves, stolen moments and secret kisses follow. Unfortunately, because of some bad dealings her father made, men come in the middle of the night to kidnap Amelia. During her rescue by Colin, he is shot in the chest and Amelia believes that he died saving her life. Never knowing she loved him.

Years and years pass. Amelia sees a masked man at ball and is drawn out into the night to meet him. And, with one kiss, becomes obsessed with the masked man. Colin, who only wanted to glimpse Amelia, soon finds that he is risking more and more to see her again and again. Because in the ensuing years, Colin has become a spy for England and is currently pursuing and being pursued by an agent gone rogue.

A Passion for Him has a lot of elements I like in my romances. Strong-willed females characters, heroes who want to protect their ladies – even from themselves. It also has murder and mystery and intrigue. However, I never fell in love with Amelia and Colin. The majority of their romance happened off-screen when they were teens and, even though we see those years in a few flashbacks, it didn’t translate to the present for me. I also didn’t get Colin’s continued use of the mask and delaying in telling Amelia the truth. And their first time together... it was hot, don’t get me wrong, but it was also awkwardly broken up with changes to other characters POVs. Very strange execution.

While this may not join the ranks of my other favorite Sylvia Day novels, it was still a good book and I did enjoy it. If you want to read Miz Day doing what she does best – making historical romance sizzle – I’d recommend Seven Years to Sin.

Favorite Quote:

“Tell me you don’t kiss her like this.” She cried softly, her nails digging into his back through his sweater.
”I don’t kiss anyone. I never have.” His forehead pressed against hers. “Only you. It’s only ever been you.”

 

Thoughts While Reading:

N/A