The Art of Sinning by Sabrina Jeffries (Sinful Suitors #1)
Releases: July 21, 2015
Historical Romance
Pocket

Reviewed by May

“Mr. Keane has kindly agreed to paint your portrait, Yvette,” Edwin cut in. “Assuming that your tart words haven’t changed his mind.”

The scoundrel had the audacity to wink at her. “Actually, I like a little tart with my sweet.”

“More than a little, I would say, having seen your paintings,” she shot back.

Suddenly he was all seriousness. “And what did you think?”

The question caught her off guard. “Are you fishing for compliments, sir?”

“No, just truthful opinions.”

Jeremy Keane is a well-known American artist and suspected scoundrel. He spends many nights at brothels, after all, and rumors surround him. So when he finds the perfect model for his next painting in Lady Yvette he has to do some fancy dealings to get what he wants. Agreeing to paint her portrait with her brother Lord Blakeborough in exchange for some help with his own sister, Jeremy then makes an agreement with Yvette to help her visit a brothel in exchange for her posing for his real painting.

I liked the early banter between this pair, and I did enjoy some of the scenes between Jeremy and Yvette’s brother the Earl. In fact – as the book progressed the scenes between the two men became something I looked forward to more than the scenes with Yvette.

 “You’re not even supposed to know brothels exist, much less what is done in them.”

“Being respectable doesn’t prevent me from being curious. When he merely kept sketching, she added, “It’s not as if I’m like the average lady. I’m lying here half-naked at midnight so a rogue can paint me. That’s hardly the behavior of a saint.”

“It’s hardly the behavior of a sinner, either.” He shot her a hard glance. “To be a sinner, you have to do more with the rogue than be painted by him. You have to sin with him.”

She swallowed. “And that would be unwise.”

“It certainly would,” he snapped, and returned to sketching.

Perversely, that peeved her. For a scoundrel, he was being awfully gentlemanly.

The story circles around the painting sessions, and of course the secretive trip to the brothel looking for a specific person. Jeremy is an artist with a tortured past, and Yvette is a maiden gaining a bitter edge. My biggest problem with this story was that I could never get myself to like either one of them, nor could I find a reason why they should be together.

They’re attracted to each other ok, but what else? What more is there? The story was really slow-paced and at time quite boring, and I was more interested in the Earl (Yvette’s brother) and his romantic future than I was with our main couple. Yvette just didn’t work for me as a character I got very tired of her.

As this story came to a close and our hero’s past is put into full light I was still struggling to find things to like about this story. I’m usually a really big Sabrina Jeffries fan but I really just wanted this book to end. I’m not sure if it was the pacing of the story or the personalities of the characters or the lack of action, but this is just one that didn’t work for me on any level. I hope I am correct that her brother is the next story to be told and that I will enjoy that a lot more than this one.

Grade: D

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