Book Review: The Tutor

Author: Hope Tarr
Title: The Tutor
Publisher: Harlequin Blaze
Publish Date: July 2010
Rating: 5 Stars
Book Blurb: Lady Bea Lindsey is desperate. She's newly engaged to a very nice but dull gentleman and is fully aware that if she wants any joy in her marriage bed, she'll have to call the shots. But first she needs to be taught. And who better to instruct her than irresistibly sexy rogue Ralph Sylvester?

Ralph is surprised by Bea's request, but he can't turn down the woman he's lusted after for the past nine months. He agrees on one condition. For the next seven days and nights, Bea must relinquish total control to him. No pleasure will be off-limits, no act of lovemaking forbidden, no desire too shocking.

It's every man's fantasy. Until the student surpasses the teacher…

Review: Hope starts this Blaze Historical out slowly, but that isn't a problem, it allows you to get to know Lady Bea, Ralph, Kate, and Rourke. However once things get started between Bea and Ralph, well, things get so steamy that you may have to jump into a tub of ice water to cool off.

Yeah it is that steamy. It is sexier than most of the contemporary Blaze books I've read, and I read a lot of Blaze books. In parts I felt that this book might have been better suited to the Spice line, not that I'm complaining. All the sex scenes were well written.

All four characters that figured into this story were well developed and likable, even Mr. Billingsby, who you really don't get to know outside of the fact that he was a rather poor lover. By the end of the book, you feel sorry for the poor guy and you wish that Hope would devote a book on him, so that he could find his match. After how he was treated without being able to redeem himself, was kind of cruel. However I liked that he graciously accepted Bea's rejection of his suit rather than turn into a cad.

What I really liked about The Tutor was the relationship that existed between Bea and Ralph before she asks him to tutor her. It wasn't like she picked Ralph to be a stud. She liked him and wanted him but felt that anything between them was doomed to failure.

If you are looking for a steamy historical beach read, this is it!