James and Anne are far from newlyweds having been married 6 years however, living alone and not yet having children means that they are able to do whatever they want, wherever they want – therefore a house guest is going to cramp their style. Anne likes her comfortable life and knows that adding a long term house guest is going to change the dynamic. Tempted takes place over a summer fraught with change for all of the players in the novel.

The cracks in their home life have always been papered over and not discussed, and that is a trait that each of the girls have carried over into their adult lives. James had quite a calm, loving and ordinary upbringing which is in direct contrast to both his dear friend Alex and his lovely wife Anne.Īnne has three younger sisters and her parents are approaching their 30th wedding anniversary but their relationship has been far from stable which is something that affected each of the girls differently. Something Anne can’t do but James doesn’t seem to appreciate how much it affects her, he is so used to having been made the centre of the universe that much of what upsets Anne just doesn’t register with him.

James is a golden mummy’s boy who has never been able to do wrong, he has learned to tune out his mother and just allow her annoying and controlling traits to go straight over his head. James invites Alex to stay with them, without even thinking to talk to Anne about it first and even from hearing only one side of that first conversation Anne can see that Alex causes a change in James, a change that is magnified when they are actually together. She is well practiced in holding her tongue to keep the peace and not letting her emotions out to avoid confrontation.Īnne and James know each other well but when Alex, a friend James has had since the eighth grade, comes back on the scene it seems they don’t know each other as well as they thought. She chose to love her husband James as opposed to falling madly and deeply in love with him and their life has been calm and peaceful and perfect.

She is also the one who always ensured she was in complete control, never allowing herself to get so involved that she couldn’t bear to lose it. She has always been the ‘good girl’, the one that could fix things, the peacekeeper. The way this situation is explored is quite fraught, very nuanced and the situation almost creates more sexual tension than it alleviates.Īnne Kinney has a wonderful husband, a perfect house and the perfect veneer to present to the world. Megan Hart explores an intimate situation which many women fantasise about, one woman with two men. Tempted is a Megan Hart book published by Harlequin Spice that’s been on my shelf for a while, it was originally published in 2007 but this edition is a re-release from mid-2013.

Tempted by megan hart