Tempted by Elisabeth Naughton

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publishing Date: September 1, 2011
Paperback:

Rating: 5 stars + 1 big kiss for my hero, Demetrius

Demetrius is the hulking, brooding warrior his fellow Guardians avoid. Too dark. Too damaged. For Isadora’s own protection, he had done all he could to avoid the fragile princess—his soul mate. But Isadora has been kidnapped. And finally letting her into his heart may be the only way to save them both.

Demetrius is now my #1 Favorite Hero!

This series is about the seven guardians.  They are the descendants of the original seven Argonauts who journeyed with Jason to find the golden fleece.  The Argonauts were favored by the Greek Gods and granted a home called Argolea.  They protect their kingdom and the world of the humans from daimons, who are lead by Atalanta. She was an Argonaut not favored by the Gods (because she was female) so she made a deal with Hades for immortality.

The series involves the Argonauts (the Eternal Guardians), the Argoleans, the misos (who are mix of half argolean/half human), humans and the daimons, and don’t forget those rascally Greek Gods who are always causing trouble. 

Demetrius is a Guardian with one hell of an attitude problem;  he is descended from Jason;  he protects the humans and the people of Argolea; and he knows two things for sure:  (1)  Princess Isadora of the Argoleans is his one sole mate; and (2) he is hiding a very deep, very dark secret.   Why be nice to his fellow Guardians?  If they knew his secret, they’d turn on him.  What about Isadora?  There was no way he can get close to Isadora, no matter how much he wants to.  If she knew him…knew about him…   He spends two hundred years intimidating her, being mean to her, keeping her afraid of him.  If she hates him, he can protect her, but not be tempted by her.   Then Isadora is kidnapped, and after rescuing her, Demetrius is trapped with her and danger is all around them.  He needs to keep her safe and close.  Now he needs to fight the dangers outside, and the temptation inside himself.

A few months ago I read an interview with Elisabeth Naughton where she was talking about her upcoming book Tempted and about it’s main character Demetrius.  If you read the first two books of this series, there’s no other way to say it, Demetrius is a JERK!  He’s pushy, condescending, and outright nasty to everyone.   Right then I decided I needed to read this book and this series, because I wanted to know, “How are you going to make me like this guy?”  Well, I’ll tell you, after reading this book, Demetrius is now my top favorite hero of all time!!   He does all the wrong things for all the right reasons. 

Definitely put this on your must read list!

Favorite Scene:

Her laughter stopped him cold.

She wasn’t unconscious.  She wasn’t injured.   She wasn’t anything but soaking wet and laughing hysterically in his arms.  Her fingers sank into his forearms, his biceps, and then his shoulders as she pulled herself closer and the laughter died on her smiling lips.  “That doesn’t count as a rescue.  Now I think you’re just trying to pad your numbers.”

Rescue?  What–?

Water sluiced over her face, dripped down her forehead from her short blond hair, made her rosy cheeks glisten in the afternoon sunlight.   And her eyes absolutely sparkled as she looked up and grinned as if he were the biggest idiot on the planet.

Before he could stop it, a smile wound its way across his lips as well.  “I though you said you were going to start returning the favor.  That was a crappy save.”