Well, I wouldn't put The Scorpion and the Seducer on a Best Of list. Compared against authors in the genre like Judith McNaught, Bonnie Vanak might be negligible, and indeed her writing style is unsophisticated and uninspiring. Her characters mouth platitudes regularly and there are more cheesy desert metaphors than I could count, gems like, "as if she were a sweet date, he craved her sweetness." The British elite all scorn the Egyptian heroine as a "brown scorpion" -I can think of better insults- and it becomes a running metaphor throughout the novel, so that even the hero and heroine are discussing the heroine as a "brown scorpion." If this sounds much like a cheesy Hollywood flick, that's because they have much in common. However, there is something compelling about the story. Vanak characterizes well, in the spirit of authors like Linda Howard, who construct better characters and plot than prose. While the hero goes into raptures about the heroine's saintliness (and that gets old), she is certainly flawed, humanly, believably flawed. She might have been that girl you met in PE class that one time, LOL. She has moments of weakness, in the beginning, that make you cluck your tongue and think, "Oh, Jasmine, you know better." She's quite mistaken at times.Thanks to his society's prejudices, the alpha hero is flawed too, but he is redeemed, naturally. They both are, the heroine perhaps more so than the hero, since he gets thorough vengeance on her later (diabolical!) Several times. In creative ways. Ahem. That Jasmine is so exoticized is more of a problem. It's exaggerated, even for early twentieth century Britain. I saw the word "exotic" so much I started to forget the meaning, and the heroine's character development is limited by the author's insistence on reminding us at every opportunity that she's Egyptian and exotic, as if that is the sum of her person.Fortunately, the author doesn't fall into this trap when describing Jasmine's country. Of Egypt, the heroine says, "They dig at her tombs and gasp with delight at the wealth of her past, but her present citizens are regarded with scorn and indifference." This is so often the case with novels, but when the couple head into the city, the episode's actually fun and mostly reasonable (though the poor Bedou are still abused for romance novel purposes, LOL.) In fact, much of the exciting action takes place in the last third or fourth of the novel in Egypt, making me wish that we hadn't spent so much time talking about Egypt and corny cliches and Orientalism rather than seeing it. Jasmine's troubles in British society in the beginning of the novel are important and relevant, but that is ultimately undermined because they're portrayed in a dramatized and unrealistic fashion. But for that, we might have actually felt sympathy for the heroine and possibly learned from the novel. Instead, we cannot take them seriously. Despite that, it was a fun romp with interesting, entertaining drama and action. I would recommend it with the caveat not to look for character development too deep or thought-provoking relationships. ( )

From page one, The Scorpion and the Seducer managed to draw me right into the story. The writing and the story was amazing, compelling and interesting. Bonnie Vanak is a wonderful author, truly a one of a kind, who writes romances that are not only steamy but touching and very vivid, not only in the emotions but also in the descriptions of the story and characters, the background and culture. Like all of her other books, The S & the S is set in Egypt, with a bit of England thrown in, and she manages to capture all of the country's bright colors and culture, painting a beautiful story as you read. Vanak has a way with words that very few authors have.

Jasmine and Thomas's story was very touching and loving, and the journey they had to endure to be together forever was long and treacherous, but they stuck to it. Besides their love, which was tender and sweet, their conversations were also very interesting and funny. Jasmine is no meek and weak English miss, but a fiery and tough woman who has no problem speaking her mind. Because of this, she won't back down when Thomas, or any one else for that matter, tries to engage her in a battle of wits and remarks, which leads to a very funny play on words between them. And since you know that they love each other, their 'battles' of words are that much more enjoyable.

Aside from the romance, which was also very intense and sexy in all the right places, The S & the S was filled with intrigue and mystery, suspense and action, which blended together perfectly with all the other elements- there wasn't too much of any one of them. I love how Vanak writes such delightful stories set in the captivating backdrop of the heated and magical Egypt, something that I don't see in many historical romances, and definitely never describe to the extent that Vanak does. She makes everything flow together, moving along smoothly, painting the perfect picture to go along with the story.

5/5 STARS! An absolutely delicious romance that has everything you could possibly want in it: tender love, steamy sex, wit and humor, suspense and action. Easily one of the best romance novels out there, written by one of the top authors in the field! A must read for anyone.

~TBQ~ ( )