Review: A Dash of Temptation, by Jo Leigh

I recently read and enjoyed Alison Kent’s The Sweetest Taboo, part of a Harlequin Blaze series called “Men to Do”, about three women readers who have become friendly online, and, after bad experiences with supposedly meaningful sex, decide to find themselves a hot one night stand. This book, published in 2003, was strongly recommended to me by Lori of I Just Finished Reading, who recently reread and reviewed it. It is out of print, but I read a Kindle edition purchased for $3.83. You can find a cheap used copy via Amazon or your favorite UBS.

The hero is Dash (Dashiell) Black, scion of the Black family and heir to the throne of Noir, an influential celebrity and lifestyle magazine, a la Vanity Fair, based in Manhattan.

Dash, as the elder of two brothers, the other of whom is a bit shlubby and prefers to work behind the scenes, is under intense pressure to publicly embody the lifestyle promoted by Noir. He is out every night, with glamorous women – often Hollywood starlets —  at glamorous parties. While gorgeous and naturally charming, Dash doesn’t much enjoy such a public lifestyle. His great love is deeply private: composing music and playing the piano, but only for himself. However, he dearly loves his father, who is nearing retirement, and his brother Patrick, and would never do anything that might harm the company’s reputation.

Tess Norton is from a small town in Kansas. She takes care of the plants at Noir and also at Dash’s penthouse apartment. She has spiky hair, ample hips, and the ambition to own her own floral business. She’s heard there is a gala event in the Hamptons where a possible investor will attend, and is trying to think of ways to get an invite when she unexpectedly meets Dash. She’s watering his plants and talking to a friend on the phone. Not realizing Dash is home, she makes some very funny comments about an ex. Dash is interested enough to emerge from his home office and introduce himself. He is immediately attracted to Tess and she to him. One thing leads to another, and before you know it, a few days have passed and Tess is headed to the Hamptons party with Dash as her escort.

The extended party scene, beginning when Dash picks Tess up in her third floor walkup, continuing for a three hour limo ride, to a huge celebrity filled party, to a quiet and very hot rendezvous in an unusual indoor swimming pool, to Tess’s attempts to sell herself to the investor, to her encounter with an ex and an arch rival, to the three hour limo ride home — is fantastic. I had fantasies as I was reading it of writing this review as a flow chart. Branching off to the left would be “Things I expected to happen, which are not that fun to read”, and branching off to the right would be “Things I did not expect to happen, which are way better than what I expected”. In every case, the narrative of this book would go to the right.

Here is just a teeny example. It is not even about Dash and Tess. Dash wants to know a little about her family, and they get to her mom. I am bracing myself for one of three romance possibilities: (a) Tess’s mom is a cold calculating bitch, and really really wants her to settle down and have lots of babies, or (b) Tess’s mother is perfect, loving, and kind, and really really wants her to settle down and have lots of babies, or (c) add “and dead” to (a) or (b).  Tess says:

She’s a professional gossip. She lives for the dirt. Although, I will say that she’s a very nice gossip. She loves to hear it all, but then she constructs alibis for everyone’s dark deeds. Honestly, she should be a writer. Although how interesting would it be if there were no bad guys?

This is unexpected and interesting.

Or, here’s another scene with Tess’s arch rival. Tess finally goes to her house to confront the rich bitch who is trying to foil her plans. Now, Lacey Talbot, it must be said, is a pretty typical unmotivated bitch rival. No unusually subtle characterization happening there. But when Lacey snaps at Tess, “You think you can just walk in? With no money, no family, no ties?”, instead of the expected (a) fleeing in tears,  (b) trading insults to show how tough she is, Tess cuts through the bullshit and says, honestly, and in harmony with her strong and grounded character, “What I don’t understand is how I threaten you. I’m not here to take your place.” When Lacey starts spouting some more mean girl cliches about being “keeper of the keys”, Tess replies, “Again, I ask the same thing. How do I threaten you?”.

Two things did not work for me. One, the hook. What marketing genius at Harlequin decided readers would enjoy gimmicky ways to tie in unrelated books? I read another series recently with a costume shop as the tie in (can’t recall which). I find this sort of thing forced and hokey. And the way the narrative comes to a dead stop in A Dash of Temptation (and The Sweetest Taboo) to make room for totally fake sounding emails between these women which make no contribution to the story… ugh. In both of those books, the heroines had good friends close by, so there was no need for the emails at all. Sometimes the miniseries can work, as in Kathleen O’Reilly’s series about the Irish-American brothers who own a bar. In that case, the bar and the family are natural connections. But that’s the exception.

The other slight negative was the celebrity name dropping. I thought Dash’s rich and famous lifestyle was portrayed effectively. But did he have to escort Helen Hunt to the Golden Globes, Nicole Kidman to the Oscars, have helped Julia Roberts through her breakup with Benjamin Bratt, and think of Tess as having lips like Angelina Jolie? It became too much and a distraction from the story.

Overall, though, this was a very sweet, and pretty hot, love story, and I think one of the reasons it worked so well, is that Dash is a true beta hero. Tess pretty much has him at hello. He is lovesick and unable to help himself from directing his limo driver to her brownstone again and again. Tess is overwhelmed by him and his trappings, as anyone would be, but she is never less than his equal. In one heartbreaking scene, Dash ends up banging on Tess’s door and she won’t let him in. In the end, he hands the reins of Noir over to his brother so he can marry Tess. Yes, you read that right. Tess gets her investor and realizes her career dreams, with no help from Dash, while Dash abandons his career for her and his piano. If I had this in paper, it would definitely be going on my keeper shelf.

Related posts:

1. Review: Strange Bedpersons, by Jennifer Crusie
2. Review: Caught in the Act, by Samantha Hunter (Blaze)
3. Review: To Have and to Hold, Patricia Gaffney
4. Review: Club Dead, Charlaine Harris