"Leto is one of the Rising Stars in romance!"

Julie Elizabeth Leto is proving book after book for Harlequin's Temptation Line, that she not only writes romance but she is PROUD of it. Her love for the genre shines in every book. She is smart, savvy, oh so witty, and creates sexy characters that are very involving, very real.

SEDUCING SULLIVAN is missing some of the wit Leto usually spices her other works with, but she still delivers a winning tale. She is one of the best in creating such down to earth characters. They are not larger than life fictional characters, but everyday hard working people, that are warm, vulnerable and caring. It is her strong suit, and it sets her away from other writers.

SEDUCING SULLIVAN is a book of wishes and what-ifs for Angela Harris. She goes to the ten-year anniversary of her High School reunion with one purpose in mind: to have her 'prom night' with Jack Sullivan. They were an item during their senior year of high school, but Angela the 'good girl' kept putting off Jack. On prom night, she had prepared to give herself to him making it a special night for them, but they ended in an argument and breaking up instead. Now a decade later, Angela knows it is time to get over her teenage love for Jack, and put him behind her once and for all. She goes to finish the night she wanted to have ten years ago and to find out if the reality falls short of years of fantasy and prove to herself this lingering love is silly.

To do that she needs to face Jack and settle her girlhood dreams. Naturally, she is very curious about the man Jack has become. His parents were jet-setters and from what she saw over the years in the tabloids, Jack has taken after them. He is world famous photographer, and has been linked to one model after another. Hardly material to be considered for marriage and fatherhood.

Angela needs to know what sort of man he is because of Dani, her daughter. That prom night 10 years ago after their breakup, Jack went out with her best friend and got drunk. The result was Dani. Five years ago, Dani's mother, Angela's best friend, was killed and Angela was made Dani's legal guardian. She had no idea Jack was the father of Dani, until she began trying to track down the man who fathered her. The news was devastating and though long ago still hurt her. Angela is a very real person. She feels things for Jack but does not trust him. She loved her best friend and utterly adores Dani, yet she also feels twinges of regret and resentment over how things turned out, betrayed by both her friend and Jack. This is quite human and it is a high mark for Leto to give her very normal traits instead of trying to make her a paragon of virtue. She is no paper doll character, but a complex woman.

Jack believes Angela never knew about his drunken night with her best friend, and fears Angela would never speak to him again if she found out. He never knew or suspected about Dani. However, he comes to the class union hoping to find Angela. He has never know a family or home, and something inside him is crying out for this sort of security, and his heart tells him Angela 'his angel' is the woman to heal him and give him hope for the future. Jack is totally unprepared for the siren who sets out to seduce him, just to get over him. Jack, not being a fool, is not about to lose her a second time.

Once again, Leto gives three dimensional characters that leap off the page, with crisp writing that just gets better with each book. She is fresh, original and a rising star in the romance field. Her love scenes are steamy, sexy and they sizzle! Yet she knows sex without romance does not move the reader, so she craftily weaves romance with a capital R through all of her relationships.

Reviewed by DeborahAnne MacGillivray
Posted April 4, 2003

Summary

HE WAS HER GREATEST WEAKNESS... Angela Harris had only one obsession--sexy-as-sin Jack Sullivan. Ever since high school, he'd been on her mind...and in her fantasies. And at her upcoming reunion, she intended to have him in her bed, too. She'd spent ten years wondering what might have been. Now she had a chance to get him out of her system for good! All she needed was one sizzling night with Jack--and then she could move on with her life. Unfortunately, Angela hadn't counted on Jack having a few obsessions of his own...