A Passionate Proposition by Susan Napier, first published in August of 2001, is a story that had me spellbound from start to finish. 26 year old Anya Adams is back at Eastbrook Academy for Girls where she was formerly a teacher, since then having moved to teach history at a local stat high school, filling in for a former colleague who has taken ill when the most life changing event in her life occurs.

32 year old Scott Tyler walks in on a situation that does not paint Anya in the most favorable light, the man she has labeled inside her head as her personal demon. Scott is in charge of his nephew who is staying with him while the parents are traveling for work, and Scott’s imagination runs on overdrive when he walks in on a scantily clad Anya with his nephew.

Scott, one of South Auckland’s leading barristers, with a solid reputation for winning difficult cases owing to his ruthless style is cross-examining witnesses had been on the interview panel when Anya had tried for her new position at a co-ed school, with Scott having deliberately set out to intimidate her through his probing questions.

In short, Anya would have lived happily if she had never come across Scott again, but when their paths cross the second time around, and then a third and fourth time, thus begins a battle of wills, lust of the kind that sets both of them afire, and kindling softer emotions that neither were prepared for.

As Anya gets to know Scott better, she is shocked by the things Scott has gone through, and in awe of the man he has become, when he had been taken advantage of by those he had placed his trust in. For Anya, it is a journey of self-discovery just as much, where she learns that she, the staid and average looking teacher who has ruled out passion in her life, is able to love so ardently and earnestly with the right man.

However, trouble comes calling from a source that Anya finds hard to say no to, and it will take trust of the kind that Scott may find difficult to muster, if the fragile love that blooms between the two is to be given any chance to grow and take root.

I loved this story to pieces. Scott was oh so sexy, quite different in every sense, managing to surprise the reader at every turn. When you think you have him figured out, he goes and proves you wrong. Scott could have turned out embittered given his most formative years, but instead, he turned into the kind of man who was twice bitten and extremely wary. But when true love calls upon you, there is no turning back, and in Anya, he finds his true mate, a woman who entices and arouses his baser emotions as much as she does his protective instincts.

I loved how raw some of the scenes were as they unfolded, how alive the characters felt, how intuitive as a heroine, Anya was. How sexy and playful the physical side of their relationship was when it happened. The witty banter between the two just sealed the deal from the start and Ms. Napier delivered on every aspect which just left me begging for more!

Recommended for fans of unusual category romances with heart and zeal!

Final Verdict: Ms. Napier is a sheer genius in delivering category romances with such emotion, grit, and heart, not to mention the heat of the toe curling variety.

Favorite Quotes

‘Five years ago I might have mistaken glister for gold but my tastes have matured since then. Maybe I’m discovering that I prefer to lose my head over the simple pleasures of life—sunlight and laughter, apples and grass, and a pair of eyes as clear and refreshing as a cool drink of water…’
His hand had somehow insinuated itself under the filmy fabric of her little cropped top, his fingertips resting on her silky bare skin above the low-cut back of her dress. Not caressing, or doing anything indecent, just there…as seductively enticing as his words.

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