Seduced
by Stratton
The
English Brothers
Book
4
Katy
Regnery
Genre:
Mid-Length Contemporary Romance
Date
of Publication: 11/4/14
ISBN:
978-0-9912045-6-4
ASIN:
B00MUW6TF6
Number
of pages: 200
Word
Count: 62,000
Cover
Artist: Kim Killion, Hot Damn Designs
Book
Description:
Seduced
by Stratton
is the fourth of six books about the Philadelphia-based,
wildly-handsome English brothers who are all on the look-out for
love.
(Except for Barrett, Fitz and Alex, because they're taken. And Weston, who is still riding the ugly-love roller coaster with one of the Atwell sisters....)
Stratton English, the hottest, youngest, most devastatingly handsome CFO in Philadelphia, has a problem: women make him nervous. Really nervous. Catastrophically nervous. Socially awkward to an extreme, he's apt to blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, and it's rarely something a woman wants to hear. Quietly in love with his neighbor, Amy, he has no idea how to make his move, but he is committed to figuring out a way to seduce her.
Valeria Campanile, who Stratton knows through one of his four brothers, is a PhD candidate who moonlights as a dance instructor on the side. Ironically, even though Val studies Courtship Rituals, she can't seem to find herself courted. Pursued by boys from the "old neighborhood" who promise to overlook the fact that she's so smart, she longs to meet someone who romances her mind as well as her heart.
When Stratton helps Valeria with a financial problem, she is anxious to return the favor. But will Stratton, who needs Val's expertise to win Amy, find himself seducing Val instead?
(Except for Barrett, Fitz and Alex, because they're taken. And Weston, who is still riding the ugly-love roller coaster with one of the Atwell sisters....)
Stratton English, the hottest, youngest, most devastatingly handsome CFO in Philadelphia, has a problem: women make him nervous. Really nervous. Catastrophically nervous. Socially awkward to an extreme, he's apt to blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, and it's rarely something a woman wants to hear. Quietly in love with his neighbor, Amy, he has no idea how to make his move, but he is committed to figuring out a way to seduce her.
Valeria Campanile, who Stratton knows through one of his four brothers, is a PhD candidate who moonlights as a dance instructor on the side. Ironically, even though Val studies Courtship Rituals, she can't seem to find herself courted. Pursued by boys from the "old neighborhood" who promise to overlook the fact that she's so smart, she longs to meet someone who romances her mind as well as her heart.
When Stratton helps Valeria with a financial problem, she is anxious to return the favor. But will Stratton, who needs Val's expertise to win Amy, find himself seducing Val instead?
Excerpt from
Seduced
by Stratton
Stratton
had finished most of his work for the day and instead of starting a
new project at four-thirty, he took out his Kindle and spent a little
time reviewing the ten rules for seduction in his latest book:
Make
a Connection
Get
Close to Her
A
Little Quarrelling Can Be Good
Say
No Once in a While
Build
the Sexual Tension
Be
Direct
Channel
Your Inner Romantic
Have
an Intimate Conversation
Ask
Her Out
Make
Your Move
Stratton
sighed heavily, taking out a sheet of paper and writing them down. In
college, at Columbia University in Manhattan, he’d found this an
excellent technique for storing knowledge. But as he wrote the words,
he reviewed the actions, and his heart felt progressively heavier and
more defeated.
He’d already
bombed out on rules one and two last night by hitting Amy in the hip
with a smelly garbage bag. What about the rest…?
A
Little Quarrelling Can Be Good. Really?
That made no sense to Stratton. Was the advice that he should pick a
fight with her? Why? How could fighting with someone lead to anything
good? Sheer nonsense.
Say
No Once in a While.
Why would he say no to the woman he loved? What if she called feeling
sad, needing him, and he said no to her? It would hurt her feelings.
Maybe she’d even turn to someone else. That sounded like terrible
advice.
Build
the Sexual Tension.
He couldn’t count the times he’d thought about putting his arm
around Amy as she sat beside him on the couch eating ice cream, but
since she was always in such a fragile state over Étienne, it seemed
underhanded. They didn’t get together when she was feeling flirty
and receptive. They got together when she was red-nosed and weepy. It
simply wasn’t the optimal time to build sexual tension—if
Stratton had the first idea of how to do so in the first place.
Be
Direct.
No problem. He grinned. Finally one that he could handle.
But
then he stopped grinning, because while his modus
operandi
was being direct, around Amy, he wasn’t. Last night when she told
him she suspected that Étienne was cheating on her, he tried to be
direct, but she’d looked so hurt, he’d changed tactics
immediately and lied. Being direct was a lot harder than it seemed.
Channel
Your Inner Romantic.
This one actually had quite a lot of appeal to Stratton. He’d had a
lot of time to figure out the ways he’d romance Amy once she was
free of Étienne. He moved on to the next rule.
Have
an Intimate Conversation.
What
the—Intimate?
Like about deep and important things? Or with dirty words? His mind
short-circuited. He didn’t know how to “talk dirty” to a woman.
Did that mean to say the sorts of things they said in porn movies?
Like, maybe he should rent some porn movies and memorize some dirty
sentences? He wished the author had defined “intimate” to mean
“deep thoughts” because he felt very annoyed and uncertain about
the advice.
He
wrote down the words Ask
Her Out
and Make
Your Move,
but he was feeling so deflated, he stared at the list like a fat
alpaca would stare at Everest. If this is what it took, than seducing
Amy away from Étienne would be impossible. Unless…
Unless
he had a coach. Like Alex, but not
Alex because Stratton couldn’t stand the teasing. Plus Alex was too
far away and wouldn’t take it seriously. Hmm. Barrett? No. Barrett
wasn’t especially smooth himself, and while Fitz seemed pretty
smooth, he was about to get married. He couldn’t be Stratton’s
wingman. That left Weston, who was studying furiously for the bar
exam, which he’d be taking the week after Fitz’s wedding. As far
as brothers went, Stratton was shit out of luck.
Not
to mention, he wasn’t sure that—aside from Alex—his brothers
were all that adept at seduction. He wondered if their success
actually had more to do with luck and fate than skill. He suspected
that it did. Heck, they’d all ended up with women who’d been
important to them in their childhoods or adolescence. Stratton was
breaking new ground altogether. What he needed was a professional. A
master of seduction. Someone well-versed on courting rituals with
heaps of knowledge. Étienne was a formidable rival and since Amy
hadn’t shown any concrete interest in Stratton on a romantic level,
it was going to take a full-scale attack to get her to see him in a
new light and leave her piece-of-shit boyfriend.
He
looked back at the book, skimming the chapter after “Make Your
Move” entitled “Seeking Help,” and his eyes latched onto the
sentence: “Practice with a female friend.” Huh. Not a coach to
guide him, but a friend on whom to test and perfect his moves, and
maybe get some feedback about his technique. He nodded at his Kindle,
appreciating the simple logic of the advice, but then he grimaced.
While it was a good idea that had merit, Stratton didn’t have any
female friends aside from Emily, Daisy, and Jessica, and he couldn’t
imagine Barrett, Fitz, or Alex taking kindly to him practicing his
seduction techniques on their women. He could call his cousin Kate,
but she lived in New York, and anyway, she was his cousin.
He sat back in his chair, tenting his fingers under his chin in
thought and frustration when his phone buzzed.
Stratt and Val:
Review by Tabitha:
Katy
Regnery has done it again!!! I am so in love with every single English
Brothers' book. I have been so looking forward to Stratton's story and
Ms. Regnery did not disappoint. Every single time I finish one of her
books, I think there is no way I can love the next one anymore, but each
one just proves me wrong. I love all of them for such different reasons
and it amazes me that each one that they just get better and better.
Something I think is virtually impossible each and every time I finish
one. Stratton is socially awkward and yet so very appealing and very
sexy. I absolutely love him with Val and found myself rooting for them
the whole way. I have loved Val since book one and was super happy she
was going to be in Stratton's book even if Stratt thinks it's only to
"help" him get his true love. This story was very true to Ms. Regnery's
brilliance and I can't wait for more!! Please hurry up and write faster!
I want Weston's story like yesterday....LOL This whole series is an
absolute MUST READ and ones I will be enjoying over and over again
throughout the years!! A huge 5+++ AMAZEBALLS stars!! A copy was gifted in exchange for an honest review.
About the Author:
Katy
Regnery, Amazon bestselling author, has always loved telling a good
story and credits her mother with making funny, heartwarming tales
come alive throughout her childhood. A lifelong devotee of all
romance writing, from Edwardian to present-day, it was just a matter
of time before Katy tried her hand at writing a love story of her
own.
As
it turned out, one love story turned into a series of six Heart of
Montana romances, following the love lives of the Yellowstone-based
Lindstrom siblings. When Katy’s fans asked her to turn up the heat,
she wrote the New Adult/Adult Contemporary hybrid romance, Playing
for Love at Deep Haven, which offered steamier romance to her
readers. Katy is also proud to offer The Vixen and the Vet, a
standalone romance that benefitted Operation Mend, an organization
that helps heal the returning wounded of our armed services. The
English Brothers is Katy’s second series and first indie series.
Katy
lives in the relative wilds of northern Fairfield County,
Connecticut, where her writing room looks out at the woods, and her
husband, two young children, and two dogs create just enough cheerful
chaos to remind her that the very best love stories of all are the
messy and unexpected ones.
Twitter:
@KatyRegnery
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