I would love to know the exact definition of a Scoundrel because Marc, Early of Hawkfield, did not act like a scoundrel in this book. Yes, Hawk was crass at times and bossy. To me, he comes off as a jealous lover throughout most of the book. Julianne has had a crush on Marc, also known as "Hawk", since her coming out 4 years ago. When he is charged with being her guardian during her season, Julianne thinks that this will finally give her the opportunity to get Hawk to see her as a woman and not the young girl that he teases so mercilessly.I really wanted to enjoy How to Seduce a Scoundrel. I liked that Hawk and Julianne have a history. She's known him since she was 8 years old and he was 18. Hawk likes to tease Julianne and because of her spunky attitude, she teases him back. With that type of history between them, I expected more tongue-in-cheek teasing. There was some but not as much as I expected.How to Seduce a Scoundrel had very little action. The plot moved very slowly. There was very little going on; just a bunch of chatter. Julianne's waffling back and forth about her feelings for Hawk and her plan to write a pamphlet on seduction got old very quickly. The attraction between Hawk and Julianne was not that steamy. At one point, I wondered about the supposed attraction between the two. I enjoyed the side characters Julianne's friends, Amy and Georgette and Hawk's great-aunt Hester. They provided hilarity and levity into the plot.How to Seduce a Scoundrel got better during the last 20%. The cat and mouse game between Hawk and Julianne finally comes to a head, Hawk's dark past is revealed and everyone finally comes to their senses. I'm sad that it took so long for the story to become interesting and the pace of the plot to pick up. I didn't buy the sexual attraction between Hawk and Julianne. I believe I would have liked this book more if there was more going on. Like I said, there was too much chatter and not enough action. And I don't mean action as in sex; action that helped moved the plot along. The story dragged too much to hold my interest. I'm sure readers of the previous book will enjoy this one. It just didn't work for me.
