The Art of Seduction

My husband lived in France as a boy and cherished his memory of it. In high school, our daughter decided she wanted to have a similar experience as an exchange student. During her midterm break, we met her in Paris, where we had such a marvelous time that my husband and I stayed on for an entire month in the city. Paris, we found, is not only romantic, soul-enriching and beautiful beyond description, it’s also inexhaustible. We could have lingered there for a decade and still found something new, exciting and interesting to see or do on each new day.

Needless to say, Paris cast its magical spell upon us.

THE ART OF SEDUCTION is, to a large extent, the product of that month of enchantment. And when I returned to more specifically research the book, I tried to stay, as much as possible, in the Paris of the Impressionist Era—not only viewing its sublime paintings but seeking out the places where its artists lived, worked, played, and loved.

Above all, I wanted to blaze a psychic trail for my young American artist heroine, Mason Caldwell—to breath the air, smell the smells, and feel the spirit of all the places she would soon be experiencing in her life-altering romantic adventure in the City of Light.

2007 Sensual Historical Romance Nominee

O’Neal’s heated romance plays out against the backdrop of the Paris and the Impressionist art movement as a woman strives to break through into the male-dominated art world. O’Neal can write an intense, intelligent story brimming with sensuality, yet it loses none of its emotional or thought-provoking intensity. Readers who enjoy mental and physical titillation know this author serves it up in style.

—Kathe Robin, Romantic Times

Painter Mason Caldwell is devastated when her work isn’t accepted for the 1899 exhibition. Believing all is lost, she wanders around Paris during a rainstorm and ends up jumping into the Seine in an attempt to prevent a woman from committing suicide. Her effort fails, and she leaves Paris to recover from her ordeals. When she returns, she finds that once she was believed dead, her art became all the rage. So she decides to remain dead, pretending to be a fictional sister named Amy. She soon meets a man who, for all his charm, may be intent on unmasking her as a fraud. O’Neal’s latest imaginative romance combines sensuality with a look at the dark side of the art world.

–Booklist

The Art of Seduction