I can't think of the last time I read a historical romance where the heroine is much older than the hero; perhaps I haven't read one before. Certainly A Talent for Sin feels very unusual.

Not that Violet, Lady Carrington, is THAT old - she's thirty-one. And Peter's twenty-six, so not exactly a schoolboy. However, Violet has also been married and widowed three times - each time to a much older man - and has decided that she wants to remain unmarried for the rest of her life. It means she has control over her life and isn't at the mercy of any man.

As the book opens, Violet and Peter are lovers, but Peter wants more. Violet refuses. Peter tries to seduce her into marriage; Violet refuses. It's back-and-forth at the beginning, but the story soon widens as we meet Violet's much younger sister and discover that she may be married off to a very unpleasant older man. Violet steps in to help; Peter also tries his best, and it looks as if they will never find happiness. But of course, this is a romance: we know things will work out - and they do.

One scene in which Violet agrees to seduce the man who wants to marry her sister is almost impossible to read. Not because of the sex - there's a fair amount of this throughout the book - but because you know it's such a horrendous experience for her. While the end of the book is a bit rushed and Violet and Peter's misunderstandings feel contrived, overall this is well-written, and it's interesting to read a story where the heroine is the older person in the relationship. Peter does feel young at times, but he comes across as a worthy hero.