Helena is in London searching for a husband to escape her rotten guardian, Fabian. Perhaps this is simply a by-product of knowing that he’s the father of future protagonists, but the subtlety of his characterization goes a long way in keeping the readers’ attention. Sebastian is written with restraint and in a funny kind of way comes across as more mature than any of Laurens’ other heroes. Though this may sound like same old, same old, the author hasn’t just plopped in a Cynster prototype. He’s strong, dominant, and even ruthless when he wants something. Sebastian is similar to many of Laurens’ heroes. She doesn’t want to be attracted to a man who’s as powerful as her corrupt guardian, but the simple truth is, she can’t quite help herself. Her complex feelings are so well drawn that it can sometimes seem as though you’re inside her head. Much as Helena tries to remain practical and keep away from Sebastian, she finds herself inexorably attracted to him again and again.

Laurens infuses each scene between the two with a tension that can only come from deeply held feelings. Helena plots to avoid Sebastian, while he plots to be around her as much as possible. Of course he has a different perspective on the matter and is determined to win Helena. So, although Helena finds him as attractive as she did at sixteen, or more accurately, because of this fact, Sebastian must be avoided. Ives and is dangereux, according to Helena’s chaperone. Seven years later Helena sees him again at a party in London where she’s scouting for a husband. He’s an attractive Englishman who kisses her and disappears. Late one night she’s returning to her quarters and is startled when a man drops over the wall in front of her. In The Promise of a Kiss Helena is reintroduced as a sixteen-year-old living in a convent in France. Helena has become known to Laurens’ readers as the widowed matriarch of the Cynster clan, first appearing in Devil’s Bride and thereafter making frequent appearances in the other five books in the series. Laurens meets this challenge with mixed results. Facts about the characters that may have been simply backstory in the chronologically later books suddenly become the story and cannot be changed. Writing a prequel to an already existing series can be a challenge.

In her debut hardcover Stephanie Laurens plumbs the family history she created in her Cynster series to tell the story of Sebastian, the Duke of St.

The promise in a kiss stephanie laurens