Lead Me On

By Victoria Dahl

Raw, animal magnetism is a big red flag to prim and proper office manager Jane Morgan. After a rough childhood with a mother who liked her men in prison-jumpsuit orange, Jane changed her name, her look and her taste for bad boys. So why is she lusting for William Chase with his tattoo-covered biceps and steel-toed boots? The man blows things up for a living!

She gives herself one explosive, fantasy-filled night with Chase.

The next day it's back to plain Jane and safe men. But when her beloved brother becomes a murder suspect, it's Chase who comes to her rescue. And Jane discovers that a man who's been around the block knows a thing or two about uncovering the truth .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harlequin HQN
• Release date: Nov 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781460309063

Victoria Dahl

Victoria Dahl lives with her family in a small town high in the mountains. Her first novel debuted in 2007, and she’s gone on to write seventeen books and novellas in historical, contemporary, and paranormal romance. Victoria's contemporary romance, Talk Me Down, was nominated for both a RWA Rita Award and the National Readers' Choice Award. Since then, her books have been nominated for two more Rita Awards, and she hit the USA Today Bestseller list with the anthology Midnight Kiss.

Reviews for Lead Me On

[grapeapril75-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh my this is the story of a former bad girl hiding as a shy secretary!! She meets up with a hot bad boy and things move along naturally! Sexy steamy fun read!! A nice little bit of intrigue added to the mix!

[dawn772 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this very steamy story. An atypical kind of romance affected by heroines past and I always enjoy a man in pursuit. Office manager Jane wants to put her prison related family behind her and have steady smooth relationship. Until she meets Chase with his tattooed biceps ... and her brother becomes murder suspect.

[rosetyper9 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

First things first, *head meet table*. I am kicking myself utterly for not reading anything of Victoria Dahl's before. I have her other two novels 'Talk Me Down' and 'Start Me Up' but I just hadn't gotten around to reading them, I am an idiot. Now, this books is HOT, like volcanic hot, nuclear hot, just dang hot. While reading this book I felt like I was curled up on the couch watching my favorite go-to film; I felt like I knew the characters and the place, it was wonderful. Chase is SUPER sexy, I wish he lived here and I could steal him away from Jane. *fans self*. I adored this book from page one and will absolutely buy any and everything else Victoria Dahl writes. This book was awesome! I am just in utter awe of Ms. Dahl's ability to turn a story into something so perfect, and I usually don't even read contemporary romance. Still in shock....*runs to bookshelf for more*

[capnrandm · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

2/10/11 - And I finished my first Tumble Creek trifecta re-read of the year, hurrah! I love these books! Heroine confidence goes from High (TALK ME DOWN) to Low (LEAD ME ON), so next time I think I'll read the series backwards. I love Jane, and am so happy for her and Chase, but I think I'd rather end with Molly's high spirits and funny dialogue than Jane and Chase's new beginning...

[allthesedarnbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Okay romance. There's some very funny dialogue, and I quite liked the hero, but there were a lot of times when I just wanted to smack the heroine over the head. There was also way too much sex. Don't get me wrong; I'm a big romance reader, so obviously I don't mind a lot of sex, but I like when it moves the plot forward and is actually relevant to the story and doesn't go on for chapters and chapters on end with no break in between. I might try another book by this author because I did like her tone and humor but if the second one isn't any better than this one, I'll give up.

[ksattler_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really like Victoria's work. For this series though, I've liked each one a little less than the previous one. So, for me, Talk Me Down was the best, followed by Start Me Up, and then Lead Me On.

[catherine331 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you've read the previous book "Start Me Up" you'll recognize Jane as Quinn's ultra professional secretary. She's just as organized and cool as she seemed in the last book, but now we get a little insight into what makes her tick.Chase is working with Quinn on a residential project and meets Jane when he goes to the office. He hits on her as a whim but Jane turns him down. He ends up giving her his business card in the hope she might change her mind and give him a call. When Jane gets a little tipsy out with a friend she ends up giving herself an early birthday present and gives him a call.Jane was an interesting character. Her snobbery and prejudices made her a little hard to like, but the way that she owns up to her views and admits they're not valid made it easy for me to sympathize with her. She had a really hard time growing up and started acting out as soon as she hit puberty. At the time she didn't care what she was doing or what people thought, but after she changed her life she hid who she used to be and didn't want to be involved with anyone or anything that might associate her with the kind of girl she used to be.The author definitely didn't spare Jane from her mistakes growing up. Her actions were described but they were never excused. It was up to the reader to decide their own opinion of it. I cannot think of a single other heroine I've read with a past quite like this. I loved that the author a chance and didn't sugarcoat Jane. I really liked her character and appreciated what she was able to build after having sunk so low.Chase was a less in depth (though no less endearing) character. Even though he had a past of his own and issues with his dad he was a much more stable adult. He moved past the problems that he had in life and became comfortable in his own skin. I was pretty surprised about Chase and Jane's past association. How hard to be around someone who hasn't just heard about your worst but has seen it in person. I was glad they were able to move past it.Chase and Jane were pretty perfect together. They really seemed like they fit together. I liked that Chase finally drew the line and wouldn't let himself be used anymore. I liked that he was able to indulge her wild behavior but also able to help her finally move past her low opinion of herself. This book really did a good job illustrating that you can't judge a person by how they look on the outside. I loved every time Chase popped up with another fact about himself that made Jane feel foolish for her assumptions.I do have to mention one thing that bothered me though. What was the deal with everyone thinking that someone with a tattoo had to be low class? I totally understand Jane's view on it, and she admits that she has issues that make her classify people like that, but what about everyone else? When Jane starts having issues Quinn immediately jumps to some pretty harsh conclusions about Chase that seem to be based on how he looks. Also when Ben (hero of "Talk Me Down") meets him at the end it makes mention of him reacting to the tattoos. Where exactly are they living that tattoos are only on criminals and poor/low class people? I just find it odd that everyone in the book seems like they would be shocked if a rich person in a suit flashed a tattoo.Great book and I can't wait to read another by this author!

[lauren2013_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lead Me On
4.5 Stars

Due to her troubled past, Jane Morgan has changed her name and created a new life for herself. The only thing missing is a man to share it with, but Jane is weary of the staid men that she has been dating. Enter William Chase, a physically intimidating and tattooed demolitions expert, who rings all of Jane’s bells, but epitomizes everything that she has renounced in her life. Can Jane accept who she truly is in order to be with the love of her life?

Barring one or two small issues, the first two books in the Tumble Creek series are fun and entertaining. Lead Me On, however, takes things to a whole new level.

Jane’s past has caused her to be wary of a certain type of man and some readers my find her snobbish persona off-putting. Nevertheless, for me she is a very sympathetic heroine who becomes even more so once her traumatic history is revealed. Chase is simply scrumptious; a gentle giant who realizes that Jane is "the one" from their first meeting, now if only he can convince her of that fact. Their chemistry sizzles and fans of steamy romance will not be disappointed.

The suspense plot is minor but that doesn’t matter as the secondary characters from Jane’s overprotective stepfather to her irresponsible brother and her eccentric grandmother are responsible for many of the sweet and humorous moments in the book.

All in all, an exceedingly entertaining book and I’m going to read more of Dahl’s contemporary works.

[ChristiEagle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Love this book.

[ridley_ · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think that the question of whether or not someone will like this book depends on how they read romance.

If you read a romance for the hero and like to place yourself in the heroine's shoes, or if you like to imagine the heroine could be your best girlfriend, then this book would be a stinker for you. If they read romance with an equal eye towards the hero and heroine for the story rather than the escape, then the heroine becomes a complex character rather than an exasperating head case you want to cut out of the loop.

Jane Morgan is a secretary. She is currently the fierce gatekeeper for and partner in Quinn Jennings' architectural firm in Aspen. Armed with a conservative hairstyle and a no-nonsense sweater twinset, she is the very embodiment of respectability and upward mobility.

Which is why the blue-collar excavator Billy Chase is intrigued by Jane at first. Why is Miss Prim and Proper staring at his tattoo and checking out his chest? When he asks her out to dinner and she eventually accepts he figures she's slumming it and he'll get to show her how to let loose.

As it turns out, however, Jane is not at all what she seems, or what she wants people to see. Her brother's been arrested on a DUI, is caught with the contents of a few women's purses and subsequently ends up a murder suspect. Supporting her mom and ex-felon stepfather through this ordeal is the first chip in her middle-class facade. She can't support them and pretend she's not descended from what she considers trailer trash.

So, the focus of the novel is not the mystery plot (and thank god) or even the romance, really, it's about Jane learning to love herself. Because she truly does hate herself and you can't love someone else when your head's in a bad place like that. She starts off blaming her mother for being a prison groupie, moving town to town marrying men in prison for life and conceiving Jane in a conjugal visit trailer. Then she blames her convict father for promising the world in his letters to her, then never making contact with her after he was released when she was 12. And, finally, she blames herself for being a trashy pre-teen and teen attention starved slut who drank, drugged and indiscriminately fucked her way through her teen angst.

While watching her treat Chase like meat was exasperating at times, it was still understandable. She hadn't forgiven herself for her young mistakes. Jane Morgan wasn't comfortable being Dynasty MacKenzie and accepting that who she was then was part of who she is now. Pushing Chase away as marriage material because he's blue collar is wicked snobby, but if she still blames her working class life for all her problems, how could she react any other way?

As a result, Chase ends up playing the role traditionally occupied by the romance novel heroine. He's the patient lover willing to wait her out while helping her conquer her demons with the Power of Love®. We see through his relationship with his alcoholic father that Chase is no stranger to complicated people and dependent behavior. He's not Jane's doormat, but he's laid back enough to give her the space she needs while she figures her own head out, and that means letting her use him sometimes.

This was definitely the strongest book in the trilogy. There's no real suspense sub-plot to detract from the deeply emotional plot. The focus is squarely on Jane and her romance with Chase. I didn't like Jane, she was definitely too tough and broken for me to want to befriend her, but she was a fully-formed character and I enjoyed reading about her redemption all the same.

[nickeemattos_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wickedly delightful are the first words that come to mind when reading Victoria Dahl. And that means ANYTHING by Dahl. Her Tumble Creek series cuts straight to the chase, with vividly quirky contemporary characters that might appear to live hum-drum lives but in actuality are anything but. Their personalities will stay long in your mind after the novel is done, or at least till you pick it up-which I am betting not long after you read it the first time. Lead Me On is the sauciest of the three (out of Start Me Up and Talk Me Down) simply because Jane Morgan is hilariously such a compelling character. What reader wouldn’t identify with an uptight office manager who secretly yeans for a muscle-clad, inked beefcake in construction boots yet purposely dates staid conservative accountants. In fact her long line of extremely boring boyfriends is driving her crazy. The best fun of Lead Me On is seeing this hilarious character come crashing straight into her desires (try as she might to fight them) and into the arms of hot and hunky (and yes, very tattooed) Billy Chase a delicious demolitions expert. One of the prevalent themes throughout Dahl’s books is that of being true to yourself and this is something readers will identify with. Coupled with the ready humor, steamy scenes, and genuine character building makes Lead Me On a fantastic read. Dahl takes the reader on a journey of self-discovery, as her characters come to terms with who they are. Jane has a lot of issues to resolve regarding her past, her family, and a jail-bound brother-not the least of is that Billy Chase is definitely giving her a run for her money. And what more can I say but that dynamite is not the only thing exploding between the Billy and Jane. By the time you finish the book, readers will be fanning themselves. Please do yourself a favor and read the book in front of the a/c!Just count me in on the Victoria Dahl bandwagon!