The twenty-third book I finished in 2014 was The Taste of Innocence by Stephanie Laurens. I finished this book on 4/4/14. This is the 14th book in the Cynster family series by Laurens. Previous books in the series were discussed in earlier blog posts this year, specifically 2014 – Book #21, 2014 – Book #13, 2014 – Book #12, 2014 – Book #10, 2014 – Book #6, and 2014 – Book #4. I rated this book 3.25 stars out of a scale of 5. This book tells the story of Charlie Morwellan, brother to Alathea Morwellan from book #5 in the Cynster series. Charlie has decided that it is time for him to marry and he plans to go about it in the least passionate way possible. In his mind, passion leads only to distraction and will only harm him in the long run. Charlie believes that he needs to stay focused on the earldom and protecting his legacy.

So he decides to offer for the hand of his neighbor’s daughter, 23-year old Sarah Conningham. They have known each other their whole lives and Charlie believes they would be a good match. What Charlie doesn’t expect is to quickly become addicted to her kisses, addicted to what he believes is the taste of innocence but is in reality his addiction to Sarah herself.

I found this book a little difficult. Charlie is cold and unfeeling to Sarah for part of the story where he has to come to terms with his feelings. And while he does eventually come around, it was painful in parts to read. The back story was intriguing though. Sarah becomes the target of a villain who wants to own the orphanage she oversees and when she refuses to sell he basically tries to kill her so that he can buy it from Charlie.

While this was a good book it wasn’t my favorite in the series. Good addition to the series though and many of the previous characters were included in this story as well, which was interesting.

Link to author website: http://www.stephanielaurens.com/

Link to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Taste-Innocence-Cynster-Novels/dp/0060840870/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396888358&sr=8-1&keywords=the+taste+of+innocence