The History of Modern Tempted

I'm delighted to welcome you back, once more, to Modern Tempted Day, here on CLAficionado!  And am rather excited to inform you that the 18th of every month, here on in, will be designated as such.

This month's point of discussion is the history of this illustrious imprint.  Modern Tempted (or Harlequin KISS as it's called across the pond), is the revamp of RIVA, which was my favourite Mills & Boon imprint for about two years.  But to truly understand it's origins, we have to delve even further back in time... to Mills & Boon Temptation.

The very first Halequin/Mills & Boon Temptation book

Launched in February 1985, with LaVyrle Spencer's Spring Fancy, Mills & Boon Temptation heralded the mainstream rise of sensual romance for Mills & Boon.  Starting sensual and ending with downright saucy books in the 90s, the covers of Temptation started to move away from handdrawn images, towards more realistic depictions of characters before many of the other imprints.

In 2000 it was replaced by Sensual Romance, which in turn split, becoming Blaze in 2005.

This overhaul was echoed five years later when Mills & Boon Romance merged with Special Editions (which they'd bought from outside) to form the current Cherish line.  Those books in Romance that were highly sensual moved - along with the sexy Modern Heat books - into RIVA.

Since then, RIVA's become Modern Tempted, and the sexy, sassy books that I've been raving about for the last couple of months have become staples for any Mills & Boon fans.

In some ways for me, as someone who discovered Mills & Boon first through Temptation, it seems only right that everything's come full circle, and I am delighted to be hosting the Modern Tempted Day each month.  And I urge you to go try some for yourself.

So, as per usual, I present my reviews of this month's delightful offerings:

Mr (Not Quite) Perfect by Jessica Hart

After the Party by Jackie Braun

The Dance Off by Ally Blake

And Jennifer Rae's debut novel:  Confessions of a Bad Bridesmaid