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I selected this novel because of the gorgeous female cover model. She looks like a fairy princess and the pink and black and warm tones are just lovely. The big plus is this is how the heroine is described… well, I think it was an angel, but you get the point: lovely, blonde, kindhearted.

Moving on, the first half of the novel can be said in three sentences:

Grace Sheffey has been jilted twice, widowed once.

Michael Ranier has murdered twice, rescued once.

These two souls get together under a single lodging and share one passionate interlude.

The second half deals with the consequences. I found Love with a Perfect Scoundrel to be a fun, fast-paced romp filled with nutty characters, sensual situations, and many a marvelous moments. Some to me seems a little over the top, like a seventy-five thousand pound promissory note, but I will let you decide for yourselves.

I had a wonderful time reading the novel and I felt great when I finished. I haven’t read anything else by Sophia Nash, but I highly recommend her if her other novels are like this one.

Love with a Perfect Scoundrel is book three of the widow club.

Rating: 4 Stars

Buy: Love with the Perfect Scoundrel

Have you ever picked up a novel and about halfway through feel like there’s something you should know about it because it seems familiar? I thought I was going insane! I couldn’t remember the book, but I remembered the characters. I was certain I hadn’t read it before but how could I explain my knowledge of the main characters and the two of the side characters? Thank heavens I finally figured it out! Lady Sophia’s Lover is the second of the Bow Street Trilogy. The first is Someone to Watch Over Me. Where I recognized the characters was from the third Worth Any Price which follows the brother of the heroine in LSL. Nothing like solving a mystery to start off my day!

Sophia Sydney is out for revenge. She wants to destroy the man who sent her brother off to his death. Sophia is certain of her facts and equally certain of Sir Ross Cannon’s cruelty and guilt. It seems fortuitous when an ad to be his secretary appears in the papers. Taking it as a sign, Sophia appears in Cannon’s offices on Bow Street determined not to take no for an answer.

Ross is completely stunned by Sophia. Her very presence shatters his carefully constructed walls. He tries to regulate her into a housekeeping position instead of the secretary position. Her argument that he didn’t specify gender completely flummoxes him and before he knows it, Sophia is both his secretary and his housekeeper.

Sophia is equally dazzled. The fat, old, wig wearing man she expected is not there. The man she sees is not the man she pictured. Ross is distinguished, virile, and devastating. While Sophia is trying to gather evidence against Ross and his runners, she finds herself hopelessly drawn to him. Will love win out over vengeance?

Rating: 4 Stars

Buy: Lady Sophia’s Lover

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My Forbidden Desire starts with Harsh (from the first novel) and Alexandrine reconnecting. They are brother and sister. Alexandrine has been certain of Harsh’s death for years, she’s resentful for his sudden presence and insistence she needs protection from an evil mage… who just happens to be her real father.

Xia, a secondary character in My Wicked Enemy, is a newly freed fiend and the one charged with protecting Alexandrine. When Carolyn said she had refashioned bad boy Xia into a hero I knew I had to read his story! His intense hate, eagerness to kill, and desire to give out pain would be hard to overcome for any writer. Even more so when you planned to pair him up with someone who Xia considers his enemy, no matter how harmless. In my opinion, Carolyn has done a phenomenal job revealing the witch hater’s inner good qualities. Xia is very easily worth the price of the book.

Alexandrine Marit as a heroine is very likeable… despite being a witch. She possesses a great amount of unselfishness, though she has to work for it. The talisman she has found is putting a number on her similar to Golem’s reaction around the one ring in The Lord of the Rings. Her self-sacrifices pile up throughout the novel – if I were to list them it would seem ridiculous, but I assure it is not. Simply put it is quite the only way to prove her character to Xia.

It took me a while to get into this book. The first chapter or two was pretty rough. I started and stopped twice before finally overcoming the strangeness of the novel’s set up. As with Carolyn’s other novels, once you are involved in the story you simply can’t put it down!

Rating: 3 Stars

Buy: My Forbidden Desire

Choices Meant for Gods is a fantasy adventure romance, the first of three parts. Medieval overtones color the epic tale following a young twenty-year old heroine. Her name is Amanda Chariss. She has long auburn tresses, violet eyes, and holds the Geasa’n, the natural ability to perform magic. Chariss is an orphan, protected and raised by an old wizard named Hrazon.

For sixteen years, Hrazon and Chariss have been on the run from the sorcerer Jamieson Drake. Drake killed Chariss’ mother, Vertigo, and seeks to finish his revenge by obtaining her death as well. She does not trust stability in any form, for life has taught her it disappears in a blink of an eye. Hrazon has done his best to train his ward, but even a powerful wizard and protégé need help.

Meet Rothahn, the Master. He is the head god. His father before him selected Rothahn for the throne before moving aside. Rothahn however is far from holding ultimate power, a fact which annoys him as he thinks it would be useful… at least if only to kill off Godric, his daughter’s husband, and hid the blame.

Nigel, the twenty-eight year old man and our hero also holds the Geasa’n. He is Godric’s son, and Rothahn’s grandson. He, like Rothahn, holds no love for the man who sired him. Noble and kind, Nigel spends his time looking after his family and their holdings. When he meets our heroine for the first time he knows something is about to change in his life.

Julette is an evil goddess known as The Dragon. When her husband gave up the throne she was incensed that he would dare pass the power and glory to Rothahn. Was she not Queen? In league with Drake, Julette is determined to bring about a new world order that would have all mortals bow to her and pray for her deliverance.

Below are my two favorite passages between Chariss and Nigel as they discuss love:

“I fail to see how these simple things tell you you’re in love. Kaylin enjoys my company. Mia enjoys arguing with me. Master Rothahn says I’m compassionate to a fault. I saved Sorne’s life once. Jake told me I’m beautiful. Does this mean they’re all in love with me?”

“If love could be explained that easily, it wouldn’t be real.”

…

“Nigel, let me give you some advice. You don’t want to marry for love because people fall out of love, and then there’s nothing left between them.”

He stared at her in shock. “I believe that’s the most cynical statement I’ve ever heard in my life.”

Watch him break down her walls… sigh.

Rating: 4 Stars

Choices Meant for Gods

By: Marcia, guest reviewer

Grace Eversleigh has a problem.  She is in love with a highwayman and a Duke.  Neither is marriage material since socially the highwayman with beneath her and the Duke is well above her.  The fact that they are both the same man does not help her situation at all.

Grace is a woman from a good but undistinguished family who was thrown out her home after her parent’s death.  Her only possessions are her self-respect and good name.  Never one to miss a good opportunity, the dowager Duchess of Wyndham hired Grace as a companion.  Late one night while returning home from a local dance in the dowager’s elegant coach, she and Grace are held at gunpoint and robbed by a masked but charming highwayman.  The dowager insists that she knows his voice and is convinced that he is her grandson.  She gives him the ring off her finger as proof.  The next morning the Dowager, accompanied by several servants, kidnap the highwayman for the purpose of returning the dukedom to him.  Never mind that there is a current Duke of Wyndham who has been fulfilling these duties well for many years.

The ring is familiar to Jack Audley.  He has one just like it left to him by his father who drowned in a shipwreck off the coast of Ireland.  His mother survived the same shipwreck, but only lived long enough to give birth to him. Having been raised with love and laughter by his maternal aunt and uncle, Jack was told only that his father was from a good English family.

The underlying theme of this book is about being worthy…worthy of position and love.  For some readers today, this may seem a little farfetched.  After all, today we believe that an individual should go after what they want.  But in England, during the early 19^th century, this was not the case.  Duty to one’s family and county were foremost, as well as, knowing one’s place.  This social structure was supported by the prevailing religious belief that God did not intend for man to be happy. It will take tremendous courage for Jack and Grace to take a chance on their personal happiness.

Julia Quinn’s first novel about the Cavendish family is a winner, told with humor and wit.  This is a ‘feel good’ novel where all the characters, including the dowager, are sympathetic and their motivations are clear.  The story moves along smoothly with a tightly constructed plot.  It is a great book to read in summer on a sunny beach or wrapped in a blanket on a cold winter’s day.

Four Stars

Originally posted 2009-01-12 05:25:18. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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Walk in the Clouds is one of the sweetest love stories I have ever seen on the silver screen. I’ve fallen in love with the cast and characters as surely as I have fallen in love with Pride and Prejudice. The grandfather (Anthony Quinn) is by far my favorite; he’s got eyes in the back of his head. The man turns up every time poor Paul (Keanu Reeves) tries to run off and follow the plan he and Victoria (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón) hatched before arriving to her family’s vineyard. Who doesn’t love Anthony Quinn? Really? I want him to adopt me so I can be his granddaughter.

Walk in the Clouds is the name of the vineyard the Aragóns have cultivated and inhabited for generations. They are a proud set of Mexican descendants who have recipes that were in their family cookbook before Americans created their Constitution. Something Papa Aragón loves to rub Paul Sutton’s face in. Papa doesn’t believe this drifter is or could ever be the right man for his daughter, Victoria and tries to scare him off.

Leaving is exactly what Paul needs to do. His plans were to help Victoria by posing as her husband. They met on the train, and then on the bus, and then alongside the road to her family’s home. She tells Paul that her father is going to kill her – and he just might, for Victoria has a secret… she’s pregnant and the father deserted her when he found out.

The unfolding of love and devotion throughout Walk in the Clouds between the gorgeous Victoria and honest Paul will pull at your heartstrings. There are some decidedly sensual moments throughout the movie – when Victoria teaches Paul how to fan the grapes and when they’re both covered in grape juice from the harvest. Whew! If you have never seen Walk in the Clouds – you must! If you have reestablish your connection with this tremendously wonderful tale set around the end of World War Two.

Rating: 5 Stars

Originally posted 2009-01-10 05:09:49. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Minx by Julia Quinn is the third book in the Blydon Series, following Splendid and Dancing at Midnight.

William Dunford inherits a barony out in Cornwall. He also inherits an unexpected ward, not that he knows this when he arrives. Henry, his ward, is a spunky hoydenish tomboy with a plan. She’s going to convince London bred Dunford, the new Lord Stannage, that country living is not for him. While putting into place a series of cockamamie schemes to get rid of Dunford, Henry finds herself falling for his sweetness and kindness. Midway through the first act, they call a truce and form a friendship.

We learn as the novel progresses that Henry is embarrassed by her boyish behavior and dress off the farm. She frequently refers to herself as a freak. This rightly so, displeases Dunford immensely. In fact he’s so enraged by her self-deprecating nonsense that he forbids her to call herself that again. The midpoint of the book is where Dunford finds out that Henry is his ward and that all his lusty thoughts and behavior are completely out of the question.

The story takes a turn for the worst when he brings Henry to London for an Eliza Doolittle makeover. He plans to turn her into a lady, give her a dowry, and help her find a husband. The process makes him cranky, makes her feel even more insecure. Coupled with the unnecessary plot twist at the end with Dunford’s former mistress, the book fairly tanks. It held such promise too. The former mistress twist drags the book out beyond bearing and proves that Henry is the biggest obstacle to her happiness and that of Dunford’s. The poor man has had to put up with a lot.

Best thing about this book hands down is the pet name, Minx, given by the hero to the heroine. Minx is by far one of the most original pet names I’ve seen in literature or heard in real life. Very cute and fits the story perfectly.

The worst thing about the book was this phrase and its variations: “I’m Henrietta Barrett, but call me Henry; everybody else does.” Completely overused. Yuck. On top of that Henry is so boyish it’s hard to get behind. I much preferred Dunford’s further shortening of her name to Hen, sadly he only uses it a few times.

Rating: 4 Stars before the midpoint and 3 Stars by the end.

Originally posted 2009-01-03 11:49:49. Republished by Old Post Promoter

I took great pleasure in reading this novel. It wasn’t a typical romance though it held many of the typical pieces you would find in a romance. Atypical you ask? Yes! The heroine for instance was raised by the Dakota, or Native American Indians. She had to return to England to pursue the rest of her destiny and avenge her dead mother. The banter was particularly snappy between the leads. The sex too was pretty phenomenal on the scale of none to steamy. I read this in about a day and half; I would put it down and couldn’t wait to get back to it as soon as possible.

The cover on this novel is hysterical, at least my version which is pretty old. My sister-in-law picked it up thinking a boob was sticking out, flagrant nipples and all, but realized upon closer inspection that it was simply a circular diamond pin stuck to the front of the dress. To me the models look like they are wrapped up in a sleeping bag decorated in some ancient Regency pattern. For being raised by the Dakotas in America, she’s certainly pale, no sign of a tan at all – on the cover or in the book. I wonder why that is? Could it be because society would have been shocked down to their slippers and boots?

Christina Bennett is the crème de la crème. The moment her dainty foot hit the first ballroom, London society gasped and capitulated at her feet. She finds it silly and they call her Princess, even though her father has lost his kingdom, even though she’s never met her father in person. With pale white hair and the deepest sky blue eyes, Christina is a lioness. Her arrival to London was predicted by a shaman’s dream and her destiny was to seek out justice for the crimes against her and her mother.

Is it any wonder when she’s introduced to the Marquess of Lyonwood that she was shaken from her stupor? The man looked fierce and vulnerable at the same time. He held himself like a warrior and bore a warrior’s scar down his cheek. To Christina, he looked positively virile and masculine, a far cry of the fops and dandies she’d met again and again from ballroom to ballroom. He was like a lion too, lithe and predatory. When he pursues her, part of Christina wants to give in and part of her fears doing so because she could learn to love him… worse he could learn to love her and her stay with the English was only ever meant to be temporary.

With tempting kisses and secret trysts, Christina’s head swims with the heady sensations of newly experienced passion. She begs him to marry her in one unguarded moment and the scoundrel declines. Lyonwood sees her proposal as a sign of her scheming ways, not realizing that Christina’s eager passion is unrehearsed. He plans to seduce her not knowing that she’s virginal until it’s too late…

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Originally posted 2008-12-28 19:30:35. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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Seduce Me at Sunrise is darkly passionate, sensual, and utterly devastating. Kev is the type of hero that is pure indulgence. He’ll make your hips grow just looking at him… or should I say reading him. In summation he is fierce, broody, and desperately in love. Half Romany, half Irish, Kev was raised by his abusive uncle. The man turned him into a cruel heartless Romany warrior, hurting him emotionally and physically until everything soft inside him died… or so Kev thought. Left for dead by his clan and taken in by the Hathaways provides Kev with another chance. It’s unclear his exact age when this happens, I would say sometime between his teens and early twenties. While recovering under the Hathaways’ roof Kev notices Winnifred, young, delicate, and fragile. She is everything good and kind and gentle. In her presence the vicious side of him quietens. He decides to stay and in doing so changes his whole life.

Tragedy strikes the Hathaway a few short years later leaving the older siblings in charge of the younger ones. Fate takes a hand again when scarlet fever strikes two members of the family. One is Win. Both survive, but Win is left weakened. Two years of being weak and helpless watching others live life while she stays in bed incite Win to get herself better at all costs. She makes plans to go to France to a unorthodox clinic (they make you exercise gasp!) which Kev tries to stop from taking place. Win offers him a choice - tell her he loves her or she goes. He can not bring himself to say it, because if he did he could never refrain from claiming her… which he doesn’t want to do because he doesn’t think he’s good enough for her. Lots of circular logic, but there you go.

Win is at the age of spinsterhood upon her return from the clinic. She’s twenty-five if I remember correctly and more than ready to begin her life. She refuses to take anything for granted and plans to marry (Kev) and have children (his).

The emotional drive of this novel is completely fulfilling and can get you high on endorphins. For example:

When Win leaves to go to France she says to Kev:

“I am running after you, and life, in desperate pursuit. My dream is that someday you will both turn and let me catch you. That dream carries me through every night I long to tell you so many things, but I am not free yet I hope to be well enough someday to shock you again, with far more pleasing results.”

Or Kev when he finally declares himself:

“All the fires of hell could burn for a thousand years and it wouldn’t equal what I feel for you in one minute of the day. I love you so much there is no pleasure in it. Nothing but torment. Because if I could dilute what I feel for you to the millionth part, it would still be enough to kill you. And even if it drives me mad, I would rather see you live in the arms of that cold, soulless bastard than die in mine.”

Edward Cullen eat your heart out. Blissed out sigh.

And while some of the motivation is a little hard to grasp, it’s so good, you can’t help but be drawn in by the magic spell Kleypas weaves.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

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The classic story of Sleeping Beauty retold by Catherine Murdock in Princess Ben takes on a life of its own. When her father, mother, and uncle are brutally murdered under the orders of King Renaldo of Drachensbett, Benevolence is summoned by her aunt, the queen, to take her place as the heir to Montagne.

Ben is resentful of all the tortures Queen Sophie inflicts on her from classes in deportment and dancing to limiting her food in an effort to slim her figure. Ben has never been one of those silly princesses, who dined on air and compliments. She was plump and happy about it. She enjoyed her food and having it taken away is a terrible injustice!

After her latest punishment from Queen Sophie, Ben cried and raged and somehow stumbles upon a secret doorway. Behind the doorway is a stairwell, and the stairwell leads to a room. In the room there’s a book, a magic one, and in the dead of night Ben steals away and practices magic in secret. One spell creates a sleeping body double.

Prince Florian of Drachensbett, believes in destiny and true love… until he realizes that the sleeping girl who can not be woken from his prophecy is the sullen rotund Princess Ben. Despairing, Florian chooses to lead warriors against Montagne, but thoughts of war can’t block out Princess Ben. He dreams of her, as she dreams of him, much to his disgust because the girl in his dreams is nothing like the Princess Ben he met.

This book is weird to read as its first person omniscient. Queen Benevolence is recounting her tale to readers and at times it reads from young Ben’s point of view, but you get voiceovers from the present older Ben. I felt like I should believe the experiences were happening to a fifteen year old girl, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around it with the narrator voice being so much older.

Rating: 2.5 Stars

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I picked up Graceling because somebody said it was the next Twilight to get behind as Po and Katsa were a very hot couple. As far as I can tell Graceling is a stand alone and not the first in a series. It’s also rated for YA ages 14 and up, but I highly doubt some parents allowing their 14 or even 15 year old children to read this novel if they knew that the evil bad guy is a sexual pervert who mutilates young children (mostly girls) and animals. There is also sex in the novel, not something you usually see in a book that claims to be for young teens.

Mislabeling aside, I found the editing to be pretty off. There were lots of sentences that began with and, run-on sentences connected by well ands, and in general ignore rules of proper grammar. The diction fits into the young adult category. I wasn’t particularly challenged or inspired by it. The world building was excellent though and quite interesting.

Gracelings are identified by having two different colored eyes, like a cat. All those who are Graced with something useful (cooking over swimming for instance) stay with their king. The king then uses them as he sees fit. The heroine, Katsa, is Graced with Killing. Her eyes are blue and green and her Grace was revealed when a scummy sexual deviant tried to touch her intimately as a young girl. Nobody knew this except her and when he got too close - Katsa killed him.

Randa uses Katsa, his lady killer, to bully and inspire fear in all the land. Don’t you dare double cross him! Katsa is sick with being used like a rabid dog on a leash. In response to Randa and the rest of the six kings’ callus behavior, Katsa started the Council. It is comprised of people from all seven kingdoms, working together to act against the injustice they see. Rescuing Grandfather Tealiff is the catalyst for this story… one pebble becomes an avalanche as a mystery nobody knew existed reveals an king far more evil than the rest of the cruel kings combined.

Rating: 2 Stars.

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Because You’re Mine is a delicious, exquisite, and absorbing read. Absolutely delightful from start to finish. The pacing, diction, plot, and characters were all to my liking. There was nothing in the novel that drew me out of the reading experience. Honestly, I just couldn’t put it down. I have a love of all Kleypas novels. She is simply a fantastic author.

Madeline Matthews is in trouble, but not the trouble one would usually expect. No, most of society would say Madeline was not in trouble at all as she was on the verge of making a most excellent match. For Maddy however the upcoming nuptials was the kiss of death. Marriage to Lord Clifton (cue many a bad guy’s looks and smell) was tantamount to a gilded cage. He desired her only as his blue blood broodmare, a situation she could not endure. Explaining her feelings to her parents gained her nothing so Maddy hatched a plan that would in essence remove her as a possibility to be Lord Clifton’s wife.

The plan is nothing short of daring as Maddy escapes boarding school and travels to London with a crazy plan to throw herself at Logan Scott’s feet. Why him? She saw a print of his image and decided that he would be the one she would lose her virginity to… and her approach would be forward, because how else could a girl like herself gain the handsome actor’s attention?

Logan Scott is attracted and irritated with the young girl. He knows she is a well bred lady, and a young untouched one at that. He refuses to give into her bewitching charm and plea to take her to his bed. In fact he tries to immediately send her packing. Unfortunately for him he just won’t be able to help himself. A constant temptation, Maddy is underfoot all the time because the comanager of the Capital, the Duchess of Leeds, hires her to be an all around assistant for the theater.

Who will surrender first to the emotions brewing behind the curtains?

Rating: 5 Stars

This book was made out of 3 parts awesome.

Maggie’s mother ran off with her younger sister when Maggie was eight leaving Maggie in the care of her father. He was pretty awful and basically treated Maggie like the son he wished he had forcing Maggie to put all of her time and savings into his farm which basically was throwing it away. Now her father’s dead, but her upbringing has left her with some emotional scars. It doesn’t help to find out the man she thought she loved was screwing with the curvier and more feminine wife of another man.

She meets the hero in the midst of a rainstorm where he rescues her from her sad and sorry state. Concerned, Khalid watches as shock and possibly hypothermia takes over her system. He’s also furious thinking that her tragic state is due to a man hurting her sexually/physically. She denies that she was hurt – which is true at least in the ways that Khalid was mentally coming to a boil over. Her scars are far more mental. Now more than ever before Maggie is feeling inadequate. She’s not nearly feminine enough or enticing enough to attract a man, let alone capable of stirring love in the breast of anyone.

That night she seeks comfort in Khalid’s arms. He hesitates, mentally castrating himself over his undeniable need for this fragile female, because he doesn’t want to take advantage of the situation. Maggie notices the hesitation and it confirms her current muddled thoughts about all the ways in which she is lacking. She presses on and Khalid gives in making love to her.

He wakes to find her gone and his half-brother dead, making him Sheik. Unable to track down the elusive Maggie he heads back home to his country. When he finagles things so that Maggie comes to his country, an incident with a terrified horse almost immediately occurs. This of course leads to some medical tests and surprise, surprise, despite preventative measures Maggie is pregnant. Khalid reveals his identity and proposes marriage.

Will Maggie accept and if she does can she handle being a royal wife with a man who wants her body but not her heart? Will Khalid’s frozen heart melt in the heat of their shared passion? Can a marriage last when it was made purely for the convenience of raising a child?

Rating: 4.5 Stars

This story by Kleypas is an exciting adventure from start to finish. It all starts with a manhunt… or should I say a woman-hunt? Nick Gentry is looking for the wily Charlotte Howard. He has a small portrait of her in his pocket and his brother-in-law’s backing to get him into the Earl of Westcliff’s home where he’s tracked Charlotte. The Earl notices something fishy about the Viscount John Sydney and sets about unveiling the man’s secrets.

Meanwhile, John Sydney aka Nick Gentry, is prowling the premises for Charlotte and comes upon a young lady on top of a stone wall starring out across the grounds. Her foot is caught in her dress and Nick springs into action to save her… only to find the appealing woman in his arms is the very woman he’s been paid to track down.

Against all better judgment, Nick decides he can afford to stay and watch the lovely and lively Lottie. He comes to the startling conclusion that he wants her for himself and Lord Radnor can go hang before he’d ever bring to the obsessed creep a treasure such as her. Just as passion is sparking between Nick and Lottie, Westcliff pounces with the truth of Nick’s identity.

Frightened but determined, Lottie vows she will never go back to Lord Radnor. Westcliff offers to marry her to keep her away from Nick and provide protection, but Lottie turns him down. Instead she offers herself up to be Nick’s mistress which he refuses because he’d also rather have her as his wife…

I’m classifying this novel under virgin hero, not because Nick was a virgin in his relations to Lottie but because we see him lose his virginity to the Prostitute Gemma, well I suppose she was the Madam of the brothel.

This book would be rated higher, but I was a little disturbed by Radnor’s obsession with trying to break Charlotte as if she were a horse. I also didn’t like learning that her parents were okay with her being locked in a room alone with Radnor while he forced her to sit on his lap and answer to him while he touched her inappropriately… and while there was no full blown rape in the story, this qualifies to me as rape and is marked as such.

Luckily for readers Nick is a dominating force and dispels upsetting Radnor’s presence pretty easily. Oh and this is the first time I’ve seen a shower scene in a historical but Kleypas explains in her author notes why she included it based on her research. It’s solid so don’t let the idea of inaccuracy turn you away from reading this book.

Interesting term found within the prologue: buttock-and-file whore which is an old term for a street prostitute who was in connection with a pickpocket or also pickpocketed her customers. So you would pay, pay again involuntary, and perhaps gain a new venereal disease. Cool.

Rating: 4 Stars

By: Zarabeth, guest reviewer

This is a fantastic spinster story set in 1836 England. Our heroine, Amanda, is a 30-yr old spinster supporting herself as a novelist who has decided to do something for herself, for once in her life. As we well know a never-married 30 yr old woman is quite on the shelf, but this does not prevent her from having the same sexual needs as any other woman. So our heroine, and my heroine for this, hires a male prostitute for her 30^th birthday completely disregarding social conventions of virginity and premarital sex.

On her birthday a suitable man with an association to the escort service does appear on her doorstep and we assume that this is her prostitute. As the reader we are mortified to learn that this man is not a prostitute despite his sexual actions with our heroine. Later in the book Amanda and the not-prostitute Jack meet at a social/publishing event.

The story as a whole involves Jack doing everything he can to get Amanda back in bed and eventually convinces her to have an affair with him. I very much enjoyed the affair and the experiences of our main characters in public and in private (rating: 5). Once Amanda decides that the affair must end, things get pretty complicated and despair ensues. Months into this unfortunate depression we discover that Amanda is pregnant. Again, our never-married 30 yr old woman has just discovered that she is pregnant- this is a problem. Our Amanda must now decide whether to move to the continent or marry below her standards and whether or not to tell Jack about his child (rating: 4).

I call this a solid 4.5. There are 2 reasons that this review is not a full 5: there is some rear-entry stuff (gags and feels uncomfortable) and there is a bit too much time spent on inner-turmoil instead acts based on inner turmoil.

Rating: 4.5