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bottleblondebookworm's reviews
872 reviews
The Mistress Experience by Scarlett Peckham
4.0
Can an earl and a courtesan make a relationship last?
Thais sells a month of her talents in order to raise money for creating a school for women. Eden, using a proxy for anonymity, wins the bid and asks Thais to teach him the art of seduction and bed sport as he plans to find a wife. They spend a month in the country together learning all of each other’s innermost desires and dreams, but return to cold reality and London alone.
Thais is such a fun character. She comes off as a bit immature at times, but it’s somehow charming and fits well with her backstory. Eden is obsessed with perfection which leads to some issues in the bedroom and in initiating the relationship with Thais. However, Thais is patient and able to very compassionately understand what Eden needs to move forward. Thais desperately wants a family of her own, and she’s done being a courtesan. Eden is ready for a family but his position means he can’t eschew societies rules and must marry someone of equal station, ie not Thais. How will this work?! I won’t lie, I was worried and aggravated with Eden’s choices given his progressive leanings, but I understood both sides of the coin here, and thankfully, he comes to his senses! I did feel the ending was slightly rushed, but honestly, I maybe just didn’t want it to end. I think I would have liked more of an epilogue, say with Thais finally having a baby of her own, but the epilogue was emotionally satisfying nonetheless.
Thanks to the publisher for the complimentary arc. All opinions are my own.
Thais sells a month of her talents in order to raise money for creating a school for women. Eden, using a proxy for anonymity, wins the bid and asks Thais to teach him the art of seduction and bed sport as he plans to find a wife. They spend a month in the country together learning all of each other’s innermost desires and dreams, but return to cold reality and London alone.
Thais is such a fun character. She comes off as a bit immature at times, but it’s somehow charming and fits well with her backstory. Eden is obsessed with perfection which leads to some issues in the bedroom and in initiating the relationship with Thais. However, Thais is patient and able to very compassionately understand what Eden needs to move forward. Thais desperately wants a family of her own, and she’s done being a courtesan. Eden is ready for a family but his position means he can’t eschew societies rules and must marry someone of equal station, ie not Thais. How will this work?! I won’t lie, I was worried and aggravated with Eden’s choices given his progressive leanings, but I understood both sides of the coin here, and thankfully, he comes to his senses! I did feel the ending was slightly rushed, but honestly, I maybe just didn’t want it to end. I think I would have liked more of an epilogue, say with Thais finally having a baby of her own, but the epilogue was emotionally satisfying nonetheless.
Thanks to the publisher for the complimentary arc. All opinions are my own.
No Ordinary Duchess by Elizabeth Hoyt
4.75
Elizabeth Hoyt is a staple of the histrom community. That being said, this is only the third book of hers that I’ve read, the first two being from her very well known Maiden Lane series. I was immediately hooked upon starting Nor Ordinary Duchess. I haven’t read the first two books in this series which focus on the two MCs siblings and their stories, so I was a bit lost on some of the finer details and relationships but that didn’t stop me from enjoying plot. I honestly loved this book, and I didn’t want it to end. I read this in almost one sitting, it was that good!
Elspeth is a fun, independent FMC, while Julien is a cold, hurting, independent MMC. We have a typical grumpy/sunshine and enemies to lovers tropes going, but we also get some light femme dom that throws the typical histrom dynamics on its head. I wish this had been explored a bit more, especially towards the end as things are revealed, but it was still done well and obviously was steamy as you’d expect from Hoyt! There is conflict within the MCs two families due to an incident in the past as well as plot points for each MC separately that all work to challenge their relationship. More specifically, there’s an evil Duke (Julien’s uncle) who has made Julien and his siblings lives horrible. The ending did feel rushed, and I’m assuming there will be more books coming to this series as there were plot points left unresolved, but I still thoroughly enjoyed Hoyt’s newest novel. I’ve purchased the first two books in the series and plan to read them soon because I was not ready to say goodbye to this world just yet!
Thanks to the publisher for the complimentary arc. All opinions are my own.
Elspeth is a fun, independent FMC, while Julien is a cold, hurting, independent MMC. We have a typical grumpy/sunshine and enemies to lovers tropes going, but we also get some light femme dom that throws the typical histrom dynamics on its head. I wish this had been explored a bit more, especially towards the end as things are revealed, but it was still done well and obviously was steamy as you’d expect from Hoyt! There is conflict within the MCs two families due to an incident in the past as well as plot points for each MC separately that all work to challenge their relationship. More specifically, there’s an evil Duke (Julien’s uncle) who has made Julien and his siblings lives horrible. The ending did feel rushed, and I’m assuming there will be more books coming to this series as there were plot points left unresolved, but I still thoroughly enjoyed Hoyt’s newest novel. I’ve purchased the first two books in the series and plan to read them soon because I was not ready to say goodbye to this world just yet!
Thanks to the publisher for the complimentary arc. All opinions are my own.