September 13, 2010
A scorned husband finds love in the arms of an elegant courtesan in this passionate and touching Regency. Respectable country gentlewoman Rose Marlowe supports her brother and repays her dead father's substantial debts by working seven sensual nights a month in an exclusive brothel. Wealthy merchant James Archer, locked into a terrible marriage as the price of his younger sister's entry into high society, seeks satisfaction in her arms. As their seven nights speed by, Collins (Her Ladyship's Companion) builds a skillful and sensitive portrait of their journey to passion and love. James's villainous wife is shallowly portrayed, but his surprisingly mature sister, Rebecca, and, especially, the bisexual prostitute Timothy Ashton, Rose's close friend, deserve their own turns in the spotlight. Though the setting is not particularly specific or rich in period detail, the sizzling central romance is exceptionally good and will entirely satisfy fans of sensual historicals.
October 15, 2010
In her second novel after Her Ladyships Companion (2009), Collins uses the conventions of the Regency genre to bring together two exploited people. After her father dies, leaving her with a mound of debt, a younger brother, and no marketable skills, Rose Marlowe goes to London one week a month to work as a prostitute at an exclusive brothel. Pushed into a loveless marriage by his father, who uses him to get connections to the peerage, James Archer succumbs to visiting a brothel and meets Rose. Without sparing them or the reader all of the roadblocks in their way, Collins traces their relationship from the awkward first meetings to their sense that they were meant to be together. Rose and James, however, are nothing if not realistic and practical. Collins adeptly makes readers not only like the lovers, but also feel sympathetic about their plight, while using gentle erotica to spice their ultimately satisfying courtship.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)