Flippin' Pages Book Reviews

Tracy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Scandalous Gentlemen of St. James, #5

Release Date: December 24, 2024

Needing some solitude, Oliver, Viscount Langdon, and heir to the Earl of Claybourne, has escaped to a private island off the coast of his family’s estate in Cornwall. Ever since he was involved in a railway accident, Oliver has suffered from nightmares and an inability to understand numbers, a disability that he has kept secret from everyone and is trying to come to terms with. Alone on the island, he can drink himself into oblivion and rage at the unfairness of it all. Tonight, a major storm has blown in and it fits his mood perfectly. When he goes out in the storm, he notices someone laying on the beach. Carefully, he brings the woman into his keep and realizes almost immediately who she is – Marlowe, London’s most infamous courtesan and exclusive mistress to the Earl of Hollingsworth, making her off limits. But time spent with Marlowe makes him want more and when he learns that her association with Hollingsworth is over, he will stop at nothing to make her his, but can he offer her what she truly wants?

Marlowe Tittering, known to all as simply “Marlowe”, never imagined she would be a courtesan, she grew up believing that she was the daughter of an earl and expected to marry well and have a family. But when her father disappeared, she and her mother learned the truth, her father was a fraud and left them with a mountain of debt. At first, she worked as a seamstress but was unable to earn enough money to support her mother and pay down her father’s debts. So, when the Earl of Hollingsworth made her an offer, she accepted and until now, she has never regretted that choice. Being Hollingsworth mistress helped her pay her father’s debts and gave her the means to pursue her true passion – ballooning. But when she learns from the papers that Hollingsworth is now engaged, she is upset and acts recklessly, by taking her balloon out with a storm on the horizon. Crashing into the ocean, she never dreamed she would wash up on the shores of the only man she has ever truly desired and the one man in London who seems immune to her charms. But there is much more to the viscount than she imagined and while she tries to save herself from heartache, she can’t help but wish for the impossible.

I have mixed feelings about this book, because while it is superbly written and has likable characters , I had a problem with Marlowe being someone’s mistress at the time of the story – not the fact that she was a mistress, just the fact that she was in a relationship with her protector while she was with Langdon and that he was friends with her protector. Later when they return to London and the situation changed, this became moot and I was better able to enjoy the book. Overall, this was a great story with lots of emotion, relatable characters, cameos from previous characters, understanding, secrets, compassion, steamy love scenes, some heartache and finally a very sweet ending complete with an epilogue. This is definitely not your typical, formulaic historical romance but is it certainly a book I would be happy to recommend. This is the fifth book in the series, but it almost reads like a spin-off and could easily be read as a standalone title.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *

The Painted Lady by Avery Sterling

Tracy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Standalone

Release Date: July 22, 2024

Delaney Harper sails to New Orleans eager to reunite with her mother, and receives one shock after another, starting with a passionate stolen kiss by a masked man and ending with learning that her mother is dead and owned a brothel, and it is now Delaney’s. Delaney’s passion is painting, so she plans to sell the brothel as soon as possible, and move on with her life. Unfortunately, the brothel is run down and needs to be fixed up before anyone would consider buying, which means Delaney is now a madame! Keeping her identity a secret shouldn’t be a problem as she uses the alias Madame Vanessa Cardui aka the Painted Lady, but when her masked stranger shows up, keeping her secrets and her heart intact might be a bigger problem than she anticipated!

Alderic Beaumont was once a French aristocrat and a corsair, but he is now a smuggler and partners with Nye Tarquin. While celebrating Nye’s marriage, Alderic crosses paths with Delaney and steals a kiss. Later he seeks her out and believes she is Vanessa, the new madame of the Bird House. They embark on an affair and Alderic falls hard for her and becomes her greatest ally, but when he learns that she isn’t who he thought she was, will his feelings change, or can they find their happily ever after?

This was not your run-of-the-mill historical romance; this book is well-written and has a fresh plot that I can honestly say I haven’t read before. I loved Delaney and Alderic, they are both survivors and despite the stigma of their professions, are extremely good people. You can’t help but root for their HEA! This book has a bit of everything, grief, taboos, secrets, great secondary characters, a really nasty villain, steamy love scenes and finally a hard-won HEA. As with the last book, I do wish there was an epilogue, as the author seems to draw out the final scene to the very last page and then ending the book rather abruptly. Overall, this was a good read, and it is loosely connected to the author’s previous book “Precious Burdens” but doesn’t seem to be part of a series. So, if you are looking for something a bit different that doesn’t follow the typical HR formula, I would recommend giving this story a try!

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *

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