Customer Reviews

Gentlemen Behaving Badly (Pleasure Emporium Novels)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What could have been a really interesting book became bothersome thanks to the interaction between the hero and heroine. I wondered that they even liked each other much less loved one another.

Mina works at the Pleasure Emporium, a high class bordello. She writes erotic letters to customers hoping that her naughty words will bring in more clients to the brothel. She is no courtesan though instead she views herself as plain compared to the working girls.

Her objective besides luring in aristocrats with her purple prose is to ferret out the man responsible for sending her beloved father to a penal colony in Australia. Her father was a jeweler accused of thievery. Mina knows an aristocrat was responsible for the crime. She believes she has found the culprit through her correspondence of explicit letters with a brothel customer.

Constable Salter Lambrick is investigating the death of a city official when he discovers Mina's letter at the man's house. This leads him to Mina and he is smitten with the saucy young woman.

Salter is kind to her and reassures her that he will help her in her quest to vindicate her father but she is a bit stubborn and insistent that she will investigate too. Mina is mercurial with Salter, one minute she is affectionate the next angry and at times even enraged.

I liked Salter at first but toward the end of the book his deceptions and lack of insight were hard to forgive. Mina had every right to be angry at Salter in the later chapters of this novel but certainly not in the beginning of this story.

Even though this book is set in a brothel the lovemaking is very tame. It was a bit strange as Mina loves erotica but this facet of her personality was never really explored with Salter.

Mina Halliday has quite a way with words and she uses her naughty talents as a source of income after her father is arrested and sent to Australia. She uses her job as a letter writer at the Pleasure Emporium to try and lure certain men to the bordello where she will have her courtesan friends try and sex any pertinent information out of them. One such naughty letter lands in the hands of Constable Salter Lambrick and since it's the only clue in a high profile murder case, he goes undercover and infiltrates the Pleasure Emporium to find the naughty vixen who may or may not be a murder suspect. Instead he finds plain ol Mina and discovers that their two investigations may be connected. They try to work out a partnership and along the way Mina falls in love. If only Salter was free to return her love....

Well, first off. Michelle Marcos makes no attempt for historical accuracy. No attempt. None whatsoever. Nada. Zilch.

This book starts off pretty sexy, but it's all a big tease and our H/H don't make love until the very end of the book. It's a pretty humorous book and I enjoyed it but I don't understand why the author didn't place this story within the Victorian era. It would have made more sense with the historical accuracy but whatever. I'm actually not that big of a stickler for historical accuracy but still. It would have been nice if the author had made somewhat of an attempt. At times I thought I was reading contemporary romantic suspense. Sheesh.

Salter was a fun guy. He's kind of dense but he was a sexy character. I also thought he was an incredible a**hole. If he wasn't free he should have said something. Jerk. He also shoots at his ladylove. He honest to God aims a pistol at Mina and shoots at her. Of couse he's not aiming to kill but if I remember my gun history those pistols during that time era (1813) were notoriously inaccurate. Most times people would just aim in a general direction and hope for the best. When I read that part my jaw dropped and I thought, "that son of a b*tch just shot at her!"

Mina was a nice character. She was a little mousy but she had her moments of brilliance. I loved her naughty predilection for erotica. I also love her name. I think Mina is such a naughty, bad girl name. There was a part early on in this story, when I was about done with this book, when some guy makes a completely thoughtless and incredibly cruel remark about Mina and after that I had to keep pressing on in the hopes that she would get her HEA.

This story wasn't bad. It was actually pretty good. I enjoyed the mystery and Salter's and Mina's attempts to find the villain. When our hero isn't firing pistols at his heroine and our heroine isn't sucker punching her hero, I really liked this book. I kept going back and forth from despising it to liking it. Whenever I wanted to toss this book aside, I would at first look at the cover and stare at the male model for a while and then I would forget why I was mad and continue reading. Hehe. Try it and see if it works for you.

I thought the heroine would be really interesting--feisty plain girl gets the hot guy. Instead, we're constantly reminded of the heroine's insecurities. She has very low self-esteem. She can't get over it. She doesn't grow much as a person. There is a lot of self-pity. For being so "intelligent" the heroine is a moron.

There are two other problems: historical inaccuracies & the author's guilt over sex scenes. I can get over inaccuracies if it helps move the plot along. But in Marcos's case it's mostly gratuitous. And about the sex: "love scenes" in a book don't have to be lurid and detailed. But timing is important. In this book it feels unnatural, like the author is shoving out a sex scene in the end of the book cause it's a requirement of the publisher.

But . . . Marcos is a good writer with a lot of natural talent. Her first book was fabulous. While all of the above distract greatly from a good story and a lot of well written humor, it's still better than a lot of other books. So I'll be patient with Marcos and keep an eye out for her books. However, I'll hesitate before buying.

Dictionaries are our friends. Too bad the author was in too much of a hurry to use one--some of us actually do read and understand English; there is no excuse for the number of words misused in this book (e.g., Madame, prevaricate, needled--just within the first 10 pages).

Also, this takes place during the Regency yet "King George" is mentioned as ruling when it was actually his son the Prince Regent who ruled during this time. And there were no "Chief Constables" until later, and the phrase "cut to the chase" dates from the 1920s but is used in this book.

Obvious errors like these really detract from the story

Out of desperation Mina Haliday accepted employment at a notorious bordello but not being of notable beauty she isn't expected to service the clients. Instead she serves drinks in the bar and uses her vivid imagination and collection of erotica novels to compose letters to noblemen in order to lure them to the Pleasure Emporium.

Mina's naughty correspondence is successful in enticing wealthy noblemen into the bordello for a night of illicit entertainment. However, her true goal is to find the man responsible for her father wrongfully being branded a criminal and deported to Australia's penal colony. She just hadn't anticipated her suggestive letters bringing her to the attention of the Chief Constable who's investigating the murder of a government official.

Chief Constable Salter Lambrick has a murderer to catch. Since the victim was strangled with a leather whip and a suggestive invitation was found in his pocket it's a distinct possibility that a trip to the bordello may provide the answers he seeks. What he gets instead are more questions. He quickly realizes that there's more to these missives than meets the eye. The young woman responsible is one of the most fascinating creatures he's ever met.

As Salter investigates Mina and just how she knows Lord Prescott he discovers that there's more to her letter writing then simply luring wealthy noblemen to the Pleasure Emporium. In her bid to prove her father's innocence she's inadvertently become a liability in Salter's murder investigation. The more time they spend together, the more complicated things become and it's soon obvious that her father's situation and the murder are somehow linked, but how and why?

I was pleasantly surprised by just how charming I found the storyline and characters in GENTLEMEN BEHAVING BADLY. Salter and Mina play off each other beautifully. They're both wrapped up in solving their own cases and certainly didn't expect to fall for each other. I loved the scenes that take place inside the bordello. Each scene is suggestively hot without being lurid. Michelle Marcos infuses plenty of humor and suspense into this historical tale which readers won't want to put down.

GENTLEMEN BEHAVING BADLY is the first book in Ms. Marcos's PLEASURE EMPORIUM trilogy. The first book, WHEN A LADY MISBEHAVES was released in October 2007. Hopefully readers won't have to wait too long for the last book, WICKEDLY AFTER EVER!

Chrissy Dionne (courtesy of Romance Junkies)

I like this new author and pre-ordered this book, attempted to read it months ago and this week I finally finished it. It was Ok; glad I finished it not so much because of the book but that it bothered me that hadn't finish it.

This is the storyline Mina Halliday works in the Pleasure Emporium as writer. She sent letters to potential visitors. One of her letters was found at a scene of a murder. The investigator looks into Mina's involvement and they start working the case together. In the end I hated Mina's character. I wish I like this book more - will read more by this author - not ready to give up yet!

Check out her earlier book; When A Lady Misbehaves (Pleasure Emporium).

I find it disturbing that in one section of the book the heroine hits the hero (really hard!) on the head with a book, and also in the abdomen with a big wooden plank. His response is to throw her in the water (she doesn't know how to swim) and then fire a pistol at her (not once, but twice!). After this he handcuffs her and then has her sleep on the floor of his bedroom in wet and dirty clothes. Is this supposed to be a playful tussle between H and H? Maybe I am supposed to be impressed that he is such a masterful shot that he fired on either side of her hips and never hit her. Or maybe he is demonstrating affection by letting her eat his meat pie before lying on the floor in wet clothes all night? Definitely not my idea of admirable behavior on either the hero or heroine's part. I read a lot of romance novels, I can't remember one where the hero shoots a gun on purpose at the heroine! Lame!

Mina Halliday's father has been unfairly accused and convicted of stealing jewels that had been brought into his shop. He is sent to Australia, and Mina will do anything to win his freedom. With nowhere else to go, she takes a job at The Pleasure Emporium as a barmaid. She also uses her writing skills to pen letters to possible customers, enticing them to visit the bordello.

She hopes those writing skills will also help her catch the person who framed her father. Mina has some suspects in mind, and she's sending them letters. Now all she has to do is wait for them to show up, so she can investigate.

Chief Constable Salter Lambrick has a murder to solve. Someone has done in Lord Rodrick Prescott and one of the clues is an erotic letter found in Prescott's pocket. When Lambrick follows that lead he finds himself at The Pleasure Emporium, and quickly discovers Mina as its author.

When he discovers her real reasons for seeking our Lord Prescott he tells her to stay out of his investigation. But Mina is determined to find the man responsible for her father's incarceration. And Salter is determined to find a killer. Can the two of them go about obtaining their separate goals and not cross paths, or fall in love?

Gentlemen Behaving Badly started out with a bang. I found Mina's character to be likable, and more than a little naïve. Her determination to free her father endeared her to me, and I liked the fact that she didn't back down from a challenge.

Salter is a lawman resolved to finding the truth. I found him to be a great hero, at first, and then he shot a gun at Mina while she was in the Thames, then bound her wrists and made her walk behind his horse through the streets of London. That killed his character for me. Even if he wasn't aiming at her, only near her, it still put her in danger, and his hero status flew out the window.

The resolution of the book was enjoyable, but I'm afraid Salter never quite recovered in my eyes. This is the second book in the Pleasure Emporium Series. Although the book is set partially in a bordello, the sex is light. But Mina's battle as she fights against her self-image and works to free her father make the book heavy on the emotional side and made me want to finish it.

Readers who enjoy a little mystery with their romance, and who don't mind a flawed hero, will enjoy Gentlemen Behaving Badly.

Amelia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

This book was even better than I'd hoped. It's funny, it's passionate, it's sexy and it's completely unique. This is the best historical romance I have read in a long, long time. Just wanted to say how much I loved it.

Her father was arrested for a crime that Mina Halliday knows he did not commit; his jewelry shop taken from him and his family. While he lingers in ruin in prison, Mina went to the Pleasure Emporium seeking employment although she lacked the beauty and skills of the ladies. However, Madam Finch, the tall owner, hires her to serve drinks and to lure men with her sensual letters. Mina also hops to find the aristocratic miscreant who framed her father.

Chief Constable Salter Lambrick investigates a homicide of a government official. His only clue is the sexy letter he found inside the victim's pocket. Salter goes to the Pleasure Emporium to interrogate the authoress, but finds a strange intriguing mystery there. The writer is obvious a woman of innocence serving drinks at the brothel's bar. He finds her pretty and intelligent; a lethal combo for the detective who agrees to help her uncover the villain who destroyed her family.

The second Regency Pleasure Emporium brothel tale (see WHEN A LADY MISBEHAVES) stars a charming "bad girl" whose wickedness is to write sensual letters enticing the male Ton to come to the bordello. The story line is fast-paced and filled with mystery, suspense and romance. Fans will relish the strong lead couple pairing and the antics of the support cast especially those inside the brothel. Although somewhat similar in tone to the first unique entry, sub-genre readers will enjoy this engaging tale of love inside a house of ill repute.

Harriet Klausner