Customer Reviews

A Lady's Pleasure

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A warning that perhaps you shouldn't read this in public if your prone to blush, giggle or break out into a sweat by reading explicit and *inventive* love scenes.

Drake, the Duke of Sussex is out for revenge for the death of his adulterous wife and Merriam, the shy plain faced widow is caught in the middle of the his scheme unwittingly. She mistakenly seduces him at a masked ball in which she determined to bring another rake to his knees (literally) and leave him hanging with her new found sexual confidence. So it is the Duke she seduces and later is unable to resist the tension between them and becomes his mistress. But what will happen when the Duke discovers that he has lost heart to the one women he was wrong about and betrayed?

This is ONE HOT BOOK! I'm pretty jaded when it comes to love scenes. Most historical romances contain the same 'scenes' at nauseum, but not here! I've never read a book with SO MANY love scenes and they were well written too. Unfortunately, I feel that the 'romance' part suffered a bit because of this. You really don't feel the emotional side of the characters, rather its more of a primative or lusting-type love. There is essentially no buildup since the encounters are so frequent and start VERY early in the book. Its a different approach to writing (although not neccessarily worse), but it lead me to care less for the characters than if the tension was strung-out a bit.

I know this is Bernards first work and I have to commend her on her bold statement, but I have to mention a few irritating points. I agree with another reviewer, the description of time period (regency? victorian?) is sorely lacking. Sometimes the writing was jumpy (a fault of the editors) and I found scenes abruptly ending and new ones begining practically within the same paragraph. And the repetition of 'Oh my! and 'Your incorrigible' was annoying.

That being said, I really did enjoy the book and I have hopes that Bernard will improve in her next novel (how can anyone resist a book about a Madames Deception?)

So if you like lots of explicit love scenes (Kleypas and Jeffries watch out!) with two likeable characters and don't mind the lack of emotional build-up and the decidedly weak revenge plot, this ones for you.

A steamy debut novel and a new voice in erotic romance, 'A Lady's Pleasure` is a breathtaking story of mistaken identity.

The hero of this tale, Drake, is back in Town from a self-inflicted exile to seek revenge on his wife's supposed murderer and lover, Lord Westleigh. Once best friends, each is out to ruin the other.

Merriam, the once meek little mouse is also set on revenge against Lord Westleigh for calling her a "whey-faced widow". Her plan: get him hot and bothered then leave him wanting more. Things don't go as planned when Drake is the one she inadvertantly seduces instead.

What follows is some explicit and creative love scenes that will leave you breathless. Merriam and Drake were insatiable, but because the scenes were so well written and different I didn't skim a single one.

There is also hero-jealousy as Drake intends to use Merriam as 'bait` to lure Julian, Lord Westleigh into his web.

**The mystery gets tied up rather quickly in the last two chapters but the rest of the book was so good it is hard to mark off for that.

First the positives--the writing flowed well, the characters fleshed out nicely, and the sex scenes leaped off the page. HOWEVER, the author has no business writing historical fiction with NO (I mean none, zilch, zip) knowledge of the era in which she sets her book. Well, actually, my first quibble is I'm not exactly sure when this novel is supposed to be set, because the author gives the reader no overt context. Let's just say it's "ye merry ol' England."

I do not profess to be an expert of "ye merry ol' England," but after years of reading romance I do know one thing--an earl would never be introduced as a plain mister (see page 49). Although this is not the first naming error, it's the most egregious. Normally, I'm not a stickler for this sort of thing. Actually, anachronisms fly right by me most of the time, but errors as blatent as those in this book kept pulling me out of the story.

Also, the story contained continuity problems. For example, the story starts off with the heroine not knowing the identity of the hero. Then, he gives her his card (which should have his name on it), but even after seeing the card she asks the hero who he is. BEFORE he tells her, she calls him "my grace." Huh? Do you know him or not?

For the most part, I'm going to chalk the problems in this book up to atrocious editting and recommend that Pocket retrain whoever allowed this book to go to print as is. My recommendation for the reader: wait to buy Bernard's next book and hope that the writing stays consistent and the editting improves.

I really wanted to like this book. It's definitely readable, but the characters were somewhat flat. The best characterization was done on Julian, the villain. Also, I couldn't believe that Merriam would indulge in the kind of sex that she indulged in with Drake then continue to say, "Oh my!" every time she had an orgasm and remain so...child-like throughout the book.

Perhaps I shouldn't have read this book right after Elizabeth Hoyt's "The Raven Prince" which will put many books in the shade this season.

Drake Sotherton, the Duke of Sussex leaves England years ago under suspicion of the murder of his wife and returns as the "Deadly Duke." His best friend, Julian Clay, the Earl of Westleigh, who seems to have been involved in some way with his ex-wife's death and also was the main accuser of pointing to Drake as her murderer, are involved again in a struggle over a woman. This time it is Merriam Everett, a plain widow, who overhears Julian make a comment about her being a "whey-faced widow." She seeks the guidance of a famous courtesan and changes herself into a luring beauty in order to attend a masquerade ball and lure Julian into a evening of unforgettable sex and then leave him wanting. A change of costumes and mistaken identity cause Merriam instead to have an evening of passion with Drake, who has no idea about Merriam's plan, and wants nothing more then to find this sexy beauty after this unforgettable evening of intense pleasure. He discovers there is some connection with her to Julian and takes the wrong meaning of the connection and decides to take her as a mistress and use her as a means for revenge. Merriam agrees only because she is drawn to Drake, not knowing what is going on around her and that danger is building. As the eroctism and danger increases, the mystery unfolds to an intense and surprise ending. Renee Bernard's story and character development and ability to create a well-developed story around well-written, passionate, erotic sex scenes is perfection. This story has the main ingredient for intense passion - vengeance. A truly pleasurable read and a book difficult to put down. I am looking forward to many more erotic historicals by Renee Bernard.

I bought this book based on the customer reviews which are normally reliable. I am fond of explicit erotica/romance so I was looking forward to it. What a disappointment. This book is so badly written it is actually amusing. One lurid phrase comes comes after another so much so that it is totally unbelievable. The author obviously did no research into the period at all and it really shows. When describing a card game she goes into no detail about how the parties are playing. The hero and heroine engage in sex acts from the beginning. I have absolutely no problem with that but it does help to describe the hero so the reader has some idea about what he looks, sounds, smells like and that isn't done. I am so sick of writers referring to 'shafts'. There are plenty of other terms that can be used. What finally did me in was the constant reference to Drake's (the heros??) sperm as 'creme'. That term would be apt if Ms Bernard was describing the 'creme' that you put in coffee but the French do not use this term to describe sperm. If you want to read decent historical erotica, I suggest you try Lauren Holly, Cheryl Holt for really explicit stuff and Sabrina Jeffries, Kat Martin and Lisa Kleypas for less explicit but very erotic stuff. All writers have RESEARCHED their period AND THEY CAN ACTUALLY WRITE DIALOGUE to build up character which Ms Bernard didn't do in this book. The best of these are Lauren Holly's - she has written 2 historial novels to date and they are incredibly well researched and dense so that when the sex shows up (and it does very frequently) it is much more rewarding and real because you have a clear idea of the characters. This is the only book I had to put down because I simply had to give up reading it.

I have a friend who knows the author and highly recommended this (her debut) and the rest of the series. I am pretty picky but I like to give new authors a try. And I was pleasantly surprised.
Like everyone has said...it is VERY steamy! I am used to such love scenes but not so many in one book. Not that I am complaining ;-)
Although her story isn't as captivating as Judith McNaught, Lisa Kleypas, or Julia Quinn (my all time favs), it was very entertaining AND, most importantly, it was unique. I LOVE regency romance and it is hard to find any new plots. But the story of one daring night and how Merriam thought to tease one man but thoroughly seduced another was ingenious and amusing. Ms. Bernard's writing was such that I pictured myself in Merriam's position and could feel what she was feeling: shock, embarrassment, humiliation, fear, etc. And I was also so proud of how she gradually learned to stand up for herself and have self confidence after years of being degraded.
Both characters were very well written, although Drake is a bit meloncholy for me...very Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre (another fav of mine) and their romance and passion was well written.
The only real complaint I have is that the 2nd characters were a bit confusing. I kept mixing up Drake's best friend and the other prominant male character (forgetting his name). Also, the relationship between Drake and his "evil" ex-best friend is never really explained as well as I would have liked. I can't imagine being great friends with someone who tries to steal everything I have?
I have bought Ms. Bernard's next 2 books in this series and greatly look forward to beginning book #2. Ya! for a new regency author to add to my collection!

It is hard to put a finger on it, but this book had a problem with the characters. It was a stretch that such a conformist like Merriam could just jump into furious sex with this guy like she had no control whatsover, even if she did want to shed her image of "Merriam the Mouse." The love scenes were hot, I will give you that, but somehow I wanted more from these people. I wanted Merriam in the end to make him grovel a bit, and woo her before convincing her to marry him. Instead she says yes, right away. I also agree with the others observing her lack of knowledge of the time period. It did hold my interest to the end, thus the three star rating.

This novel was just scrumptious. I loved it! It was hot too. Someone hand me an Aquafina.
Merriam Everett is shy and unassuming, but decides to go for one adventure and seduces the enemy of the man that once jilted her. That man is Drake Sotherton. He's returned to avenge himself and he gets distracted by an encounter with Merriam.
They find each other again and strike a deal to discover and explore the passion between them. There is a mystery in this story, but I hardly paid it any attention because of the sensual and fiery relationship developing between Merriam and Drake. You just start reading and focus on them, they are so hot together and so vivid. If a spicy, erotic romance is what you are looking for then read this book, but make sure you have a cold glass of water near, you are going to need it. ;D

I couldn't actually believe I've read A Lady's Pleasure until the end! Actually I believe it because:
- I don't have a lot of money to spend on books so I read what I buy
- I kept hoping the hero would become less menacing once a hint of feelings would be inserted into the plot
- Usually I like the hero once his bad/icy/mistrustful character is justified but in this case it was hard even to manage pity
- I kept hoping the sex scenes' lack of feeling will be remedied (I mean, the first scene, when they didn't know each other, was warmer than the rest)
The reviews promise something hot, testing the border of what's allowed in mainstream romance, blah blah. That is correct only if you judge it sex-scene-by-the-numbers kind of way, because while the acrobatics were different, the chemistry... well.. there was none. She kept thinking there's attraction but that's at best one-sided... There are authors out there who, using words, could turn the missionary into the ultimate sensual adventure or could at least plot more skillfully around the standard wallpaper plot: "bored spinster looking for an adventure/revenge/etc meets very-soon-to-be-reformed hard/bad/cruel rake whose comportment is excused in the last chapter by the death of someone dear" and this is why Renee Bernard was not a rewarding read. And because the hero is cold.