Mistress By Marriage [Paperback]

Maggie Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2011

Lady Caroline Christie has been separated from her husband for five years. Their brief marriage was a disaster everywhere but in the bedroom. Baron Edward Christie was the most proper widower in the ton - and marrying the scandalous beauty was his one impulsive act. Yet before he puts Caroline out of his life, he must get her out of his blood. And the more he learns about her, the less he wants to let her go. Caroline was prepared to hear that her husband wanted to divorce her, spare them both the torture of passion they can neither tame nor escape. But his plan is more wicked than any she's ever heard. Life as his wife is suffocating. But she cannot resist becoming her own husband's mistress...

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Brava; Original edition (August 30, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758251033
• ISBN-13: 978-0758251039
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #864,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Maggie Robinson is a former teacher, library clerk and mother of four who woke up in the middle of the night, absolutely compelled to create the perfect man and use as many adverbs as possible doing so. A transplanted New Yorker, she lives with her not-quite perfect husband in Maine, where the cold winters are ideal for staying inside and writing hot historical romances.

The Courtesan Court series from Kensington Brava includes Mistress by Mistake (May 2010), Mistress by Midnight (January 2011), Mistress by Marriage (September 2011)and Master of Sin (April 2012).Lords of Passion(December 2010), an anthology with Virginia Henley and Kate Pearce, includes "Not Quite a Courtesan," a fun romp that also take place on Jane Street, the setting for the Courtesan Court books. "To Match a Thief" in the anthology Improper Gentlemen (August 2011)tells the tale of a most unlikely mistress and the man she masters.

Maggie's edgier alter ego Margaret Rowe's books are Tempting Eden from Berkley Heat (June 2010) and Any Wicked Thing (March 2011). Please visit the websites: http://www.maggierobinson.net and http://www.margaretrowe.net for excerpts, updates and contests!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3.5 stars, Sometimes love hurts a little too much, September 3, 2011

By 

Melissa (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mistress By Marriage (Paperback)

"We don't suit." This is a line uttered by both the leads about a marriage that was formed quickly and quite frankly without much forethought. The leads in this novel have very distinct personalities and very big flaws. Both of them really push each other's buttons and I was hard pressed to see who was the worst at goading the other into an argument.

Lady Caroline and Edward Christie have a simply terrible marriage. She has lived on a street well known as a lane for mistresses and she was put there by her husband five years earlier. Caroline and Edward see each other only one time a year and Edward's visit always culminates with the two of them in bed.

Edward has placed his wife away from him physically and emotionally. Edward was entranced with Caroline and he married her within weeks of meeting her, this was completely out of character for the conservative, thoughtful man. Their marriage was a catastrophe because Edward had unrealistic expectations of Caroline. For her part, Caroline knew she could never be as perfect as Edward's first wife. She was hoydenish with a terrible temper, little self control and lots of secrets.

Six years later Edward decides his wife would make a good mistress, just until he can divorce her that is. Caroline and Edward have many, many arguments and lots of sex. That's their two basic forms of communication. Edward is priggish and ridiculously exacting, he requires perfection. Caroline cannot control her temper in the least and she acts impetuously and irrationally.

I enjoyed the book in parts but there were sections that were so filled with anger and rage that it was hard to enjoy. Caroline is destructive in so many areas of her life. It shows outwardly but the reader can easily see she sabotages her own efforts.

Of the two leads Edward is the first to come to an Epiphany. When he realizes his own actions are hurtful, he looks for ways to redeem himself. I liked him in this portion of the novel because his sincerity is admirable and his willingness to expose his heart is one of the bravest acts of this story.

Caroline is harder to fathom and that's because her history is told not in a long flashback but rather in a disjointed fashion. She is a complex character and at times quite vulnerable. By far her worst traits are pride, anger, and stubbornness. She does have a strong sense of justice and she does champion the less fortunate.

I cannot say that I was really enamored with this story. The actions of the characters were hurtful and Caroline was just too difficult to understand, she is mercurial and in some ways immature. Edward was arrogant at first but he was not so hard headed that he would not listen to facts and he was principled. I am giving this 3.5 stars. This story was a little uneven but the emotions felt by the characters were well written.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars 2.5 stars really..., September 12, 2011

By 

avidreader - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mistress by Marriage (Courtesan Court Trilogy) (Kindle Edition)

The writing was good, the character development was good, but I just couldn't connect to the story. It seems the hero is too staid and uptight and heroine more of a loud and violent pushover. They were too different and the insults/hurts too much to believe that a happy ending would happen. I don't know many women who would be that much of a pushover because the sex was good. And frankly I don't understand why SHE had to be forgiven so much, and he not so much. I was more upset that she allowed him to have that much control over her life, even for the times. She was portrayed as a childish tantrum thrower who loved sex. I just don't get it. The sensuality was hot...those scenes were done very well. But for her to have so many facets to her personality and STILL put up with some one completely opposite just doesn't fit. Maybe if they weren't so opposite I could believe the HEA more...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mistress by Marriage, September 19, 2011

By 

A. Schreiner "smexybooks" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mistress By Marriage (Paperback)

I absolutely adored this book. I went in with a little trepidation because while I liked the first book in this series, Mistress by Mistake, I ended up not being able to finish the second book, Mistress by Midnight. But everything works in this third book.

Baron Edward Christie is a very controlled, regimented man. He wears the "Christie face" proudly, never allowing a hint of emotion to bleed onto his face. After his prim and proper wife dies, leaving him with three children, he does something a little rash for a Christie. He sets eyes on Caroline Parker at a ball, and marries her just a few days later. Caroline is just barely in good standing with the ton. With scandal in her past and no money to her name, her flaming red hair and luscious curves is enough of a temptation for Edward to lose his mind.

They marry and it is a disaster. She is outspoken and just full of fire. She does not make a proper wife for the very stuffy Baron Christie. It's not only that but while Edward is all starch and stiffness in the daylight hours, at night they can't get enough of each other. But with three kids to raise, and a reputation to uphold, Edward can't keep living with Caroline. Caroline is also caught in a compromising position with a childhood friend. A friend who is known for his outlandish sexual ways. At this point they both just give up. And Caroline can't agree more. They separate, and Caroline ends up living in a house on Jane street, where the men of the ton house their mistresses. For the next five years, Caroline becomes friends with her neighbors, supporting them as they come and go. She also becomes a very popular romance writer, putting out a book a month with very naughty scenes and basing her characters on the men her mistress friends tell her about. And of course, Edward is always disguised as a villain in her books, usually meeting his demise in some very unfortunate incident.

Every June 14th though, on their anniversary, Edward comes for one night. One night of passion, and then leaves for the rest of the year. But now Edward and Caroline think it might be time to go ahead with a divorce. But taking that step is much harder than they each expect.

I love this book because Edward and Caroline are so horrible to each other, but at the same time it is so sexy and funny. Their angst - oh their angst killed me throughout this book. They are both faithful to each other the five years they are separated but they don't know it!! It's true love they just need to be convinced of it and that is just the sexiest thing right there. They love each other but they are both so stubborn and know exactly how to get under each other's skin that they can't help but just pick at each other constantly when in each other's presence. But they have this burning fire between them that is just so sexy in this book.

This book gave me many surprises too. We learn early on that Caroline was involved with a man named Andrew Rossiter in her childhood and early on in her marriage. You aren't given many details but you know Edward blames part of the demise of his marriage on something Andrew and Caroline did. And because of what he thinks happened between them he has grounds for divorce. But quite early in this book you learn what really happens, you even get Andrew's point of view, and not to give too much away, but his role becomes something I didn't expect. And we learn so much about him and his role with Caroline and her brother. Shocking things that really adds a lot to this book.

Another aspect of this book that took me by surprise is the humor. I laughed out loud more than once. Caroline is just a hoot. She has such a temper, but is so quick witted. She writes these dirty romance books, and refers to killing off Edward throughout the book. It is so adorably funny.

Also, to start each chapter, there is a tiny excerpt from one of Caroline's books that foreshadows what the chapter will be about.

For example, Chapter 6:

His appetites were insatiable, keeping her a slave form morning until night, until the hours turned into days and Mariette heard no cock crow but his own.

~Dreams at Dawn

Or Chapter 7:

There was nothing she liked so much as matchmaking but Lady Laura lived alone, doomed to press her lightly -freckled nose against the glass and watch the world in love without her.

~Lady Laura's Lesson

They really became something I anticipated as each new chapter began.

Even those these two clash, they have very, very sexy times together. The combination of the angst, the humor and the naughty romance really makes this book for me. The sex is very erotic (heck, Caroline has a mirror on her bedroom ceiling). There is a smaller suspense part with some men who are not happy with how they are portrayed in some of Caroline's books. I enjoyed how this twists into an idea with Edward to win Caroline back towards the end of the book, although the final scene that wraps up the suspense I could have lived without.

Overall, I love this book. One thing for sure is that Maggie Robinson can write books that bring about strong opinions and I'm so glad I tried this one.