The Pearl at the Gate [Kindle Edition]

Anya Delvay (Author), Anya Richards (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

For her transgression, she will pay—with screams of forbidden pleasure. After a lifetime of hard work, Captain Roake Barbenoir finally has all he has ever wanted. Wealth, social position, and the epitome of an ideal wife, the beautiful and well-born Jenesta. Of all his treasures, she is his favorite—a pearl, perfect and pure—and Roake vows never to tarnish her with the dark sexual knowledge he gleaned from a life at sea.

Yet every breath his sweet wife takes arouses an urge to watch her come apart under the onslaught of his passion. But she must never know of the lust-filled, almost demonic cravings fighting for release in his soul. To make her privy to them would be to lose her warm regard.

Each time Jenesta feels she and her enigmatic husband are growing closer, Roake withdraws behind a cold, unreadable mask. Perhaps if she knew him better, knew more of his past, she could learn how to win his heart. The answers surely lie behind the locked door of Roake's east-wing retreat. The one he has forbidden her to enter.

Jenesta's defiance of his one simple rule cannot go unpunished. For her transgression, she will pay—with screams of pleasure; sweet, exquisite pain; and perhaps with the loss of what she wants most. Roake, and his love.

Warning: No demure Regency here! Graphic and explicit everything, including language and sex of all varieties (as could be expected from an Alpha male more accustomed to bordellos than ballrooms) and, be warned, your grandmother's pearls will never look the same to you again.

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 122 KB
• Print Length: 50 pages
• Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (June 24, 2008)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001BXNQ0Q
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,288 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Between wishing she could hibernate all winter and revelling in Canada's two weeks of summer, Anya spends as much time as possible ignoring reality and trying to get her flights of fancy down on paper. Of course reality--disguised as husband, kids, cats, and a side-order of Evil Day Job--has an annoying tendency to intrude and must be severely reprimanded for its temerity...

Besides laughing, people-watching and indulging her curiosity about all things historical (and/or hysterical), Anya enjoys a range of crafts, cooking and, most of all, reading.

Anya also writes under the pen-name Anya Delvay.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Erotic Take on Bluebeard Tale, January 7, 2010

By 

Michelle R (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Pearl at the Gate (Kindle Edition)

I read this a while back and really enjoyed it. This is firmly in the erotic romance category, so people who are not looking for a very explicit tale will not enjoy this story.

"Pearl" is about a recently married couple. The husband has spent a lot of time at sea and a lot of time exploring his desires. He wants his wife very much, but he presumes she is too much of a lady to enjoy bondage or anything other than the most routine bedroom activities. His wife, having witnessed the games of others, would very much like to branch out, but is unable to communicate this to her husband. Then, there's a business trip, the discovery of a secret room, and the discovery of the discovery of the secret room. Also, the discovery of naughty sketches and the discovery of the discovery -- well, you get it.

If you're looking for a short tale with a focus on the erotic between a married couple and containing loving dominance, this would most likely be a worthwhile selection. An excellent choice for when you're not looking for a complicated plot or are overloaded on a lot of serious non-fiction.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Meh., September 1, 2010

By 

L. Nelson "lee_ann92" (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Pearl at the Gate (Kindle Edition)

I like a plot with my smut, thank you very much.

This novella - it's too short for a book and too long for a short story - centers on the marriage between a nouveau riche member of English society who would normally be shunned if he hadn't married a prim and proper English lady (with a secret lust for bondage and spanking). The husband, Roake, is riddled with insecurities (except when wielding a whip, of course) while the wife feels deep shame over her secret longings for her husband to master her.

The writing, the story, the sex? Just dull.

Very little plot moves the sex along between two people who are about as interesting as mud. They just don't click for me nor am I all that interested in finding out whether they stay together after they discover that they enjoy the same sex games. I can't tell if this novella was part of a collection or a stand-alone. As a stand alone, it was worth exactly it's price: free. The story lacked purpose, the characters lacked depth, and the sex was not all that interesting.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good short story, April 9, 2010

By 

JBrooks (PHILADELPHIA, PA, US) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Pearl at the Gate (Kindle Edition)

Roarke and Jenesta Barbenoir are a married couple hiding a secret from each other that they feel they can't share with their spouse. They both like kinky sex, not the vanilla sex that is more socially accepted in Victorian England. I loved the tension between the two when after indulging in the kind of sex they like, they both feel ashamed and that the other person will no longer love them.

It's a good short story that ended too soon.