Improper Relations
A Victorian Historical Romance
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- ¥330
発行者による作品情報
Dorset, 1858
When Hannah's caught watching her late husband's cousin debauch the maid in the library, she's mortified—but also intrigued. An unpaid companion to his aunt, she's used to being ignored.
The black sheep of the family, Leo has nothing but his good looks and noble birth to recommend him. Hannah ought to be appalled at what she's witnessed, but there's something about Leo that draws her to him.
When Leo claims he can prove that women can feel desire as passionately as men, Hannah is incredulous. Her own experiences have been uninspiring. Yet she can't bring herself to refuse his audacious proposal when he offers to tutor her in the art of lovemaking. As the tantalizing, wicked lessons continue, she begins to fear she's losing not just her inhibitions, but her heart as well. The poorest of relations, she has nothing to offer Leo but herself. Will it be enough when their erotic education ends?
22,000 words
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ross debuts with a barely serviceable Victorian romance novella featuring a widow and her late husband's wastrel cousin, adding a soup on of mild erotic content to a stock story line and wallpaper history. The story begins with an episode that tries and fails to shock: Hannah Taylor Bell sees Lord Leo Wraxhall engaged in a sexual interlude with a housemaid and is both appalled and excited. After the maid leaves, Leo calls out to Hannah to join him for an adult discussion about what she has just seen, setting the stage for a series of love lessons. Hannah, forced by her late husband's indebtedness to act as companion to Leo's domineering mother, had a loveless marriage and cannot understand why Leo arouses her. An orgasm later and she's addicted to him; meanwhile, he is falling for the quiet widow. Bland prose, a clich -riddled story, and tepid eroticism add up to not much more than zero.
