A Mistress to Remember by Eliza Lloyd

A Mistress to Remember
Birds of Paradise #3

Eliza Lloyd
Historical Romance
Published in 2017 [requested review]

H/h - Mark Turnbow, The Earl of Compton/Baroness Katrina Klee 
Setting: Regency.
 
Read in October-November, 2017.

My rating:

                                                     [spoiler alert]

A Mistress to Remember is the third book of Eliza Lloyd’s Birds of Paradise series. I stumbled across this series in 2015 when it wasn’t yet a series and read book 2, The Darkness in the Marquess of Dane, which pretty much blew me away with how good it was! It was also the first book I read by the author so I was very impressed and wanted more!

Since I read the series out of order, an anomaly for someone who will do anything to read series in order LOL, I’m not quite sure about the concept of the title Birds of Paradise. But I know that the theme of a mistress is quite prevalent. In a way or the other, the heroines of this series were mistresses to the heroes before they became romantically involved. Book  1, Another Lover, which I read after book 2, was too short and rushed for my liking. The h was a legendary courtesan with ‘terms and conditions’ on her services that also required an exorbitant amount of money. The H, a known rake, wanted to make her his for a long time with an intensity. So finally, when the opportunity arrived, he snatched it up right away....... Well, I just wished there were more background on the H and h like the later installments in the series, more fleshed out characters too. It felt like I was missing something, that the H and h had shared some private moment or something that was never quite revealed. I’d still recommend it as the famous H of book 2, the Marquess of Dane, makes a very short appearance there.

My Dear Lord Forrester by Eliza Lloyd

My Dear Lord Forrester (novella)
The Infamous Forresters #2

Eliza Lloyd
Historical Romance 
Published in 2017

H/h - Lord Joshua Forrester/Lady Charlotte Dunlevee
Setting: Regency.

Read in June, 2017.

My rating:

                                           [might be spoiler-ish]

My Dear Lord Forrester is a novella  and book 2 of Eliza Lloyd’s The Infamous Forresters series. Honestly, I find no fault in the books of this series that I’ve read so far, only that I always end up wishing they were full-length novels instead of novellas.

Book 1, What A Mistress Wants is the story of the widowed Duke of Sterling, Adam Forrester and his mistress, Eloisa. Mistress stories don’t always appeal to me, but this one was an amazing read. It was a novella, but the author packed a lot of emotions between the pages. Adam and Eloisa had been together for at least 4yrs. when the story opens so they already have a long history. However it didn’t feel like I missed too much. Adam was devoted to his wife, Nellie, until the day she died. He’s got 4 kids, including the future heir to the Sterling Dukedom. He still misses his wife.

Adam hopes to remarry one day, but right now, he’s all set with an adventurous paramour to take care of his more basic needs. He adores Eloisa and has no intention of giving her up anytime soon. But Eloisa, who is the daughter of a gentleman fallen on hard times, has something else in mind. Though their liaison was build on needs based of money and pleasure—each helping the other out with what they desperately needed at that time—Eloisa is now hopelessly in love with Adam. However, he’s a Duke and he’d never marry his mistress. She certainly has no interest in competing with a ghost for his affection. Just how could she carry on being his mistress knowing her feelings are not returned? Eloisa decides she’d have to make a quick decision to whether or not she’d continue to suffer in silence or put her foot down and do something about it. To find out what she did and the turn of events, you must give this novella a try!

All A Mistress Wants by Eliza Lloyd

All A Mistress Wants (novella)
The Infamous Forresters #1

Eliza Lloyd
Erotic Historical Romance
Published in 2015

H/h - Adam Forrester, Duke of Sterling/Eloisa Larkin
Setting: Regency.

Read in January, 2016.

My rating:

                                                       [spoiler alert] 

This short novella from Eliza Lloyd, first in The Infamous Forresters series, was delightful. It was pretty short at 36 pages, yet the author was able to give me an HEA that left me smiling and wishing the couple in question all the best.

Mistress-themed stories can be a bit tricky for me since I don't know which author can pull it off well enough that it won't leave me uncomfortable. Especially if the H and h has started their relationship as an affair and such. I remember reading another story where the h was a famous courtesan and the H was obsessed with her. He bought her favors after waiting for years for her to become available. When the story started, they were already lovers for about a year or so. Despite my doubts, I ended up really liking it, kudos to the author. Though not all, All A Mistress Wants progresses somewhat in the same vein which is why I kept thinking of that other book.

The Darkness in the Marquess of Dane by Eliza Lloyd

The Darkness in the Marquess of Dane
Birds of Paradise

Eliza Lloyd
Erotic Historical Romance
Published in 2015

H/h - Lucian Conover, the Marquess of Dane/Christina Turnbow
Setting: Regency.

Read in November, 2015.

My rating:

                                                       [spoiler alert]

I was looking for a diversion from something and Eliza Lloyd’s The Darkness in the Marquess of Dane sounded like something that’d fit my mood. I was also quite ready to dismiss it as ‘another one of those Regency porn’ but the author made me realize that this novel is not as simple as that. Since this was my first book by the author, I had no prior expectations and quite delightfully discovered that I found something worth my time. Something I absolutely enjoyed.

The Darkness in the Marquess of Dane tells you the story of a depraved soul; a man who apparently isn’t bound by any moral code whatsoever. He thrives on debauchery, runs a whorehouse, has his own commissioned prostitutes— quite a large number of them who are at his beck and call whenever the mood strikes him. Dane, whose real name is not known until much later in the story, is what you’d call a rake of the worst order. Maybe even something more than that. The Ton knows him, is very intrigued by him but he rebuffs the Ton’s attention like the plague. He doesn’t mingle with that “set” at all, not even for sex and fun. No, Dane loves his whores, enjoys them. Their transaction is basic and most definitely, honest. He has business ventures that bring him money (that whorehouse is one of the very latest, so he was rich to begin with, though I never knew why he even thought about opening one :/). To him, sex is an art that should be perfected. And it can’t be done if you are entangled in feelings and emotions with your partner. So Dane doesn’t do emotions. His whores know what he wants; they’re paid and looked after well, so they return the “favor” quite generously.