Unwrapping a Review of BEAUTY AND THE EARL, a Pleasure Wars novel by Jess Michaels

I’m a huge fan of Jess Michael’s erotic historical romances and so when she asked if I’d like to read and review her brand new release, BEAUTY AND THE EARL, I jumped at it. Originally, I thought this was the finale of the Pleasure Wars series but today, she told me that there’s one more coming and I am so glad because I really don’t want to see this series end yet.

***eARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for BEAUTY AND THE EARL:

Desire as essential as breath…deception as fragile as sanity.

The Pleasure Wars, Book 3

Liam, the Earl of Windbury, had everything when he held his secret lover in his arms. Until a feud between their families left her dead, his body broken, and his sister married to his bitterest enemy.

Wracked with guilt, simmering with rage, he’s spent a year in seclusion, seeing no one except a few servants as he does his best to forget the past and patently refuses to think about any kind of future.

When courtesan Violet Milford enters Liam’s lair, she’s on a secret mission to gather information for Liam’s desperate sister, who fears for his sanity, even his life. What she finds is a man scarred inside and out, whose dark, controlling sensuality hides the kind, wounded man within.

Violet awakens a sexual desire more powerful than Liam has ever known, and her stories weave a spell that begins to work its way past his defenses. But when the truth inevitably comes out, it could well destroy the love that is saving them both.

Warning: This book features a sexually experienced woman who will use every trick in her book to save a man from himself.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *

If you’ve read the Pleasure War series then you are acquainted with Liam, the Earl of Windbury, who lost his beloved, Matilda, sister of the Duke of Rathcastle who kidnapped Liam’s sister, Ava, as an act of revenge for the death of his sister as told in TAKEN BY THE DUKE. Liam is a tortured hero of the highest magnitude. The loss of his true love, Matilda, and the scars he carries from that dark night when he and Christian Rothcastle suffered devastating injuries fighting over the woman they both loved has left him with the darkest of moods and an unwillingness to forgive. He split from his own sister, Ava, after she fell in love and married his most bitter enemy. Nothing will make him return to London or accept his sister’s marriage, or so he thought.

Violet Milford is on a mission to learn everything she can about Liam for his sister who worries still that the tragic loss of Matilda has left her brother’s heart cold, dark, and filled with hate even for her. As a courtesan, Violet has learned to get men to talk about themselves and so she sets out to use her talents, both in and out of bed, to gain Liam’s trust and access to what keeps him so dark and withdrawn, all the while reporting back to Ava. Her goal is to earn the funds she needs to embark on a new life but once she starts opening up to Liam to gain his trust, she finds herself giving away more than just a few secrets. Soon, she realizes too late that she's lost her heart to him as well.

BEAUTY AND THE EARL by Jess Michaels is a story about how opening the heart to someone who cares, who listens, and who calls upon emotions that were thought long buried can bring a person back to life and to believe in love once more. Steamy as only Jess can write it, Violet and Liam take desire to new levels but you can feel the affection beginning to grow between them, and so it becomes an exquisite love story. In addition, we are treated to secondary characters that keep the story lively and real. Malcom and Olivia are adorable together and I can’t wait to read their story next.

I highly recommend BEAUTY AND THE EARL, book three in the Pleasure Wars series by Jess Michaels to anyone who loves a truly well written love story about looking past the dark to see the brightness that love and the future can hold. I wish it happened in real life.

Happy Reading Everyone!

BEAUTY AND THE EARL, a Pleasure Wars novel by Jess Michaels, Samhain Publishing, available now in ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.

***click on links or cover below for purchasing information