Rating: 
Summary: I adore this book!
Review: Betina Krahn's, The Perfect Mistress, is an excellent selection for lovers of historical romances. Taking place in the victorian era (I believe) in England, this story provides comedy, a healthy dose of intense romance, and something that everyone and anyone can appreciate!
Rating: 
Summary: Witty 'n' Intense!
Review: Betina Krahn's, The Perfect Mistress, is an excellent selection for lovers of historical romances. Taking place in the victorian era (I believe) in England, this story provides comedy, a healthy dose of intense romance, and something that everyone and anyone can appreciate!
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining insight into the Victorian demi-monde
Review: Gabrielle, more-or-less acknowledged daughter of the Duke of Carlisle and his mistress, is nineteen and considering her future. Her mother is carefully grooming her for a life as a high-class mistress, as it's the only life Rosalind has known and she believes that it's the best way for Gabrielle to find security. Gabrielle, on the other hand, wants to be married. She wants respectability, the security of being legally bound to a man, and to have children who know both their parents.So she runs away, only to end up in Haymarket rejecting propositions. She is then rescued by a campaigning reformer, and when she gets away from him, she's abducted by Pierce St James, the Earl of Sandbourne. Sandbourne is trying to find evidence that the reformer - Prime Minister William Gladstone himself - actually consorts with prostitutes. So Gabrielle and Sandbourne strike an agreement. She will help him find evidence against Gladstone, if he will pretend to be her lover and provide a cover for her to find a man to marry. Sandbourne agrees, thinking that it sounds vaguely entertaining and assuming that he'll make it into her bed pretty soon anyway. Only things don't quite work out that way; they conduct what appears to be a scandalous liaison under Gabrielle's mother's roof, but Sandbourne has never had any women read him morality tales before, or play bawdy coffee-house songs with him! So very soon he's completely intrigued by Gabrielle. And determined to make her his mistress in reality. But he becomes her friend first... and then he tries to take their relationship further, and things change completely. There is some very good use of historical detail in this book, including senior political figures of the day, Machiavellian intrigue and so on. I was aware of Gladstone's interest in prostitutes, and it was interesting to see this feature in a novel. However, here and there the dialogue wasn't really appropriate for the period; while there weren't many examples of contemporary Americanisms, there were certainly expressions which weren't in common usage in Victorian times. And British Rail certainly didn't exist then; this was well before nationalisation! Those minor criticisms apart, an enjoyable book.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Romance
Review: I found the book lying around the library and checked it out, not expecting much. My goodness, I loved it to death. I swear, I couldn't put this book down! True, men did see women as "meat" but she did get him back by using her own "talents" aginst and well, for him. A great book for those who love romances.
Rating: 
Summary: Not to my taste
Review: I'm not quite sure why people thought that this book was funny. Perhaps it was too historically accurate for my taste, because I can't find any humor in the way men treated women back then. I couldn't relax and enjoy myself as she was treated like a piece of meat, and then the hero walked all over her.
Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER GREAT BOOK!!!
Review: Just finished this book and it was definitely another of her best. Gabrielle is adorable and Pierce is typical of the era, a rake, a rogue and a die-hard bachelor. But he hasn't a chance with her innocent propositions. Between Mama Beatrice and Mama Rosalind he has lost the fight before he knows it. It is a great story, sweet, charming, but fantastic love scenes. I highly recommend this book to all romance lovers
Rating:
Summary: Mysterious whisper
Review: Set later in the nineteenth century than most romances, THE PERFECT MISTRESS offers an entertaining glimpse of the upper crust underground. The novel features the daughter of a successful courtesan, a young woman who suspects that financial security lies in marriage rather than settling as the mistress for some lordling. In that sense, young Gabrielle may appear to be sensible and wise in rejecting her mother's plans for her future, but alas, she is actually prone towards hasty schemes and extreme measures. She initiates the action in this novel by escaping her mother's luxurious home to run wild on the streets of London and, what, meet her future husband? Er, well, this is a romance. But before satisfying her longing for security, she ends up twice abducted by men expecting her to be your basic fowl-mouthed Haymarket prostitute. The first attempts to reform her against her errant ways, and then the latter seeks to gather evidence of the former's hypocritical interest in whores. At the conclusion of these encounters, she's been roped into British partisan politics, and she's found a pretend suitor in order to stave off her mother's matchmaking/pimping. You can't expect everything about a book like this to be a breath of fresh air. The hero's dour mother threatens his inheritance, and, natch, he calls her The Dragon. The heroine launches a desperate crusade to win back the hero's trust. There are also a couple of variations on The Misunderstanding, but they don't overwhelm the plot, and seem fairly consistent. Besides these minor faults, THE PERFECT MISTRESS has plenty of entertaining ideas. For instance, while "courting" Gabrielle, the hero encourages her to scout out those souls who responded to the advertisement that she placed in her quest for eligible and willing bachelors. This scenario plays out perfectly, both amusing and ratcheting up the stakes in their relationship. It will be interesting to see if author Betina Krahn can maintain this level of creativity in her other books.
Rating:
Summary: Another warm, witty romance from Betina Krahn
Review: So far I've read four of Ms Krahn's books (The Husband Test, The Mermaid, The Last Bachelor and this one) and I loved them all and look forward to reading more. I love her style, her sense of humour and of the absurd. She creates great characters with fun and interesting stories to tell. This one centers on Victorian views on morality, the role of wives vs mistresses, and the politics of Conservatives vs Liberals. Pierce St James has heard it all, but is still surprised when Gabrielle LeCoeur proposes that he pretend to be her lover. She wants him to pretend in order to keep her mother at bay so that Gabrielle can look for a husband! You see her mother is a famed courtesan who believes that true love and passion cannot be found in the drudgery of marriage. But Gabrielle does not want to be a mistress - she claims not to have the "juices" i.e. passionate nature necessary for such a life. She simply wants a respectable husband and a respectable life. Pierce, who always appreciates the perverse and absurd, agrees to this little charade thinking eventually he will seduce Gabrielle anyway. Besides, he plans to use Gabrielle to his political advantage against Prime Minister Gladstone, whose interest in prostitutes is cause for speculation among the political opposition. But neither plans on the friendship, camaraderie and sheer enjoyment they get from spending time together. Eventually Pierce proves to Gabrielle that she does, in fact, have the "juices", and when things get serious, they also get very complicated. As Pierce pulls away from Gabrielle, she turns to her "advisory committee" which includes his mother, her own and some of her mother's courtesan friends, to find a way to pull him back. When nothing seems to work and things go from bad to worse, Gabrielle reminds Pierce that they were friends first and that she will be either his mistress or his wife - he only needs to choose. The only reason that I didn't give this five stars is that I thought Pierce took too long to come around and that he was a bit unreasonable, stubborn, and ultimately hypocritical - the thing he claims to despise most! But she calls him on it and he finally wonders why he has to choose at all. Can't he have her as wife, mistress and friend? A radical notion for Victorian England! Great read. Ms. Krahn is an author I recommend you investigate!
Rating:
Summary: A twist to the historical romance genre
Review: This was a great read because it is refreshing to see a woman who was born into the demimonde and still aspire to be "normal". I like the view of the world from the mother and her friends who try to make Gabrielle accept passion and not marriage. The seduction attempts were both interesting and touching at the same time. All in all, a good value for your money and definitely not a waste of time to read.
Rating:
Summary: A twist to the historical romance genre
Review: This was a great read because it is refreshing to see a woman who was born into the demimonde and still aspire to be "normal". I like the view of the world from the mother and her friends who try to make Gabrielle accept passion and not marriage. The seduction attempts were both interesting and touching at the same time. All in all, a good value for your money and definitely not a waste of time to read.
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