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Lady in Blue
by

Lynn Kerstan

scarr's review

Sep 16, 2024

liked it

bookshelves: project-mistress, books-owned, e-book, 2024-read, physical-books, sex-work-and-sw-adjacent

notes for myself: mistress project book 2 electric boogaloo
(view spoiler)[ An earl, Bryn, that only sleeps with his mistresses - who must be virgins prior to entering an arrangement with him. his father was a wastrel and died of syphilis and this is why Bryn won't sleep with non-virgins. Clare was procured for Bryn by the former house mistress of a brothel, who had previously interviewed and provided Bryn with virgin mistresses. This was a lot but the beginning of the book was interesting! The middle was a little boring and last third did pick back up but it never was as compelling as the beginning. Of course, the book ends in marriage, fmc is not pregnant by the end which was a surprise considering all the birth control talk which usually signals someone is getting pregnant. I think we are in Bryn's POV the most and he thinks a lot about keep Clare as his mistress and living with her and raising children with her after he sires a legitimate heir with a wife. I wish someone were brave enough to write that romance!

Something I did appreciate is that the book does talk about expectations of being a long-term mistress: it's about companionship, stupid! Going places, seeing things, experiencing moments in life with another person. Bryn wants someone who he can have unprotected sex with without fear of disease AND he wants a partner to share experiences with. So he had enjoyed this with his previous mistresses but with Clare, it's shifting a bit in that he wants this partnership for life. This is reminding me a little bit of Wulfric Bedwyn and the relationship he had with his deceased mistress - she was a life partner. I have unfinished thoughts and maybe I'll come back when I have clarified them. . .
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My kingdom for another Madensky Square! So far, only Madensky Square by Eva Ibbotson ends with the mistress remaining a mistress; however the mechanics are different in that book. Susanna, the lead, is not a mistress in the sense of being hired to be a companion, she is with a man who is in a loveless marriage. He doesn't provide for her and there is no contract. (hide spoiler)]

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