The Perfect Mistress (Paperback)

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!

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.