The Mistress Experience

Starred review from April 1, 2024

At a fundraiser for the Institute for the Equality of Women, Tha�s Magdalene, a well-known courtesan, auctions herself to the highest bidder for one month as his mistress. When Tha�s arrives at a secluded country cottage, she finds that her bidder hid his identity and is none other than Lord Alastair Eden. Alastair wants to improve his love-making skills for a future bride-to-be, so he hires Tha�s to teach him. Before Tha�s begins her bedroom tutelage in earnest, she and Alastair get to know one another. Despite this, Alastair has severe performance anxiety, but Tha�s is a kind and patient instructor. By month's end, the two have developed a deep mutual trust, with Tha�s confessing her secret desire to marry and have a family. Alastair destroys that trust with an unthinkingly cruel remark rejecting her. When Tha�s and Alastair meet again in London to celebrate the marriage of their friends, Alastair is faced with his hypocrisy in caring what the London aristocrats think. Can he win Tha�s back? VERDICT Peckham pairs polar opposites in a sexy, bawdy, fun, and yet deeply compassionate romance. A fitting end (after The Portrait of a Duchess) to the "Society of Sirens" series.--Eve Stano

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Starred review from June 15, 2024
An infamous courtesan and a reserved earl share a month of new experiences. Tha�s Magdalene is known in London as the "best fuck in Britain," and that's exactly how she likes it. She accepts one patron a week, for one night only, and never the same man twice. Now, her notoriety will deepen further, because in order to raise money for her beloved Institute for the Equality of Women, she's auctioning off an entire month of her favors. Twenty-five thousand guineas later, she's preparing to spend the next 30 days with a filthy-rich poet--or so she thinks. In fact, when she arrives at the address she's been given, she learns that she's actually about to spend a month in the middle of nowhere with the upright Lord Alastair Eden, who is "about the furthest thing from a whoring rakehell she [can] imagine." And Alistair is definitely nervous about his month with Tha�s, but he's determined to see it through. A friend helped him secretly bid for her services because he's hoping to marry soon, and since he has little experience in the bedroom, he's hired her to be absolutely sure he knows how to pleasure his future wife, whoever she may be. Because Alastair is shy, they don't jump right to the sex lessons; instead, Tha�s puts together a schedule, and they slowly work through the many ways a married couple can make each other happy. As they approach the end of their month together, Tha�s starts wondering if Alastair could be the husband to give her the family she's secretly wanted for many years, but Alastair doesn't allow himself to think about it since he's got plans to marry a society lady--until Tha�s leaves. This plot is a perfect match for Peckham's mastery of erotic writing, providing multiple opportunities for breathtakingly intimate scenes and providing rich emotional development alongside the steam. Readers who like their historical romances big, bawdy, and over the top will be thrilled by the conclusion to Peckham's Society of Sirens series, especially as it ties up some loose ends from the first two books. A scorching and compelling historical romance.

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