The Ice Princess
Elizabeth Hoyt
Official summary:
SEVEN NIGHTS OF SIN
As the madam of Aphrodite’s Grotto, the most infamous brothel in London, Coral Smythe knows everything possible about men’s needs and desires. Yet she’s never experienced the love of a single man-not even that of Captain Isaac Wargate whose hawk-like eyes stare at her with both condemnation…and lust.
SEVEN NIGHTS OF ECSTASY
Captain Wargate heartily disapproves of the sensuous madam who always wears a golden mask. She lures his officers from both his ship and their duty. But when Coral herself is offered up as the prize in a game of chance, Wargate impulsively enters…and wins.
SEVEN NIGHTS OF LOVE
Now the puritanical navy captain has just seven nights to learn everything he can about the mysterious madam and what she knows of a man’s desires. But when Coral is threatened by the new owner of Aphrodite’s Grotto, will Wargate take a chance on the woman beneath the mask…and on love?
This is a novella. I have read this author before and I enjoy her work.
This is basically a run-of-the-mill historical romance, although set in the Georgian period and not the Regency. You wouldn’t know it, though, because there are no references other than a date to tell you. Being a novella, I can see why she chose not to give period details, but a few wouldn’t have gone amiss.
What is different is that these are working-class people and not aristocracy. The hero is the captain of a ship and the heroine is an honest-to-God whore. That is to say, she is not a faux-whore-who-is-really-a-virgin. The hero actually woos her in a sweet and caring manner, which I bought.
It needed severe editing with regard to pacing and logical fallacies (plot holes) and grammar. I don’t want to read the naked manuscripts of authors that are almost auto-buys for me. Points off for for that, because it got in the way of the story and irritated me. A nationally published author shouldn’t have works out on the market like that.
MPAA rating: PG-13 for whorehouse location and sexual situations
Grade: 83/100
blackened voodoo 