Games of Pleasure

St. George Brothers #2

by Julia Ross

Despite the distance between their stations in life, Miracle Heather, a courtesan hiding a terrible secret, finds love with Lord Ryderbourne, the handsome young aristocrat who had rescued her from certain disaster, but their growing attraction for each other could destroy them both. Original.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Mystery, Suspense, Fiction

387 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

See Julia Ross for health subjects.

Reviews

[liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty ridiculous example of the "woman does everything in her power to drive man away, but he tirelessly pursues her anyway" plotline. He's a duke (or something), the oldest and heir (of course). She's a former prostitute who's fleeing from her former protector because she murdered his friend after he gave said friend the go-ahead to rape her. Former protector is pursuing her to kill her, she's convinced it would also put the duke in danger (who is, of course, the only man she's ever really loved). For two people who have so much "chemistry," they spend way too much time trying not to have sex.

[Oyceter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this for Miracle, who is a courtesan who is pragmatic and smart and does not apologize for her profession, her choices, or her lovers and fully expects Ryder to deal with them. Ryder is also a rare non-alpha-male who is nice but has to deal with his own class and gender privilege and also deal with his notions about morality and sex.

This would have four stars, except the ending is of TEH SUCK.

Full review: http://oyceter.livejournal.com/647631... (spoilers after a cut)

[Helen Geng · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually 3.5

Read Nov 2021

[Christie · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. maybe i’ll try again one day but it was so monotonous i felt like i was reading the same conversations between the mcs over and over again

[Keri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part of the book was different then the rest of the book. The punctuation was all over the place, distracting from the story itself. By page 100 that had smoothed out and the story was able to take over. Miracle is a courtesan, whom Lord Ryder has rescued from the ocean. So begins the love story of the courtesan and the duke. Mirrie and Ryder are chased across England in a race to find something that Lord Hanley, Mirrie's prior benefactor desperately wants....even if he has to kill for it. Even though this was a sweet romance, the ending was pure romantic fantasy. Ross's writing is very lyrical and prosy, but once you get used to it, it becomes very easy to read.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just happened to pick up this book because it was in a clearance pile, and I really enjoyed it. The dialogue was witty, the story was well written and nicely paced, and the characters were well developed and likeable. (Except for the bad guys, they were evil and despicable, which is as it should be.) A very enjoyable read, if you're into historical romance.

[Dangermousie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh God, I hated hated hated the heroine. She was vulgar, ungrateful, shameless, bitchy, evil shrew and I have no idea what, other than her excellent bed skills, attracted the hero to her.

I don't particularly mind courtesan heroines (or hooker heroes, for that matter :P) but Miracle was just an awful, selfish human being whatever her profession may have been.

UGH.

[Arlene Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sheer perfection, some of the best dialogue I've ever read in a romance; all that and a road trip too! (I love books with road trips!)

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical romance. Enjoy Ross' light entertainments.