Innocent Courtesan to Adventurer's Bride

Transformation of the Shelley Sisters #3

by Louise Allen

OUT OF THE BROTHEL…

Wrongly accused of theft, innocent Celina Shelley is cast out of the brothel she calls home and flees to Quinn Ashley, Lord Dreycott, for safety. But the heat in the daredevil adventurer's eyes tells Lina that the danger is just beginning....

AND INTO THE RAKE'S BEDROOM!

Lina dresses like a nun, looks like an angel, but flirts like a professional—and the last thing Quinn expects to discover is that she's a virgin!

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Harlequin, Regency, Harlequin Historical, Fiction

284 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2010

About the author

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

This author also writes under the name Francesca Shaw.

I have had my nose buried in a history book - fact or fiction - for as long as I can remember, but even more important to me are the places and the objects that conjure up the past. My first attempt at historical fiction at the age of eight was three pages of improbable medieval drama set in the local castle.

With a degree in geography and archaeology I love to try and 'read' the landscape and the buildings in it for clues about the past. Virtually any place can trigger ideas for plots, but I am particularly inspired by Venice, Burgundy, Mediterranean islands and the Hertfordshire and Norfolk countryside.

I live in England in a village in Bedfordshire with my long-suffering husband. He is not sure whether to be flattered or alarmed to be told he is the inspiration for all my romantic heroes! Whenever possible we escape to our cottage on the North Norfolk coast where Percy, the bossy pheasant, allows us to share the garden.

My resolution every time I start on a new plot is to plan it carefully, make copious notes first and write lots of drafts in a disciplined and orderly manner. What inevitably happens is that the story starts to write itself in my head until it gets completely out of control - meanwhile my study floor becomes a sea of open books, prints and maps and I am found sitting in the car at traffic lights, muttering dialogue. At that point I have to start writing, knowing full well that the hero and heroine are going to take over and sabotage all my attempts at discipline. It is, after all, their story.

Reviews

[Tandie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hero walks by Damsel's bedroom door and hears some sort of struggle. He bursts into her room to rescue her from...her bedsheets! A nightmare caused Celina to thrash around and get her sheets wrapped tightly around her neck. She sleep-claws poor Hero's hands up while he's saving her life. Hero needed his hands bandaged up and Celina required a scarf to hide her bruised neck. The moral of the story is USE NAIL CLIPPERS! Also, the importance of having safe sheets can never be stressed too much.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started out really liking this book and thinking it was an above-average romance novel. The heroine's back story was different from those you typically run into and the hero was a bit out of the ordinary as well. But around the halfway point the heroine slipped into cliched and often contradictory behavior and the rest of the book suffered for it.


Celina ran away from a tyrannical vicar-father to live with her brothel-running aunt where she kept the books and ran the housekeeping staff. She was happy and made friends with the working girls and they gave her a theoretical education on sex while Celina herself remained a virgin. Then her aunt falls ill and Celina finds herself in the position of having her virginity sold to a old, rich man who helpfully dies before he can rape her. Unfortunately the dead man's son then accuses Celina of stealing an expensive heirloom and she's forced to flee London or be hanged. She takes refuge with her aunt's former patron until that man too dies and Quin, his nephew and heir, arrives to claim the title.

Quin has a bad reputation around that part of the country because his ex-fiancee got herself pregnant by one of the stable lads and when Quin broke their engagement her family put it about that it was he who'd compromised and then abandoned her. At the time Quin was too honorable to reveal the truth and further ruin the girl so he left town and hasn't been back for 10 years. But now that he's returned, he wants revenge on the people who ruined his good name and by extension that of his uncle.

When Quin and Celina meet, he's baffled by the contradictions in her behavior. In many ways she looks and acts like an innocent, but in others she is far more knowledgeable than any virgin should be. This is of course due to Celina's unique background but also because she keeps trying to be someone other than herself. Whenever she thinks Quin might be getting too suspicious of her reasons for being in his uncle's house, she tries to flirt with him, as the girls at the brothel taught her. She's clumsy at it but skilled-enough that it makes Quin decide she can't be a virgin. Yet she's obviously afraid of something and has rebuffed his attempts to get her into bed, so he decides she must be on the run from an abusive husband. With no better explanation to offer Quin, she allows him to go on thinking that. But then Quin offers to make her his mistress, a offer he's sure she'll jump at because it's the best opportunity a woman on the run from her husband could hope to find. Celina gets angry and flatly refuses, saying that she wants nothing short of love from a man before she'll sleep with him.

Everything up to this point in the story was pretty good. Louise Allen had done a decent job of showing Celina's "knowledgeable virgin" behavior so that it made perfect sense for Quin to think and behave as he did. It didn't seem rude or disrespectful that he asked her to be his mistress, as it so often does when a romance novel hero propositions the heroine in this way. Based on what he thought he knew of her situation and the times they were living in, it was not only a legitimate offer but also a fairly generous one. And Celina's behavior up to this point also made sense. Although it seemed contradictory to Quin, to the reader who knows her background and the threat of death that hangs over her head, it makes perfect sense.....but all that changes at the halfway point.

A Bow Street Runner turns up searching for Celina and Quin learns that she is not, in fact, hiding from an abusive husband but apparently a prostitute and a thief. He covers for her enough to temporarily get rid of the Runner but the man is coming back in a few hours and she needs to play the part of Quin's mistress or they'll both be arrested. This is where the story falls apart. There are literally HOURS between when the Runner first arrives and his return visit. And Quin and Celina are together for that entire time. And yet she never just EXPLAINS what happened. quin's extremely angry with her, both for lying to him and for "pretending" to be this virtuous woman who wouldn't lower herself to being his mistress when she has apparently been a member of the oldest profession all along. But instead of just explaining to him the unique circumstances in her situation, she lets him go on thinking the worst.

It's a pretty common theme in romance novels that the hero and heroine have a Big Misunderstanding because one of them won't let the other get a word in edgewise. I'm not particularly fond of that writing trope but at least in most other books you can somewhat believe that the person with the important information was trying to get the truth out there. In this book there is just way, way, WAY too much time passing where Celina could have told and retold the story a dozen times but doesn't. It's too contrived.

Things go from bad to worse when Celina suddenly completely changes her stance on sleeping with Quin. After they successfully put on a show for the Runner and he leaves convinced that Celina is not the girl he's looking for, Quin fairly drags Celina upstairs to get some return on all the trouble she's caused him. But unlike so many romance novel heroes and despite how furious he still is with her, Quin doesn't even attempt to force Celina into bed. Instead he asks her if she can truthfully say that she doesn't want him and Celina decides to just go ahead and have sex.

Erm, excuse me? That makes no sense whatsoever! Her main objection to being his mistress was because she wanted to give her virginity to a man who loved her, and yet now suddenly when Quin is pissed at her and thinks she's a prostitute, she's going to say "oh never mind all that love stuff, let's just do it"? It's a complete contradiction to everything she's said and done up to that point and it's all just plot contrivance to set Quin up for the big reveal. Celina knows full well that Quin thinks she's not a virgin, and doesn't do much to try to disabuse him of that notion. She even thinks in her inner monologue that by not telling him she is, yet again, lying to him and he'll be angry with her, but still doesn't tell him. Yes, one time she said "oh, I should really tell you something" and he hushes her up, but once again it's just not believable. Tons of time passes where if she really wanted to tell him she was a virgin she could have, but she chooses not to for reasons that are never made clear. After all her inner monologue lectures to herself about how giving up her virginity is a line she can never cross, suddenly she's just too horny to stop? I don't believe it. Not now of all times when he's pissed and thinks the worst of her. That's not the time a naive girl with romantic ideals about love and marriage finally decides to give up her maidenhead.

Quin even insists that she take the lead on their lovemaking, saying that he wants the benefit of her "professional skills" not for her to "pretend" to play the virgin for him. And instead of stopping and explaining that she is, in fact, a virgin, she taps into her memories of stories the girls told and books she'd seen in the brothel to make it appear that she knows what she's doing. Why? What possible reason can she have for this deception? The only reason is plot contrivance so that Quin, a man the author has taken pains to show as good and honorable, can go ahead and deflower the virgin Celina.

I will say that I thought Quin's reaction to finding out Celina was a virgin was realistic and different than you normally see in romance novels. Instead of saying "oh well, the damage has already been done so I may as well enjoy myself", Quin stops in the middle of sex and refuses to finish. He's disgusted to find he's just done what he vowed never to do - deflower a virgin out of wedlock - and is pissed that Celina tricked him into doing it by withholding information. At this point Celina FINALLY tells Quin what happened the night the rich man died, but by then he doesn't believe her. She's told too many lies and passed up too many chances to tell him the truth prior to this and her story is just too unbelievable.

Balancing Celina's attempts to flirt with him earlier in their acquaintance and her sudden decision to sleep with him that night, Quin decides that she
is indeed a prostitute, practiced in the arts of manipulating men. He believes she was being groomed to become the next Madame of her aunt's brothel and that she had willingly sold her own virginity to the rich dead man as a way of launching her scandalous career, but when the man died she'd had to make a run for it. Then when the Bow Street Runner had turned up and outed her as a hooker, she'd made a cold and deliberate decision to get Quin to take her virginity so that he would feel honor-bound to protect her from there on out.

Quin tells her that she hadn't needed to go to such extremes because he would have protected her anyway because, despite her lies, the one part of her story he does believe is that she did not steal the missing heirloom (not sure why he'd believe that part when he thinks she's a consummate liar). Celina swears that she was just really horny and didn't have an ulterior motive for getting him into bed but he doesn't believe her because that makes no sense whatsoever, not with her established character up to that point. She even goes a step further and suggests that, now that she's no longer a virgin and all, why doesn't she become his mistress for real, as a thank you for his protection? This only angers Quin more and reinforces his belief that she's just bartering her body for what she wants, as any prostitute would.

Celina spends the rest of the book wallowing in self-deprecation for lying to Quin and mentally marveling at how wonderful and honorable he is. Yet when he finally realizes that she did not, in fact, sell her own virginity but was forced into it, Celina's inner monologue is full of recriminations about how "hurt" she'd been that Quin hadn't just taken her word for it. And then, after spending almost the entire second half of the book throwing herself at Quin, when he asks her to marry him she suddenly refuses. She has once again contradicted her own behavior and says she's back to feeling like she's got to have true love and partnership in order to be in a relationship with him. Again, it's a pretty common theme in romance novels for the hero to propose and the heroine to refuse because she thinks the hero doesn't love her, but in this book it doesn't make sense. If Celina had stayed true to her "only for love" mantra all throughout the book then it would have made sense, but she didn't. So it just wasn't believable that she'd refuse Quin's offer of marriage.

I wasn't really sure why Quin proposed in any event. He hadn't demonstrated any great affection for Celina up to that point in the book. First he'd been intrigued by her, then he spent the middle portion of the book rightfully pissed at her, and only seemed to continue to help her because he's an honorable man who can't resist helping people in need. Even once he finds out that she had, eventually, told him the truth about her past, the only real emotion he shows is guilt over believing the worst about her. Nothing he does really shows him falling in love with her. There aren't any snippets from his inner monologue where he finds himself thinking about her or dreading the moment when he has to let her go. Not until after he learns that her story was true does he suddenly propose and only after that does her face start to haunt his thoughts. So it seems like he proposed spur-of-the-moment and out of guilt, rather than affection.

The resolution to Quin's big quest for revenge against the family who'd ruined his name was surprisingly anticlimactic. After hearing the whole book about how that event had, for better or for worse, shaped his whole life, to have it resolved in one brief encounter, during which the readers were not privy to what was being said, was pretty lame. And the resolution to the romance got too mushy and dragged on too long. Once the miraculous I Love You's are exchanged the book goes on for quite a while and is full of "I love you more" "no I love YOU more!" level of sappiness. Considering how little affection was demonstrated between the couple all through the book, having an entire book's worth of emotion crammed into the last few pages was hard to take.

Overall, the beginning was good and interesting but the ending was cliched and bordered on annoying. It averages out to an okay book but not one I'd read more than once.

[Debby *BabyDee* · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third in the Transformation of the Shelley Sisters and I thought it was mediocre. It was somewhat enjoyable and the hero was not your typical type of gentleman. 2.5 Stars (rounded 3 Stars).

[Sarah Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Her world had become bounded by the walls of The Blue Door and her memories and dreams of her sisters. Now she was a friendless, fugitive virgin and utterly in Lord Dreycott's power. Did he realise how vulnerable she was? Was he titillated by it? Perhaps he thought she was too innocent to see her own danger.'

If only all virginal heroines were like Lina. Normally I rant & rave about poorly portrayed shyness in heroines, but surprise! For once an author got it right. From the first scene when she sasses Lord Makepeace, to analyzing her attraction to Quinn, to reading Minerva Press novels, to her calculated flirtatiousness, this was a girl I could appreciate. She was inexperienced & tentative, yes, but NOT STUPID about sex (or anything else), & I just loved her -- not only the survivor mentality, but the contrast of staid upbringing & courtesan tricks gleaned from friends in her aunt's brothel. The way she employed their little techniques both as a shield against her shyness & a goad to encourage her hidden naughty streak was such a nice change from annoyingly clueless virgins who need to be enlightened as to why nipples grow hard.

As for her stubborn reticence, I could understand it; shyness for Lina (& also yours truly :P) is a battle of pride vs emotion, thereby distilling awkwardness to wry humor, lewd jokes, or sheer silence -- any are preferable to putting oneself in the position of Discussing Feelz, because discussion = risk, & risk = unacceptable. (It's a fine line that many authors don't address properly, or even bother to attempt.) Indeed, Lina is more than willing to take bodily risks (which she does, ranging from running away -- first to an unknown aunt & later away from the brothel -- to her imagined romping through the wilds of Egypt). She's even willing to acknowledge her desire for Quinn on a purely sexual level. But the risk of being open & honest with someone who threatens her emotional equilibrium -- that's more difficult, & I appreciated her skittishness.

The story itself is rather far-fetched, but believable enough that I didn't care. Indeed, I enjoyed the rollicking slap-dash silliness of (count 'em) 3 villains, 2 reluctant leads, a brothel-load of cheery whores, an eccentric benefactor, & 1 sardonic, scarred-up, badass Russian sidekick. Are you not entertained?! *I* certainly was. Take that, Avon snoozers.

*halo*

Strong 4 stars overall. Ms Allen's second Shelley Sisters book was a yawn, but this one didn't even feel like the same universe other than Regency England. My only significant gripes are a brief period where the plot stalls (maybe 2 chapters in the middle?) & the fact that Gregor doesn't have a book all to himself. Perhaps he ended up with one of Lina's cheery whores. ;)

[MissD'Lebeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A mulher vai me mandar cedo para o meu túmulo”

Foi meu primeiro romance de banca e já amei. Fiquei bem surpresa com a história. Pois pela sinopse me deu uma ideia e quando se ler vai muito além.

A Celina é tão carismática, se tornou uma querida desde o primeiro momento.

A química entre ela e o Quinn é de milhões.

O Quinn é tão fofo ~ me apaixonei demais.

Mais quem me conquisto de vdd foi o Gregor mds que homem INCRÍVEL. Toda migalha q a autora oferece dele eu catava com todo carinho.

E por fala nele queria que ele tivesse um romance só dele. Sério, que personagem maravilhoso, entrego tanto. Roubou meu coração.

A Prudence apareceu pouco mais gostei bastante dela e não nego que Shippei com o Gregor pq sou dessas.

[Mandygirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Rob Imes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was Harlequin Historical #1060, published in Oct. 2011, and the third book in "The Transformation of the Shelley Sisters" trilogy. I've not read the previous two books in the series, but was able to follow what was happening because each book deals with a different sister's romance. This book concerns the younger sister Celina Shelley (often referred to as Lina for short) who finds herself working in her Aunt's brothel The Blue Door, though not as a sex worker. This lack of participation is ordered to change when the oppositely-named Mr. Makepeace takes over the business. When her first customer, another loathsome man named Tolhurst, drops dead before he can ravage her and his expensive sapphire ring is discovered missing, the innocent Lina must go into hiding to avoid the hangman's noose. She finds refuge living with the elderly Lord Dreycott (a friend of her aunt's), but he soon dies and his young great-nephew Quinn takes over his estate. The first part of the novel deals with the question of how much Lina can reveal to Quinn without placing herself in further danger. The second half of the novel deals with Quinn's efforts to extricate Lina from her criminal charge and to get her to marry him. It is perhaps a little absurd that the events of the novel take place within such a short period of time, between March 4 and June 1, 1815, since so much drama occurs within those three months. Unlike some reviewers who felt that the book started more strongly than it finished, I enjoyed it throughout. The first half has the advantage of dramatic tension between Lina and Quinn, as the two are strangers to one another at first, and the second half has the benefit of action, including a duel and a dramatic arrest of the true thief of the sapphire ring. The writing style in itself was not particularly impressive, but I enjoyed the dramatic tension, the characters, and the scenes as they were described. I think it also helps that the writer is British, so perhaps the details are more authentic than they would be from the pen of an American writer (as so many Regency romance authors are). Occasionally I wondered if I should rate this 3.5 stars, but by the end I felt satisfied enough to rate it 4 stars.

[Jana]

Odpad.

[Shopgirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This began well enough, but it started losing credibility for me when the supposed virgin starts performing fellatio on our hero, like that's a perfectly natural thing for inexperienced virgins do the first time they have any kind of intimate contact with a man. I remember the writing style being rather odd too, weird sentence construction that kept making me stop and reread so I could understand what was being said. I do remember quite a bit about this book even years later, so at least it was memorable.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't read many romances (compared to my friends anyway) and am quick to give up on them if they annoy or bore me. So finishing one is already a recommendation in itself. The characters were convincing and likeable, the plot original enough to keep you reading and even guessing. A good read, I would definitely try another by the same author.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this ending to the series by Louise Allen. I was looking forward to the last sister in the series. This story was good but I did not love the main guy character. He was such a jerk. I just did not enjoy him at all.

[Yunita Taman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Membaca novel ini cukup menyenangkan. Ada lebih banyak petualangan juga sedikit permainan intrik-intrikan dalam novel ini. Cukup seru walau memang bukan jenis cerita yang akan membuat hati pembaca "ketar-ketir". Celina si bungsu Shelley sister memiliki kepribadian yang polos dan cerdas, saya rasa author menggambarkannya cukup baik dimana ada kontras antara sifat aslinya dan kenyataan dia pernah tinggal di rumah bordil di London meski tujuannya hanya membantu sang bibi dalam hal pembukuan. Dalam hal karakter Lord Dreycott, mungkin dia sedikit eksentrik tapi menarik. Di masa lalunya, dia sempat difitnah dan kehormatannya sebagai gentleman hilang. Tetapi, justru hal tersebut membuatnya lebih berempati pada penderitaan orang lain yang senasib. Memang romance yang diceritakan agak biasa dan polanya gampang ditebak, namun saya tetap beranggapan Quinn dan Celina adalah pasangan yang manis dan gampang dicintai. Sayang bukunya terlalu tipis sehingga konflik emosional mereka seharusnya bisa lebih mendetail dan mendalam.

[Nightwitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the one hand, I really loathe the virgin whore trope; on the other hand, I really like Louise Allen. It was a toss-up, so I just read the darn thing. Definitely not one of her better books - the plotting was silly, the heroine was pretty dumb, the hero was one of those shockingly enlightened twenty-first-century men in a regency-era neckcloth, and there was some weird Orientalism going on at various points - but it wasn't terrible. All the same, I don't want to risk accidentally re-reading it, so two stars. She does so much better most of the time.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

In truth, there was nothing wrong with this book. It was just too simple.
Celina lived in a brothel but she seemed untouched by it. Quinn went back to England to take revenge to a person who humiliated and branded him a sinner, but all it took was a duel and after that, nothing change. He didn't regain his honor, so what the use of the duel? Problems were solved easily and the sisters' reunion was rushed.
All's well at the end, the sisters even planned to forgive their father and let the bygones be bygone, but not satisfactorily.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best scene was when Celina dressed up and acted like a spoiled, selfish mistress to throw the detective off the trail - because the rest of the story she does very little, relying on those around for everything. Good potential, but not quite executed well.

[Karen Darling · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little dull and long and drawn out.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well.... I’ve been more entertained with romance novels, but this one was a good 4 hour rabbit chase.... any longer for me to read and it wouldn’t have been worth it.

[Sinead · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - probably my least favourite book of the series but was still a decent read. Enjoyed the Shelley sisters series overall. Would recommend.

[One Sentence Audio Critic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would do an entire audiobook series with spinoffs of the "adventurer" male hero of this work. How about a book starring his Russian friend?

[Kamilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

A história de Lina e Quinn encerra a saga das irmãs Shelley, que se espalharam pela Inglaterra fugindo se seu pai, gostei da história e consegui me distrair, mas comparada as histórias das irmãs, essa ainda é a medalha de bronze.

Gostei de saber mais sobre o passado da mãe das meninas, pelo menos serviu para explicar os modos tão rígidos do pai delas, e também gostei da história da juventude de Quinn, mas ele não conseguiu me conquistar da mesma forma que os outros heróis da trilogia.

Fiquei feliz com o reencontro das irmãs, mas esperava mais emoção e pelo menos um epílogo para fechar com chave de ouro, no mais, foi um série divertida e bem fechadinha, vou procurar mais livros de Louise Allen.

[Andreia Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este livro, "Innocent Courtesan to Adventurer's Bride ", de Louise Allen faz parte de uma série onde são contadas as aventuras e transformações na vida das irmãs Shelley. Apesar de não ter começado pelo primeiro volume é uma série que se pode ler em separado visto cada livro mostrar a história independente de cada uma das irmãs.

Celina foge do pai e refugia-se na casa da Tia Clara sem saber que o negócio que ela gere se trata de um bordel. Casada com a obrigação de impedir a ruína da tia, vê-se acusada de um roubo quando o seu recente marido morre na noite de núpcias. Fugindo mais uma vez, vê-se em casa de Quinn Ashley, Lord Dreycott, na casa onde foi protegida pelo tio deste.

É um romance de época bem construído, mesmo sendo típico e previsível. O romance entre Quinn e a Celina é altamente cliché mas não deixa de ser agradável de ser lido e não deixa de nos sacar sorrisos e fazer torcer para que eles fiquem juntos. Há aquele mistério que também é recorrente neste tipo de histórias que as torna sempre mais interessantes do que se existisse apenas o romance. Neste caso, o desvendar do roubo e a prova da inocência de Celina dá dinâmica ao livro e sustenta aquele romance.

Gostei muito e vou ler os restantes volumes da série!

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet romance. Should have read books 1 & 2 about other sisters but it stood alone all right.
Celina has runaway from tyrannical, strict puritan Clergy Father. She goes to her Aunt that runs a brothel. the Aunt in need of money turns to a man, Makepeace, for financial help and she has gotten ill and he has more or less taken over the running of the brothel. He sells Celina's virginity to an old Lord Tulhurst. During her visit to the old Lord he has a heart attack and dies she runs from the house. The old Lord Tulhurst family sapphire ring disapears and the theft is blamed on Celina. The aunt sends her to an old acquaintance, Lord Dreycott to hide while she tries to find out what happened. Celina's protector Lord Dreycott dies and the new Lord Dreycott arrives. He is a handsome adventurer who lives outside of England because of terrible scandal in his youth. He is unaware of Celina's presence and is surprised to find her in residence. Their friendship and the problems they both have to solve make the story enjoyable.

[Stevie Carroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Third in the series about the Shelley Sisters, and this time we learn more about their background than any of them knew previously. It transpires that their mother and aunt had been ruined in their youth, and while their mother had later married, their aunt had gone on to run a reasonably successful and for the time ethical brothel. The aunt however falls on hard times due to illness, and Lina who is working as her clerk and housekeeper finds herself sent out to 'work' by one of her aunt's creditors. Geting into a tricky situation, she is forced to flee to stay with an old friend of her aunt, who promptly dies leaving her to face his heir: enter the hero. Quinn was a little too alpha for my taste.

Most of the loose ends were tied up nicely (there's an eBook dealing with the only one remaining as far as I can see) and this series is definitely a keeper.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

If my mother hadn't been interested in the third sister's fate, I doubt I would've gone the effort to get my hands on the third book. Luckily the library had an available copy at the moment.

The third Shelley sister is a bit naive just like her older sisters were, but her fate's somewhat different since she found shelter at her aunt's. You want to know what makes it so different from the other sister's fate? The aunt has a brothel of her very own.

The book is somewhat cute in its naivety and simplicity.

I liked it and if you've read the previous books in the series as well, you'll probably feel the way I do after the sisters meet again. Louise Allen has spared the sisters only a couple of paragraphs after years apart. I think I would've liked it better if their meeting had been covered more thoroughly.

[Sabrina (Soter) Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trama leggermente diversa dagli altri due libri della serie ma nonostante ciò devo dire che per me è il peggiore dei tre XD Anche Celina, come le sorelle Meg e Arabella, è fuggita dal padre ma pur essendo riuscita (a differenza delle sorelle) a non farsi sedurre dal primo che capita, non è riuscita a schivare la Sfiga e si ritrova impelagata in un omicidio oltreché ospite di un bordello XD Inutile dire che la carne è debole e appena arriva il nostro affascinante eroe dal sentore straniero (inutile specificare titolato) la virtù della nostra eroina vacilla...non che fosse mai stata granché solida comunque ahahah XD Classico happy ending con tutte le sorelle riunite e felicemente sposate...e titolate, l'ho già detto titolate? XD

[Jasey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Series - The Transformation of the Shelly Sisters - book 3

Celina Shelley is living with her Aunt who runs a brothel but she is not a prostitute. Her aunt sends her to Lord Dreycott to stay when Celina is wrongly accused of stealing a nobleman's expensive ring. She flees to Quinn Ashley, Lord Dreycott, for safety. She stays with Lord Dreycott and he dies and a new Lord Dreycott comes. The older one new where Celina had come from but the new one does not. He is puzzled by her "professional" knowledge and innocence combined. Quinn has a sidekick "Gregor"
who is an interesting character also. They have houses in London side by side. 4+

[Dancer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of the brothel…
Wrongly accused of theft, innocent Celina Shelley is cast out of the brothel she calls home and flees to Quinn Ashley, Lord Dreycott, for safety. But the heat in the daredevil adventurer's eyes tells Lina that the danger is just beginning....

And into the rake's bedroom!

Lina dresses like a nun, looks like an angel, but flirts like a professional—and the last thing Quinn expects to discover is that she's a virgin!

This was my least favorite of the Shelley Sisters trilogy. Lina is not as fully developed as are Meg and Bella in their story lines. Even with that, Ms. Allen delivers a satisfying story line.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think by the time I got to this book I was tired of the Shelley sisters. In this one we do get the back story on why the overly pious vicar father considers women the object of all sin. Turns out he is a little correct.

The youngest sister Celina is doing bookkeeping for an aunt running a brothel. The aunt falls ill and a silent business partner steps in and decides to go a more debauched route. That leads to accusations against Celina who flees to a protector. After he dies, the heir arrives and we meet our hero.

This story struck me as dry and not that compelling. Typical but nice happy ending.

[Kbee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was just OK! Glad I didn't have to pay for it.Good base for a story but lacked to much. Something about the hero wasn't quite clear.
She tried to make a rugged guy out of a scholar, writer, adventurer but it did not come out that way. To me he sounded more like nerd who wanted to be a rake.
The end was to moochy-moochy with all those ''my love'' here and there.

Audible Romance Package
AUDIOBOOK: Read 31 January &
8hrs 29min
Narrator: Jilly Bond does a good job
I liked it better on audio. Gave it 3 stars.

[Cherish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another surprising book, just like the last three soldier series novel by Diane Gaston. I can honestly say that Quinn was a very confusing person. Couldn't understand him at times but I did feel compassion for him when he realised that Celina was a virgin. Celina had many chances to tell Quinn to tell the truth but it the truth about her seemed to come at the right part of the despite her reaction. I could not help but feel sympathy for her during what had happened and it was this part of the novel that became really engaging.