Belle

Aphrodite Academy #1

by Blair Bancroft, Rayne Lord

While attempting to put on a good face for her first London Season, Lady Arabella Pierrepont goes home each night to endure the raucous attention of her father's gaming partners. One evening, when Baron Pierrepont reaches a new low, offering his daughter's virginity to the next winner, Gabriel, Viscount Ashford, helps Arabella escape. He takes her to The Aphrodite Academy, where she is given three choices: the respectable but dull life of a companion, a marriage well below her station in life, or training to become one of London's finest courtesans. Since she has taken men in dislike and would like nothing better than to drain their purses dry, she chooses the scandalous life. But none of the armor she has thrown up can protect her when the highest bidder for her services is Lord Ashford, the one man she considers a hero. Both must grow wiser and listen to their hearts before Belle can put the abuse she suffered behind her and Gabriel can shed the casual sexual practices of the so-called Regency gentleman.

Author's Note: I think of The Aphrodite Academy series as "Regency Darkside," novellas that go beyond the usual Regency Historical to explore what might have happened to young women, from ladies to tavern wenches, for whom life was unkind—young women with no family or friends willing to help when their lives fall apart. In this series each girl will find The Aphrodite Academy, or it will find them. The headmistress is a widowed baroness, left in charge of a remarkable fortune by a husband whose proclivities were as eclectic as they were enthusiastic. She has, perhaps not surprisingly, barred all males from the grounds of the Academy, where she offers academic classes, arranges suitable positions for some of her students, and offers training in the fine arts of the courtesan to those who wish it.

The language is saucy, the sex occasionally graphic, but the stories are driven by character and plot, not sexual content.

113 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 19, 2013

About the author

Blair Bancroft is an award-winning author, multi-published in several different romance genres. Her eclectic background includes a career in music, with forays into editing and costume design. She wrote her first novel only after it occurred to her that her mother being a successful author didn't mean she couldn't be one too. Blair has traveled most of the United States and as far away as Siberia and Machu Picchu, with emphasis on touring Great Britain and Ireland, and enjoys using bits of her travel experiences in her books.

Blair’s first book, TARLETON’S WIFE, won RWA’s Golden Heart award. Her traditional Regency, THE INDIFFERENT EARL (now published as THE COURTESAN’S LETTERS) won the Best Regency award from Romantic Times and was a nominee for RWA’s RITA award. She has also won a Best Romance award from the Florida Writers Association and Best YA award from EPIC. To keep things lively, over the last few years Blair has added the genre Regency Gothic and the Space Saga series, Blue Moon Rising, to her list of books.

Reviews

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first in the series of The Aphrodite Academy. The story of Belle and Ashford. I liked the story but there was not enough background on Ashford. Its as if he isn't am fully developed character. There was not enough about why he couldn't refuse the invitation to see if Belle was one of the graduates of the academy. I very much like the sub plot of Wolfe and Lady Ravenwood the tease to get to the next book.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a unique regency story, there's a happy ending but it's well earned. I was going to rate it 4 stars, but Gabriel doesn't seem as well fleshed-out. We see Belle's growth, but there is little to Gabriel's except for his intro and then his secret yearning for Belle. There is sex on page with another woman (Gabriel's mistress before Belle) that is quite descriptive. Gabriel basically comes off as a walking penis with a heart of gold.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed

I have enjoyed Belle's story and that of Ashford's. Reading was light, entertaining, and sensual but, not in a in your face kinda of way. This book brings home choices women had to make during those times. Good read looking forward to next in series.