The Virgin's Dilemma

by Rosy Maylor

Though she does her best to survive on the meager work she can find painting sets at the theater and carving ice sculptures for the decadent events held at the club of the notorious Mistress Caro, twenty-two-year-old Teresa Trioli remains deeply in debt and her situation grows more desperate by the day. There is a man who could save her, but there would be a price to pay. A high price...

Wealthy, powerful Edward Murray has long fancied Teresa, but when she dares to hope that he might agree to become her benefactor, she quickly finds herself in far over her head. Edward is no gentle, soft-hearted lover. He expects Teresa to work for Mistress Caro at the club, where she will be his to train, his to punish, and his to enjoy in any way he pleases.

But even as she is forced to pay her debts in the most shameful manner imaginable, Teresa cannot help wondering if what Edward offers her is much more than just a clean financial slate. Is a romance with him a foolish dream, or could it be that he is exactly the man--and the master--she has always needed?

Publisher's The Virgin's Dilemma is a stand-alone novel with the same Victorian-era setting as Punishing Lady Jane . It includes spankings, sexual scenes, intense and humiliating punishments, and more. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book.

Genres: Erotica

347 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 17, 2017

Reviews

[Greyling54 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maylor's second book is even better than her first. Set around the same, very exclusive and very kinky, club as Punishing Lady Jane, The Virgin's Dilemma is even better, because the length provides much more room for character development than her first book. The virgin of the title is Teresa, an almost starving artist, who is in enough debt to soon be heading to debtor's prison, unless some alternative presents itself. It does, in the form of Edward Murray, a longtime member of Mistress Caro's club/brothel. After a lengthy acquaintance when Teresa is sculpting ice for the parties, Murray wants to see Teresa's paintings. When he offers to buy one, Teresa sees a possible way out of her situation and offers herself as well. She soon finds herself employed by Mistress Caro, with the club gearing up for the auctioning of Teresa's virginity and Teresa both in love with, and puzzled by, Murray. She becomes certain he loves her, too, and after quite a bit of hot sex and BDSM, a happy ending ensues.

Some readers may find this a bit dark, as Murray's kinks are more extreme than usual. But the overall tone is generally quite positive. Teresa quickly finds friends at the brothel, and even though she wants to earn the money to pay her debts and not accept charity, sometimes she doesn't have that choice.

The characterizations in the writing are excellent, with both Teresa and Ed (as she calls him) well drawn and with enough history to understand their perspectives. We also learn more about Mistress Caro, and she becomes much more three-dimensional than there was space for in the first book. Overall, a treat for lovers of Victorian kink.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

The erotica part of this was hot, but the romance did not work for me at all.

I guess in my romances I expect a certain level of fidelity, but that wasn't here at all. The hero literally set it up so that the heroine became a whore in a brothel. I don't find that romantic or heroic. I'm fine with mistress romances, but there's a big difference between that and having the heroine join a brothel and have to fuck clients and the other prostitutes. The hero also fucked other women throughout the story. There was also huge period of time where the hero and heroine didn't interact which I didn't care for. Most of their emotional relationship had already developed before the start of the story, and this just focused on their sexual one. At the end, the heroine was also in love with a few other people too, but I didn't feel the love in those relationships either and didn't think they were necessary.

The heroine also wasn't a virgin. Yes, she hadn't fucked a man before, but she had a multi-year sexual relationship with a woman and that means she isn't a virgin in my book.

I also think it would have been good if the summary had mentioned that there were going to be f/f and m/f/f scenes in this. I don't mind reading them, but I feel like most readers aren't really interested in them, and I feel like there are more scenes between the heroine and other women than with the hero.

I'm not sure I would really call this a romance. At the very least, I don't think this is a romance that most romance readers will like.

[Deborah KV · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a sub who appreciates sadism

My favorite line by far was "the more i like a girl, the more i want to hurt her."
Actually, if I were honest, there were many lines that were my favorite.
Many people think that the only complement to sadism is masochism, but a sub who wants to please may not desire her own pain, but suffer for her Master's pleasure.
This is a complex romance, with hands everywhere and fingers titillating many a figurative erogenous zone, written by one who obviously has more than a surface level understanding of BDSM themes.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

An energetic, angst-filled story. There is a lot going on in this story. It will definitely keep your attention and make you think. Theresa and Ed are perfect for each other. The other many and varied characters all add to the story. An enjoyable read.