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Victorian Mistress
Lot Maguire gets you right in the heart. Charlotte ‘Lot’ Maguire is a thief on the streets of Victorian London until she meets Brandon O’Connor and spies a route to an easier, well paid, life. Except Lot isn’t made for the life of a Victorian lady and can’t resist the lure of trouble. With corrupt business men in the drawing rooms, vampires in the gentlemen’s clubs, and her old associates in the alleys she doesn’t have to look far to find it. In retrospect, maybe ‘easier’ was the wrong word. Contains bonus story, First Meetings, revealing how Lot and Bran met. Content Warning: Victorian Mistress features: sexual content, violence, and references to physical and emotional abuse. The bonus story, First Meetings, features: violence, sexual content, including bondage, and one instance of on page of self-harm.
- GenresRomance
415 pages, Paperback
First published August 24, 2018
About the author
Jesse Stuart
8 books15 followersWriting books and books about writing books. My degrees say I know stuff.
Currently serialising Book of Lot and Writing: Back to Basics on my website
Agent: The Ki Agency
Find me:
Twitter: @SisterQuill
Tumblr: @SisterQuill
Wattpad: @SisterQuill
Instagram: @SisterOfTheQuill
Currently serialising Book of Lot and Writing: Back to Basics on my website
Agent: The Ki Agency
Find me:
Twitter: @SisterQuill
Tumblr: @SisterQuill
Wattpad: @SisterQuill
Instagram: @SisterOfTheQuill
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 12, 2019
Fun, sexy, slow burn
I loved this, mainly because I’m an absolute trash panda for slow burn pretend wife & found family stories with a good man who needs to be emotionally (and sometimes physically) rescued. Plus there are vampires, what’s not to like?
Edit: this was a short review that doesn’t do it justice really or explain why I gave it 4-5*s. I settled on 5 in the end because it’s one of my favourite erotic romance stories and I have so few favourites. So take my rating as a marker of personal preference.
Firstly, it was pretty well edited. The few typos etc I found were the same number I found in editions of traditionally published novels, and I actually found x2 errors in The Haunting of Hill House (Shirley Jackson’s classic) including a pretty glaring one where “House” had been printed “Houser”, so an indie book edited well with one or two missed things has nothing to reproach itself for.
Secondly, it hit all the right emotional buttons for me (and I have VERY SPECIFIC NEEDS) including a moment where my heart contracted and I physically clapped a hand to my mouth and squeaked “aww!” aloud. So there was that.
It has demisexual rep, which I relate to strongly, it has a really well-developed relationship between the main characters that I enjoyed, and although I wasn’t sure if I was going to stick with it at the start, I was hooked by the end of the first chapter and I’m glad I continued with it.
I found the actual vampire lore interesting: they are undead but more undead in the Cursed Humans way, with limitations and a Sire structure (plot relevant).
Also Jesse Stuart manages to cram an impressive amount of plot and characterisation in between the sex & sexy scenes, which were fairly tame but still erotic & worked well with the overall tone and style of the book.
There were elements of the plot that could have been developed further, maybe, and some sections seemed more rushed than others, but the pace keeps pulling you through the story and the relationship develops at a realistic rate (IMO!)
At the end, I immediately bought the next one (also for Kindle). Then I found the 3rd one on her website (also it’s on Wattpad). It’s really rare that I find a book series so fun and easy to read that hits all my guilty pleasure buttons at once, and makes me want to read everything else the author’s written, so just for that I think this first one is 5* worthy too.
I loved this, mainly because I’m an absolute trash panda for slow burn pretend wife & found family stories with a good man who needs to be emotionally (and sometimes physically) rescued. Plus there are vampires, what’s not to like?
Edit: this was a short review that doesn’t do it justice really or explain why I gave it 4-5*s. I settled on 5 in the end because it’s one of my favourite erotic romance stories and I have so few favourites. So take my rating as a marker of personal preference.
Firstly, it was pretty well edited. The few typos etc I found were the same number I found in editions of traditionally published novels, and I actually found x2 errors in The Haunting of Hill House (Shirley Jackson’s classic) including a pretty glaring one where “House” had been printed “Houser”, so an indie book edited well with one or two missed things has nothing to reproach itself for.
Secondly, it hit all the right emotional buttons for me (and I have VERY SPECIFIC NEEDS) including a moment where my heart contracted and I physically clapped a hand to my mouth and squeaked “aww!” aloud. So there was that.
It has demisexual rep, which I relate to strongly, it has a really well-developed relationship between the main characters that I enjoyed, and although I wasn’t sure if I was going to stick with it at the start, I was hooked by the end of the first chapter and I’m glad I continued with it.
I found the actual vampire lore interesting: they are undead but more undead in the Cursed Humans way, with limitations and a Sire structure (plot relevant).
Also Jesse Stuart manages to cram an impressive amount of plot and characterisation in between the sex & sexy scenes, which were fairly tame but still erotic & worked well with the overall tone and style of the book.
There were elements of the plot that could have been developed further, maybe, and some sections seemed more rushed than others, but the pace keeps pulling you through the story and the relationship develops at a realistic rate (IMO!)
At the end, I immediately bought the next one (also for Kindle). Then I found the 3rd one on her website (also it’s on Wattpad). It’s really rare that I find a book series so fun and easy to read that hits all my guilty pleasure buttons at once, and makes me want to read everything else the author’s written, so just for that I think this first one is 5* worthy too.
September 11, 2021
Wonderful story
I greatly enjoyed the characters and voice in this. Fans of Karen Marie Moning may enjoy.
Hoping for more from this author.
I greatly enjoyed the characters and voice in this. Fans of Karen Marie Moning may enjoy.
Hoping for more from this author.
October 12, 2019
I love Bran. He's delightful.
This book is more than it appears on the surface, Stuart has an innate ability to say so much with a few deft precise words. It's a skill few master. Historical vampire PNR? yes, all day long. There's so much here on so many levels. Funny, violent, sweet, hints of darkness, drama, sex. It's a finely balanced piece of work you need in your life. I thoroughly recommend it.
This book is more than it appears on the surface, Stuart has an innate ability to say so much with a few deft precise words. It's a skill few master. Historical vampire PNR? yes, all day long. There's so much here on so many levels. Funny, violent, sweet, hints of darkness, drama, sex. It's a finely balanced piece of work you need in your life. I thoroughly recommend it.
September 1, 2019
Victorian Mistress is an antidote for the reader who is looking to be transported to a vibrant world populated by fascinating characters. There is the story, there are the characters, and there is the social subtext. The way Stuart blends them with majestic control over language, tone, and pacing is out of this world. I don't frankly know what to call it... Literary vampire romance with the pop sensibilities of an Amazon produced action drama series? As a reader, I just fell into the world and Lot reveals herself through the story which flows effortlessly. Few books have the ability to so perfectly, without a heavy hand, produce images in my head. I laughed. I was thrilled. I was shocked. 10/10 would recommend to readers of Anne Rice, but the contemporary romance audience would feel very at home as well.
December 20, 2018
I don't know what "it" is, but this book has it. Stuart writes from a position of immense strength, and her characters call to readers long after the book has been put down. I'm eagerly awaiting the ebook release of the later books in this series.
November 5, 2018
Good or evil,
Do you judge by the rules broken, or by the lives damaged? How to convince someone they are worth while. I enjoyed this
Do you judge by the rules broken, or by the lives damaged? How to convince someone they are worth while. I enjoyed this
listed
May 29, 2019Demisexual MC
January 30, 2019
I really wanted to like this book. Indeed, there are some things I did like about it: the main characters are good, and the interplay between them is interesting. In many ways the bonus story was actually better than the novel itself (even though the novel had spoiled all the important parts), because it just examined the relationship between Lot and Bran, and was way more focused.
The main problem with this book is that it doesn't really flow. It's obvious that this was originally a web serial that's been compiled into an ebook. Events don't really seem to be caused by one another; instead, they just occur. And a lot of different, unrelated events occur, making it at times a bit confusing. I felt it could have done with way more text bridging between the chapters and explaining what was going on, how things were connected. The finale wasn't really built up to over the course of the book, and the only thing I noticed come up that really could have been an overarching plot ended up petering out into nothing, so far as I could tell.
I feel like if I had discovered the web serial version of this, and followed that instead of reading this book, I'd have liked it all a lot better. As I said the main characters are good, and the author has a refreshingly positive take on sexuality (especially considering the novel's setting in nineteenth-century London), although I did grow weary of how many minor characters felt the need to hurl sexist slurs at Lot (like, I just felt I'd got the point by the time it had happened three times already). I don't know, am I being too harsh? I just feel like a series of short stories with these characters, each with identifiable problems and climaxes, would have been more enjoyable. So, I'm rating this 2 stars for "OK" – potential was there, but it wasn't realised.
The main problem with this book is that it doesn't really flow. It's obvious that this was originally a web serial that's been compiled into an ebook. Events don't really seem to be caused by one another; instead, they just occur. And a lot of different, unrelated events occur, making it at times a bit confusing. I felt it could have done with way more text bridging between the chapters and explaining what was going on, how things were connected. The finale wasn't really built up to over the course of the book, and the only thing I noticed come up that really could have been an overarching plot ended up petering out into nothing, so far as I could tell.
I feel like if I had discovered the web serial version of this, and followed that instead of reading this book, I'd have liked it all a lot better. As I said the main characters are good, and the author has a refreshingly positive take on sexuality (especially considering the novel's setting in nineteenth-century London), although I did grow weary of how many minor characters felt the need to hurl sexist slurs at Lot (like, I just felt I'd got the point by the time it had happened three times already). I don't know, am I being too harsh? I just feel like a series of short stories with these characters, each with identifiable problems and climaxes, would have been more enjoyable. So, I'm rating this 2 stars for "OK" – potential was there, but it wasn't realised.
August 30, 2018
Full of clever metaphors, unique vampire romance and a fantastic female protagonist, you won’t want to miss out on this new paperback or kindle version of VM!
Lot is one of my new favorite female characters. She’s independent and strong, but still opens up little-by-little to the idea of love. She’s everything you wish you were, and everything you beg for from a female character.
Victorian Mistress is brilliant and beautifully written. Edited by the author, there are little-to-no errors and mistakes throughout, which is impressive. The story isn’t bogged down with unnecessary narrative or dialogue. It all flows well together, moving the plot and building the palpable world Stuart created. Each character has a unique voice. The tension throughout the dialogue and narrative pulls and pushes you from scene to scene with little room to breath. It’s fantastic! You won’t want to put it down until you’ve consumed the ending.
Lot is one of my new favorite female characters. She’s independent and strong, but still opens up little-by-little to the idea of love. She’s everything you wish you were, and everything you beg for from a female character.
Victorian Mistress is brilliant and beautifully written. Edited by the author, there are little-to-no errors and mistakes throughout, which is impressive. The story isn’t bogged down with unnecessary narrative or dialogue. It all flows well together, moving the plot and building the palpable world Stuart created. Each character has a unique voice. The tension throughout the dialogue and narrative pulls and pushes you from scene to scene with little room to breath. It’s fantastic! You won’t want to put it down until you’ve consumed the ending.
March 29, 2020
Jesse Stuart is masterful in her writing. I read this book quickly, enthralled by the characters, and the story. Lot is a Victorian badass. I took an immediate liking to her as she seduced, loved, and slayed. She is tough, and full of heart. The story is action-packed, and full of sass, and humour. It also has enough sexual tension to make the reader squirm with delight. A true page turner, I enjoyed this wonderful tale from beginning to end.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews