Improper Pleasure

Connected Books #2

by Charlotte Featherstone

He was the object of her secret yearning, the subject of her fevered erotic fantasies. And though she knew her dreams and desires were in vain, still she waited for him in Highgate Cemetary, her face hidden by a veil, hungering for some brief connection, some morsel of intimacy—for this was all she might ever hope for.

He had seen her from his carriage, and her image had invaded his dreams and become his obsession. He wanted her as he’d never wanted anything before. And here, at Highgate, away from the confining restrictions of the real world, at last he received a taste of that sweet, luscious body—just enough to whet his appetite and ignite a consuming desire that would let nothing stand in the way of its fulfillment.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Erotic Romance, Novella, Historical, Historical Fiction, Erotica

50 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2008

About the author

Hi I write erotic historical romance for Harlequin Spice, as well as erotic paranormal romance under the name Sophie Renwick. In 2011, I'll be debuting my mainstream, Victorian set historicals through HQN.

I love talking about books, and have found some new friends, and really good book recommends here on Goodreads. I really love this community.

Reviews

[Dina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it, loved it, loved it... until the end, when I was left wondering where the heck the rest of the story was. I need closure, Ms. Featherstone!

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out." His voice was broken by the time he finished. "Elizabeth Barrett Browning might have written it, Amelia, but I mean every damn word of it."

London, 1876

Once a week, Lord Wallace allowed himself to see Amelia Cartwright (Emmy) in secrecy at Highgate. For two years he'd desired her, watching her when she was not aware. He knew that she was aware of him and that she desired him too. And he would let that awareness grow into something stronger - need. This strong response to Adrian frightened Amelia. It frightened her to know it was not only her body responding to this man, but her mind, her heart and her soul.

Again. I just love Ms. Featherstone's writing. It's beautiful. It's sensual.

"Perhaps the sculptor thought her too beautiful to be standing in such a sorrowful place. Perhaps the veil is there so we do not see her lack of beauty, so that we look beyond the physical and into the heart of her, so that we may take the time to know her as something more than a physical beauty. What do you see in her?"

"Sadness. Loneliness. Need." He was not looking at the statue, but at Emmy, her shrouded face showing those very same things. "She needs to be understood and loved by a man who would protect her. A man who could pleasure her. A man who would guard her secrets and not allow her to crumble to dust."

Wow, Ms. Featherstone always writes wonderful love scenes! They are sensual, erotic, and utterly steamy! She delivers in spades! Besides the erotic aspect of the story, I really appreciate her beautiful prose. Additionally, for a short story the characters are pretty well fleshed out. Amelia is a sweet and sensual heroine. And Adrian is the expected handsome and hot hero who is very convincing. Ultimately, he brings Amelia's most secret fantasy to life and he is satisfying her every need.

"Come," he whispered. "Come to my bed where I can spoil you."

What didn't work for me
Adrian, I didn't appreciate your temper tantrum when I was 63 % done with Improper Pleasure. It was the opposite of proper and simply too much! You should have been more considerate of Amelia and her feelings.

Furthermore, Improper Pleasure needs better editing! It was a bit distracting. Unfortunately.

Improper Pleasure is an appealing and beautiful novella. If you're in need of some serious TLC then give it a go! Enjoy!

[Alycia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this short story by Charlotte Featherstone! If you need a dose of CF before Sinful comes out or if you are a historical erotica fan, I definitely recommend this to you!

Amelia has Tuesday mornings all to herself. She secretly goes to a nearby cemetery to catch glimpses of a man she desires from afar, Adrian, a wealthy and handsome Earl.

Adrian waits all Tuesday mornings to catch a glimpse at his mystery woman. One day he decides to take a chance and goes to Amelia. Both quickly give into their yearning for each other. Adrian arranges to meet Amelia next Tuesday so they can take their budding passion farther. When that day arrives, Amelia doesn't show.

Both think themselves fools for baring their soul to the one person who could satisfy their deepest most intimate needs. Adrian and Amelia come from very different backgrounds, Amelia believes that nothing will come of this relationship besides heartache.

Adrian proves her wrong. He always knew who she really was all along, each time he saw her in the cemetery. He has wanted and perhaps loved her from the first time they ever met. Adrian, the perfect caring lover convinces her that she is the only woman that he wants and that nothing but goodness can come from them being together.

Ms. Featherstone's writing is so vivid and beautiful. There was not anything I disliked from this story, other than wanting more. But, that is not the point of a short story.

[Iza Brekilien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than excellent, wonderful ! I need more !!

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! loved it! loved it! Illict romance. With a hero and heroine who quite simply ache for each other with an unbearable passion. What more can I say.........

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have waited so long for this book



but FINALLY I found it! and I didn't get disappointed :D



So beautifully written... SO WONDERFULLY WRITTEN.



(I'd love to know what happens next; but you can't have it all, right?)

[Mitzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Boy oh Boy…..can this woman write a steamy seduction or what??? I loved every word…..just wish I’d seen that wedding ring on her finger in the end…..But what can I say, I’m a romantic at heart.

[ᑭᑌᑎƳᗩ [Punya Reviews...] · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review contains spoilers and they're mostly my thoughts as I went with the book...


This short story/novella by Charlotte Featherstone disappointed me, specially when I understood this is Adrian's (the artist from Forever Yours) book. I was very interested since I was intrigued by him but sadly, it didn't make me happy. No, it wasn't badly written or anything but I wanted more, MORE! I wanted to know some more of the background information on both Adrian and Amelia since the premise of master and servant falling in love is so different from the usual HR themes.

The beginning of the story was really interesting. Every Tuesday, Amelia, in disguise, would go to a cemetery and somehow Adrian, who's the Earl of Wallace, found himself there as well (how?). He felt some connection with the veiled woman who sat amongst the tombstones and wanted to know her better. And, then they come face to face and had an interlude ... which was hot BTW. Even then I didn't know who Amelia was, only that she didn't want to reveal her identity to Adrian. But later on, when I learned about her identity, it's revealed that Adrian knew all the while who it was! Then, his sister, Lady Sophie asked him to give Amelia up, knowing it'll never be. And I had questions, lots and lots of them! Like, who actually is Amelia? How come Adrian fell for her so hard, knowing she's just a servant? There are some reasons stated but I wanted more explanations.

Then, of course, in the end they gave into their desires. So, was Amelia becoming his mistress or would he have married her later on? I know, earls don't marry their servants but the way Adrian saw her and felt for her, I hoped for something different and yes, some answers. From whatever I read, Amelia wasn't a virgin, I even had questions there too ... Was it a husband? Another lover? But, from Amelia's musings it felt like Adrian is her first ... I mean I don't know, it felt so mixed-up.

So, overall, just too many questions for my liking. The story had great potentials IMO. A 3 star.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

True to Charlotte Featherstone's beautiful style this short story is both deeply sensual and heartfelt. My only complaint is it was too short!

[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful short story, that are really too short! What would happen to that master and servant? They had sex but didn’t resolve their problem. Hmm...

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

An emotionally charged short and sexy story. Ended rather abruptly, but quite an enjoyable read.

[begemot · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is in a bad need of editing - in some places it’s full of typos, incomplete sentences, duplicate or out of order words, etc., but the story itself is patchy and doesn’t flow well from scene to scene. Even within a single scene, oftentimes the author’s lack of spacial awareness, adherence to the laws of physics or accounting for the limitations of a human body when it comes to certain types of movement was also quite distracting and unintentionally funny.

Overall, this seems to be an early concept for what later became the author’s novel “Sinful”. A few scenes appear in both works word for word, which sort of detracts from them - if you can cut and paste the text from one setting into another and leave it untouched, except for swapping out the character names, that means there is actually no deeper connection between that scene and the larger story, doesn’t it? Amelia’s appearance is essentially the same as Jane’s, except the colour of her eyes was changed from blue to green in the novel. Adrian seems to be a less fleshed out and more realistically proportioned version of Matthew (who is described as a giant in “Sinful”).

That being said, I wish the author kept to the story she had here, and expounded on Adrian and Amelia’s relationship - both prior to the events of the short story and after. The whole Matthew/Jane relationship in “Sinful” was weak, because the two barely knew each other, never really held a conversation that wasn’t about sex, and yet were all over each other from the moment they met. Here, things were actually better paced, even though the reader doesn’t get to find that out until the middle of the story - Adrian and Amelia have known each other for 2 years and each has been pining for the other almost the whole time, but they only get to act on their attraction once they are able to create this illusion of being strangers, who spot each other at a cemetery. It’s not a particularly believable premise, especially if you think about things such as the likelihood that an Earl would be personally interviewing potential maids or that he would have enough prolonged interactions with one to learn about her “intelligence” and whatever else, leading him to fall in love with her to the point of isolating himself from society at large, or the idea of a male aristocrat sighing at the female servant’s door every night for two years, instead of seducing, buying, or even raping her. But it’s still a better story than a male aristocrat (Matthew) falling in love with a part-time medical nurse (Jane) he had just met, whom he can’t actually see, just based on her “angelic” voice. The voice he then promptly fails to recognize on multiple occasions.

Anyway. That background about Adrian and Amelia knowing each other and Adrian knowing who the “mystery woman” was all along throws a completely different light on the first half of the short story than I had originally thought. My initial reaction to those earlier scenes had been extremely negative, because Adrian read like a sex-obsessed maniac. While the sex scenes stayed somewhat problematic even with the backstory finally being introduced, some things started making more sense afterwards. So, I wish the author had led with that information. And there was something very touching at the core of it all, which could have made for a heartbreaking, but beautiful romance, whether with or without the traditional happy ending. But the author didn’t succeed in bringing it out to the surface - either in this short story or in the novel “Sinful”, although she was much closer to doing so here.

[☽ Rhiannon ✭ Mistwalker ☾ · Rating 1 out of 5]

The ONLY reason I am rating this so low is because it’s not just short, it’s unfinished. A steamy read for sure, but there is actual plot there, and it just leaves you hanging. There is even a scene where the H’s sister takes him to task for pursuing a maid, because it can only end badly for the maid. It’s made clear that he can’t marry her, and that taking her as a lover will ultimately ruin her life - she’ll certainly have a hard time finding work, and she will be an outcast. I could have forgiven the book being ridiculously short if there had been any indication of a HEA, but they just bone and then the story ends. SO disappointing!

[TinaMarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Attraction between a Lord and his servant, hot

[Basbouseolz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This authors short erotica>> ooof very hot
4stars

[Kaleolani · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so disappointed with the ending.

[adoree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Une histoire courte où tout ce que j'aime chez Featherstone s'y retrouve: style, enchainements, super relation et détails atypiques chez les héros, belle présentation des sentiments,...
Bref, cette romance est en réalité un petit concentré de ce qui fait le succès de l'écriture de CF pour moi.
Je la relis de temps en temps. A chaque nouvelle lecture, je revois de nouveaux détails qui me permettent d'apprécier encore plus cette jolie histoire d'amour.
5 étoiles= Just perfect for me ♥

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would have been a good little brief read except for the egregious and fairly continuous technical errors throughout. It was so frustrating. Double words, half sentences, major editing problems that could have easily been fixed by a copy editor on the first go round. If I were the author I would be unhappy that my final manuscript was published this way.

[Demoness Tenebrae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't think that such a short book can hold my interest so much. Charlotte really knows how to make a girl yearn for more with every passing page. This is one of those books you always have with you just to remind yourself why you started to love this genre to begin with. And a game of master and servant? Count me in!

[Sarah thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

for a short e-book i found that it lacked a solid resolution and didn't really interest me the sex scenes were not what they should have been and sorely disappointed me it had all the makings of a good little erotica book but fell short

[❆ Crystal ❆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some seriously steamy parts in this book. 4 stars. I enjoyed and would recommend.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

good short read, steamy, but disappointed w the abrupt ending...would have given more stars if not for the ending.

[Ginny · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.4

[Rustye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very hot, very short but I did like very much except for the ending.

[Naburns21 · Rating 1 out of 5]

bad