My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Private Affairs of Lady Jane Fielding is a 2014 Harlequin Escape publication. I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Jane and her husband Jacob are very happily married until one day Jacob is the victim of a horrible accident. He survives but it is now questionable as to whether or not he can father more children. The sad truth is that if he can not produce a male heir his horrible brother , Arthur will inherit everything and leave Jane under his control. Jacob simply can not abide by that, so after a year of trying to conceive with no luck, Jacob makes a proposal to his wife that could solve all their problems.
This novella ( approximately 71 pages), is a regency period historical romance, but not the usual fare. This book would be definitely be classified as erotica. For any of you that follow my reviews you know that I steer far away from hard core erotica, and if I can avoid ANY erotica, I do. I did read an Escape publication a while back and it pushed the envelope a little, but it was pretty good, so without doing any research I agreed to review this one when asked. So, for the record, this one is pretty far out of my comfort zone. However, the set up is such that even if you are not a reader of erotica romance, especially with a regency period setting, you might find that this premise is quite understandable. Producing a male heir was of utmost importance in those days. The men were under a lot of pressure to marry if for no other reason than to hopefully produce male issue. Women were forbidden to inherit and an estate would be passed off to the nearest male relative even if that meant a sixth cousin twenty times removed or something. In this case Arthur, a most despicable man would inherit and the thought so repulsed Jane and Jacob they took extreme measures to keep that from taking place.
The author did a great job was depicting Arthur in a bad light so that the reader actually feared for Jane's future if something were to happen to Jacob, and money would have been the least of her problems. The entire uncomfortable situation was well written with the people involved expressing real human feelings and emotions. Matthew was perhaps the most uncomfortable of everyone, but Jacob also exhibited feelings he didn't factor into his master plan. Jane got caught between feeling guilty, ashamed, embarrassed, and curious, excited, and initial repulsion turned into a pleasing experiment that everyone could accept .
The story was strangely fascinating for me and I was really pulled into the storyline despite my reservations. I wouldn't want to read this type of book often, but the author did a great job of taking this subject matter and making it a story that could appeal to a wide audience of romance readers. I don't condone this scenario but again, the premise is one that made the book seem less about the sexual escapades and more about people learning to cope with a bad deal and finding a way to make it work for them …. in spades.
For those who enjoy erotica, erotic historical romance, or for those that want to read something a little out of the ordinary for regency period romance, then you won't want to miss this one. Overall the story was well written, the characters were well drawn, and hopefully an heir will soon be on it's way.
I give this one 4 stars.
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