Heroine – prostitute, stripper, mistress, porn, etc.
Ten Tiny Breaths, Book 3
Heat Factor: Sex is frequent but not super detailed; we get only the cursory information of what bits are naked and in contact.
Character Chemistry: Girl with daddy issues + older man with white knight syndrome
Plot: Charlie needs money to disappear so she gets a job as a stripper and starts a thing with her boss. Also she’s reluctantly running heroin.
Overall: The purity overtones were unreal.
Dream Team, Book #4
Heat Factor: They didn’t have on-page sex until after 60%… Is this even a Kristen Ashley novel?
Character Chemistry: Eh
Plot: It wasn’t what I was expecting it to be, that’s for sure.
Overall: How very dare
The Secrets of Charlotte Street, Book #3
Heat Factor: I’m way too prim and proper to tell you how smouldering this gets, but it burns
Character Chemistry: I have never been so distraught thinking that two people were doomed to be apart in my entire life, honest truth
Plot: Alice learns that her mother is at death’s door and accepts Lord Lieutenant Henry Evesham’s invitation to deliver her home as quickly as possible despite his role as an evangelical reformer tasked with investigating the sex worker trade and recommending changes. This is nuts, because Alice is currently a housekeeper in training to be a whipping girl at a house of pleasure in London…
Overall: Look, take everything you thought you knew about sex work and faith and romance novels about the above and just toss it out the window because this book is about to shake you to your BOOTS, I’m telling you
Dream Team, Book #3
Heat Factor: There is some explicit sexy sex, but for a KA novel, it’s surprisingly tame
Character Chemistry: One thing I enjoy about this series is that the relationship hangups are resolved pretty early on, and sometimes instead of huge relationship angst it’s nice to think about those early days of playing house and enjoying little things like your new lover cooking dinner for you or bringing you coffee in the morning.
Plot: The Super Bad Guys are messing with everybody (so, real talk, this one doesn’t really come through as a stand alone)
Overall: My feelings are mixed.
The Lotus Palace Mysteries, Book 1
Heat Factor: It takes Lord Bai a couple of encounters before he masters Advanced Consent
Character Chemistry: Yue-ying sees right through Bai Huang, and it’s good for him
Plot: A courtesan is found murdered, so a minor lord and a servant from the pleasure quarter team up to crack the case
Overall: This was a fabulous read—gripping mystery, interesting setting, lush writing, great characters—but I am conflicted about the relationship.
The Smut Report 