I liked this one! Not as much as I enjoyed Their Marchioness, in part I think because the emotions at play felt a little more developed and stronger in terms of the history. But the dynamics here were really interesting between Anna and Oliver especially, even if I didn't necessarily feel that their connection to Ezra was as strong as what they had with one another. Michaels knows how to write a heck of a great novella, though, and I'll be looking forward to the next installment in this series.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Genre: erotic historical romance, MFM
England, 1813

Anna, Duchess of Sedgewick, has always had an unhappy marriage. After producing no heirs herself, her husband has paraded a string of mistresses (and bastards) and convinces her to accompany him to erotic underground clubs. Anna encounters a handsome, masked stranger in the hallway, and she feels an instant connection…. Only to realize that it is Oliver, her coach driver.

Widowed several months later and turned out of her home by the new Duke of Sedgewick, Anna, along with Oliver, stumble upon the estate of Ezra Pembroke, grandson of an earl. Ezra left the ton behind to embrace the world of erotic painting, and offers to paint Oliver and Anna. Chemistry sizzles between the three of them, and a painting session turns into more.

This was a fun, steamy novella. I enjoy anything that involves voyeurism, so painting an erotic encounter provides some nice heat for this book. In any triad relationship, I enjoy exploring power dynamics, and it was clear to me that Anna holds all the power over both, while not being explicitly dom. Conflict here is very low-key, but still realistic, and the resolution was refreshing.

While this is steamy, it’s not quite as explicit as I was expecting. That’s nothing against this book, because out of the 132 pages, most of them involve sexual encounters. Based on that, this gets 5 flames rather than a full 6 (typically reserved for erotica).

In this MMF erotic novella, Anna and her driver, Oliver with whom she shared a passionate exchange some time ago, find themselves stranded in a storm at the home of Ezra. Ezra is an artist of erotic art who sees the repressed passion between Oliver and Anna and asks the two to pose for him. The sitting leads to an electric passion between the three of them.

At about 100 pages, this novella is just a fun little delight. The chemistry between the three was absolutely delightful. I liked that Oliver and Anna had an established relationship with each other and their first encounter at the beginning of the book was just delicious. The book wasn’t long enough to have a plot and that’s just fine with me. I did feel like the ending happened rather suddenly and I wish things would have been wrapped up a little more, but I was pleased that the trio had an HEA.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Passionate Pen LLC for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.