When I first started to read this book, I was bothered by the coarse language of the heroine, Thais Magdalene. However, I continued to read and I’m glad I did. Thais is a sought-after courtesan, hired surreptitiously by the Earl of Eden to help him solve his sexual performance problems before he searches for a bride. Alaistair, Lord Eden, is straitlaced and concerned with perfection. Even though he hires Thais to help him, he is embarrassed by his problem and has difficulty revealing all to her. Gradually, Alaistair becomes comfortable with Thais as she coaches him on how to find a woman, court her and, finally, make love to her. The verbal interplay between the two is humorous and touching. Their working relationship evolves into friendship and more.
Can a nobleman and a courtesan make a life together that satisfies them both?
Warning: highly descriptive language and sexual situations. This is the third book in the Society of Sirens series but can be read as a stand-alone story.

Thaïs is a lady of the night, but a high class one-- she usually only takes one lover a week, for one night only. However, for the sake of women's rights, she is auctioning off the right to have her as a mistress for a full month. The highest bidder turns out to be a stand-in bidder for Lord Alastair Eden, a man that she knows casually through her political activity as a good guy albeit slightly buttoned-up. Turns out that Lord Eden wants a wife but doesn't feel confident in his abilities to <i>please</i> her. He wants Thaïs to train him during their month together, which she is more than willing to do.

I loved Thaïs so much. She is such a softy on the inside in spite of her bravado on the outside-- all she wants is a good man to love her in spite of her past so she can have a few babies and live a calmer life. This was obviously a very spicy book, and I loved seeing her do everything she could to reassure and prepare Lord Eden for his future wife.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my thoughts!

I really enjoyed this! A romance between a sex worker, and a starchy earl, who hires our heroine for lessons in the bedroom before he gets married. And then of course the lessons become real! I liked that this was slow burn, they really developed an adorable friendship, and attraction to each other. I loved both our characters, especially Thais, i have always wanted more historical romances that involve sex workers, and this really delivered on that. She was unapologetic about her profession, and he had so much respect for her. This was a pretty quick read, very sexy, romantic, and emotional! Very lovely

Thais Magdalene is a famous courtesan. She takes on only one client per week, for one night, and never the same man twice. But to raise funds for the Institute for the Equality of Women, she agrees to auction off her services for a whole month to the highest bidder. 

Alistair, Lord Eden is the last person Thais expects to purchase her services. He's a straight-laced liberal politician who's the farthest thing from a libertine. He's planning to get married soon, and he wants sex lessons so he can please his future wife, as it turns out that's bad in bed and hasn't had sex in 10 years.

You might think that a book about renting a courtesan to be your mistress for a month would be a non-stop sex romp, but the sexiness doesn't really get going until the second half. And I think this works perfectly for the story. Alistair isn't comfortable just hopping into bed. He needs to get to know Thais before he can even start the sex lessons.

Alistair is a great hero. He's good man and a hard-working politician who cares about helping people. He's self-aware enough to recognize that he's bad at sex, and now that he's planning to get married (he doesn't have an actual bride in mind yet), he feels like he needs to fix his sex issues. He's the best, and he treats Thais very well, never treating her like she's less than him.

This is a really fun sex-positive romance. It's very much opposites attract. Thais and Alistair are an unlikely pairing, but in this case, opposites definitely attract. The forced proximity of their month together is a great way to build the relationship and I was really invested in it.

I really love the cover--it's very cool to have an old school 80s style cover on a very modern, feminist historical romance.

This was fun and steamy! I loved how the MC was so comfortable and proud of herself. The romance was fun and even without reading other books in the series it was easy to follow along with the side plots.

I enjoyed the story -- I really enjoy the whole mistress-to-wife trope and I've enjoyed Peckham's earlier stories in this series... Oh, the emotional development was there - loved the growing relationship between Thais and Alastair. Loved the whole premise of Alastair being in need of sexual instruction - being comfortable and pragmatic enough to seek it from an expert. Loved the character development as both changed and grew. Loved how it, inevitably ended.

My only concern is that for a story all about sex - 30 nights of it -- there was actually very little sexy sex! There was sex talk, sex explanations, sex demonstrations which read like an instruction manual. In spite of that (expectations set up and promoted), that story is a strong, emotional, lovely historical romance that I recommend to readers.

Thanks for the ARC and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager for this eARC!

I have really liked all of the books in this series, but this one was my favorite. The best way I can describe it is as a Victorian (I think Victorian, they say there's a queen, and the reform vibes feel Victorian, but could be earlier) reimagining of Pretty Woman. Loved! Take me to the English countryside - I would love the walks!

The Mistress Esperience
by Scarlett Peckman

Setting:
Victorian England

Characters:
Thaïs Magdalene
Lord Alastair Eden
Colin Camberwell
Seraphina
Adam
Cornelia
Rafe
Eleanor
Maria
Hattie
Sophie

Tropes:
Class Difference
Smex worker heroine
Blue stockings
The Society of Sirens
Lessons of seduction

Goodreads:
🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 6 stars fabulous read

Spice:
🌶 🌶 🌶

Review:
I absolutely loved this book. It was 6 stars and one of my new all time favorites. I quick way to describe it, is historical romance meets pretty woman. Thaïs was an absolute joy of a character I loved her wit, charm, and sexual assureddness. She was a spitfire and wonderful. Eden was a sweet, caring and passionate hero. I adored the banter, especially when Thaïs wanted to make Eden blush. The tender scenes when Thaïs got sick, utter perfection. I haven't read a historical this well written in a long time. Peckman has a bright anf glorious future. I can't wait for her next book.

Thais’ only purpose is to make Lord Eden blush and push him out of his comfort zone with her crude language for her own enjoyment. She’s teaching him how to court his future wife and along the way they obviously fall for each other. The chemistry between Eden and Thais was present from the moment they were on page together. They knew each other before the book begins so they are confortable with each other’s presence except Eden is a little prudish when Thais is comfortably naked. Enjoyed reading.

What a great conclusion to the Society of Sirens trilogy. While The Rakess will forever be my favorite book in the series, The Mistress Experience is a close second. I was pleasantly surprised by the unexpected sweetness between Thais and Alastair. There was such great emotional maturity between our main couple that their relationship never felt forced. Must read for anyone that loves the inexperience MMC/experienced FMC trope. Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC!

Overall 4/5
Heat 5/5!!!!

I liked this one! Once again the author goes a great job of giving us well defined characters which both disrupt & subvert the typical genre expectations & tropes, & the spicy scenes are frequent and sizzling. I found the conclusion of it yo wrap a bit suddenly, considering the significant social implications involved in this couple getting together I’d expected a bit more time spent parsing that out, but ultimately it is still a satisfying conclusion to the series.

This book was everything I want in a historical romance! It’s my first by this author and I will now be reading everything else they’ve ever written. I really really loved this one.

I loved the characters and their back and forth, I felt like they were both making each other braver as time went on. Very much an opposites attract match but I thought they were so sweet. I also loved the underlying plot of Thaïs and her friends building their home for educating and helping women. Thankfully, I didn’t feel I was missing much by not having read the previous two books in the series, everything was explained enough. (Though I will be reading them asap bc I loved the bits of the other couples we saw in this one!) This premise was so fun to me and not something I’ve read before, it also lead really well to the ultimate conflict between them without feeling super cheesy.

I really enjoyed this and look forward to reading a lot more from this author! Also, this series has stunning covers I can’t wait to have on my shelves.

Wow, I have no idea where to begin because I just finished reading this and my heart is overwhelmed. I went into this book expecting it to be a super fun, entertaining and steamy romance, and it ended up being that and so much more. I already loved the first two books in this Society of Sirens series, but this one was my absolute favorite yet.

The Mistress Experience by Scarlett Peckham follows Thaïs and Lord Eden, Alastair. Thaïs is one of London's most famous prostitutes and she takes part in an auction for the cause of women's rights - where the winner gets to spend a month with her. That ends up being Eden who couldn't be more different from every patron Thaïs ever had before. He wants her help to learn the ways of pleasing his future wife. He is shy and proper and a perfectionist in all things and he wants to be the best husband and lover possible.

From the premise, I expected this to be quite a fast-burn sexy historical romance, but what makes it so incredibly special is the friendship and tenderness that develops between them before everything else. They're isolated together in a small town, trying to hide their identities, and they have only each other for company. It has a bit of the city girl/small town guy dynamic, which I never saw like this in a historical romance, only contemporary, and it was so much fun.

The relationship between them is so sweet, loving, tender, and deeply moving. It feels real and genuine, and it made my heart ache the whole way through. It was so clear that they were utterly perfect for each other from the start. Only Alastair was oblivious and stubbornly clung to societal expectations and propriety, and Thaïs held the belief that no one like him could ever marry her. I rooted for them so hard the whole way through, and couldn't wait to see their happily ever after.

I also have to talk about how incredibly iconic Thaïs is. She's one of the most wonderful heroines I've ever read about in my life. She's unapologetically herself, independent, confident, funny, a bit spoiled, smart, caring, kind, and so many other things. From page one, I knew the book would be the best time, even just because of her.

And Alastair is so damn sweet and kind, and I loved him just as much. I absolutely love the way this book breaks typical stereotypes we see in m/f romances, and in a historical setting at that. He's the shy and inexperienced and nervous one, and we need to see more male characters like that. He's also observant, thoughtful, and attentive, and such a wonderful romance hero.

I could gush about this book for days because of how special of a reading experience it was. I can't wait for it to be published so I can hold a copy in my hands. If it wasn't clear, if you would like to read a small town, forced proximity, sweet & emotional & sexy & tender historical romance with the most incredible heroine and the sweetest hero, you have to pick this up.

✨The Buttoned-Up to Completely Undone Earl Experience✨

Well this is by far my favorite book in the series!! It was really everything the summary stated it would be: A buttoned-up earl getting sex lessons from a notorious courtesan. He was so bumbling and earnest with his sexy spectacles and cooking abilities!! And she was a city girl trapped in the countryside trying to loosen him up.

I do love an alpha hero, but Alistair has got to be my favorite hero type. I had so much fun seeing his embarrassment slowly turn to confidence. Thaïs had a heart of gold and I loved her so much. She was so bright and fun. I think it could’ve been a bit steamier—hello, Chekov’s sex toys!!—but it was definitely a hot read. Sex lessons will ALWAYS hit different.

I will say, I do think Peckham phoned it in with the epilogue. It was more so an epilogue for the series as a whole rather than for the couple. Like it gave me a bit, but I wanted to see them at least a year out!!! It was practically expected from what we learned throughout the books and their wants for the future!!!

The third act hurt, but in a good way. I do think we needed like one more chapter??? Just to ease the heartache a bit and see them happy with nothing having over their heads. Also how did the scandal go??? This clearly seemed like the final book in the series, but hopefully Peckham will continue to write stories for some of the side characters.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 🌶️🌶️.75/5


P.S. She better have gotten a kitten!!!! These are the things I need to know!!! Chekov’s kitten!!


I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.

A fun and sexy historical romance! I loved the plot as well as the chemistry and sweetness between the main characters. The cover is also breathtaking. Thanks Avon and Netgalley for my copy.

I AM OBSESSED. 🚨🚨🚨 New all-time favorite alert.

This book is everything I want in a historical romance and I devoured it in twenty-four hours. I am a HUGE @scarlettpeckham fan and the last installment of the Society of Sirens series delivers so hard 😭😭. Thaïs and Alastair are PERFECT and the way their love story unfolds is just chef’s kiss 🧑🏼‍🍳💋.

Thaïs is a notorious courtesan and Alastair is a respectable albeit politically progressive earl. He wants to marry, but lacks experience (and has one persistent problem in the bedroom!!! calling all readers who like a man who struggles to, uh, contain his excitement—I AM THIS READER). So what does he do? Pay for a month of Thaïs’s time (all proceeds going to the Sirens’ Institute for Women, of course) so that she can teach him how to please his future wife. She is bawdy and loud and chaotic. He is buttoned-up and secretly (okay, not secretly at all) a complete simp for her. It’s soooooo good.

I will also add that this book is relatively low-angst for Peckham, so if you are interested in her work but like a read with fewer barriers for the central couple, I’d recommend starting here!

Thank you so much to @avonbooks for the ARC. THE MISTRESS EXPERIENCE will be out June 25th and can be preordered now. Do it, you won’t be disappointed!! This is one I’ll be thinking about for a long time 🙏🏼.

This is an amazing book that will delight romance fans! I also just really love the cover, which I found striking.

I really enjoyed this book - but it's not a typical historical romance. I hadn't read the first 2 books in the series but I think this book could be read as a standalone without too much confusion.

First the cover of this book is just *chef's kiss*. You don't see a lot of bodice ripper covers like this any more and I loved the whole aesthetic of it. It threw my heart back to reading the Johanna Lindsey books with the Fabio covers back in the 1990s.

Thais is a bold and daring courtesan who has auctioned off 1 month of her services to fund a school for women and girls. She is surprised when the man who she thought won the auction was merely acting as a stand-in for Lord Eden - who is prim and proper. I loved how much Thais tried her best to bother and tempt Lord Eden all throughout the book. Her crass jokes made me giggle (because I may have the humor of a 12 year old boy).

I liked the subplot of Lady Elinor and her children - which helped both Thais and Lord Eden focus on what they wanted. Plus the groveling of Lord Eden was perfect -- when he finally realized how much he messed up.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper, and Scarlett Peckham for an ARC of this book! Definitely a book to look out for this summer when you are craving something a little spicy with a regency feeling.

This is a gorgeous, sex-positive, feminist romance that answers the perennial historical romance reader question: "how do all these heroes come by their sexual prowess?" The answer here is sex lessons.

Thaïs is loud, proud, and unabashed about being a sex worker, and her bawdy sense of humor kept me laughing throughout the book, and kept our hero perpetually blushing. Alistair is starchy, charmingly sweet hero— a cinnamon roll, if you will. Where he deviates from most HR heroes is that he has performance anxiety, a bit of a hair-trigger dick, and he's been celibate for a long time. Enter Thaïs, who agrees to teach him by way of sex lessons. I'm a huge fan of this trope, and the fact that it's a sexually-experienced woman teaching a less-experienced man is something I really enjoyed reading.

One of my pet romance theories is that when you have a main character who has much-higher-than-average sexual experience, the novelty for them tends to be the emotional rather than physical connection with their love interest, so the author needs to build on that convincingly while not sacrificing the heat (because love can absolutely impact sexual chemistry). And I thought Scarlett Peckham did an amazing job of this; I adored all these lovely moments of growing intimacy between them— Alistair cooks for Thaïs and helps her with her correspondence because she can't read or write very well, and there's so much laughter and tenderness and teasing just because of how different they are. And then there's the hugs; listen, if you'd told me hugs can be written erotically a few months ago, I'd never have believer you, but now I'm a believer.

And as this intimacy builds, they both unwittingly start to torture one another with reminders of exactly what will happen once their month together ends: Thaïs insists on judging every one of the dossiers compiled on Alistair's potential brides even as she becomes increasingly hurt over them, and in a particularly heartbreaking scene, they roleplay his future wedding night, which NEVER ends well because feelings are always caught, AND YET. Alistair is hellbent upon doing the Right and Proper thing, namely marrying an upper-class virgin, and Thaïs doesn't figure into his future plans. I thought the class difference conflict, and the portrayal of stigma against sex workers, were both handled well.

Also, can we talk about this cover?? it's so lush and beautiful and harkens back to old romance clinch covers in the best way.

The sex:

This book felt honest about a lot of aspects of sex in a way not many romance novels are. Alistair's performance anxiety is real and the book doesn't beat around the bush when it comes to portraying it, but I want to clarify, Scarlett Peckham managed to make even this hot. There's a particularly steamy moment where Alistair is washing the mud out of Thaïs's hair and like, giving her a head massage. All it takes is her returning the massage favor (which... was honestly so romantic??) and a kiss, and the man is cumming in his breeches.

I also thought it was kind of great that he built up his *sexual stamina* by masturbating a multiple times a day— you don't get a lot of male masturbation scenes in HR, so I do appreciate this. And once it clicks for Alistair, there is no stopping this man. Near the end of their lessons, they're going at it 4 times a day, on the desk, on the floor, on the dining table, in the rain, etc. etc. He's insatiable.

Thaïs is an experienced courtesan and tends to disassociate during sex, and she feels like this is even more critical as her feelings start to grow for Alistair. Because of this, she also doesn't necessarily orgasm every time earlier in their sexual relationship. But once again, once Alistair is able to figure his stuff out (and by figuring out, I mean eating her out), and Thaïs lets go, there's no going back.

Overall:

I can't tell you how much I appreciate Scarlett Peckham for writing a historical romance that falls outside the norm in so many ways, and yet feels true to the subgenre in the way it merges certain realities with the romance of it all. I had so much fun reading The Mistress Experience, and I'd absolutely recommend it to any HR reader.

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 4.5/5
Heat Level: 3.75/5
Publication Date: June 25th

ARC REVIEW (thanks NETGALLEY!)

Sex lessons?! Sex lessons the man needs?! Hell yes! I was A little skeptical reading since I havent Read the rest of the series but this can easily be read as a standalone. Thaïs is a whore (don’t worry it doesn’t hurt her feelings calling her that) and Alistair buys her in an auction for a month to get better at sex so he can find a wife. Alistair is a shy cinnamon roll 2 pump chump. Thaïs is kind of over being a hooker and would love nothing more than a husband and babies. I loved The banter between the 2 and how crass Thaïs was, everything she said made Alistair blush and it was hilarious. I really Wish there was more of an epilogue (I’m not sure if this was the end of the series) I just Wanted to see where they ended up living since their whole time in the country they lied and said they were brother and sister