The Edge of Impropriety

by Pam Rosenthal

Book Review by Kristina Wright

Pam Rosenthal's historical romance novel, The Edge of Impropriety, has recently been awarded Romance Writers of America's peer-judged award, the RITA (sort of like the Edgar, or the Hugo or Nebula), for Best Historical Romance of 2009

Capturing the spirit of the traditional Regency novels, Pam Rosenthal weaves a delicate tapestry of public society and private desire in The Edge of Impropriety.  With a nod toward the classics, Rosenthal gilds the lily by allowing her characters to not only experience the temptation of secret passion, but to fulfill that passion in the most delicious of ways.

Marina Wyatt is the beautiful the Lady Gorham, a talented novelist whose roman à clef tales of the ton keeps all eyes on her during the London Season.  Marina does her best to live up to her image as a lover of the finest things in life—including the handsomest men of London society.  Her reputation is a silvery web of illusion, but dire straits make maintaining that illusion all-important in order to increase the sales of her novel.  To that end, she is happy to allow her readership to believe the young, impetuous Sir Anthony Hedges is her lover for a time, though they are no more than friends.

Anthony would be happy to take the beautiful older woman to bed, but he has his own troubles to worry about.  His cantankerous uncle, Jasper James Hedges, has arrived from the country with Anthony’s younger sister Sydney and Sydney’s governess in tow.  Jasper—a scholar and antiquarian who has more interest in the previous millennium than anything that might be going on in the present— is glaringly out of place in London society.  He disapproves of everything Anthony represents, but he wants what everyone thinks Anthony has—Marina.

Though it appears they have very little in common, the relationship between Marina and Jasper explodes on the page.  Their passion for each other is immediate and unrelenting and behind closed doors they are lovers worthy of their own grand novel.  For the sake of Marina’s reputation, they can be little more than acquaintances in public, bound by their relationship to Anthony.  It wouldn’t do for her to be associated with the frumpy, unfashionable Jasper Hedges, especially as the gossip mill grinds along attempting to determine who her next conquest might be now that Anthony seems to have lost her favor.

Marina isn’t the only one with secrets and Jasper, always immersed in the ancient past, is tortured by his own past.  All is not as it seems in London and the relationship forged in heated desire and carried out under cover of dark may end with the Season if Marina and Jasper cannot find some way to reconcile the past with the future.

The Edge of Impropriety is laced with all the accoutrements of a classic Regency and will appeal to lovers of historical romance.  Rosenthal does a lovely job with the love scenes—at turns bawdy and sensual—and they are lovely erotic nuggets in this character driven tale. Following on the heels of the deliciously sensual The Slightest Provocation, Rosenthal solidifies her reputation as a name to watch in the historical romance genre.

Kristina Wright
February 2009

The Edge of Impropriety by Pam Rosenthal
(NAL Trade; November 4, 2008; ISBN-10: 045122230X)
Available at Amazon.com  / Amazon UK

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© 2009 Kristina Wright. All rights reserved.


About the Author: Kristina Wright is an award-winning author who loves writing stories that are emotionally compelling and sexually charged. Her erotica and erotic romance fiction has appeared in over sixty print anthologies. She holds a B.A. in English, a M.A. in Humanities and is entertaining the idea of pursuing a Ph.D. For more information about Kristina's writing and other interests, you can visit her website www.kristinawright.com.

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