“Gorgeous prose, a wonderful love story, and scorching heat makes Mistress By Mistake a stand out debut.”

How do I love thee, let me count the ways. Seriously, it’s the perfect beginning for my review of Maggie Robinson’s Mistress By Mistake, the first book in her Courtesan Court series.

The truth is I really wasn’t going to read the ARC when Maggie sent it to me. I planned to give it away on the blog because that’s what I do to most of the books I receive. I opened it to the first page just to get a small taste of her writing. I knew the story had something to do with courtesans all living on some special street—Jane Street—and I’m not particularly fond of courtesan stories.

I read the first page and I was hooked! Hooked I tell you. I discovered that the heroine, Charlotte Fallon, a spinster who lives in a cottage with several cats, is not in fact a courtesan. That honor goes to her rather self-involved sister, who in a certain light could be her twin. Do you see where I’m going?

When the hero, Sir Michael Bayard, is finally able to join his new mistress, he discovers—belatedly—that he has bedded the wrong sister. Or has he? Well in the end we know he hasn’t but I do digress.

So anyway, the problem is Michael has a contract with Charlotte’s sister who he discovers has absconded with the family jewels. No pun intended there, she stole a ruby necklace. He wants the necklace back or Charlotte must fulfill the contract. Now of course he’s not serious about holding her to the contract but it’s the threat he makes to make her stay.

I loved Bay (Michael's nickname). To me he was the perfect balance of brooding alpha male and sensitive lover. He acknowledges his growing feelings for Charlotte earlier than I expected. And he doesn’t do a lot of vacillating about whether to marry her. That was so refreshing.

I also loved Charlotte. And I don’t usually love the heroines in the books I read. I’m just satisfied if they don’t aggravate me or if I don’t actively dislike them. Charlotte is fiery and passionate and prissy and proper at the same time. Despite her widowed status, she discovers her passionate side with Bay .

The exquisite tug and tinge on her most private place went beyond anything she had ever felt. His lips, his teeth, his fingers worked in wicked concert. The man was a fiend. A talented one who knew precisely how to unlock the prim Charlotte from her prison and set her free. Too free. She would drown and disappear in her freedom, swept away by the forces she’d never imagined.

The waves came hard, one after another until she lost her voice completely. How had she lived for thirty years not knowing such a thing was possible and so necessary. Two days with Bay had completely ruined her for her cottage and cats.

I did experience some very angsty moments while reading this book. Bay’s sort of ex-wife (there’s a story behind this) is a pain in the neck. She is willing to do anything—and I mean anything—to get Bay back. Her methods are ruthless to the extreme. Things got so bad, I even emailed Maggie during one of the tenser moments, and threatened to commit 'hari-kari' if a certain situation didn’t resolve the way I wanted it to. But I did love the heart in my throat feeling as I flung obscenities at the book—a very interactive experience.

All in all, whether my heart was being wrung dry, or I was smiling, or I was fanning myself silly (because the book is HOT), every word in Mistress By Mistake (because boy does Maggie’s prose sing) kept me completely enthralled until the very end. I look forward, more than ever to becoming better acquainted with Jane’s friends, some of the other ladies on Jane Street as Maggie continues her Courtesan Court books. ~ Beverley