Recent Read

The Countess Takes A Lover by Bonnie Dee

Why this one: A few years ago I was totally enchanted with Bone Deep by this same author. Although I know she writes ebooks, Samhain, bless their souls, publishes them later in print form. When I heard this one was out in print it was on my radar and I added it to a Chapters order a while ago.

Steam Level: It’s an erotic romance so it gets the full boil rating.

Back Cover Blurb:

Who is learning more….the novice? Or the master?

Countess Meredith du Chevalier, a widow with a reputation for being sexually adventurous, is intrigued when she is approached by a gentleman who wishes her to ‘make a man’ of his son. Sensing a passionate man beneath Christopher Whitby’s reserved exterior, Meredith takes on the challenge, inviting the botanist to her country home to revitalize her abandoned greenhouse.

Chris finds people to be a chaotic, animalistic species, and has chosen to devote his life to the study of plants. One kiss from the vivacious countess, however, and his inner animal is aroused. But list is only a fraction of what he feels for the vulnerable woman hiding behind a brittle façade. He resolves to coax her to grow until her petals unfurl in a glorious bloom.

To her surprise, Meredith finds Chris brings much more to life than just fallow soil. But just as their love begins to thrive, he learns about the secret arrangement. Meredith must risk her heart for the most dangerous lesson of all – love.

My thoughts: The back cover blurb does an excellent job of telling the story so I’ll just go ahead and give me thoughts. I’m pretty new to this genre and so don’t have a lot to compare it too, but if many of them are like this – well then, it’s a genre I will certainly read more of. The story line was a bit less involved than Bone Deep, but then I figured that going in. Still Ms. Dee did a wonderful job in fleshing out both Meredith and Christopher and making this a very tender romance. Despite going into this with just a plan to introduce an awkward young man into the ways of the flesh, she began developing deeper feelings for him while denying it was happening and I felt this was very believable. She was quite an intriguing mix of worldliness and inner sadness. And Christopher was quite delicious as a young man with no experience with the opposite sex. Yes – he was a very appealing virginal young man who took to his lessons very quickly. I really believed in the love they had for each other and ‘felt’ the hurt both felt when Christopher discovered the real reason why a charming beautiful woman took notice of an awkward young botanist. I felt their resolution was very well done.

I know that Ms. Dee has another book with these characters, The Countess Lends a Hand and I will be getting this one to add to my Bonnie Dee collection as soon as it’s out in print!

Grade: 4.5 out of 5