A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor
by Kathryn Moon
On the brink of losing her position as a maid and with no prospects to go on, the offer of a place at Rooksgrave Manor—a house of ill and unusual repute—sounds like a perfect fit for a young woman with Esther’s inclinations. Even better, the invitation comes by the hand of the handsome Dr. Underwood, a delicate gentleman with a ferocious alter ego who knows exactly what he wants from Esther.
Upon arrival the men and the daily decadence of the manor feel too good to be true for a girl of Esther’s station. There are rules to be followed, expectations to meet, and Esther is afraid she might be too wicked even for a place like Rooksgrave.
Temptations lurk around every shadowy corner and Esther has never been a girl able to resist. But the risk of disappointing her new gentlemen isn’t all that’s threatening Esther’s new position. Rooksgrave Manor’s protections for its unusual patrons are failing, the wards are crumbling, and Esther’s new and exquisitely pleasurable life may all come tumbling down.
Spice Level: 5/6 | Story Score: 6/10 | Rating: 3/5 |
This book has just been sitting and waiting patiently for me. I love monster books. I’m a sucker for monsters and their random qualities and their no-one-else-can-pull-this-off attitudes. Lol. Then I saw a post where someone pointed out that there was an Invisible Man in her harem of men. Uh, hello weird fantasy. I’m there for it. So I jumped in.
Nothing about this book went how I wanted it to.
Ester is a servant in a house where she eavesdrops on a doctor treating the mistress of the house for hysteria. Ya know, the old condition where doctors had to give women orgasms to cure their madness. When the house she’s working for is basically foreclosed on, that doctor tells her of a possible position at a different house. That house is basically a brothel and that position is basically a high end prostitute for monsters. Instead of anyone hooking up with anything, the madame of the house pairs men with the whores that she sees them matching well with (she’s a witch and sees auras, basically). She also takes into consideration the type of monsters, how well the monsters will deal with each other sharing a woman, and so forth. Ester ends up with a vampire, a Sphinx, a Jekyll/Hyde gentleman, an invisible man, and a golem. Honestly, it was an interesting lineup. Anyway, so then the old king of Gomorrah starts trying to kill her.
Alright, so honestly, this book is a lot of smut. Like, just straight up, banging. Which isn’t necessarily an issue, but something to be noted.
I didn’t enjoy this book though, and sadly, I can tell you exactly why. Ester is presented as a girl who likes sex - which is something I LOVE in a FMC. However, in the first two chapters, it’s also presented that Ester has lost jobs because she can’t seem to help herself. She wants to fuck everything with no regard to who they are…including married men.She offers to be the doctor’s mistress and that BOTHERS me. I don’t like women who have no regard for other women. I don’t like women that can’t possibly think with their brain when presented with the opportunity to ride a dick. I don’t like women that are helpless to their urges anymore than I like a man who is. It’s not sexy to me. That person is a problem to me. I’m entirely fine with her being a WILLING prostitute because she wants to sample all the monsters. That’s fine. However, I already know she’s a shitty person and I don’t care. Not to mention that immediately tells me that all the sex in the book, at least until the plot kicks in, is just sex for the sake of sex and that just doesn’t hit the same pleasure centers in my reading brain when I don’t like the character.
And while there is a lot of sex, not all of them were “arousing”. Some were just blah. And there were A LOT of kinks in this book for blah sex. I mean: exhibitionism, voyeurism, MMF, orgasm denial, forced orgasm, restraint, DP, spit-roasting, impact play, spanking, blood play (if you count vampires that way), etc. So many kinks for me to feel like they weren’t worth it.
I enjoyed Auguste, the vampire. I enjoyed the Hyde character (Mr. Tanner)…but the Jekyll (Dr. Underwood) one was unfulfilling. Amon, the Sphinx character was a toss up at any given time. The Golem was a new one for me, but I liked Booker. Ezra, the invisible man, was a great character, but he missed all the invisible man sex marks I wanted.
Also, for the second book in a row, this ends on a cliffhanger-which I was unprepared for.
I feel like there should be a million spoilers for this book, but really, I don’t even have the energy to keep going about it. I don’t think I’ll continue with this story.
Book #1 in the Tempting Monsters series | 376 Pages | Trope Challenge: Sex Worker |
"Any last words, love?" Jonathon asked, and his grin looked especially wicked upside down like this, his hand stroking his cock until it offered me a dewy droplet on its head.
"I want Auguste to taste you in me tonight," I said, triumphant as Jonathon's eyes flared green.
- A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon
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