Kate Pearce: Simply Sinful

Kate Pearce turns up the heat as she returns to Regency England with her House of Pleasure series. . .

A Wicked Proposition. . .

Forced to wed at a young age, Abigail Beecham is tired of living in a sexless marriage. She longs to succumb to the delicious pleasures of pure carnal lust that she has only read about. And if her husband can't satisfy her erotic needs, she's ready to find a man who can. . .

A Wild Past. . .

Peter Howard is accustomed to unusual sexual requests. His ten years as a slave in a Turkish brothel left him skilled in sensual delights. But there is little that actually arouses him--until he meets Abigail. Now he longs to tease and torment her until she cries out with pleasure. Maybe then he'll finally experience that exquisite feeling of bliss he so desperately desires. . .

Praise for Kate Pearce

"Sinfully hot. If you like your romance hot as you return to the Regency era, where behind the scenes anything goes, then grab Simply Carnal for your reading pleasure." --Romance Reviews Today

"The passion of Pearce's erotic tale is focused and intense. . .. Their sex encounters and fantasies. . .steam up the pages." --Romantic Times on Simply Shameless

CW: sex trafficking, slavery, parental abuse, abandonment, sexual assault

I have read another of Pearce’s in the Simply Series (Kate Pearce: Simply Carnal – Regency Reader (regrom.com)) so I knew what I was getting when I purchased Simply Sinful.  I felt triads have been underrepresented in my reviews, so I was looking for a throuple romance and this one came up in a search.

Pearce’s Simply Series are very erotic with a lot of sexual content.  Simply Sinful book included m/m, m/f, m/m/f and group scenarios as well as BDSM and kink play.  I want to throw that out there immediately so Regency Readers who prefer kisses only can click away (in case you didn’t already after reading the plot teaser).

The triad involves Peter, a former trafficked man who is now a successful business owner, and Lord and Lady Beecham.  Lord Beecham, James, approaches Peter with an unusual proposition.  He would like Peter to help James and Abigail improve their marriage bed so that Abigail may have a child.

Peter is bi-sexual (or pansexual, Pearce is not explicit).  James appears to be primarily gay, although I still have some confusion over this (and ultimately, its not that important).  Abigail is only depicted in m/f or m/m/f situations, so by in large seems straight.  The set up is that James, being primarily gay, has had a rough time in the marital bed with Abigail and is hoping that Peter can offer some sexual healing to both to make a baby happen.

So ultimately, there are some m/m/f scenes but by in large this is more of a V triad than anything (if even that, thus some of my next comments).  Without spoiling (at least too much), I can say that this was the biggest disappointment for me in terms of this book.  The romance was more confusing than satisfying, particularly as the HEA (while certainly realistic) just had me scratching my head.  Thrown in to the mix was some hail mary’s from Peter’s past lovers (also a married couple) and I was baffled as to what the HEA actually was.  It may have made more sense if I had read the first book, which is the other couple’s story, but from other reader reviews it sounds like I would have been more confused or frustrated.

The romance/HEA ultimately didn’t ring my bell.  There were also some intimate content that isn’t my preference (BDSM), but its not enough to necessarily work for folks who do like that content.  Simply Sinful had other intimate content that I did enjoy and found compelling for character development.

I liked Peter a lot as a character and found him interesting, if not a little heartbreaking.  He definitely has a lot of trauma that he is trying to work through over the course of the book, so in some ways he becomes equally healed through his relationship with the Beechams.  I enjoyed his character arc, even if the HEA was a bit too messy for me to completely “get”.

Abigail was also interesting to me (honestly I would’ve liked to spend a bit more time on her backstory), because she was a very frank person who also had some real flaws (knee jerk reactions, guilt, shame).  Her main goal throughout was motherhood, and that doesn’t change.  She has a bit of a character arc, but less than you may have gathered from the back cover synopsis.

James is more well developed than Abigail and may be my biggest difficulty with this book.  Again, without trying to spoil the ending, I think ultimately I would have preferred less of James and more of Abigail to make the HEA make more sense to me.

It may be that I am still trying to figure out romance trajectories for other people outside of the cis/monogamous category, and this one presented some challenges to my pre-conceived notions.  I will let those of you interested to try this series suss that out for yourselves.  I did see other readers complain that the back cover synopsis wasn’t representative of the book, likely because of the menage a trois elements.  However, I think it was perhaps more accurate than my search suggested when I went on the hunt for a triad book.  If you are looking for a throuple book, I would suggest this will not satisfy (and if you have recommendations for satisfying triad Regencies, let us know in the comments below).

The language and many of the historical elements are there, albeit subtle and not overt.  Most of the action takes place in homes or at Madame Helene’s House of Pleasure and really centers on the individual dynamics and their internal struggles.  There are a very interesting scenes in public (church and a modistes) that provide a divergence from parlor/bedroom focu.

Overall, I will probably read another from this series when I am looking for some very hot and spicy action.  However, I am not likely to re-read this one again.

3.75 out of 6 Sexual healing between a shipping magnate and a married couple at odds

Content Rating/Heat Index
Mature Content
Sex trafficking, prostitution, abuse, slavery, sexual assault
Intimacy
Many intimate scenes, kinks
Violence
Limited descriptions of abuse and sexual assault

Overall
Adult themes, a lot of erotic content.