An Unsanctioned Affection
Out July 1st!
She was a perfect lady… until she met him.
Katherine Sullivan knows who she is: A woman in a gilded cage of satin and high expectations…and she’s determined to break free.
She steps into a private sanctuary where the smoke of a hookah swirls around her like a whispered promise. Where Touma Maalouf—a Lebanese scholar with ancient secrets behind his eyes and a duke's trust in his pocket—pours her wine and watches her like no man ever has. In the dim light of a sweltering summer night, he changes her life forever.
What begins as daring flirtation spirals into an unchaperoned weekend, erotic manuscripts, the steam of a Turkish bath and honeyed kisses. Freed from her cumbersome English layers by experienced hands, Kitty discovers a passion that defies borders.
Their affair is a sensory revolution hidden behind velvet curtains and claret-colored satin. Every kiss, every whisper, every reckless, secret assignation is a rebellion against a bigoted empire that would tear them apart.
With an army of loyal allies and the thrum of London's crowded ballrooms at their backs, Kitty and Touma risk everything for a love that doesn't just break the rules. It rewrites them.
She was a perfect lady. Now she's his perfect sin.
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Great Victorian Romances
Behind the glittering façade of Victorian high society lies a world of dark secrets, corrupt courts, and the gritty battle for love.
Welcome to a Victorian world stripped of its polished veneer. This high-heat, emotionally intense romantic suspense series follows an interconnected circle of diverse, complex characters navigating the darkest corners of the 19th century—from the foggy, smoke-filled streets of Glasgow to the deep-seated corruption of Scotland Yard.
Featuring a multicultural cast, inclusive LGBTQ+ representation, and morally gray heroes, each standalone novel tackles powerful real-world themes: fighting systemic injustice, surviving trauma, and exposing the deadly rot hiding within ducal estates. These are not your average ballroom fairytales; they are high-stakes, open-door romances where the psychological tension is just as high as the heat, and the happily-ever-afters are passionately fought for.
What Readers Can Expect:
Tropes & Dynamics: Marriage of Convenience, Mistaken & Hidden Identities, Reverse Age Gap, Rich/Poor
Themes: High-stakes suspense, deep emotional healing from trauma, racism, fighting Victorian sexism/classism, and chosen family.
Heat Level: High Heat / Open-Door (Spicy).
The Books Inside the Series:
Gritty Suspense (The Great Wooing): A thrilling tale featuring a half-Turkish lord, a perilous kidnapping, and a modern heroine forced to defy both a lethal criminal element and the deeply sexist prejudices of the age.
Deep Emotional Healing (The Great Scandal): A powerful marriage-of-convenience romance exploring the devastating aftermath of male sexual assault, betrayal, and the slow-burn journey toward healing and reclaiming love.
Noir Detective Thriller (The Great Investigation): A dark cat-and-mouse romantic suspense pairing a wealthy socialite harboring secrets with a brilliant, battle-hardened, and slightly corrupt Scotland Yard Inspector hunting a notorious street gang.
Dark Melodrama (The Great Rivalry): A high-drama saga of love and lust. A resilient governess, traumatized by a powerful aristocrat, finds sanctuary in his younger brother—culminating in a scandalous family showdown, a Brighton getaway, and a definitive duel for freedom.
Neachdann & Marintha
Glasgow
Julian & Rhodie
Torquay
Aindreas & Agnes
London
Morgan & Lisette
Brighton
The Quarter Days Series
Set against the backdrop of a rigid Victorian empire, The Quarter Days is a high-heat, gritty, and deeply emotional historical romance series that upends traditional "upstairs, downstairs" dynamics. From the hidden chambers of abusive aristocratic estates and the colonialist halls of Oxford to the mystical forests of Wales, this series features a diverse cast of rebels, lovers and fighters.
Tackling heavy, real-world themes like systemic racism, the destructive weight of colonialism, class warfare, and domestic trauma, these books are for readers who want deep substance with their spice. Expect open-door passion, complex moral gray areas, and marginalized characters carving out their own happily-ever-afters in defiance of society's rules.
Tropes & Dynamics: Class-Difference Romance (Butlers/Footmen/Governesses), Fake Marriage, Mistaken Identity, Forbidden Interracial Romance, Hurt/Comfort, and Magical Realism/Welsh Folklore.
Themes: Colonialism critique, anti-aristocracy, narcissistic abuse, class rebellion, POC and neurodivergent representation.
Heat Level: High Heat / Open-Door (Spicy).
The Books Inside the Series:
Book 1: The Ultimate Subversion; Christmas (An Unspoken Arrangement): A dark, high-stakes thriller where a protective butler steps in to rescue a wealthy American heiress from her narcissistic, financially abusive Viscount husband—ultimately replacing him in every single way.
Book 2: The Protector & The Survivor; Lady Day (An Unladylike Affair): A deeply healing, spicy fake-marriage romance. When a battered mistress flees her abuser, a footman born to a prostitute is sent to guard her. In the quiet city of Canterbury, a local case of mistaken identity allows them to build a new life, where an experienced woman teaches a creative, respectful man how to truly be himself in the dark and in the light.
Book 3: The Broken Duke; Midsummer (An Ungodly Attachment): A gritty, powerful redemption arc tracking an addict and gambler who finds an unlikely sanctuary as a monk before inheriting a dukedom—and launches a mighty battle in Parliament against colonialism and the aristocracy itself alongside the woman who knows all his sins and loves him anyway.
Book 4: The Defiant Scholar; Midsummer tandem (An Unsanctioned Attraction): A high-drama forbidden romance featuring a brilliant Lebanese scholar whose arrogance is crushed under the weight of Oxford's systemic prejudice. Whilst working as a secretary in order to fight his oppressors, he enters a clandestine, high-stakes affair that explodes into a massive societal scandal of mistaken identity, sensuality and lies.
Book 5: The Magic of Wales; Michaelmas (An Untamed Alchemy): A breathtaking, atmospheric historical romance that dips its toes into magical realism. A jaded heroine travels to a remote castle in Wales expecting to confront a callous rake who cut her—only to find a painfully shy man whose overwhelming, unspoken love and fumbling alchemy has accidentally unleashed an Awen.
Celia & Thomas
Christmas
Margaret & Edwin
Lady Day
Eleanor & Derrick
Midsummer
Kitty & Touma
Midsummer
Lavinia & Emyr
Michaelmas
Weird History
The Irony of the Tom Joneses
The Boy Jones (Tom) stole knickers and Tom Jones got them for free.
Long ago, like today, there have always been panty aficionados lurking in the bushes, no pun intended. The Boy Jones preferred boldly prancing into Buckingham Palace, instead.
He was an unattractive chap who was often mistaken for a chimney sweep because of how dirty he was, though the truth was much simpler: he just didn’t bathe.🛁
At some point he was checked over by doctors and was not schizophrenic, just mad for Queen Vickie in a fanboy kind of way.
And what he coveted above all were her underwear😍
The young lunatic was caught thrice and admitted to being in the palace once more, and so it could be assumed he’d been in the palace many more times than that!
One of his more audacious acts was sitting on her throne, but more famously, he was caught with her underwear stuffed down his underwear. Kinda romantic💖.
No one knew how to charge him, because there had never been a crime like this before. Does one kill a child for raiding the royal pantry? Raiding the royal panty? (he did both) Eventually, they all shrugged and in unison declared, “Brazil!”💃
But then Along Came Jones (look that song up)…
Yes, he escaped from Brazil and came back like a bad penny.
Plan B was to send him on a ship which was directed to wander the sea for six years. Not sure at all how that happened, but the ⚓captain was directed not to get anywhere near land or that Boy Jones would escape and…
Oh, he did? The captain got seasick after six years and he…
and the Boy Jones, he…🏴☠️
The brat came back. They thought he was a goner. (Look that song up)
So they all sat in a circle again and said in deadpan unison, “Australia!”🦘
But then along came Jones! (I’m not even joking!)
Yes, he came back, again. His brother convinced him to go back to Australia, where he became (in no particular order) the town crier😭 (jk,📯) , an alcoholic, and apparently thin-skinned, as the barbs about how he’d nicked the knickers apparently are what drove him to drink.
It was a vicious circle.
He fell off a bridge and drowned👻 at age 73 in Australia, but there is so much more about this weird little guy, he’s worth looking up.
What’s new, pussycat?🤷♀️ Tom Jones croons as panties are catapulted towards him from all angles. The room keys probably hurt, but yes, girls threw those as well! This is a Welshman who never had to ask for, much less pilfer panties.
One night, while perspiring in a club as he sang, a woman stood up, took her panties off and handed them to him, presumably for him to wipe his brow and get pink eye🤩
At its hygienically-challenged apex, there were gobs of undies littering the stage, and Jones was dismayed. Whereas he’d initially played with them (his words. I know, I’ve got bile in my throat, too), now he just let them fall and tried to focus on the show🎶.
He admits to having slept with at least 250 fans per year at the height of his fame, however, so he was never short of …companionship… shall we say🤢
So there you have the story of the two famous Joneses, one desperate to get a hold of some underwear, the other desperate to be rid of too many pairs.
It’s hard to make everyone happy, isn’t it?
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"A well-written story with a compelling storyline...that includes drama, danger, and suspense, along with plenty of unexpected twists and turns and a satisfying, happy ending."
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
B.
Review for The Great Investigation of 1880
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