A Counterfeit Courtesan

The final book in the popular series by 10 time USA Today bestselling author Jess Michaels The last of the Shelley triplets to remain unmarried, Juliana Shelley has never felt like she’s recognized as her own person. But now, scarred by a terrible attack, she’s never felt so alone. Or so tired of cleaning up every else’s mess. She longs for something just for herself. A taste of the desire that seems to make her sisters so very happy in their marriages. One desperate night, she goes to the wicked Donville Masquerade, looking for trouble and finds a handsome, masked stranger more than willing to provide it. Ellis Maitland’s dangerous desperation caused the injuries Juliana suffered and he has felt guilty about it since. And drawn to her unlike anyone else he’s ever met. When he realizes she’s masquerading as a courtesan his best impulses, rusty as they are, cause him to try to stop her from making a mistake. Only Juliana isn’t as easily deterred as Ellis believes she will be. And the desire that sparks between them soon cannot be denied. Although they begin a passionate affair, Ellis knows it cannot last. After all, he has a plan to take care of the villain behind all the trouble plaguing his family and it’s one he knows he won’t survive. Will Juliana’s help and faith save him? Or will it be too little, too late. Length: Novel Length Heat level: Sticky and sweaty The book is part of the Shelley Sisters series, but can be read as a standalone novel.

All three books from the The Shelley Sisters Series in one collection! A set of triplets is a rare thing in the Regency era, so the three Shelley sisters have always been an oddity. But now they are about to be thrown into a wild series of events, kicked off by one of them deciding to become a runaway bride. Will any of these three remarkable women find her perfect match? And will their bond of sisterhood survive betrayal, loss and danger? A Reluctant Bride When the Jasper Kincaid, the Earl of Harcourt, offered to marry one of the infamous Shelley triplets, he was doing it for the dowry to refill his depleted coffers, not for anything so silly as love. But when he realizes it is Thomasina Shelley masquerading as his fiancée at their final engagement ball, not his true intended, a desire for her that he has been ignoring sparks. And when it becomes clear her sister has run away with another, an opportunity arises for a marriage with a much deeper connection. A Reckless Runaway Anne Shelley has always been known as the “wild” one of the infamous Shelley triplets and never has that been truer than when she ran away from her engagement with a scandalous man. She expects to be taken to Gretna Green for a hasty marriage, but instead she is dumped off on a remote island in Scotland with his grouchy cousin, Rook Maitland. She isn’t supposed to like him, but as their time together stretches out she can’t help but develop more than a passing interest in her temporary guardian. A Counterfeit Courtesan The last of the Shelley triplets to remain unmarried, Juliana Shelley has never felt like she’s recognized as her own person. But now, scarred by a terrible attack, she’s never felt so alone. Or so tired of cleaning up every else’s mess. She longs for something just for herself. A taste of the desire that seems to make her sisters so very happy in their marriages. One desperate night, she goes to the wicked Donville Masquerade, looking for trouble and finds a handsome, masked stranger more than willing to provide it. Only by the light of day, she realizes he’s no stranger at all, but Ellis Maitland, the architect of her destruction.

Witty nicknames, crude jokes, public nudity and lavish monuments, all of these things distinguished Greek courtesans from respectable citizen women in ancient Greece. Although prostitutes appear as early as archaic Greek lyric poetry, our fullest accounts come from the late second century CE. Drawing on Book 13 of the Athenaeus' Deipnosophistae--which contains almost all known references to hetaeras from all periods of Greek literature--Laura K. McClure has created a window onto the ways ancient Greeks perceived the courtesan and the role of the courtesan in Greek life.

The second in the bestselling series by USA Today Bestselling Author Jess Michaels Anne Shelley has always been known as the “wild” one of the infamous Shelley triplets and never has that been truer than when she ran away from her engagement with a scandalous man. She expects to be taken to Gretna Green for a hasty marriage, but instead she is dumped off on a remote island in Scotland with his grouchy cousin, Rook Maitland. She isn’t supposed to like him, but as their time together stretches out she can’t help but develop more than a passing interest in her temporary guardian. Rook knows his cousin’s game and he has serious doubts he’ll ever return for the fetching Anne, fool that he is. After all, the woman is fascinating and the more time they spend together, she proves to be irresistible. When she asks him to help her get back to her family, time alone on the road will lead to passions that can no longer be denied. But Rook’s cousin has an ulterior motive for everything he’s done. And the danger that will be brought down on their heads could destroy the love they’re beginning to develop and end their future before it has time to begin. Length: Novel Length Heat Level: Steamy fun is had by all. This can be read as a standalone novel, but is part of the Shelley Sisters series.

The Venetian courtesan has long captured the imagination as a female symbol of sexual license, elegance, beauty, and unruliness. What then to make of the cortigiana onesta—the honest courtesan who recast virtue as intellectual integrity and offered wit and refinement in return for patronage and a place in public life? Veronica Franco (1546-1591) was such a woman, a writer and citizen of Venice, whose published poems and familiar letters offer rich testimony to the complexity of the honest courtesan's position. Margaret F. Rosenthal draws a compelling portrait of Veronica Franco in her cultural social, and economic world. Rosenthal reveals in Franco's writing a passionate support of defenseless women, strong convictions about inequality, and, in the eroticized language of her epistolary verses, the seductive political nature of all poetic contests. It is Veronica Franco's insight into the power conflicts between men and women—and her awareness of the threat she posed to her male contemporaries—that makes her literary works and her dealings with Venetian intellectuals so pertinent today. Combining the resources of biography, history, literary theory, and cultural criticism, this sophisticated interdisciplinary work presents an eloquent and often moving account of one woman's life as an act of self-creation and as a complex response to social forces and cultural conditions. "A book . . . pleasurably redolent of Venice in the 16th-century. Rosenthal gives a vivid sense of a world of salons and coteries, of intricate networks of family and patronage, and of literary exchanges both intellectual and erotic."—Helen Hackett, Times Higher Education Supplement The Honest Courtesan is the basis for the film Dangerous Beauty (1998) directed by Marshall Herskovitz. (The film was re-titled The Honest Courtesan for release in the UK and Europe in 1999.)

Widowhood has offered Joan Durbin the chance to experience life as she never has before. When rumors of an agency of male courtesans in London bring her face to face with Sir Piers Lovelace, she is introduced to a world of enticing pleasures—those of domination and submission, pleasure and discipline, and utter abandon. Unlike most Gentleman Courtesans, Piers is a paramour to wealthy women not out of financial need—but because it allows for illicit affairs with no strings attached. After a previous heartbreak, Piers has no interest in being trapped into marriage by the devious ladies of high society. But Joan Durbin is unlike any woman Piers has ever known. Her brazen nature and uninhibited charm make it difficult to remember that their arrangement is one of pleasurable business only. Neither of them is looking for love … but both will be hard-pressed to deny it's call.

Soldier, spy and poet, Sir Philip Sidney remains an enigmatic figure of the Elizabethan world, whose diverse and inspiring works helped to shape the course of English literature throughout the Renaissance, in spite of his tragic early death. The Delphi Poets Series offers readers the works of literature’s finest poets, with superior formatting. This volume presents Sidney’s complete works for the first time in digital publishing history, with beautiful illustrations, Davis’ seminal biography and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 3) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Sidney’s life and works * Concise introductions to the poetry and other works * Excellent formatting of the poems * Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the poetry * Easily locate the poems you want to read * Features BOTH the Old Arcadia and the New Arcadia – available in no other collection * The rare masque composed by Sidney for Queen Elizabeth * Includes Sidney’s complete prose – including the poet’s correspondence * Features two biographies, including S. M. Henry Davis’ full length book on the great Elizabethan author – explore Sidney’s literary life in depth * Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres * UPDATED with improved ASTROPHEL AND STELLA and SONNETS text and 2 more biographies CONTENTS: The Poetry Collections Astrophel and Stella Poems from ‘The Lady of May’ Poems from ‘The Countesse of Pembroke’s Arcadia’ Sonnets and Poetical Translations Two Pastorels Psalms of David The Poems List of Poems in Chronological Order List of Poems in Alphabetical Order The Masque The Lady of May The Prose The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia – Old Arcadia The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia – New Arcadia An Apologie for Poetry A Discourse on Irish Affairs The Queenes Majesty Touching Hir Mariage with Monsieur Defence of the Earl of Leicester Of the Trewnes of the Christian Religion Correspondence The Biographies The Life of the Renowned Sir Philip Sidney (1652) by Fulke Greville The Life and Times of Sir Philip Sidney (1859) by S. M. Henry Davis Introduction to Philip Sidney (1891) by Henry Morley Philip Sidney (1900) by Sidney Lee

Two young princes, Pyrocles and Musidorus, disguise themselves as an Amazon and a shepherd to gain access to the Arcadian Princesses, who have been taken into semi-imprisonment by their father to avoid the dangers foretold by an oracle. The text was a vehicle for Sidney's ideas on versification.