A recent widow, Selena Sheffield, Duchess of Lushing, has never known passion, not until Aiden's slow, sensual seduction leads her on a journey of discovery and incredible pleasure. But her reasons for visiting the notorious club are not all that they seem.

The author of more than 60 novels, she writes historical and contemporary romance for adults and historical romance for teen readers. Given that Joan has a life that’s busier than most people’s half her age, Percy doesn’t notice the age gap at all. ‘I think what is important is not age, but how you look, feel and behave,’ says Joan, who says she still thinks of herself as a 40-year-old woman. In fact, she believes it’s ‘tremendously rude’ to ask a woman her age or discuss it. ‘My mother’s generation never did it,’ she says. ‘But you know, people have been calling me an older woman since I was 38!’In the event that a court finds that a condition in these Agency Terms & Conditions is illegal or void, the illegal or void provision will be severed from the remainder of the Agency Terms & Conditions, which will continue to be valid and have full force and effect. The Duchess loved the bed so much, apparently she looked under the mattress to find a label to discover where it was made. It is ironic that in describing cowardice, Bosola uses the term “womanish,” since the Duchess exhibits significantly more courage than any male character in the play. This reminds the audience of the contrast between their death scenes, and how, though the Duchess’s world did become that “pit of darkness” thanks to her brothers, she has earned a more optimistic vision of life after death, and as the audience soon sees in Delio’s final speech, she does leave an “echo” in the form of her son. We’re also invited to sympathize with Georgiana regarding her adulterous affair with Charles Grey (“Everyone has a lover,” she angrily tells her husband). Given the duke’s monstrous treatment of her, we’re tempted to rationalize, Who wouldn’t flee to the arms of a passionate soul mate in that situation? I have read and enjoyed the previous books in this series and I think I've been most eager for Aiden's story, so I was excited to start it.

Joan has dedicated her book to her fifth husband Percy Gibson and reveals in it how they met in April 2000 when she was touring America in the play Love Letters, for which he was the company manager. Antonio, the duchess, and Cariola joke about the secret marriage and discuss relations between men and women. As the duchess, now alone, says Antonio should keep to his own bed with Ferdinand having returned, “she sees Ferdinand holding a poniard.” He expresses his anger with her disgraced position and pronounces his readiness to kill her lover, though he hopes never to see him and would prefer to simply shut him up in a dungeon forever. The duchess protests that her “reputation is safe” and she should be able to marry. Ferdinand answers by bemoaning her permanently tarnished reputation and vows, “I will never see you more.” Plot wise, it was good, but there was a lot more inner monologue than I would have liked. Selena and Aiden really talk and get to know each other and I was so happy to see open communication; especially when it came to The Secret Plan {which didn't stay secret for too long}. I wanted more more more of them together, but perhaps that's just me being greedy because I loved them together.Aiden made my heart ache in the best way. So many of Lorraine Heath’s novels give me this bittersweet feeling, because she really does put her characters through desolation and despair before the HEA. This one was no different, and Aiden’s mental anguish—not to mention his devotion to Selena—just made me want to hug him and make everything better. And somehow his suffering made him all the more compelling.

Ferdinand leaves, and Antonio, thinking he is betrayed, enters with a pistol and accuses Cariola of giving them away to Ferdinand. She pleads innocent, and the duchess says Ferdinand intends for her to kill herself with the poniard. Bosola enters as Antonio leaves, and the duchess tells him Antonio has “dealt so falsely with me, in’s accounts,” by letting bonds she and Ferdinand had issued go into forfeit. Bosola exits, Antonio enters again, and the duchess tells Antonio her plan is to send him to Ancona while she accuses him of “a feigned crime,” which she justifies by explaining that her noble lie “must shield our honours.” She promptly makes her accusation before Bosola and some officers, and proceeds to punish Antonio with banishment. Bosola protests her decision by saying that Antonio “was an excellent courtier, and most faithful,” a modest, virtuous man. Bosola speaks these lines as he is dying. There are multiple death speeches in the fifth act, but Bosola’s is the final. Though the Duchess is clearly the play’s heroine, Bosola in many ways proves its focus. He has more lines than anyone else, Webster listed him first in the cast list--very unusual at the time for a character of no social standing--and he is the most complex character. I absolutely LOVED that the villain got his just desserts! It was the absolute perfect punishment for him. I also loved the Countess of Elverton – although you see little of her until toward the end of the book. I think she might be one of my favorite people in the entire series just for her one small role. Throughout the play, the Duchess’s own good nature seems to blind her to the true depths of brothers' evil. Not long after this speech, she tells Antonio in regards to them: “All discord, without this circumference,/Is only to be pitied, and not feared” (1.1.459-60). This analysis proves to be very wrong indeed. But in this speech, she admits that this is a “dangerous venture,” and goes so far as to compare it to war, showing the audience that it is not only her ignorance of the true danger of her marriage that leads her into it. Her love for Antonio is such that she proceeds even knowing what could be at stake. A recent widow, Selena Sheffield, Duchess of Lushing, has never known passion, not until Aiden’s slow, sensual seduction leads her on a journey of discovery and incredible pleasure. But her reasons for visiting the notorious club are not all that they seem.

If you have any special requests (for example dietary requirements, allergy, cots or room location), please let us know at the time of booking. We will pass on all such requests to the Owner, but unfortunately, we can't guarantee that they will be met and we will have no liability to you if they are not. Bosola, disguised as a tomb-maker, tries to take that from her too, telling her that her nobility can provide her no comfort, providing “neither heat, nor light.” It seems cruel to take this last comfort from her, but in doing so, he actually allows her true “glories” to shine through, not those based on her title or nobility, but those that come from the depths of her spirit--her courage and her deep familial love, evidenced by her domestic pleas to Cariola to take care of her children. This passage is emblematic of Bosola’s internal struggle. On some level, he wants to be good, and rues being made into “a villain"; yet, he feels bound to Ferdinand because of the “bounty” that Ferdinand has given him, and he wants “to avoid ingratitude.” However, he sees his choices only in extreme terms that do not allow for any middle ground. He not only will employ vice, but will actually “do all the ill man can invent,” simply because Ferdinand gave him a job. Bosola’s inability to temper his loyalty to the evil brothers until it is far too late--when even Ferdinand wishes he had--is a large part of what brings hell to Earth in this play. Hollywood has changed a lot because it’s been taken over mostly by corporations, and corporations are the ones that are making the films now and choosing almost as if by rote,” she says, her inimitable British accent still able to cut glass. The “Dynasty” icon does not shy away from saying what she really thinks about Hollywood, sexism, Ozempic and everything in between.