A Week of Pleasure

Kendra Smythe’s family is facing great difficulty. Her father is on his deathbed and his various creditors are calling. Her younger brothers and sisters are depending on her to save the family from debtor’s prison. Her attempts to get in touch with the man she has been betrothed to since she was a year old have failed; she has received not a single response to her desperate letters. There is only one course left open to her: she will have to sell her virtue. Her future husband is undeserving of it, anyway. She picks Derrick Thornton, a notorious rake who will very likely have no qualms about taking her virtue and paying well for the privilege to do so.

Devlin Thornton is impersonating his twin brother Derrick while he completes some business on behalf of the Home Office when a young woman requests an audience with him in his brother’s home. Believing him to be his brother, the young lady in question offers him her virtue – in return for five thousand pounds. Here he finds himself in a quandary: his brother would have no problem in accepting her proposal, but he is not the same as his brother. He is unable to take the virtue of a young lady that rightfully belongs to her future husband, but he cannot turn her down, for to do so may expose his brother and the delicate nature of the work he is doing. So, he makes a counter offer: spend a week with him and at the end of the week she will have ten thousand pounds and her virtue intact. But will he be able to keep his promise? And what of Kendra’s betrothed, the Earl of Blackpool? And what of his own betrothed?

A Week of Pleasure is a rather short erotic historical romance with one or two interesting plot twists. Although these twists were not totally unexpected, this did not affect my enjoyment of the story. The author has managed to write a piece of erotica where no actual intercourse takes place during the majority of the story. This is not something I have come across before, and as such is something of a novelty. I have not read any of Ms. Kelley’s work before, but having read this I am receptive to reading more of her tales. This is well worth a read, particularly if you are a fan of historical romantic erotica, or if the idea of erotica with little actual intercourse piques your interest.

Reviewed by: Elizabeth