“But you’re— you’re—”

“A virgin?” There was a note of amusement in his voice. “True. But just because I don’t believe in poaching out of season doesn’t mean I can’t hunt.”

As I’m sitting here trying to write this review, I can’t begin to tell you how much I loved Unclaimed. So much passion, so much wisdom, so much hope, so much truth, so much… just… so very much!! And quotes? Literally pages worth of quotes I’d love to share with you. Some that took my breath away, some made me swoon, others mad More...

FULL REVIEW NOW POSTED

4.5 stars.

"It is the most astonishing thing," he whispered against her skin. "To touch you, to feel you tremble. To know that I'm the cause of it."

LONDON JUNE, 1841
Our heroine, Jessica Farleigh is a courtesan who wants to get out of prostitution. She wants to get rid herself of the murk and the mire that had filled her. Jessica is in dire need of money since she wants to buy a cottage in the country to settle down and begin a new life. For a long time, her former protector, More...

4 1/2

I listened to this book as an unabridged audio which was read most skillfully by Rebecca De Leeuw. She did a beautiful job bringing the story to life, voicing Jessica with all of the vulnerability and sensuality necessary for her character while managing to make Mark come across as masculine, confident and likable. It would have been so easy to voice him as an uptight prig and I’m so very glad the narrator went down a different path.

When Mark Turner wrote a book on the importance of male c More...

If there’s one historical romance author you should be reading, it should be Courtney Milan. Courtney continues to astound me with her books, and Unclaimed (Turner #2) is yet another amazingly written book by her. And the fact she has a crush on Mho Fho, makes her number one here at Casa de Babblings.

Jessica Farleigh is a courtesan who wants to leave her old life behind. In order to do that she needs money so she can retire. A former protector of hers will give her a nice sum if only she seduces More...

Unclaimed was Unbelievable! This is one of my least favorite tropes - courtesan heroine and virgin hero. But it was so much more than that! Love these Turner brothers - Ash, Mark and Smite. This is Mark's story, who has recently become an unparalleled success for his book, A Gentleman's Practical Guide to Chastity (and chastity is hard!). Mark seemed like a good guy - maybe too good? - and is very likeable. Jessica wants to change her life around and an opportunity presents itself for her - but More...

4.5 stars

‘Unclaimed’ was kindly provided to me by Netgalley for Harlequin.
Expected Publication Date: September 20th 2011

Sir Mark Turner, a Victorian-era ‘rock star’, has done the impossible: he’s made chastity popular. After writing ‘A Gentleman’s Practical Guide to Chastity’ he himself becomes practically a celebrity and is loved by many but certainly not all. Hating his popularity he seeks to get some peace in the country. Jessica Farleigh is a courtesan who agrees to seduce Mark Turner for th More...

Updated- 7/31- forgot to mention about the book cover.


Intro

Image is everything especially in 1841 London. The problem is sometimes your image is not self-created but how other’s want to see you. Just ask Sir Mark Turner how bad life can be when your image has been elevated to godlike proportions, but you are simply an ordinary man wanting an ordinary life.

The characters

Sir Mark wrote a book called A Gentleman’s Practical Guide to Chasity. The popularity of the book, for reasons unknown, skyrock More...

Minor spoilers:

Seriously? This author wrote Unveiled??

Maybe I missed a chapter, but this book was literally about a famous Chaste Virgin man who pretty much stays that way. Naturally he ends up with a hooker with a heart of gold. But wait.....she is also the preacher's supposedly- dead daughter.

Then the queen of England comes to their wedding..,
Seriously I can't believe I kept reading.

4.25 stars

“I wanted peace and balance. But I should have put you first. First. Last. And, Jessica—always.”

“True. I never dreamed of this. But now that I’ve found you, anything else seems a nightmare. Dreams change with circumstances. Often for the better.”

This is another great installment to the series! I adored Sir Mark, he's just so sweet and amazing and hot... Fine, I was mostly okay with Jessica, too. But she had her moments...

Sir Mark is endlessly popular and revered by the London society. More...

Another home run for Courtney Milan. I knew Unveiled would be a hard act to follow, because it just struck so many chords with me. I didn't expect this to be as good, but it's damned close. Close enough to go on my keeper shelf.

Ms. Milan seems to have an affinity for writing about women who come to realize their self-worth and for men who value that in their women, which makes her historicals a joy to read. I adore how confident Mark Turner is. I always thought I liked tortured heroes but Mark i More...

Book: B+
Narration: B

Jessica Farleigh is a courtesan. No, not an “I’m secretly a virgin and after the hero is done being an ass-hat about my supposed whore-ishness he’s going to have to grovel” courtesan but an “I’ve had to make some hard choices and had a string of ‘protectors’ with whom I’ve *gasp* had a lot of sex” courtesan. Thrown out of the house and disowned at the age of fourteen after being “ruined” by a man who left her in London when he was done with her, Jessica was able to avoid a li More...

The first story I read by Courtney Milan, and loved it! Wonderfully emotional and surprisingly sizzling despite the lack of love scenes.

Re-read it almost a year later and it is still a fantastic read! Loved it just as much as for the 1st time!

Sir Mark Turner is a “rock star” of his time. After writing A Gentleman’s Practical Guide to Chastity he has become an overnight success and London’s most sought-after bachelor. Everyone wants to know him, and be like him. Well, not everyone. Mark is up for political office and one of his enemies seeks to ruin his pristine reputation and therefore destroy any future in politics he may have. Mark really has little interest in living in the public eye though, and would prefer to live a quiet and u More...

Update: I'm adding an extra star. Not because my I changed my mind with the problems this book has, but because I just realized how much I appreciate the great thing about this story.

First, read this:

Natasha Walks Out of a Refrigerator

Basically, towards the end of this book (and I don't consider this to be a spoiler), Jessica walks out of a refrigerator. And, I just--until recently, I never realized how rare this is in fiction. So, kudos to Courtney Milan.

---------------------------------

You kno More...

This review was posted at Under The Covers

This is such a hard book to review, especially because it has some elements that I normally don't care for much, but somehow they work so well in this book!

Sir Mark Turner was left writing a book about chastity when we finished Unveiled. Yes, the hero is a virgin *cue the shocked gasps*. This is not usually the case, but for Mark waiting until marriage is very important and he wants to teach these values to other people. If you had asked me what I though More...

Reviewed For Wickedly Bookish
http://wickedlybookish.blogspot.com/

Sir Mark Turner is the very picture of respectability. He's the most eligible bachelor in London and a celebrity for writing his practical guide to chastity. Behind all the fame and fortune, Sir Mark longs to be seen as the man that he is, imperfect just like everyone else. When he meets fiery Jessica Farleigh, he gets just that; Jessica despises him for his fame and Mark is determined to make her like him. Behind her beautiful fac More...

This is a Quickie Review. For the full review, please visit The Romanceaholic.

Expected Release Date: September 27, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: HQNBooks
Author’s Website: http://www.courtneymilan.com/
My Source for This Book: Netgalley
Part of a Series: Yes, Book 2, Turner Series
Series Best Read In Order: Works well as a standalone
Steam Level: Steamy

Official Blurb:

Her only hope for survival…

Handsome, wealthy and respected, Sir Mark Turner is the most sought-after bachelor in all of London—and h More...

Unfortunately I couldn't finish this.

Was my first book from this author and quite possibly my last.

I am not a massive fan of Virgin Heroes and Prostitute Heroines and if I had realised thats what this was I wouldn't have requested it for review.

I don't understand how a male can get to the age he is and be a virgin...and be completely confident about himself and his abilities when the times come.
I am also not completely against the heroines who are mistresses or prostitutes...but this one flinche More...

Not quite a 5 for me, but pretty close. Loved this book.

btw, I read A Notorious Countess Confesses immediately before this book, and I would recommend not reading these 2 books too close together. They have a similar plot--A courtesan seducing a virtuous man. They arent' so similar that you think "rip-off" by any means, and the writing styles are completely different, but if you read them back-to-back you will notice the similarities. Luckily both these books are incredibly awesome and so well-w More...

Courtney Milan writes beautifully. Sometimes she doesn't pull my strings but she is still a great writer with an ability to transfer you inside. It's how she juggles with her words and how she smoothly makes stories which are calm and easy with a lot of work to keep your mind busy.

There is always a difference between the writers who think they understand people and those who understand the small differences that we make among each other: sighs and hums, murmurs and grumbles. It's the shade of p More...

There are so many outstanding reviews of Unclaimed that it's very difficult to think of something truly original to say. So I'm adopting the old adage – ‘a picture is worth a thousand words'.



This perfectly sums up my feelings about the book and Courtney Milan is definitely one of the foremost writers of Historical Romance today.

I can't wait to read Smite's story in Unraveled. Such an intriguing character!


VERDICT : A STELLAR BOOK

RATING: ★★★★★


More...

Mark Turner was not my favorite character in the first book of the Turner series and I found myself tempted to skip this book and go on to read about Smite. I did not, and I'm sort of regretting the decision. While Mark himself was an amazing character, very well constructed, an odd duckling of a hero (one who wishes to remain chaste, who would have thought?!) but a very likeable character none the less. The heroine however, doesn't seem to develop until much later. We simply do not learn enough More...

I mostly liked the book? For one, it was a period romance that felt a little more like it was actually engaging with the more of the time, which isn't something I always care about, but made for a nice change of pace. I liked the emotionally reserved heroine who wasn't just not falling in love because She Would Never Love Again, but for practical reasons due to massive emotional trauma, and also she initially didn't like the heroism. I liked the hero's social cause, why he choose it, and how it More...

Courtney Milan interestingly reverses the typical seduction roles in this new historical romance. Courtesan Jessica sets out to seduce Mark Turner, known throughout England for his book A Gentleman's Practical Guide to Chastity. Remarkably, Sir Mark has made male chastity popular with gentlemen of all classes! If Jessica can seduce Sir Mark, thus winning a bet with former-protector George Weston, she will be able to create a new life for herself and hopefully recapture her will to live and save More...

This was pretty amazing, which is really amazing to me because I really didn't like the first book in this series very much. I have no idea what possessed me to read this book after the first one annoyed me so much, but I was sort of intrigued by a man who was a virgin and felt compelled to write about men being chaste - not something you find every day in romance novels for sure. The whole story revolved around a scheming courtesan who was going to arrange the downfall of the “rockstar status” More...

Reviewed at: Over A Cuppa Tea
Review date: 28 Jan 2012
Review link: http://cleffairy.com/?p=6721


I have a lot of things to say about this book, but I’ll just keep it short and sweet. This book sizzles. Read at your own risk. I was completely absorbed into this book and I feel for the heroine’s troubles. Life is not always fair and you have to do what you have to do to survive the judgmental society. Sometimes, one ought to be heartless in order to be good to oneself. I could relate to that. It’s wh More...

Yes, those are five stars up there. I've surprised myself by absolutely enjoying Unclaimed. It might even be a favorite. I finished the Unlocked novella in less than a day, which was absolutely understandable, considering that it's just 111 pages, but I read all of Unclaimed in just two hours. My hand sort of hurts from the strain of holding it up for so long, actually.

I loved Mark from the first book, so when I read the synopsis for his book, I took a step back. I should have known better, thou More...

I wasn't expecting to find a hero who's written a book on male chastity to be very appealing, but Sir Mark Turner really is. He becomes something of a Victorian rock star upon publication of his book, A Gentleman’s Practical Guide to Chastity and can't escape the crowds of sycophants in London so escapes to the town where he grew up. I liked that he was angry about the way his work had been misinterpreted and especially the parts where he is so frustrated by people seeing him as a saint:

"It chea More...

Mark is a highly intellectual man who has written a book on the importance of male chastity. To his great surprise, the book has risen to astonishing popularity, garnering him a knighthood and a swarm of fans. Unfortunately it has also attracted some enemies. One such enemy puts out a reward to any woman who can seduce the virtuous knight and ruin his reputation. Jessica has spent seven years as a courtesan and is determined to get out of the life. Knowing that the reward money would set her fre More...

I am usually a pretty big fan of Milan. She's one of those writers whose work sneaks up on you. By this I mean, I find myself reading along, not feeling particularly invested, just trying to slog through, when BOOM! I suddenly find myself laughing (and/or crying) and saying, "Where did that magic come from?!" Now when her books are good (Proof of Seduction, This Wicked Gift, Unveiled), this feels like the ultimate payoff for the reader. You hung in there, and you got your reward. But when it's n More...