My introduction to scorching hot historical romances was Maggie Robinson's Mistress by Mistake, so if you have read her Courtesan Court series you know the steaminess you can expect of An Introduction to Pleasure.

As soon as I read the above blurb of this book I was hooked and couldn't wait to read it. I mean it had one of my favourite tropes in historical erotica: the tortured sexy handsome hero educating the inexperienced young virgin in the pleasures of the flesh and the art of love, and An Introduction to Pleasure delivered wonderfully.

I really liked how Lysandra while being such a good, self-sacrificing young woman still had a backbone and a strong will. And Andrew was simply sexy. He was handsome and the whole tortured hero look worked for him. His internal struggles made me feel so sorry for him, his grief and more importantly his guilt were heartbreaking:

“I loved her,” he found himself admitting, perhaps for the first time to anyone but Rebecca herself. “I changed for her. When she died… I didn’t know what kind of man to be.”

It was clear that since he lost his beloved wife not only has he lost sight and confidence of the man he was but he became a shadow of his former self, only going through life as a ghost living on autopilot but not allowing himself to truly live and enjoy life.

The premise of this story was to my immense liking, and the sexual education of Lysandra was hot, hot, hot both in Andrew's seduction through his words:

“Enjoy the fact that when I look at you, it makes me mad with desire. When any man looks at you in this way, you could have anything you wish for. That will be the power you wield as a mistress.”


He opened her legs wider and looked at her pu**y. “Sometimes I wake up thinking I taste you on my tongue,” he said, stroking a finger along the slick entrance. “I dream of making you come over and over, until you beg for more, for less.”

and his acts. These two had some seriously scorching chemistry and I enjoyed how enthusiastic of a student Lysandra was and the way she unravelled Andrew through his passion and craving for her. The romance crept up on both the reader and Andrew as through their sexual exploits he started experiencing peace and contentment.

You have to be willing to suspend your disbelief regarding many details that showed plainly that An Introduction to Pleasure was not a historically accurate erotic historical romance (the characters were behaving in a too modern way, there were some plot elements which were quite far-fetched), but the story flew smoothly and a lot of interesting characters got introduced, whose story I can't wait to discover.

Verdict: While An Introduction to Pleasure was not a historically very authentic historical erotica, the sheer steaminess and the engulfing flames of the attraction between the hero and heroine more than made up for it. Do not expect a historically accurate story and you'll have a great time burning up the sheets with Andrew and Lysandra!

Plot: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Writing: 8/10
Ending: 7/10
Cover: 7/10