She was determined to secure the succession, he was in it for the pleasure. Falling in love was not part of the arrangement.When dashing twenty-five-year-old Stephen Cranborne arrives at the estate he will one day inherit, it’s expected he will make a match with his beautiful second cousin, Araminta. But while proud, fiery Araminta and her shy, plain sister, Hetty, parade their very different … Hetty, parade their very different charms before the viscount-in-waiting, it’s their mother, Sybil, a lonely and discarded wife, who evokes first his sympathy and then stokes his lustful fires.
As Stephen introduces Sybil to every pleasure she’s been deprived of, duty and passion become a deep and mutual love. But with the unexpected arrival of a contender to the estate, Sybil realises that what she’s set in motion to save the family might have tragic consequences.
Her Gilded Prison is Book 1 in the Daughters of Sin series, a Regency-set ‘Dynasty’ that follows the sibling rivalry between Viscount Partington’s two nobly-born and his illegitimate daughters as they compete for love during a glittering London Season. Her Gilded Prison can, however, be read as a stand-alone.
Book 1: Her Gilded Prison
Book 2: Dangerous Gentlemen
Book 3: The Mysterious Governess
Book 4: Beyond Rubies
Book 5: Lady Unveiled~The Cuckold Conspiracy
Heat rating: sizzling.
Author Q&A
Why should I read the Daughters of Sin series?
If you like your historical romance laced with intrigue, mystery, plot twists and humor you’ll love this Regency-era Dynasty.
What is the series about?
Two nobly-born debutantes and their illegitimate sisters – an actress and a governess – compete for love as they bring to justice a dangerous, handsome villain.
Essentially each book is a self-contained romance with an espionage plot woven throughout the series.
While each book features one ‘worthy’ sister, it’s beautiful but vain and selfish Araminta who embroils her half-sisters in subterfuge and drama as she tries to extricate herself from a very big problem that occurs at the end of Dangerous Gentlemen, Book 2.
What order do I read them?
The series introduces the nobly born and illegitimate daughters of Lord Partington and features the love affair between Lady Partington and the handsome young heir to her husband’s estate who has come to court her eldest daughter.
This features the sibling rivalry between Lord and Lady Partington’s legitimate daughters, Araminta and Hetty. While it delivers the promised Happy-Ever-After for Hetty, there are serious ramifications as a consequence of Araminta’s actions, which are developed in the following books.
Lissa, Lord Partington’s eldest illegitimate daughter is a talented portraitist drawn into a world of espionage through Araminta’s machinations. As a governess, she mixes with high society but from a very low rung on the social ladder.
Lord Partington’s lively and engaging daughter, Kitty, has become an actress but longs for respectability. As a demimondaine, she mixes with high society but she’s relegated to the underworld and does not enjoy the respectable status of her governess sister.
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Initially, I wasn’t sure whether I’d take to the storyline but I am so glad I kept going because I very much enjoyed Stephen and Sybil’s story. Out of all the historicals I’ve read (and I’ve enjoyed most too), this was the first one that felt truly reflective of the time it’s set. From the characters’ lifestyle and thinking – not just touching on lovely bits but ugly truths, limitations and emotional and real-life hardship – to the word choices and style of the prose. I look forward to reading more of Beverley’s books in future!
I read all 5 books in the series, but had to pay 7.99 for the fifth one because it was only available in the set. Not happy about that.
This book had a surprising plot twist. I struggled through the first chapter or two wondering where this would lead. By the fourth, I was hooked. I was happily surprised, and pleased.
Her Gilded Prison was a well written, good read and not your usual regency romance. Sybil, the lead female character, has been married for many years to a man who has never loved her. She has birthed two daughters to him and one son who dies young. Her husband has maintained a mistress, his long-time first love, for many years and has had children with her. Stephen, the husband’s heir arrives, and the gist of the story takes off at this point and this is where the story becomes quite engrossing. There are some steamy scenes in this story. Overall, my interest was kept and I couldn’t wait to see how everything evolved.
I thought that this was the first of Beverley Oakley’s stories that I had read but was very pleasantly surprised to discover on checking back that I have in fact read another and enjoyed this one just as much, if not more than the first story that I’d read.
What do I think of this book? I loved it! The theme was so very clever and so novel. There are so many different twists and turns woven into this story that one cannot be anything but totally engrossed and interested in what is going to happen next. I was kept guessing most of the time and loved it as each scene unfolded and played itself out.
If you want to be thoroughly entertained, then this is the book for you!
What a fun read! I really liked how the story keep surprising me at every turn!
Very different from the usual formulaic romance novels my favorite platform recommends I read, this book cleverly plays with the tropes of the genre and either reverse them or give them a new twist. So, instead of the rich, single, older, experienced nobleman falling for the poor, equally single, younger, innocent, lower class girl, we have Stephen Cranborne, a poor single young man (made even poorer after chapter 1) falling for Lady Sybil Partington, an unhappily married older noblewoman. And it works.
The characters have some depth so it’s easy to understand their motivations and have sympathy for them. The necessary drama is provided by slightly over-the-top but highly entertaining secondary characters: cheating Humphrey, sweet Hetty, spoiled Araminta, scheming Lady Julia, mysterious Mrs. Hazlett and more.
And the end doesn’t disappoint as it is very unconventional and yet completely satisfying.
I’m off to read book 2 in the serie!
I really enjoyed this book, the forgotten beautiful unloved wife finds happiness.
Totally different book. The lady is usually much younger than the man. In this book, the plot is the reverse. I enjoyed the reversal very much. Good read.
Great story, awesome characters! I loved it!
Couldn’t read fast enough. Was on edge thinking someone would be caught.
Great read!
A good book you won’t want to put down.
Really different, glad the lady of mature years won out. Would have liked an epilogue. Was our the heir, or did they have a son. Certainly a read outside the box. Enjoyed more than I thought.
I actually cannot believe I finished this book. I kept reading because I thought there had to be some redeeming plot twist, but I was wrong.
None of the characters are all that likeable, and certainly not enough so for me to be care enough about them to read the rest of the series.
The book starts with the H having sex with his friend’s wife in a closet and plotting when he can do it again. Then, once he meets his benefactor’s family, is lusting after his wife while planning to marry the oldest daughter. Everyone hates the nephew who is the true heir who was incorrectly presumed dead. They all think he’s a bumbling idiot, but are happy for the younger daughter to marry him because she loves him, and start plotting how to make it happen. The oldest daughter is a conniving bitch that intentionally causes her mother heartache and pain and repeatedly calls her pathetic. She throws over the H as soon as the dimwit heir shows back up, but offers to have an affair with him. But the H is already having an affair with her mother by this point. The “happily ever after” is the H & h caring on an affair with the blessing of her husband because he could never love her and is caring on his own affair.
While I appreciate an aren’t to step away from a typical romance plot line, this was a total fail for me. And the promotion of adultery is a big turn off. Won’t be reading the rest of the series.
We need more men like this.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander!
I thought it was an interesting read. I enjoyed it.
Enjoyable read.
Read only the first few pages. It was more like a sex manual so I didn’t bother to read more.
A good read…. great romance