A gentleman should never mix business with pleasure, unless he’s a gentleman courtesan …
Driven to selling his services to settle gambling debts, the Honourable Mr. Dominick Burke thoroughly enjoys satisfying the appetites of wealthy women. When Miss Calliope Barrington contracts his services, his desire for her is instant and powerful.
Unfortunately, her reasons for hiring him have nothing to do … do with his bedroom talents. On the hunt for a husband, Calliope plans for Dominick to act the part of enamored suitor—thereby making her a more attractive prospect for the gentleman she has her eye on.
In his attempt to seduce her at every turn, Dominick finds himself rapidly losing his heart. However, winning Calliope’s in return will prove difficult. With the true target of Calliope’s efforts taking notice, he now has competition. When a past misdeed threatens to ruin everything, Dominick is left with no other choice. To win Calliope, he’ll have to incite one of the biggest scandals the ton has ever seen.
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As the third son of an earl, the Honourable Mr. Dominick Burke has lived a life of luxury, up until his father, frustrated with his lavish spending habits, cut him off. Now to rebuild funds lost to his penchant for gambling, Nick earns his money as a courtesan, work he thoroughly enjoys. His desire for his latest keeper is immediate. Unfortunately for him, Miss Calliope Barrington only wishes for him to publicly court her in an attempt to catalyze her preferred suitor into proposing.
Dominick is more than up to the task, but the more time he spends with Calliope, the more he begins to develop real feelings for her. At the same time, Calliope’s true intended groom begins to take notice of her as a marriage prospect and Dominick must gird himself for real competition. But Dominick’s scandalous past threatens his present and future happiness and to win Calliope for good, he’ll have to create an even greater scandal.
I really enjoyed this book and loved Dominick as a hero. His past does make him a hard sell, but he did so much growing and maturing over the course of this book and that was lovely to see. I really enjoyed the fact that Calliope was not the typical English rose and had to cope with issues most don’t face. However, her behavior is the reason this is only 4 and not 5 stars for me. [This could get a bit spoilerish]. Her unwillingness to just listen to her heart and fight for what she wanted and knew would make her happy, all for the sake of pleasing others who she obviously knows care nothing for her, was problematic for me. She created many of the obstacles standing between her and Dominick in her own mind and would’ve been happy to condemn them both to misery if he hadn’t stepped up, yet again. I would’ve liked to see more commitment and risk taking from Calliope rather than even more hurt for Dominick who has always had to struggle with feeling like an unwanted afterthought. Nonetheless, I still did very much enjoy this book and look forward to David’s and Benedict’s stories.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I have been anticipating this book and of course, Miss Victoria Vale never disappoints!!
Her Regency Romance’s are captivating, and a great, steamy storyline!
Mr. Dominick Burke, a known rake hell, scandalous and drop dead gorgeous knows how to fulfill his clients every wish! Well, he meets his match int his latest contract with, Miss. Calliope Barrington.
The beautiful heroine needs his services to attract the attention of prospective suitors for marriage.
But, in doing so, he, Nick finds himself falling for the beautiful Callie! Ohh, I love this story line, everythting about it. Their eventual attraction, his own personal family situation, the characters, I love her half sister, Diana.
This was a well written Regency, with attention to details, tastefully written steamy love scenes. Simply, a Must read!
ARC was given by the Author for an honest review.
4 1/2 Stars! Book three in The Gentleman Courtesans series. Can be read and enjoyed as stand-alone. Each book will follow a different courtesan with secondary characters the same throughout. Told in dual POV with HEA. The characters have well developed back stories. The drama/angst was so understandable, but heartfelt with Calliope & Dominick. The epilogue sets up the next in the series. I highly recommend to anyone who loves steamy historical romance!
I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was clever, fun, and filled with heart and emotion. I loved the whole concept of gentleman courtesans and felt that was quite fresh and exciting and so was the fact that the heroine, Calliope was a woman of color. I know we are seeing more of that today but it still gives me a thrill every time I see it and just makes me feel happy. I found the storyline engaging and well written. My interest was captured and maintained and I found myself fiercely rooting for these two. I just loved this couple so much! Calli was so amazing! I could totally feel for her but this woman was clever and fierce. I thought Dominick was awesome and he had my heart aching for him. Together these two will have you swooning as your heart goes on a epic roller coaster ride of feelings, twists, sizzle and drama. This is my volitional, forthright review.
Can’t wait for any new books from her.
I have enjoyed all the Gentleman Courtesan books so far and this was no exception. I liked Calliope and liked that she wants Dominick to make the person she is interested in pay attention but along the way she develops feelings for Dominick. I liked that Dominick was a dirty talker and seemed comfortable with who he was. Their story is very interesting and I enjoyed reading it from start to finish.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Entertaining and interesting characters. Good read about characters with issues and the journey that they make. What people will do to pay off debt is fascinating. Like historical reads. Good read!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Yowza! Prepare to bring smelling salts and tissue as this one will bring out the range of emotions! Nick Burke usually wasn’t hired just to make other men jealous of the lady he was with… Heck the ladies usually didn’t care about other men when they were with him! But that is just what Miss Calliope Barrington requested. Just be her escort around London and hopefully the man she is focused on for marriage will pay attention.
But everything is not as it seems and these two have a lot of things in common, both being shunned by society at times and the past being well hidden for Nick.
What happens will keep you glued to the pages and anxious to see the outcome. A very entertaining story with that will, as I said in the beginning stir up a lot of feelings! Great!
Will she choose with her head or her heart?
by sewsummore
I found this book both an enjoyable and rewarding read that kept me guessing as to which suitor would win Calliope’s hand in marriage. Dominick Burke was the third son of an Earl with a bad reputation, while Martin Lewes was a respectable gentleman. Some would consider Martin to be the best choice, but women have been known to lose their heads over a handsome devil like Dominick. Who will she choose, and will she choose with her heart or her head? Both men vie for Calliope’s hand, one due to love and the other due to her inheritance.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
I’ve loved every single one of the books in this phenomenal series, but Making of a Scandal is definitely my favorite one! Dominick and Calliope’s smoking hot story grabbed my attention from the very beginning and kept me spellbound until the very last page! I loved the smoking hot chemistry and intriguingly delicious storyline! Oh yes, it’s absolutely a fantastic delicious hot story that I recommend to anyone! I’d like to also mention that all of the books in this series can be read as standalone but trust me, you’ll want to read them all so you don’t miss a single word or any of the awesome characters in the other books! Their all fantastic stories but this one is definitely my favorite!
Making of a Scandal by Victoria Vale is book three in The Gentleman Courtesans series. I am a big fan of this series, I initially wasn’t sure I would be but man was I wrong.
Dominick and Calliope are the main focus of book three. I’m not sure if I liked this one as much as the first two though. I didn’t get pulled into the story as quickly as I did with the others but it finished strong.
Dominick Burke is a courtesan to a healthy lot of wealthy women. He can’t imagine living a life without this job or the friends he’s made with his coworkers. When Calliope Barrington is interested in his services, his attraction to her is almost immediate. He has never felt this way before and isn’t sure what he can do about it. Her reasons for hiring him though aren’t exactly what he thinks though.
Calliope plans to use Dominick as a way to look more attractive to the gentleman she has her eye on. She thinks she knows what and whom she wants, but does she really?
I voluntarily read an advanced copy without expectation for review, all opinions expressed are my own.
The third book in The Gentleman Courtesans series, this series just gets better with each new book. This is the Honorable Mr. Dominick Burke and Miss Calliope Barrington’s story they will have a lot to get through before they can be together. I want to read the next book. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Dominick’s father cuts him off. Now he’s a courtesan to support his gambling habit. Calliope hires him – not for his abilities in the boudoir, but to make another man jealous. And he succeeds. Unfortunately, he’s also in love with her. He needs to remove attention from his scandalous past, in order to make himself look better. This is a terrific book – well written with a great story line. Calliope is a sweet, beautiful woman, ignored largely because of her mixed racial heritage. I love Dominick – he’s handsome and charming, with a filthy mouth and filthier mind. They are steaming hot together, as they head for a happy ending.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Such a great story with so much emotion and conflict. Not only between the characters but within themselves.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
WOW!!! This story will tug at your heart strings, boggle your emotions and fleece your feelings. I applaud the author Victoria Vale for introducing a biracial character. It is difficult to live in a society that really does not welcome you rather tolerates you. Our heroine Calliope lived on the shelf of 100% respectability. She did not have any leeway to whimper, flirt and swoon as other debutantes because of her heritage. In this story her transformation into a woman who accepts who she is and no longer will bow to the expectations of the ton will astonish you. It is a complicated story that involves the male courtesan she hired to pretend to be her suitor to make another man that she thought she wanted jealous. Dominick or Nick was the third son and as such was never groomed to be successful at anything. His father treated him like a worthless loose thread that he cut off when he turned his back on Dominick. His mother, sister, brother and their families loved him and his nieces and nephews adored him. From the first moment he saw Calliope he was dumbfounded. He did not see a biracial woman. He saw one of the most gorgeous women of his acquaintance. Both Calliope and Dominick had to fight their attraction to each other. Calliope started getting the attention of the man she thought she wanted but could not stop thinking of the way Dominick made her feel. I felt bad for Dominick, no love from his father, he felt like he was a disappointment and was a worthless cad, a whore if you will. But then there was his father’s younger brother his Uncle Paul who was more of a father to him than his own. Uncle Paul was dying. This was tearing Dominick apart along with his unrequited love for Calliope. He had a lot on his shoulders. Somehow Calliope and Dominic got to know each other better and Calliope’s defenses came down around him. But the suitor Calliope wanted to bring up to scratch had other reasons for why he wanted to marry her and Dominick knew but never told Calliope. Also, a former client of Dominick was at Calliope’s father’s house party and did not hide that she wanted him. Complications, misunderstandings and fear ruled the couple keeping them apart. This is definitely a page turner. But when you get to the end of the book you will have a smile on your lips and happiness in your heart. The secondary story is about the man who started the Male Courtesans, Benedict. A woman is out to get him, expose him and his men and ruin his reputation and put him to shame. I gather the next book will play this out further. I can’t wait.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is the 3rd book I’ve read written by Victoria Vale; she has done a great job at writing a good book; I can’t wait to read more of her books.
The story line caught my attention at the very beginning and kept me interested throughout the entire book.
I loved the chemistry between the characters.
I received a free copy of this book via booksprout and I’m voluntarily leaving a review.
Although my feelings for Calliope were fairly neutral for most of the story, she grew on me after she let go of her prim, prudish, and judgemental ways. However, my thoughts on her did nothing to detract from the captivating, steamy, and bingeworthy tale that Victoria Vale has once again spun. Dominick was yummy as ever, and even though it was because of heartbreak, it was good to see him grow up a bit, and it was wonderful to catch up with the rest of the courtesans too. I always hate when books from this series end, but this one especially after the cliffhanger that is haunting Benedict. Diana and Calliope’s father were my favorite newly introduced characters, and it was lucky that Calliope had them for support. Societal expectations and judgements, prejudice, gossip, family issues, friendship, sisterly bonds, carpe diem, forgiveness, hope, and love all played a part in this fantastic book.
I received a free copy of Making of a Scandal, but that did not affect my review.
A RakeIn His Natural State!
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2020
The Notorious Dominick Burke
Lady Calliope, the half Bengali daughter of an Viscount, thinks she has finally found the man she wants to marry, but he isn’t closing the deal. Lord Lewes has been seeing her some, but hasn’t come out and said he wanted to court her. Her sister, Lady Hastings says she needs to get another man to make him jealous, and she has just the idea….
Calliope will hire one of the Gentleman Courtesans! If she is seen in the park or at a ball with him, it should spur Lord Lewes to make his offer for her.
Nick, The man that was contracted to her as a courtesan, makes her crazy from the very beginning! He is the obscenely handsome and charismatic third son of an Earl, and he’s also a rakehell of the first order!
Calliope is definitely not the type of woman he usually entertains! Calliope can’t seem to make heads or tails out of Nick, who is used to saying and doing all kinds of naughty things to the lady he “works” for! He embarrasses or angers Calliopeat every turn!
Is the ruse working? Or is Nick finally falling in love? Is it possible Calliope is putting her hopes on the wrong man? Calliope is confused!
ARC Provided by Booksprout
This ebook was $3.99 on Amazon at the time of this review.
Opinions Expressed here are entirely my own.
Absolutely loved Nick and Calli’s story!! Calliopie is a few years beyond her debut season and a bit of an outcast to the ton because of her mixed heritage. She wants to be married but all her suitors just want her money but she wants love. Dominick is a courtesan who has quite the reputation between the sheets and is the third son. He’s been strolling through life without a purpose. Calliopie hires Nick to act as an interested suitor to make the man she thinks she really wants (Martin) jealous enough to marry her. While Nick’s attraction is swift and furious, Calli fights her feelings for Nick with all her being. After a change of feelings for Martin, a big scandal, and an almost unwanted marriage, they find their way to each other. This is the fourth book in the courtesean series and my favorite so far. Well done Ms. Vale, well done.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Interesting read in which a lady seeks to gain a suitor’s attention but it backfires and she finds a possibility with her accomplice. Who will she choose? I received an ARC copy and am voluntarily leaving a review.