Temporary Mistress: A Novel (St. John-Duras)

I picked up this book and was off to my kids swim lesson - and boy was it steamy... I could not go to bed until it ended with a happy steamy great ending. Isabella's is rich and her cousin's want her money and are willing to kidnap her and marry her off to her fat cousin... She runs away from them and finds a very interesting way to escape them and see what is really going on in seedy London in 1802....

My favorite novel of Johnson...she could not have done a better job in character development, plot, tone, and drama. I actually felt the emotions of the characters in this masterpiece of historical romance. One becomes so engrossed and attached to these characters that you just cannot put this book down, you laugh and cry with them, and when the story ends, you wish for another 15 chapters. I highly recommend this book if you love passionate, emotional historical romance. Of the hundreds I have read, this is one of the best!

How could anyone rate Temporary Mistress less than 5 stars? Susan Johnson provides a much needed contrast to the typical scared little virgin heroine. Her characters know what they want and are much more realistic for today's reader.Temporary Mistress is the second Susan Johnson book that i read, and i was hooked. i highly recommend this novel, especially for those looking to understand their desires....

If you have read and enjoyed Susan Johsnon's novels in the past, you are in for a treat. If Johnson is a new author for you, this book is a good place to begin. All the traditional Johnson elements are here - devastatingly handsome but tormented hero with the ultimate rake's reputation, an appealing heroine who is smart and independent, VERY steamy love scenes. thorough historical research that adds realism to the story. I was particularly impressed with the Johnson's handling of this hero's tortured past - as the reader discovers his past his dissolute behaviour makes sense. My one teeny tiny complaint is with the story's initial premise - the heroine wishes to become the hero's mistress so that her reputation will be ruined and she will therefore be left alone by her greedy relatives seeking to marry her off and gain access to her fortune. After the plan is put into action and with no explantion the affair is actually kept quiet and she is launched into the ton as a great success. However, this is a small complaint about an otherwise thoroughly engaging novel.

I don't think there will ever come a time when I won't buy books written by Susan Johnson, but the time has come when I wish she wouldn't use the same characters in every book. I love Ms. Johnson's writing style; I love the edge of erotica she lavishes throughout her books; I love her strong characters; I love the tidbits of fact she teaches her readers - but the cloning needs to stop. "The stud of London..." has been written to death after "servicing the Ton" all these years. Give us some new characters to cuddle up with!