Tracy’s review of Saving Lady Ilsa by Crystal Kauffman.
Bradford Stratton needs a wife. It isn’t a tragic problem until one considers his disposition. He’d rather spend his days, and nights, with his young lover Frederick. But his father’s gently put request that he marry is nothing short of an order, and Bradford won’t settle for a silly bit of fluff. When he sees the beautiful Norwegian seamstress, he makes his decision on the spot. He has to have her, even as he knows claiming her could destroy his relationship with Frederick.
Ilsa Bergstrom has endured all the abuse she can take from her late sister’s cruel husband. But a thirty-year-old childless woman in London’s rough Whitechapel has few options for surviving on her own, and after a horrific night of abuse at the hands of three men, she’ll never choose whoring as one of them. Yet when handsome nobleman Bradford Stratton makes a scandalous proposition, she accepts without hesitation. Bradford proves to be a gentle and generous lover. But Ilsa knows when something seems too good to be true, it usually is.
When Bradford Stratton’s tailor gets hurt he goes to another tailor that a friend recommends. While there he is certainly not thrilled with the Norwegian man’s work but he’s especially not happy with the way he treats one of the women there. When Bradford leaves he manages to speak to the woman, Ilsa and actually proposes marriage. Ilsa’s not stupid enough to think that he actually plans to marry her but being away from the evil tailor, Dietrich, for a while is such a pull that she agrees.
While at Bradford’s estate she spends several wonderful nights with him in his bed, but he insists that the marriage would be in name only. When Bradford’s lover, Frederick, comes home after a 2 week absence she see’s exactly why it would be a marriage in name only. But Frederick is soon curious about Ilsa and offers a plan to make her feel comfortable in their bed as well as their lives.
While I liked the premise of the book and the writing was quite well done I found myself saying, “Oh, that would never happen” several times during the book. Then, “Ok, Tracy, it’s fiction,” would be the words out of my mouth. But even though it’s fiction I found myself trying to believe that it was something that could happen.
Frederick and Bradford were sworn lovers. They were not about to give that up for anyone. While Bradford has tried to be with women at one point Frederick had never been interested. He fell pretty fast into having sex with Ilsa and it just didn’t sit right with me. Don’t get me wrong, the sex scenes were quite well done and as many as there were I didn’t find myself skimming. Lol But for 2 gay men they just accepted a woman too easily for me.
Despite my reservations about Frederick and Bradford I really did enjoy the story. I thought it was a very sexy historical romantic novella with a good mix of m/m as well as m/f & m/f/m lovin.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
This book is available from Ellora’s Cave. You can buy it here in e-format.
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place.
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