Rowena’s review of Unclaimed (The Turner’s, Book 2) by Courtney Milan.
Hero: Sir Mark Turner
Heroine: Jessica Farleigh
Her only hope for survival…
Handsome, wealthy and respected, Sir Mark Turner is the most sought-after bachelor in all of London—and he’s known far and wide for his irreproachable character. But behind his virtuous reputation lies a passionate nature he keeps carefully in check…until he meets the beautiful Jessica Farleigh, the woman he’s waited for all his life.
Is to ruin the man she loves…
But Jessica is a courtesan, not the genteel lady Sir Mark believes. Desperate to be free of a life she despises, she seizes her chance when Mark’s enemies make her an offer she can’t refuse: seduce Mark and tarnish his good name, and a princely sum will be hers. Yet as she comes to know the man she’s sworn to destroy, Jessica will be forced to choose between the future she needs…and the love she knows is impossible.
Holy hot damn, Courtney Milan has done it again. There’s something to say about a male virgin who doesn’t act like a virgin at all. I didn’t think Mark Turner could be the sexy scholar that I remembered from Ash’s book. I thought he was cute in that book and he intrigued me, but sexy? Not even. But in this book, Mark Turner was down right sexy. Milan wrote another big secret storyline and I think she’s making a liar out of me because I normally don’t like secret plots but she wrote this one so good that I ate it up anyway.
Mark Turner is the historical version of our modern day celebrities. The book that he was writing in Unveiled is now published and has done so well that everyone clamors for his attention. Everyone wants to be his best friend, everyone wants to know him and a lot of people envy him. One man in particular, envies him so much that he wants to ruin him…by staging his fall from grace. What could Mark possibly do to fall from grace? He could not be a virgin anymore, that’s what. So this particular bad man sends in a courtesan who is down on her luck and wants her freedom to seduce Mark out of his good name.
Jessica Farleigh is a courtesan, yes but she longs to be free of her job and wants peace, away from groping hands and men, in general. She’ll do anything to get her freedom, even if it means ruining the name of a good man in order to obtain it.
What makes this book so awesome is watching Mark seduce Jessica. He’s a virgin so you wouldn’t think that he could seduce anyone but hell, he seduced me and I was only reading the book. Every time Mark said something or gazed at Jessica a certain way, my heart sighed and I wanted in on that. Milan did a fabulous job of writing Mark’s character. He wasn’t a cookie cutter virgin hero. He was interesting and very, very sexy. I couldn’t get enough of his character. I knew all too well how Jessica felt, every time she was taken off guard with Mark.
Jessica was a great heroine as well. Her character was fully fleshed out and I liked her back story. The way she went about trying to seduce Mark and then in turn, being seduced instead made for a great and entertaining story. I loved getting to know both Mark and Jessica and I can’t tell you guys how much of a winner this book is because you have to read it for yourself to get it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and think that anyone who has enjoyed any of Courtney Milan’s previous books will fall in love with this story and the characters as well. Courtney Milan has a gift for writing interesting characters and stories that just fit with what the characters are going through and I couldn’t have enjoyed this book anymore than I did because I enjoyed it too much. This is definitely a good story, go out and get the book. Read it and love it, I know you will.
Grade: 4.75 out of 5.
This book is available from Harlequin. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
I didn’t read the review, because I’m now reading Unclaimed. I’ll read the review afterwards.
I enjoyed the first book in the series, so hopefully this one is just as good. It’s a shame though that Smite’s book will only be available as an e-book. I heard there might be plans to also publish a paper copy, but it would be more expensive.
I liked it a lot more than Holly did but I’m curious to see how well others liked it. Happy reading and I hope you’ll let us know how you liked it.
Excellent blog on the new Courtney Milan novel 🙂 I liked it but had higher hopes for it. I think you summed up the story great and Jessica was a great character! 😀
I linked to this blog post on my review of “Unclaimed” coming on October 16th.
http://missourireadings.blogspot.com/
@Rowena I finished Unclaimed. I agree that Courtney Milan is a wonderful storyteller, but this book didn’t quite work for me. It’s a puzzle because I liked the characters, but didn’t enjoy aspects of the plot.
I had 3 problems. One, in a historical setting, I just think that 14 was too young for Jessica to have fallen. No vicar’s daughter in the 1800s would be alone with a man at that age, much less be seduced by him. This story would have worked better if Milan chose something like 16. The second problem comes off the first. I can’t believe that the vicar wouldn’t have arranged for Jessica to be placed with an out-of-town family member once he learned about her circumstances. Especially at that age and with a father that wants her to write to him even though he doesn’t respond. Finally, I just didn’t buy into Jessica dueling for her honor. This book was about female empowerment, but it had too much of a modern slant. It made Jessica into superwoman when it was enough that she chose to stay with Mark and not run.
The one thing this book did do however, was make me impatient for Smite’s book.