Guest Review: What A Lady Needs by Kasey Michaels

It’s probably not as popular today as it once was, but celebrating family heritage, knowing the roots of one’s heritage and those who have come before — all that was really important when I was growing up.  My Kentucky grandmother always counseled me to ” . . . never forget who your people are.”  And I took that seriously.  In the years I was teaching school, I was appalled at how few of my students really know anything at all about their family, where they came from, their ethnic heritage, their countries of origin, etc.  That was always important to me and still is.  And in this second novel in this historical series, it’s vitally important to the main characters whose fathers were drawn into a society that capitalized on pandering to the darkest desires of its members, all in the pursuit of pleasure, of extreme hedonism, and in achieving their greatest ambitions of power wealth.  Now the hero and heroine are thrown together as each search for the journals that were required of all members and which have been hidden by one of its past leaders.  Members are dying, making it even harder to follow leads and make sense out of clues.  Add in the intrepid grandmother, wife of the founder of this society, and you have a cast of characters, some of whom are left from novel one, that will make this a truly fine mystery all mixed up with a sizzling romance.

I also find it fascinating at how those who are bent on expressing their sexuality in spite of the iron-clad social boundaries and the prohibitions against involvement sexually by young ladies of good reputation with men who society allows to live openly and freely as rakes.  Perhaps the the lure of historical romance as most of us are intrigued at how inventive and creative some of these characters are at getting around society’s rules while engaging in some pretty raw and raucous affairs of heart and body.  Yet there is a sense of honor about these characters here–wanting to put away the threat to one’s family while recognizing that one’s love interest  could make for additional problems.  It’s all snarled up together and makes for really fun reading.  I have to admit that the grandmother is one of my favorite characters, “sticking it to” polite society in general and yet who is so deeply lonely, fearful of allowing her life to become entangled long-term after being scalded by the blatant disregard of her husband and son.  It’s all that is truly fine in historical romance fiction and a book that  I really loved reading.

I recommend that you read both the books in this series and appreciate the fine writing of an author who seems to know how to put a good story together and base it in the realities of this historical period.

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.