HS Review: Shameless (The House of Rohan) [Mass Market Paperback]

I've finished "Shameless" the 4th book in her House of Rohan series by Anne Stuart.

Book Description

A long string of tragic loves haunts Viscount Benedick Francis Alistair Rohan. Cool and cynical, he's weary of life's fickle games and wants a prim and proper wife he can ignore while indulging his sensual appetites.Lady Melisande Carstairs is nothing less than a tornado storming into Benedick's measured life. Possessed of boundless energy and the soul of a reformer, Melisande always conquers, whether it's saving the souls of soiled doves or seducing the man she's inconveniently fallen for. When she informs Benedick that his brother's newly revived Heavenly Host has graduated from simple carnal debauchery to sadistic violence, he's compelled to investigate, undercover. Under those covers, however, is Melisande herself, playing a dangerous game in the name of justice.

And the Heavenly Host has just seen her hand, and more …

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Mira; Original edition (June 21, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778312976
ISBN-13: 978-0778312970

My Review:

Lady Melisande Carstairs is widow who has little experience in the bedroom but hasn't experienced the true ecstasy of true sexual pleasure. She has used her husbands fortune to turn her inherited townhouse into a refugee for soiled doves (prostitutes) who have decided they want a better life.

Benedict has been married twice before and has decided it's time to find his third and hopefully last wife a plump mousy sort who'll give him an heir and a spare and then fade into the wallpaper while he continues his lifestyle of debauchery. They meet when Benedick sends for one of his past favorites for a brief encounter.  I was laughing very hard at this time, LOL!  You will have to read yourself to find out what one of her girl's special talent is!

Benedick and Melisande end up working together again when she comes to him asking for help. Girls have been coming to her house beaten and raped telling her the presumed defunct Heavenly Host a secretive club where the very rich engage in all sorts of devious and deprived sexual practices has been reassembled. The girls have told Melisande that acts with children at the club are no longer consensual and it's turned dark and violent and now a girl is missing. Benedick's ancestors were the founders of the club and Melisande goes to him for help in finding the girl. He's not particularly willing at first not only does he not believe her but he's not all that eager to spend any time with the sassy-tongued and disagreeable Melisande.

Benedick admits to himself that Melisande is maddening he's attracted to her and she's begun to realize that maybe there's a reason women enjoy sex with the right partner and Benedick might be just the right partner for her.

Benedick's brother Brandon who we last saw as a happy carefree man is now a scarred and disfigured wreck thanks to the Afghan War. He's been staggering around Benedick's townhouse for two months being drunk and most likely drugged and certainly up to something very bad.

Benedick's sister Miranda and her husband Lucien storyline was very funny and hilarious. She's as hoot as usual and Benedick hates him just as much as he always did, which is also a hoot.

5/5

Other Books in Series:

1.  Ruthless
2.  Reckless
3.  Breathless
4.  The Wicked House of Rohan (prequel)