RORY – Julia Templeton
The Rakehells of Rochester , Book 3
Kensington Aphrodisia
ISBN:  978-0-7582-3816-0
January 2011
Erotic Historical Romance

England , early 1800's

Once again Rory, Lord Ambrose, is meeting a man on the dueling field.  In his short life, he has met more than five dozen men there and never been hurt.  Besides, it was Lord Cordland's wife who put her hands down his pants during her dinner party, and if Lord Cordland can have his wife's cousin as a mistress, why would he care what his wife does?  Rory's preference for married women has all of a sudden come to seem boring and lonely, especially after both his brothers have married.  As Rory sees Lord Cordland raise his gun, he just stands there until he is shot in the shoulder, then without thinking squeezes the trigger and shoots him dead.  To recover from his wounds, he is taken to his brother's house in Twickenham.  Even though the entire family is gone, Shannon O'Connor, one of Lord Gaston's servants, will care for Rory.  Rory is known to have the body of an Adonis, the face of an angel, and the personality of a devil.  Shannon soon finds out the truth of that statement when she finds another servant girl on top of Rory when she comes back from dinner.  How can a man that beautiful live with all the adoration he gets?

Shannon and her brother Zachary, who works in the stables, weren't always servants; their family was quite wealthy in Ireland until their cousin Clinton burned their house down with their parents in it.  Everyone thinks they were burned, too, but when they saw their cousin watching the fire as they ran out, they know, and he knows, what really happened.  Even though Clinton has taken over their father's business, if Shannon and Zachary try to come back to Ireland they could mess up Clinton 's plans, and their deaths are what he needs to secure his future.  When Shannon starts taking care of Rory, his good looks and personality don't take much time to seduce her.  Rory could never marry a servant, and Shannon knows she could not live as his mistress when he eventually has to marry.

Rory has been involved with Lady Anna and her friend Thomas, where opium and three ways are the norm.  When Clinton finds out Lady Anna knows Rory, he quickly makes friends with them and begins to enjoy their romps of dissipation.  A friend of the family, Lady Georgiana Kinkade, is looking for a husband and her friendship with Rory's mother ensures her entry into their estate for house parties, and she tries her best to ingratiate herself with Rory.  A beautiful man like Rory on her arm with his reputed sexual prowess has her drooling with anticipation.

Told mainly from Rory's and Shannon's points of view, the writing is fast paced, and there is always some sort of sexual shenanigans going on.  Lady Anna seems to prefer threesomes, Lady Kinkade is after Rory, and Clinton is not averse to joining Lady Anna and her friend for some opium smoking and ménage action.

Julia Templeton has written a perfect example of an erotic romance.  Plenty of character development, an extremely hot and lustful man, a woman who can't resist him…what else could you ask for?  Rory is used to women doing anything to sleep with him, but even that is getting boring.  Shannon is running for her life, yet Rory's attraction for her is stronger than what her mind tells her to do.  When two people with lustful thoughts get together, the passion runs wild; believe me.

The secondary characters are Rory's brothers Victor and Sinjin, their wives, and their friend Lady Anna, and the oh-so wealthy Thomas.  Cousin Marilyn is engaged, but there is some kind of relationship between her and Lady Anna that Marilyn is afraid to explore further.  Shannon 's brother Zachary is trying to keep them both safe, even though their cousin Clinton is after them.

RORY is one hot story that will frequently have you gasping for breath and putting it down until you can calm your nerves.  The final book in The Rakehells of Rochester , Rory is the last brother to find his heart's delight.  If his brothers Victor's and Sinjin's stories are half as scorching as RORY, I would not advise reading them all over a weekend, your blood pressure can only take so much.  You will be delighted with Rory and Shannon 's story, and it will definitely steam up your glasses.  Enjoy!

CeCe Johns