Illicit Liaisons

By: Maggie Carpenter

Narrated by: Rob Groves

She’s bedraggled, desperate, and living in poverty.
He’s a wealthy gentleman residing in Knightsbridge.
What does fate have in store for this unlikely pair?

Returning home on a wet, blustery night, Malcom Mead spies his neighbor wrestling with a young woman. When he hastily intervenes, the man claims she tried to pick his pocket—an accusation she vehemently denies. Given the dreadful weather, Malcolm takes pity on her and hustles her inside.

Once through the door, he's surprised to find she's dressed in little more than rags, yet her speech suggests she hasn’t always lived on the cruel streets, and she seems vaguely familiar. Intrigued, he insists she stay for dinner—only to catch her stealing just moments later.

Though he feels sorry for her, and is struck by her beauty, the wayward girl will not go unpunished!

But as he takes her in hand, he senses her passionate soul and wants to learn more about her. He quickly decides she will stay the night.

Little does he know the willful young woman has a dark secret–one that could put both their lives at risk.

Publishers Note: This book was originally published under the title Rough Gentleman.

©2023 Dark Secrets Press & Maggie Carpenter (P)2023 Dark Secrets Press & Maggie Carpenter

A Spanking Good Time

Malcolm Mead, "the rough gentleman," proves his reputation is definitely earned as he warms the backside of Constance "Connie" Clifford soon after they meet. The first time wasn't exactly consented to, and I was a little put off, but future encounters were a different story.

The story of why Connie is in hiding and how that all plays out was amusing most of the time, with plenty of twists that I didn't see coming. There are some harrowing moments to go with the comedic and steamy ones. And I like Malcolm's way of skirting around the anticipation of vows. A bit of ingenuity is at play.

The narrator is Rob Groves. I like him for Malcolm and the other males, but a female narrator would've been preferred for the women. The sound effects were an entertaining inclusion.

Story: 4 stars
Narration: 3.5 stars
Listening Speed: 1.5x

Twists and turns

This was an instalove story intertwined with a murder mystery. I liked that the story was mostly about the mystery with many twists and turns as the h and H try to catch the perpetrators. The story is set in the Victorian Era but some of the details don't fit and that was a little distracting. the Narrator did a good job but sometimes he made the h sound insipid. I kept wondering what the h would sound like in my head if I were reading rather than listening. There are graphic sexual scenes and some light BDSM (spanking), so if these offend you, you may want to consider skipping this book, but unlike many other books out there, these did not play a bid role in the story and you can easily skip them and still enjoy the bulk of the book.

illicit Liaisons

This was wonderful and instant love story with mystery and oh so intriguing I thoroughly enjoyed this very much.
Rob narration brought the story to life It was very good.

Rape called by any other name is still rape.

I was shocked by the first first sex scene in Illicit Liaisons. I read erotica occasionally and enjoy the descriptive scenes, however, the scene in Illicit Liaisons described a rape for all intent and purposes. S and M is about receiving satisfaction and pleasure through dominance and control and generally involves actions between consenting adults when it occurs in the romance genre. This book begins with a young woman wrestling with a man having been caught stealing his wallet. Malcom, our hero, intervenes “saving” the young women and taking her into his home. Malcom asks her to stay for dinner and a bit later she is caught stealing a snuff box. Malcom says he will let her go but he must punish her first. Up to this point there has been no overt mutual attraction between Malcom and the young woman. It turns out that the punishment is a bare bottom spanking, not too objectionable had the punishment stopped there. Remember, the young woman is not a willing participant but must submit in order to attain her freedom. The punishment becomes invasive. Malcom decides he must now determine if other stolen objects are hidden on (or in) her body and penetrates ALL orifices below her waist with his finger(s) and without her consent and not in a gentle or caressing way. During his “investigation” Malcom’s voice is a “matter of fact” monotone giving the impression that this is just another day at the office. His only expressed thought, via internal monologue, is that he is certain she is aroused. After the punishment ends the young woman says that he has been successful in humiliating her and that she wants to leave but he talks her into staying the night (this was more complicated than I imply here). I found the entire scene to be demeaning and repulsive without providing pertinent storyline information. As for character development, at this point, the scene demonstrates that Malcom is willing to act reprehensibly to further his own agenda while we learn very little about the young woman other than that she appears to be desperate. I didn’t finish the book.
This is the first book I have read (listened) to by Ms. Carpenter so I relied on the book’s summary information and reader reviews before purchasing. Neither suggested that the storyline contained a degree of S and M. Again, S and M in its self is not always objectionable but this was rape, not consensual bed play and especially degrading to the young woman. I can’t recommend the book. I didn’t read the book in its entirety so can’t say how Malcom’s and the young woman’s relationship developed or if the storyline improved or not.