What if being a courtesan was a choice, not a chore? When courtesan Sophia Martin returns to the village she fled as a young woman, she knows it won't be a happy reunion - but she can't refuse her brother's request to attend to his expectant wife. Trapped until the baby arrives, she must navigate the social rift she caused when she left to pursue a disreputable life - and keep the true reason for her departure from the man she once loved, the bastard son of the Duke who ruined her. Blake Vale has never forgotten Sophia, but he can't accept the decisions she made, the courtesan's life she leads, or the fact she's cast aside her true self. His old friend has to be inside this hardened woman somewhere, and he's determined to make her see she doesn't need rich men to be happy, and that their future has nothing to do with the past. When the dukedom suddenly falls within his reach, Blake must come to terms with his own past and his birthright, and what that means for his future - and for Sophia. What do readers say about Behind the Courtesan? Five Stars from Michelle on Goodreads'Brilliant. I chuckled. I cried. I loved it.In Behind The Courtesan Bronwyn Stuart takes us back to the Ton, back to a time where women were property and the Duke controlled the wealth in his dukedom. A time that I am very glad to have missed, I certainly don't think I could have survived the times.The chaperones, the protectiveness, the being told where you can and can't go and the men thinking they can buy, sell and own you.Bronwyn takes us back to these times and shows us another side of life in the Ton, another side to the life of a courtesan.Sophie Martin ran away from home in the middle of the night as a teenager, she left behind an older brother and a best friend whose heart she broke. She never told anyone why she left, she never said goodbye, she just disappeared one night and it wasn't until much later that she sent word to her brother that she was alive. The letter went via her old friend Blake but there was not a word to him, he was just to be the messenger.' Four stars from Cinzia.'Nice book historical romance, with a plot and characters that have surprise my self and my expectations in this book. I thought it was like "Pretty Woman" story, set in England in the past and instead, I found a story more believable and nice, especially thanks to Sophia and Blake the two protagonists.' Four stars from Beyond The Squee'I loved the beginning of this book. Sophia is in a carriage and needs to be in the Inn. There is a sea of mud between her and the stoop. Blake, who she had hoped to not see right away, strips off his boots, socks, and wades to her. We all know what's going to happen, and indeed, it does'
