In 1840, a young woman with a slight brogue begged Ettie Trewlove to take in her baby boy. Although Ettie already had three babies, she was known for taking in babies born out of wedlock. While the young woman swore she’d return, she hadn’t by the time the man known as Benedict Trewlove was thirty-three. Benedict, the man known as Beast, had acquired power and influence in Whitechapel, along with the love of his five siblings, all raised by Ettie Trewlove. 

Beast recognizes that the young woman working in his sister’s tavern, Mermaid and Unicorn, is out of place there. Althea Stanwick refuses to acknowledge that she once lived in Mayfair, enjoying all the benefits of a Duke’s daughter. Once her father was arrested and executed as a traitor, Althea’s family lost everything. Now, she’s working as a waitress. Beast offers her a better-paying job.

He’s a powerful man who owns a brothel because he once agreed to protect a working girl, and feels he failed. Now, he owns a brothel, and tries to improve the lives of young women. He suspects Althea could teach the present residents etiquette and refinement. They’re already literate. Beast protects them so men will not take advantage of them. However, when he says he has a proposition for her, Althea takes it the wrong way. However, she offers him a tempting bargain in return. The two sign interesting employment contracts after their agreement. Althea may be able to keep her end of the bargain to provide lessons to the women in the brothel. Beast will have a harder time with his agreement to teach her the art of seduction.

As in most Beauty and the Beast stories, there’s a wonderful library. In fact, when Althea sees Beast’s she says he probably could have gotten her for half the cost if he’d shown her the library. It becomes the place the two meet nightly for her lessons. There is an interesting twist to this. Beast is a mystery author. He’s written only one book by 1874, but his methods of research are not too different from that of current crime writers. He talks to cops and detectives, observes crime scenes, reads about crime, prowls the streets and knows people.

This is a romance involving two people who love each other and are torn apart by circumstances, it involves two people, one growing into her strength, and one who has been forced to grow into his. Beast is a fascinating man who has used his size and strength to protect the disadvantaged. It’s also a story of family, all of the Trewloves who grew up together and are fiercely bonded by their love. Althea and her brothers have been forced by circumstances to become more independent than any of them ever dreamed. Then, there’s the unusual twist when Beast learns who he really is. Family of birth or family of circumstances. This is a story of fierce family love as well as romantic love.

I’m going back to read the first book in this series. (But, I ordered my own copy of Beauty Tempts the Beast. I can’t have too many books about my favorite romantic trope. After all – those libraries!)

Lorraine Heath’s website is www.lorraineheath.com

Beauty Tempts the Beast by Lorraine Heath. Avon, 2020. ISBN 9780062951922 (paperback), 372p.

*****

FTC Full Disclosure – Library book