Title: Orchid Pink by Toni Sands
Publisher: Xcite
Genre: Historical, Erotic, Romance, F/F, M/F
Length: 84,800 words
Book Rating: B
Summary:
An historical erotic novel set in Victorian London by Toni Sands.
Demure Adelaide hides a passionate nature beneath her elegant gowns. After hiring new maid Daisy, she’s eager to introduce her to the delights of the orchid house. Enjoying Sapphic romps and determined to resist paternal pressure to marry businessman Thomas, Adelaide is surprised to find excitement in his touch and his whispered promises. Yet, when he reveals his sinister side, she seeks familiar solace.
Christmas brings snowflakes, also a vivid reminder of a heart-wrenching past. Intrigue and obsession rock this Victorian household as Adelaide’s poignant search for love leads her into storms. Will she ever bask in the sunshine?
The Review:
Orchid Pink by Toni Sands is a delightfully sensuous romance that whisks the reader back to Victorian England. Adelaide Beauchamp’s quiet life is complicated by her passion for her new maid Daisy. When she succumbs to pressure to marry her father’s close confidant Thomas Mercer, Adelaide discovers an unsavory side to her new husband.
Adelaide Beauchamp is an avid horticulturist who lives an unassuming and uneventful life with her father. Never married, Adelaide’s previous relationship with Ruth Carroll awakens her sexual desire for other women and introduces her to the progressive thinking of women involved in the suffrage movement. To protect her father from scandal after she is found in a compromising situation, Adelaide agrees to marry Thomas Mercer. Adelaide quickly discovers a web of secrets and deception hovering below the surface of Thomas’s charming façade. Will the return of her former lover Ruth provide a means for Adelaide to escape her unhappy marriage?
With Orchid Pink, Ms. Sands brings the plight of women in the Victorian Era vividly to life. With few opportunities available to them, women of good breeding were expected to marry well and provide their husband with an heir. With Adelaide, we see the dilemma facing women of that time period who find themselves caught between living up to society’s expectations and the desire to live what would be considered by most to be an unconventional lifestyle.
Embarrassed and ashamed of her sexual attraction to women, Adelaide is easily convinced to marry a man she does not love to protect her family name. As her marriage slowly disintegrates, she finds few options available to escape an increasingly untenable situation. It is very easy to identify with Adelaide as she questions the decisions she has made. As the story progresses, Adelaide does not know who to trust as she learns unexpected information about her husband Thomas and other key characters in the novel.
Orchid Pink is a fascinating and complex romance with many surprising revelations. The sex scenes are deliciously steamy as Adelaide explores her sensual side first with Daisy and then with Thomas following their marriage. With well developed characters, a unique storyline and a few unexpected twists and turns Toni Sands fully engages the reader in this compelling novel of romance and life in the Victorian Era.
