Fascinated

The Lady's Tutor #2

by Robin Schone, Susan Johnson, Thea Devine

Set in 1812, Devine's "The Pleasure Game" finds the virginal Lady Regina Olney conspiring against her protective, scheming father by learning the ways of the world from the proverbial boy next door.

Set in 1750, Small's "Mastering Lady Lucinda" finds the young, widowed Lady Lucinda Harrington publicly humiliating three suitors. Incensed, they conspire to have her kidnapped and trained to enjoy the pleasures of matrimony. Lucinda, however, is a woman ahead of her time, and has a trick or two up her sleeve.

"Risking It All," Johnson's contribution, also features a young widow. She is Felicia Greenwood, who gambles in Monte Carlo to save her villa. Just as she is about to lose her fortune, a handsome stranger offers assistance. Victorian-era principles notwithstanding, Felicia repays her mysterious benefactor by spending some wanton hours with him.

Finally, there is Schone's "A Man and a Woman." The protagonist is a 48-year-old vicar's widow named Megan who trades places with a local prostitute to experience a night of sexual abandon with a man dressed as an Arab. (excerpted from Publisher's Weekly 2000 review)

Genres: Romance, Anthologies, Erotica, Historical Romance, Historical, Erotic Romance, Historical Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

USA Today and Amazon Bestselling Author Robin Schone writes British Victorian novels about love, the legal & social penalties of Women’s sexuality and the occasional dinosaur. She is translated in 15 languages. The Lady's Tutor is a Cosmopolitan "Must Read" erotic novel. RUSQ (Reference and User Services of the American Library Association) chose Scandalous Lovers to “represent the wide range of historical fiction in romance.” Claims RUSQ: "Robin Schone writes sensual, explicit stories...about characters who are frequently older and less beautiful than most romance protagonists. Her history is impeccable; the storytelling is straightforward but emotionally driven."

Reviews

[Tucker]

Ordinarily I would not admit to reading a book like this -- actually, I probably wouldn't read it in the first place, obviating the admission -- but I swear that my intentions were academic.

Somewhere I'd heard a rumor that there was a eunuch in this book. I bought a used copy and it was on my shelf untouched for years. Finally, I picked it up and read through hundreds of pages of explicit stories of masculine domination and semi-consensual feminine submission, which I suppose is well-written enough if you like that kind of stuff (I don't have a great deal to compare it to), and I was starting to doubt my memory of the alleged eunuch, until finally, there was the final story, "A Man and a Woman" by Robin Schone. This story made the rest of the book worthwhile.

The era is unclear, but people travel by horseback and use chamberpots, and one of the characters references the year 1650 as having been in the past. The term "French letter" is used for a condom, which is thought to date back as early as the 17th century.

Click "view spoiler" link below to see the rest of my comments on this story.


Megan is a 5' 4" tall, 48-year-old Englishwoman who was recently widowed after a long, passionless marriage. She and her husband had been equally sexually inexperienced, and when she learned that she was prone to miscarriage, her husband refused to have sex with her at all on the grounds that procreative sex threatened her life and non-procreative sex was a sin. She decides she wants to sleep with a man, so she travels to an inn and pretends to be a prostitute.

She immediately finds Muhamed, a 6-foot-tall, 53-year-old man from Arabia who "looked as if his features had been hewn out of sand and sun." He is described as "harshly handsome" and wears a turban and a white robe called a thobs that smells of "elusive spice". He gives Megan a gold sovereign which she recognizes to be overpayment by approximately a factor of ten.

Their conversation is awkward. Muhamed asks intrusive, oddly phrased questions -- for example, he informs her that "Arabic women cut off the genitals of young girls" apropos of absolutely nothing while they are having sex -- and Megan wonders to herself if Arab men are different from Englishmen. Muhamed tells Megan that he has a condom (which is to protect himself from disease) but that she does not need her own prophylactic. Finally he confesses "I have never been with a woman" and insists that he wants to learn how to bring a woman to orgasm, and does several times. "I want to know that I am like other men," he explains.

Muhamed turns out to be a eunuch. His original name was Colin and he was an English boy who was picked up by a slave ship and deliberately castrated at age 13 and from that point on worked in harems in Arabia, often observing other people having sex. Out of shame, he never contacted his family to let them know he was still alive. With Megan, he has a large erection, which I believe is biologically atypical for a man who has lived 40 years without testosterone--after all, why would Arab men employ eunuchs to guard their harems if eunuchs were merely sterile yet still able to engage in intercourse? Even assuming this biological detail for fiction's sake, the story leaves somewhat unexplained the psychological phenomenon of why Muhamed has never slept with a woman if he is capable of intercourse, except for his mysterious insistence that he is "not an easy man".

Regardless, he does have sex with Megan, and doesn't reveal his absence of a scrotum until the next morning. He stands naked and "for the first time in forty years" does not hide himself. Megan notices first that he shaves his pubic hair in the Muslim tradition. He prompts her to observe more closely, but all she can see is that his penis is smaller when flaccid. Her inability to notice his castration frustrates him. "You're not a whore," he says to her, and she admits it. "'I am a widow,' she said finally, evenly." As for Muhamed:

"I am hadim," he said brutally.
"I am English," she returned.
Literally translated, hadim meant hairless; in any other language, it meant only one thing.
He gritted his teeth and forced out the hated word--a word he had hoped not to use with this woman; a word that had haunted him for forty years. "I am a eunuch, madam."

So they have revealed their loneliness to each other. "Muhamed was a eunuch; Megan was a widow." He is sometimes moved to anger, which the omniscient narrator explains: "Eunuchs could not afford softer emotions."

So it is that when Megan experiences pleasure, Muhamed cries out "Goddamn you," apostrophizing the slave-trader who had castrated him.

They continue their relationship, and another day, he tells her:

"There are three types of castration," he said, feeling as removed as the bird's warble. "There is the sandali, or castrati, in which a boy's --or man's--penis and testicles are cleanly cut off by a razor; there are those who have their penis only cut off; and there are those like me, who have their testicles either crushed or removed."

He also told her that even those who undergo the first kind of castration sometimes marry.

They travel to Madron Well, which by tradition cures physical ailments. Megan cups water in her hand, taken from the baptistery where babies are immersed, and pours it over Muhamed's erect penis. She leaves a clean condom as an offering on the bush where mothers leave swaddling cloths as offerings. (Famously, there is a eunuch in the Biblical book of Acts who is baptized by Philip.)

Later, he asks:

"And which man do you think I am, Megan? Muhamed...or Connor?"
"I think the man I baptized today is the man you are," she said firmly."

[Adrienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

******My rating for this book is for the Robin Schone story only********


I bought this solely for 'A Man and A Woman' by Robin Schone, which is the follow on story from 'The Ladys Tutor' and picks up Muhamed/Connors story following his departure from Ramiels (the man he considers his son) household. Intending to make contact with his Cornish relatives, who believe him long dead,he takes the advice of Ramiels mother who happens to be his long time friend, and seek out the one thing he has never had the courage to find.
Megan is a widdow who seeks the one thing that has been denied to her for twenty years.

This a beautiful story,written in a tender way that brings the reader to completely understand Muhameds despair and Megans ability to not only fully understand his torment, but, also have the courage to ask for the things she needs to ensure pleasure for both of them.

For me Robin Schone writes beautiful erotic romance that always makes me think, and look at things from a slightly different perspective. The relationship between Muhamed/Connor and Megan is no different,sensuous and tender, heartbeaking and delicious. One for my keeper shelf.

[vra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must say, what attracts me to read this book was Robin Schone. I enjoy her "The Lady's Tutor" and "The Lover" immensely. Fascinated proves to be a major disappointment. The first three stories are simply about mindless *pardon my language* fucking.

#1 Mastering Lacy Lucinda
It is a degradation to all women. The idea of a woman kidnapped to be 'sexually tamed' just because she insulted her suitors is downright ridiculous. Despite the happy ending, I was thoroughly insulted by the story.

#2 Risking It All
The story revolves around a series of orgasms, literally. The heroine actually climaxed with a mere touch on her hips! Too absurd. More orgasms followed and BAM! All ends happily. WTH?

#3 The Pleasure Game
Standard smut, although I would suggest the author to either focus on the story or the smut itself. The story attempted to include too much. Btw, the hero seemed like a satyriasis. Creeps me out.

#4 A Man and A Woman
The information about eunuchs is a bit disturbing, but I suppose it shows the depth of author's understanding in the subject. Robin Schone does not disappoint. If it wasn't for this story, I would have given Fascinated a meager one star. This story itself is worth 4 stars.

[Mitzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite author is Robin. This is great.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good selection of bedtime reading, very spicy and graffiti. Enjoyed all except lady Lucinda. Being a bit judgmental, I’m glad she was a nymphominiac (sort of). I could not get beyond the concept of Any person being kidnapped and literally raped in front of onlookers and being OK with it. I would have castrated as many of the gentlemen as possible as revenge...including her brother!

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very original plots and characters.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each story is wonderful, but Robin Schone is my favourite.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only reason I picked up this book was because I enjoyed The Lady's Tutor by Robin Schone.
Has spoilers and contains my rants.

The moment I started reading the first story, Mastering Lady Lucinda by Bertrice Small, I was disgusted. I was only in the first chapter when I threw the book across the room because I was upset and disgusted by the plot.

#1: Mastering Lady Lucinda by Bertrice Small
It was degrading that women should be inferior to men and deserve to be punish for being outspoken or not wanting to sleep with any men that desires them (whether they be the employer, a disgruntled suitor or etc). This plot has the idea of women being kidnapped against their will to be raped or be ready to be rape. It explains that all women are wanton with needs once they are "awaken" from their virgin stuck up attitudes and would be more "willing" to spread their legs for any men. All you have to do is kidnap the women and "train her" by having the Master awaken her desires by seduction and temptation. The men in the secret order that does this believes that women need help in spreading their legs to be willingly lovers.. that women would learn to obey, to be docile and submissive to the men after their "training". I had to force myself to pick the book up and finish the story.

The story is of a wealthy widow refuses to marry unless for love and wish to be independent. She wish to live on her own but is forbidden by society and her brother, the bishop so she currently resides with him. By year 3 of living with the brother's family, he is determine to marry her off. She had 3 suitors which she refuse their proposals and insulted them. They wish for revenge and have the secret order of men to determine her fate. They decides she is to be trained for 3 months to be docile and after the 3 months, she is to be publicly raped by each of the 3 suitors then decides who she like best to marry. All the men ignored that she wish to marry for love and that she wish to be independent. So they kidnapped her against her will. The secret order of the men has one goal only.. to force women willingly or unwillingly (virgins or non-virgins; shopkeepers, governess, etc) women to their will.

The main character Lady Lucinda decides on revenge and ended up falling in love with the Master of the training. She takes her revenge against the 3 suitors that she insulted (she turned down their marriage proposals) and her brother the bishop (who agree to the whole shenanigan to trapping her for 3 months then force her to choose one of the 3 men to marry). Her 3 suitors were insulted and wanted to force her to marry one of them because they were all publicly humiliated by her words (of being turned down not gently). But she trains for 3 months to be the best lover but pretends to be docile and obedient but to not choose any of the 3 men but the Master to marry. The Master is gentle and loving.


#2 Risking It All by Susan Johnson
This story is like a classic challenge, woman says she never got the big O! Orgasms, therefore the man acts like a typical male who accepts the challenge to fulfill a woman's desire to attain the big O. He gives the heroine orgasms after orgasms, and finally it seems that she orgasms from the slightlys touch like on the hips or it is just the imagery of great sex without touching just brings her to another orgasm. Of course the ending is that she marries the man that provides her with the many orgasms who turns out to be a duke.


#3 The Pleasure Game by Thea Devine
This is a typical romance/smut story... the heroine wants to play a game to catch the eye of the biggest reform rake of the London season. Her father and neighbor (the man she loved since she was young) forms a plan to stop her which she overheard.. so she made her own plan to pretend to want to marry the rake but actually be the neighbor's mistress. She is a virgin who becomes insatiable with desire when her love, the neighbor introduced her to passion. She ended up with him in bed many times while pretending to want the rake and finally decide to marry the love. I personally felt that the love of her life, the neighbor was satyriasis and mean. He seems to always want it and spoke to the heroine in vulgar terms.


#4 A Man and A Woman by Robin Schone
This story made the entire book worth it. After all, I did get this book because of Robine Schone.
This plot is about Connor who was named Muhammed the Arab who falls in love with an Englishwomen. He finally have passion and pleasure after denying it himself for many years. He is an eunuch which is why he is ashamed of himself and afraid of pleasure.

If it wasn't for her story, I would have rated this with one or two stars... This story is worth 4 stars!

[ReneeW · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schone - "A Man and a Woman"

[The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Five-Star rating belongs to Robin Schone...Again!

Like the previous anthology Captivated, Robin Schone's short story in this anthology, A Man and A Woman is the only reason for anyone to read this book. Skip the rest of the stories unless trite plots and prose darker than purple (and not in a good way) are your cup of tea. I'm sorry, but it's hard to get turned-on when the phrase 'throbbing love lance' keeps getting tossed about.

I find it rather disturbing that some reviewers don't seem to be emotionally mature enough to understand that sex, no matter what age, is still a healthy and normal human function. Frankly, I've always liked when a writer isn't afraid to take a risk by creating characters that aren't the standard romance trope. I don't know about most romance readers, but I've a rather sophisticated palate and can handle characters and situations that haven't been done before. That's always been the big problem with romance - the unwillingness to take risks. Thankfully we have Ms. Schone who obviously isn't.

I loved Megan and Connor (known as Mohammed)- they were so beautiful and you felt their need for this basic human connection. Your heart just goes out for Megan, who has spent most of her life in a marriage completely devoid of even an embrace, and how she craves just to be touched.

And Connor - yes, the whole eunuch aspect isn't easy to read about, but it was a part of history and it did happen (read Anne Rice's Cry to Heaven about the Italian castrati). But just because he might have been missing a certain part, that doesn't diminish him as a man - and that's another great thing - makes the reader consider what exactly being a 'man' is.

Ms. Schone has the ability to create rich and multifaceted characters in a short amount of space, and erotic tension that just won't let go. She creates characters that you really love and who feel real. The sex scenes are hot, but they're written in such a way that makes you feel as if you're there and you're experiencing the passion. When the story ended it was like saying goodbye to old and familiar friends. And she didn't leave the reader with the typical 'happy ending', but in your heart, you could always hope.

Truly, I don't know how Mrs. Schone does it: Anne and Michael, Victoria and Gabriel, Robert and Abigail and now Megan and Connor. Her couples just make their way into one's heart and stay there.

[Adriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinated Anthology

Mastering Lady Lucinda by Betrice Small
1 Star-

Risking It All by Susan Johnson
2 Stars

The Pleasure Game by Thea Devine
1 Star

A Man and A Woman by Robin Schone
3Stars
A good story and the main reason I purchased the book was because Ms. Schone is one of my favorite historical erotic authors. Her characters are engaging and are more mature in age and her writing style is smooth and makes it easy to get lost in the story as I did in this one.

Megan is a mature widowed woman who longs to be touched and pleasured. She wants to experience at least once, that which she never had in the many years of marriage to her husband the Vicar. She yearns for the physical intimacy and passion she believes can happen between a man and a woman and not the perfunctory coupling that ceased very early on in her marriage.

Mohammad is a mature man with secrets and scars both inside and outside. He’s trying to find out which society he belongs in but more importantly he wants to overcome that which was inflicted on him as a child. His desire is to experience sexual release in the only way he believes he can, by helping a woman attain her pleasure.

I recommend this story to those that love their historical reads with erotic heat and touching scenes.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was told to only read the Robin Schone story in this collection of 4 short erotic stories, and my friend was definitely right. The other 3 were absolutely terrible--Schone is a master in the business compared to them. So the 5 stars is for Schone alone!

This is a sequel of sorts to The Lady's Tutor, and it does what Schone does so well...it takes two sympathetic characters who have been hurt in the past, and it explores their vulnerabilities...yes, through sex. The other stories were demeaning, degrading, or downright distasteful (and to me give the term "erotica" a bad name). Schone understands and empathizes with her hero and heroines in each of her stories. Is she over-the-top? Yes, delightfully so. But beneath all the smut she's a true romantic! It sounds impossible, but it's true!

[L8blmr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kudos to Robin Schone- I never thought I'd read an erotic story about a eunuch! Somehow she pulls it off, though. What I really liked was that the h/h were about my age - and also made that work. Very original. Susan Johnson was in good form, and I enjoyed Thea Devine's story, too. Bertrice Small's story? Not so much. The premise wasn't all that bad (heroine is to be "tamed" by hero, but they fall in love), but I had to shiver when one of the important characters mentioned to his men friends that he had messed around (sexually) with his sisters when he was younger. The same character cheats on his wife openly, and the heroine, to exact some revenge, fools around with 3 suitors in spite of her love for the hero! Too much for me.

[PT · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mainly got this anthology for Beatrice Small, but I found another great author to love: Robin Schone. I love that her heroines are usually older women, who are growing into their own.
Anyway, her story was favorite in the anthology. The storyline was out of the ordinary. A widow poses as a prostitute to a Moorish man, who is a 53 year-old virgin. It was a facinating story, pun intended.
Now, I need to read The Lady's Tutor.

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just and absolutely AMAZING set of stories, a book I cherish to own and can easily read over and over again! All characters are diverse and still manage to be easily relatable. My favorite of all of course being The Pleasure Game. Just lovely, absolutely genius! You have to read it at least once in your life or else you're missing out, there's something for everyone in this gem.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first story by Bertrice Small I couldn't get into - too much pointless sex,or not enough feeling behind actions, I don't know. The two stories by Susan Johnson and Thea Devine were worth reading - the sotyr by Robin Schone was wonderful - imperfect people, who find fulfillment together in their own vulnerabilities. I loved it.

[☆.。.:*・°☆Love2Read♡HEAs☆.。.:*・°☆ {Anne} · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this primarily for the story, A Man and a Woman by Robin Schone.

The story is the continuation of My Lady's Tudor. It's not more of the 2 MC's but about the H's manservant.

Two strangers meet in an very odd way. It's an erotic & poignant tale of a Eunich who was enslaved in a harem for many years and a barren widow that was married to a emotionally cruel tyrant.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of an improvement on Captivated , but Robin Schone's story is still the only one that really deserves those three stars.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories 1, 2, and 4 were very stimulating and kept my attention and were ones I couldn't put down. Story 3- while it was good, I had a very hard time wanting to keep reading. It was easy to put down and do other things. But all in all I enjoyed and it was very stimulating.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

one very good and the rest OK to good

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good read overall. I liked Schone's story the best. It was original, and was my favorite.

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

The middle two stories were my favorites. The first one was just weird and the last one was okay.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm an anthology fan & this one was a real mixed bag. Overall a bit of a feeling of meh...I didn't find any new authors I'd choose to read again.

[Danette · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read it to check out the four authors. I liked the last story by Robin Schone. The other stories were too graphic and crude for me.... I'll look like a deer in headlights for a couple days, I think.

[Mysti Dinger · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are 4 separate stories within the book, by 4 separate authors. Very sexual....a decent read, not my favorite book by any means, but it is something different for me to read.

[Natalija · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating is for Robin Schone's "A Man and a Woman".

[Krystean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely hot stuff!

[Chade66 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of four short stories. A Man and A Woman by Schone was worth the read even if everything else had been terrible, which is wasn't. This is for adults though!

[Christine Strowbridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looooooved Robin's Schones short story. It's why I bought the book!!!

[Aayesha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only read the story by Susan Johnson. Didn't like it much at all.