Unbound

I recently had this review posted to the Fresh Fiction website.

I absolutely loved this book!  The story will suck you right into it. The characters are that lovable and you have to keep reading to find out what happens.

There are times we are asked to bear the unbearable, to reach down within and discover a solid core of strength we didn't know we possessed.  In the end, courage is a lonely pursuit of the soul. Another person can never be brave for us.

Piper Chase-Pierpont is the museum curator at the Boston Museum of Culture and Society.  Her latest exhibit, is showcasing the life of Ophelia Harrington, at the museums’ Fall Gala in three months.

Ophelia Harrington was the city’s most beloved icon from the nineteen century. A woman well before her time, she did public speaking and help cursades well before it was appropriate for a woman to so do.  She also had a shocking past. In Piper’s own clumsiness, she uncovers a secret compartment in Ophelia’s traveling trunk.  Inside are the secret diaries of Ophelia’s life in England where she was called the Blackbird, one of London’s Courtesans.  As Piper’s begins reading the diaries, she can’t seem to get enough. Ophelia’s diaries are filled with sexual experiences and are completely erotic.  Piper begins to long to be more like Ophelia. To have the courage Ophelia had to be a woman way ahead of her time. One who was financially stable on her own, proud and with no regrets.

Mick Malloy comes back into Piper’s life.  He is brought in as sabbatical for six months as a consultant to the museum’s board of trustees. Mick gave Piper’s self esteem a blow ten year earlier when she tried to seduce him.  Piper confides in her best friend Brenna about the diaries and together they use them as a basis to help Piper go from the frumpy, clumsy appearance to the gorgeous woman Brenna always knew was inside of Piper.  With a makeover and a plan, Piper is finally ready to seduce Mick and hoping he will be craving for more.

The reader also goes through Ophelia’s tale of how she walked away from her family because they were forcing her to marry a man she hated. How she sought the help of the Swan, a well-respected courtesan to teach her the courtesan art.  The Swan enlists the help of a masked man only known as Sir, to teach Ophelia about desire and passion.   When Ophelia finds herself wrongly accused and everything she knows could be destroyed at the hands of the courts.  And lastly, we hear about how Ophelia came to keep her past secret and become one of the most celebrated women in Boston.

This book is a must read.  It will draw you into the story from the absolute beginning….you will not want to put it down!  From the beginning you meet to very different but also similar woman and watch them become the strong lovable woman they always wanted to be.  The book hops back and forth between the present Boston with Piper and Mick to Nineteenth Century London with Ophelia, The Swan and of course, the masked and mysterious Sir.