A review by witandsin
Simply Insatiable by Kate Pearce

5.0

The gossips always whisper about the scandalous Lord Blaize Minshom, but now the rumors are positively flying that Lord Anthony Sokorvsky has thrown Minshom over for a woman. Minshom may pretend not to care what people say about him, but he is irritated he made a fool out of himself. To make matters worse, his estranged wife has just shown up on his doorstep. Jane is the one person in the world who can tie Minshom up in knots (figuratively speaking, of course) and even after seven years apart, she is still the only woman he has ever truly desired…which is why he’s determined to send her back to the country.

Jane is equally determined to bring her wayward husband home with her. Tragedy may have torn them apart, but she’ll be damned if she lets Blaize lock her out of his life forever. Their marital battle will take them to the most scandalous sections of London, where passion reigns and the price of pleasure may very well be their hearts.

One of the things I love the most about Kate Pearce’s books is that I’ll never know what to expect. That being said, I wasn’t sure how she would pull off a love story for the villainous Lord Minshom without drastically changing his character. Simply Insatiable is better than anything I could have imagined. It’s heartbreaking, spellbinding, and devastatingly erotic.

Minshom, who took a dastardly turn in the previous House of Pleasure book, Simply Wicked, is like many of Ms. Pearce’s heroes in that he is intriguingly complex. He tries so hard to convince everyone, even himself, that he is a bad person that he generally succeeds. I won’t reveal why Minshom believes this of himself because that would spoil the emotional impact of the story. Ms. Pearce doesn’t actually change his personality to make him a hero; she simply shows different facets of his character. As for the woman who so thoroughly captures Minshom’s heart, Jane is a fantastic heroine. She’s intelligent, sensual, and never backs down from Minshom. It takes great strength and tenacity to take on Minshom and his inner demons and Jane does so admirably. The two of them set the page ablaze with passion, for it wouldn’t be a House of Pleasure novel if the story wasn’t wicked.

I should also mention that Simply Insatiable features an engaging subplot regarding Captain David Gray, who fans of the series will remember from Simply Shameless and Simply Wicked. I won’t give away David’s hero, but I was every bit as excited to see him get his happily ever after as I was Minshom and Jane.

As a love story, Simply Insatiable can be read as a stand-alone book. However, for those who have not yet read Simply Wicked, beware of spoilers. Each House of Pleasure book has only made me yearn for more, so if there’s one thing I didn’t like about Simply Insatiable it’s that I am now hungry for the next book, Simply Forbidden. All in all, I loved the captivating Simply Insatiable. It’s everything I could want in a story and I do hope Ms. Pearce writes many more books for this extraordinary series!

Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed.