This Rec League request comes from Emily. Thanks so much for sending it in!
I would love to see a Rec League focused on books with the seduction lessons trope where the instructor is not male. Extra special bonus points if it’s a historical.
Sarah: This query is giving me a lot to think about in terms of how romance as a genre continues to reframe virginity.
Not historical (woe) but The Player and the Pixie by LH Cosway and Penny Reid ( A | BN ). Hero is a rugby player who is “rubbish” in bed, and she is the younger sister of another, very famous rugby player who bails him out of jail. They make a bargain. heh heh.
Amanda: For real. I only know of ones with inexperienced heroes, but not any that combine that with seduction lessons from the heroine. Would definitely read it though!
Sarah: Romance: so incredibly subversive and so obedient to patriarchal standards, often at the same time.
This one is really stumping my brain.
Claudia: Ok she doesn’t offer lessons, per se, but she’s an experienced courtesan and he’s a virgin — Jennie Lin’s Red Blossom in the Snow
Bonus points that she does have sex with a protector for money (not all Tang Dynasty courtesans/entertainers did, but her house was falling on bad times) and he knows it and doesn’t throw a fit. And yes I know it’s a low bar but…
Sarah: Really good rec!
Tara: If f/f is okay, A Touch of Temptation by Julie Blair ( A | BN | K | AB ) would fit the bill.
Which romances would you suggest? Let us know below!
Outlander?
Cecilia Grant’s A Gentleman Undone doesn’t fit but is closer than anything else I can come up with.
Following!
LESSONS FROM A SCARLETT LADY by Emma Wildes.
What I liked about this book was the couple are married from the start and it isn’t a MOC. Just a nice, tidy marriage for a Duke who needs an heir and she is a debutante that snagged a handsome albeit somewhat proper and stuffy Duke. Brianna has been married to her husband The Duke of Rolthven for just a few months and she finds marriage very satisfactory. She also means to keep it that way. She is determined that her husband never has to stray outside of marriage. To that end, she gets her hands on a very scandalous book written by someone named Lady Rothburg. Lady R. gives young wives and women tips on not only how to please their men in the bedroom but also insights on the male psyche. So the seduction of her husband begins.
An Education in Pleasure by Eva Leigh fits this. It’s from the Duke I’d Like to F… anthology originally but now I thinks it’s stand alone.
The Heroine is older and the governess of the Duke’s sisters. He’s not a virgin but a lot less experienced.
Impassioned by Darcy Burke features a heroine who disguises herself as a courtesan who teaches her husband to be more romantic and attentive in bed.
Thief of shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt (heroine is older and a widow, hero is a virgin).
These are historicals:
Her Virgin Duke by Nicola Davidson – he’s a virgin and has to go to a “pleasure club” after losing a bet, she’s the madam
A Chance at Love by Beverly Jenkins – not official lessons, but he’s never been with anyone, and she has had a lot of lovers. After their first kiss, she tells him they’ve got some serious work to do to get him up to snuff; and they keep teasing each other about how his lessons are coming over the next weeks as their relationship progresses.
The Hidalgo’s Wife by Genevieve Turner – also not official lessons, but he’s absolutely convinced that women find sex repugnant, so he only has sex with his new wife when he can’t resist it anymore, doesn’t try foreplay or anything and just tries to go for speed to get it over with to preserve her delicate sensibilities. Finally, she reaches her breaking point and shows him how sex can actually be fun for women.
More adjacent than an exact fit is RUN POSY RUN. The hero has never made an effort to please the heroine, and claims she just doesn’t like sex. When informed he’s wrong, her sets out to learn what she likes. And I’ve not read Scarlet Pelham yet, but she seems like an author that should have this trope.
Midtown Masters by Cara McKenna — it’s erotic romance though. An online sex performer falls for one of her clients who is a writer doing research on sex because he’s getting flack for his one dimensional writing on the subject.
To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters is a historical where a lord seeks bedroom tutoring from a widow. I didn’t like it so I hesitate to recommend it, but it fits the request.
There was a medieval by Joanna Lindsey in which the heroine- heir to a castle, lands, etc. – married the knight besieging her in order to keep from having to marry a horrible neighboring lord. The heroine was not enjoying the sex, so the knight husband went to the local prostitute for advice on how to make it enjoyable for her. She told him – no, um, hands-on lessons – and they enjoyed the sex after that.
My most vivid memory of the book is that the hero had a cat that would get up on the bed, turn around and deliberately fart in the heroine’s face.
@dePizan:
I was going to mention A Chance at Love as well.
UNCLAIMED, Courtney Milan
Jessica Farleigh is desperate. She’s a courtesan, and when she’s asked to seduce Sir Mark and destroy his good name in exchange for enough money to solve all her problems, she agrees. There is, after all, no such thing as a good man, and she should know. She’s known men all her life.
Sir Mark Turner wrote the book on male chastity—literally—and made a name for himself as an upright moralist. But he’s also a romantic, and he’s been waiting for the right woman to share his life, his heart, and yes, his bed.
CHIEF OF SHADOWS, Elizabeth Hoyt
A MASKED MAN . . .
Winter Makepeace lives a double life. By day he’s the stoic headmaster of a home for foundling children. But the night brings out a darker side of Winter. As the moon rises, so does the Ghost of St. Giles-protector, judge, fugitive. When the Ghost, beaten and wounded, is rescued by a beautiful aristocrat, Winter has no idea that his two worlds are about to collide.
A DANGEROUS WOMAN . . .
Lady Isabel Beckinhall enjoys nothing more than a challenge. Yet when she’s asked to tutor the Home’s dour manager in the ways of society-flirtation, double-entendres, and scandalous liaisons-Isabel can’t help wondering why his eyes seem so familiar-and his lips so tempting.
I would say To Charm a Naughty Countess and It Takes Two to Tangle, both by Theresa Romain, are pretty close. Both have virgin or inexperienced heroes. It starts out with the heroine helping him to navigate the social scene and find a wife, and we all know how that always works out!
To Tame a Wicked Widow (Surrey SFS, #2) by Nicola Davidson – This is one of my most favorite books. The FMC is a widow and teaches the new Heir about what a wife would want. He’s a virgin. This book is Squee for me. All the hotness.
For a light contemporary, try Living with Her Fake Fiance by Noelle Adams.
It is part of a series but can be read as a standalone. The series is centered on an apartment where people move in and out.
I thought the reason for needing a fiance was plausible.
“Chloe needs a man to pose as her fiancé for a few weeks, so she asks her roommate, Brent, to take on the role. He might be shy, but he’s a good guy, and he’ll do anything to help her out.
Because she’s grateful, she wants to do something for Brent in return, and there’s only one thing he needs from her. He has no experience with women. None. At all. So Chloe decides to give him lessons.
It’s supposed to be a friendly, casual thing, but Brent makes her feel better about herself than any man ever has. So Chloe wonders if their fake relationship can be real.“
Kerry Greenwood’s Murder and Mendelssohn might count. It’s not a romance but the heroine gives another character a lesson in anatomy and identifying arousal as part of her plan to make him realise he is attracted to a third character. 1920s historical.
I was coming here to add Cate C. Wells’s RUN POSY RUN, but @ViVi12 beat me to it. I have a list of romances with virgin heroes and more experienced heroines. In these books, the heroine isn’t always “teaching” the hero but she always has more experience. I’m going to put this list inside a spoiler box because sometimes the discovery that the hero is a virgin is part of the fun of reading the book–but then it becomes a catch-22, because how do you know to read the book unless you know the hero is a virgin?
TAKING HIM by Jackie Ashenden (cw/tw: hero has been sexually abused)
TAKE ME DOWN by Julie Kriss
ONLY EVER YOU by C.D. Reiss
SANGUINE by Sierra Simone (m/m short story in the AUSTRALIA anthology)
SCHOOL TIES (may have been retitled) by Tamsen Parker
THE GUY ON THE RIGHT by Kate Stewart
CHRISTMAS IN THE KING’S BED by Caitlin Crews
OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOR by Ainslie Paton
EVIL TWIN by Kati Wilde
UNFORGIVEN by Anne Calhoun (I’m not sure if the hero is a virgin, but he and the heroine have a past where he was the one who put the brakes on taking the relationship to a fully sexual level)
FINDING IVY by Claire Kingsley (another ambiguous virgin hero; hero suffers from amnesia and tells the heroine he has never “done it” before; not sure if he actually never has—or has and just can’t remember)
Arrrrgh!! Spoiler code didn’t work! Sorry!
What about the RAKESS by Scarlett Peckham? It’s not exactly lessons (and he is a widower with two kids) — but it feels like it’s in a similar vein.
Melissa and the Vicar by SM Violette. Not sure if there are lessons per say but older experienced heroine with virgin hero.
Just a note that I believe we do have a Rec League for Virgin Heroes, but this one is looking for the heroine to be asked to give seduction/courtship lessons. There’s definitely bound to be some overlap, but I do think it’s different having an experienced heroine versus a heroine tasked with teaching the hero something (usually often this trope is used because the character in question wants to woo someone else and needs advice/help).
Maybe “His Leading Lady” by Jenny Nordbak? She’s a dominatrix teaching an actor how to be more dominant for a film role
Sadly I don’t remember the title of this historical romance, but the plot was the daughter of an infamous courtesan or madam (reluctantly?) giving lessons in a classroom setting to a handful of gentleman. At one point she produces a dildo for a demonstration. Hero was one of the students.