Review - "The Wicked House of Rohan" - Prequel by Anne Stuart

For some time now I've been wanting to read Anne Stuart but as usual my TBR goes on and on and sometimes the best is left for last.
Even though I only read it now, I know that I'm in for a ride with this lady's and the so called gentleman that marvelously live between this pages.

Venice, 1740.

Desperate, starving, Kathleen Strong makes her way to a job interview that promises a chance at proper employment...and maybe a bite to eat. Accused of "gross immorality," she's adrift after being dismissed from her governess position, despite being entirely innocent.

That innocence is precisely what a mysterious group of debauched aristocrats finds so alluring about Miss Strong. When they propose a scandalous offer that she can't refuse...she can't refuse. But if the darkly gallant Alistair Rohan, a gentleman involved in all manner of wicked deeds himself, has anything to say about it, Kathleen can escape her disrepute in another way.

Of course, the escape route looks very similar to the group's illicit proposition itself...

So, today our world is so messed up, we fight for our rights, we fight for a job, we keep on fighting for the right to be equal in society...
But, may I ask, what if we lived in the past, when women had no rights but only a birth status, dictated by the laws of a ruthless society that was based in social position ?
Have you imagined if you've fallen in disgrace, wronged by everyone around you and nobody believed or came in your defense ...

That is exactly what happen to Kathleen Strong. A girl alone in the beautiful city of Venice looking for a job, starving and penny less, without an option but to bend to the will of dubious gentleman that see women as their hunting ground and object of pleasure.
This character was so well written, invented in perfection and so heart-brokenly truthful to her position in the story, how I felt for her ...

Now the boys ....
A bunch of pigs, all of them, secure in their social position, well enthralled in society and plainly heartless and sadistic towards our gender. But in every story there has to be a hero, so to the romance ....

Alistair Rohan is a wicked and an alluring gentleman, probably stubborn, but way down inside in a little corner of his heart he still has some character and kindness, yes, love still resides in his heart.
I find this gentleman very appealing, a snob and a teaser, a man who challenges a woman and arouses feelings long forgotten in Kathleen.
In my eyes he is a brave man for going against all of society's cruelness and ideas, he's not afraid and he faces life right on, good for him!

This is a short novella but it's marvelously weaved, truthfully told by the voice of an author that I'm shure will not let me down once I get into this series.
I know my mind and I'll be wanting more every time I finish a book.
If you've never read this series or this author, start at the beginning and move forward,  no fears ...