“Reckless desire sends Charlotte Daicheston into the garden with a dashing masked stranger. He’s powerful, unforgettable, a devastatingly handsome footman who lures her–not against her will–into a grand indiscretion at a masquerade ball. Then he vanishes.
Several years later, after Charlotte has made her dazzling debut in London society, they meet again. But the rogue is no footman. He’s rich, titled, and he doesn’t remember Charlotte. Worse, he’s the subject of some scandalous gossip: rumor has it, the earl’s virility is in question.
Charlotte, who knows all too intimately the power of his passion, is stunned by the gossip that has set society ablaze. At last, there can be a storybook ending…unless, of course, Charlotte’s one mad indiscretion had not been with him at all…. – from the author’s site: http://www.eloisajames.com
FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Eloisa James does a wonderful job on Potent Pleasures. Can you imagine being so “touched” from a “one night stand”(using today’s terms) that no future matches could really compare? Then imagine “falling” into them three years later and being just as enchanted. James writes about this very thing in the first book of her Pleasures trilogy (Potent Pleasures, Midnight Pleasures, Enchanting Pleasures) yet only one remembers the other even though both remember the moment. The Earl is a devestatingly handsome, strong, and confident man who also loves his little girl he’s just recently reunited with and caring for. Since the night she lost her virginity at a masked ball in the gardens, Charlotte cares nothing for marriage but only for her painting and excelling at it until the forgetful Earl comes back into her life three years later. So much compassion and passion between these two but there’s lack of trust and lots of stubbornness that interfere with the love they don’t realize they truly have for the other until the end. I believe this was one of the first historical romances that made me cry feeling the Earl’s emotions while a disturbing yet not uncommon event occurs that could take the life of Charlotte (ALMOST spilled it! This incident was a short scene yet it hit me good.).
