title: Ladies of the Bedchamber: The Role of the Royal Mistress
author:  Dennis Friedman 
description: The title of this volume promises a tawdry, gossipy tale, but Friedman instead delivers a psychoanalytic take on five centuries of British royal history, casting the reigns of royals from Henry VIII to Charles, Prince of Wales, in terms of childhood neglect and sex addiction. In workmanlike prose, he chronicles the monarchy's dangerous liaisons: Henry VIII's six marriages ("His long-suppressed emotional needs produced a hunger for sex and power so insatiable that he had difficulty in concentrating on any political issues..."); William IV's violence towards prostitutes (he "probably suffered from what would now be called bipolar mood disorder"); Edward VIII's alliance with Wallis Simpson (he "probably spent most of his adult life looking for the emotional security he lacked as a child"). Readers with a penchant for pop-psychology will appreciate this book, but anyone with a deeper interest in British history-or a desire for a little salacious fun-should probably look elsewhere. <BR>Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  > A Shameless Bargain
  
  > To escape her life of poverty as a tenant farmers daughter, Ariel Summers
  > made a bargain with the devil—she would become the Earl of Greville's
  > mistress in exchange for the schooling and refinements of a lady. But she
  > couldn't foresee the earl's untimely death, or her own disturbing attraction
  > to his bastard son and heir, Justin Ross.
  
  > A Demand
  
  Justin never meant to demand payment from the tempting young woman his father
  had so callously planned to ruin. But her innocent allure provoked his
  ruthless nature and he vowed he would have her in his bed.
  
  > An Unexpected Passion
  
  > Seduction was his plan, but Justin never suspected Ariel's innocent passion
  > would awaken emotions he had long believed dead. Now mistrust and betrayal
  > threaten the fragile happiness the two of them have found, and Justin must
  > convince Ariel he isn't the heartless man she believes.
  
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  St. Marlin’s Pape