This is not a tame historical. If you want that, I have lots to recommend. This, instead, is a lusty, sexy read with a pair of seemingly mismatched lovers who find quite some common ground in the bedchamber-and out of it. 
 It's 1860s London, and the newly minted Earl of Stonemere, Achilles Denton (called Stone for the entirety of the book), is loathe to assume his inherited title and responsibilities. He's a war veteran who suffers night terrors, and also the leader of a social group known as the Lustful Lords-Stone and his four chums who enjoy a good kinky orgy at The Market, a brothel. Stone doesn't want to give up his carefree ways, but his mother insists that he take a wife and produce an heir. As he's got no designs on anyone, he decides to marry his late-brother's fiance, Lady Theodora Lawton, who seems demure and retiring, despite her age advanced age...of twenty-one. 
 Theo is nothing like what Stone would want, or so he thinks. A fiery spitfire of a woman who could match his lusty ways is nothing that he could have expected considering her excellent manners and superior breeding. 'Theo' is, in fact, superiorly headstrong, and doesn't want a man meddling in her affairs-and she has affairs. She owns both a china factory and an orphanage which she purchased and manages with her own funds. And, she doesn't want some overbearing man coming in and taking over, ruining her projects. Theo mourned the loss of her fiance, because they were good friends and she sensed he'd allow her leave to live her life as she saw fit, but Stone is another matter entirely. His reputation as a randy rake piques her interest, and the activities of her marriage bed bears no resemblance to the quiet compliance her mother advised. When Stone goes off "on business" two days into their honeymoon, Theo's sure it's because he's after a lover and she's not equal to the task of bedpartner. So she seeks assistance from the madame who rund The Market to school her in ways to seduce her husband properly. 
 Oh Theo! Stone is onto her, and it's a fun bit of a romp that ends with Theo receiving her first, of many, spankings as Stone schools her himself, and quite lustfully. Expect a light bit of BDSM as Stone and Theo work the kinks into their marriage. The book begins with an orgy in The Market and includes public indecency, the (im)proper defiling of a countess, and loads and loads of...sated, happy endings. There's a side plot of who keeps trying (and failing!) to kill Stone as he's off on his daily errands. Being knocked into cart paths, and attacked by hooligans, Stone's life is in certain jeopardy-and it's down to Theo to make sure her lustful husband lives to greet their firstborn. 
 The tone of the book is erotic from the outset, and it's a fun, sexy read. In many ways it's an historical rom-com which includes elements of BDSM and some suspense. There's no doubt I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, and I expect it will steam up my ereader in quite the same delicious fashion.