A Precious Jewel Book

When Sir Gerald Stapleton visits Mrs. Blyth's house dubbed "the finishing school" for his pleasure and nothing else, never would he have dreamed he would meet the woman whom would change his heart and world forever Priscilla Wentworth. Priscilla must heal Gerald's wounds of his past and get bast both their mistrusts to have a future together


After reading A Precious Jewel, I can fully understand how Mary Balogh was able to break so many boundaries in romance novels, with two unconventional lead characters that broke the stereotype mold here after..

Sir Gerald Stapleton has come to Mrs.Blyth's house of pleasure dubbed the "finishing school" for how well trained the prostitutes are to act like ladies out of bed. Sir Gerald is a little disappointed that his regular lady he sees is sick, but takes the suggestion of seeing and trying out the new girl: Priss. After a blissful if not one sided encounter, Sir Gerald decides to make Priss his regular lady to visit there after, as she did what she was told and that was to do nothing and let Gerald has his pleasure and be done. Soon Gerald can't get Priss out of his head seeing her more and more each week, which amuses his best friend Miles Ripley, Earl of Severn, who says he's smitten. Gerald brushes the remark off, until he meets up with Priss one night to see her having been abused. Trying to see beyond his anger, he decides to make Priss his mistress in order to have her alone but to protect her from harm, but having many misgivings through the whole enragement, Gerald soon sees he's fallen in love with his own mistress, but his mistrust and distrust of females keeps him from truly giving his heart to Priss, until an unforseen event causes him to lay his heart bare.

Priscilla Wentworth was raised a well-bred lady, but due to the death of her whole family and her cousin making her life a living hell, she turns to her once governess Mrs.Blyth for help, only to find out the so called "the finishing school" is not a school but a house of pleasure. Priss sees no other way then to make due with what hand has been dealt to her and becomes one of the prostitutes of Mrs. Blyth's house. Two months, she's worked in the house, being always practical, Priss tries to always sees on the bright side. One night she meets Sir Gerald whom she quickly falls in love with, who never demanding more of her, but knowing what she is, she can't let him know her love for it would only lead to heartache. After being hurt by a customer, Gerald takes her as his mistress. Priss sees this as a positive knowing her time spent with Gerald is very precious. After meeting his best friend and learning about Gerald's past, Priss can't help but feel an even deeper love for Gerald, until the need to protect him and knowing he would never love or marry him, Priss runs away, only to be found again with a chance at a future with Gerald at her side....

Prequel/sequel to the Ideal Wife, with many of the events taking place before Ideal Wife and some afterward. With A Precious Jewel it can be read stand alone or before Ideal Wife with no confusion on the reader's part.
A Precious Jewel reminded me greatly of a calm river as you float along the story pages with the river running deep with two very deep and unconventional lead characters in Priss and Gerald.

Gerald is slow, but far from stupid. Something he freely admits, it takes a little time for him to grasp events and situations. This only adds another depth in Gerald with many male leads being very smart, very rich etc. He's not perfect, but his emotions run soul deep along with his pains.
Gerald mistrust of woman goes all the way back to his mother whom supposedly left him and later his step-mother who grown tried of her older husband and tried to seduce her step-son, before Gerald put a stop to it and went to school, which was a nightmare. To add to Gerald's already hurt and wounded sprint was his father's displeasure of having a son whom was so slow. Gerald keeps a sort of shield around himself never letting anyone close. When Priss comes into his life, he can't help but be drawn to her warmth, which he feels is an act or is it the truth? Gerald goes through many hurdles of his emotions, from the so called abandonment. of his mother, his father's hate of him and the broken trust of his stepmother, Gerald doesn't know if he can trust Priss whom he pays for his pleasure, but when he finally sees he loves her, Gerald still has many issues to deal with when he goes chasing after Priss.
Gerald was far from perfect, but that just made me even more drawn to him as a character, I understood where he was coming from at all times, that didn't stop me from wanting to shake him to see that he was pushing Priss away as he let his fears overrule, but luckily, the light goes off in Gerald's head in time for him to truly convince Priss he loves her and wants her as his wife.

Priss was another who quickly drew you in, always practical, this keeps Priss from dwelling on the bad things in life. Instead of crying and having a fit, Priss makes due with her lot in life and keeps going. This show of quiet strength and spirt, is what makes Priss such a great lead. She loved Gerald greatly never putting him down or rushing him, but always steady and clam, saw the man whom was a little slow and not so perfect, and saw the strong man he could and would be. Priss knew she shouldn't or couldn't fall in love, but in her heart of hearts, knew there was no stopping the love she felt for Gerald from growing. When she's faced with leaving him, Priss lies, which may turn some of us off because of what's she's hiding. This was yet another side of Priss who's broken heart, strength and hope for another day would keep her from going on. I could understand why Priss lied and in the face of what she was up against and not knowing if Gerald was willing to go that extra mile for her or that he even loved her, she always held out a hope that he would come for her. When he does Priss is still unsure if he wants her or....it brought a few tears to my eyes when they finally admit their love for one another.

With the steam level set on medium, each sex scene is different and not just about sex but showing a side of the character. At the start Gerald is pretty selfish thinking of only his pleasure, but when he falls in love with Priss, he finally and truly makes love with her. Although his mistrust and Priss fears later get in the way with them going back to the one-sided sex, you get a glimpse in each of their heads as both are still fighting their feelings and hurt and understand where their coming from.
This book may not be for everyone with it's at times slow pace, but the depth of this book amazed me, that I quickly started to re-read it again thinking I missed something on the first read.


Overall: a truly remarkable book by an amazing author. I was so happy I picked up this reissue with it's great depth in it's characters, this book really truly broke the mold.