"Long ago, the world was destroyed by gods. Only nine cities were spared. Separated by vast wilderness teeming with monsters and unimaginable dangers, each city is now ruled by a guardian--a royal who feed on mortal pleasure. Born with an intuition that never fails, Calista knows her talents are of great value to the power-hungry of the world, so she lives hidden as a courtesan of the Baron of Archwood. In exchange for his protection, she grants him...

Violet Minturn, a half-Chinese/half-American courtesan who deals in seduction and illusion in Shanghai, struggles to find her place in the world, while her mother, Lucia, tries to make sense of the choices she has made and the men who have shaped her.

Fearing that her research will be rendered useless if a Cambridge professor proves his theory about seventeenth-century Venetian courtesan Alessandra Rossetti, Ph.D. candidate Claire Donovan agrees to chaperone a troubled teen in order to gain passage tothe professor's presentation in Venice.

"An exquisite new translation of Colette's tragicomic masterpiece, a pair of novels exploring the relationship between an aging courtesan and a much younger man. Chéri and its sequel, The End of Chéri, mark Colette's finest achievements, in their brilliant, subtle, and frank investigations of love and power. Set in the Parisian demimonde in the last days of the Belle Époque, Chéri tells the story of Léa, a courtesan at the end of a successful...

I would like to make myself the heroine of this story and my character to be noble -- an innocent victim led astray. But alas, sir, I would be lying. In prison, accused of murder, Tully Truegood begins to write her life story. A story that takes her from a young girl in the backstreets of eighteenth century London to her stepmother Queenie's Fairy House -- a place where decadent excess is a must. Trained by Queenie to become a courtesan, and by...

Romy and her three partners in crime-a sword master, a silversmith, and her thieving brother-have embraced their roles as the Shadow Lord's agents, using their forbidden magic to accomplish tasks his other spies cannot. Now, the Shadow Lord needs them to infiltrate the home of the Mercediaran Ambassador and prevent him from obtaining information that would lead to all-out war with Cantagna's most dangerous enemy. To succeed, they will have to resurrect...

One September evening in 1785, Jonah Hancock hears an urgent knocking on his front door near the docks of London. The captain of one of Jonah's trading vessels is waiting eagerly on the front step, bearing shocking news. On a voyage to the Far East, he sold the Jonah's ship for something rare and far more precious: a mermaid. Jonah is stunned-the object the captain presents him is brown and wizened, as small as an infant, with vicious teeth and claws,...

A sheltered life in the countryside has left Diana Lindsay restless to see the wider world, for both herself and the son she is raising alone. She cannot marry, but perhaps as a courtesan she will find love and protection despite her painful past. Gathering her courage, she moves to London-and finds herself the city's most desired woman, as admired for her charm as for her beauty. But it is one man who captivates her-handsome, haunted, and harboring...