Lust by Charlotte Featherstone

“High and mighty they call me. Frigid. But I am neither of those things. I am Chastity—my name and my virtue. It is who I am, my entire being. It, I fear, is my prison.”

Every one hundred years, seven women are born, each the embodiment of one of the seven blessed virtues; chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness and humility. Chastity Lennox is one of four sisters who were born Virtues and she has lived her life believing that she’d never feel what a woman should feel for a man. She believed herself to be merely a vessel whose body would be a thing for her future husband to take his own pleasure from, finding her joy and solace in the children she would bear him. She never believed she’d know passion, arousal - lust.

“You do not know the power of the Dark Fae,” she murmured, wringing her hands. “Their glamour, it is the most beautiful in the world. Their seduction, the sweetest, most heady arousal you have ever felt. Even as your mind hates them, your body—“ she trembled then steeled herself, “—your body desires them, craves them. These women, they may not have a chance to protect themselves if they fall prey to a Dark Fae’s glamour.”

Thane is a fey prince, a Dark Fey, who, because of his father’s transgressions, has been cursed to bear one of the seven cardinal sins. He, along with his brothers, each embody one of the dark sins; vanity, gluttony, envy, wrath, avarice, and sloth, and drawn to his Sin’s opposite, needing her to break the curse on his family, Thane is determined to make Chastity his, in every possible way. He’ll take his time, woo her, seduce her, win her over, for only if she comes willingly to his Unseelie court will the spell be broken. But Thane’s sin is Lust. It lives within him, a separate being and it fights Thane, demanding to possess the innocent Chastity - now - and Lust will not be denied.

“Like the visit from the angel Gabriel to Mary, my father was visited in his slumber from the faery queen, who foretold the coming of our births and the importance of not only myself, but my three sisters. In his dreams, it was whispered to him the part we would play in a world that we had not yet seen—a world it seems, we will never really become a part of.”

Lust is a story of blessings and curses, virtues and sins. It’s a tale of right and wrong, good and evil, innocence and guile. I loved how quickly I was pulled in and how it had me feeling sympathetic for both the Seelie ("good") and the Unseelie ("bad") Courts. I found myself loathing the “good” guys and cheering on the “bad” guys and wishing that somehow, both sides could win!! Truth be told, I wasn’t just pulled into the story, I was enveloped by it.

“Yes, yield to me. Let me come to you as I am. Embrace the darkness in me, and let me take you…corrupt you.”

Charlotte Featherstone knows how to write erotica, there’s no question about that, but this book was so, so much more. It’s magical, mystical, fanciful, sensual, and most definitely erotic. But most importantly, it's a truly romantic experience - a love story. While reading Lust, I felt like I was living the fairytale – the Dark Feyry Tale – and I didn’t want it to end.

"I am a virtue. A savior in my new home, for the Unseelie Court is now home. The Dark Fey my family. I have given up my mortal life to become the first of seven women to save a dying court – a court as misunderstood as I once believed I was.

My family resides “up top” in the mortal realm. I come to them at night, in their dreams, through the magic of my husband. I miss them, especially my sisters whose fates are entwined with mine. I speak to them of the splendor of the court, the pleasures that await them – the princes who desire them. But they are still virtues, and not ready to heed to call of desire. But still, their Sins await them, ever patient, ever proud. Ever eager to give them a taste of the desires harbored within a dark fey. Soon they will come. They will listen to their hearts, and they will trust as I have trusted. We will be reunited—in this world. I am certain of it."

It's not often I'm left so in need to have the next book in my hands, but I am truly - truly, looking forward to Vanity, the second story in The Sins and the Virtue series.

5/5 stars

----This ebook was provided to me by NetGalley.com