Books about Paramour from Amazon.com

Throughout the centuries, royal mistresses have been worshiped, feared, envied, and reviled They set the fashions, encouraged the arts, and, in some cases, ruled nations Eleanor Herman's Sex with Kings takes us into the throne rooms and bedrooms of Europe's most powerful monarchs. Alive with flamboyant characters, outrageous humor, and stirring poignancy, this glittering tale of passion and politics chronicles five hundred years of scintillating women and the kings who loved them.

Curiously, the main function of a royal mistress was not to provide the king with sex but with companionship. Forced to marry repulsive foreign princesses, kings sought solace with women of their own choice. And what women they were! From Madame de Pompadour, the famous mistress of Louis XV, who kept her position for nineteen years despite her frigidity, to modern-day Camilla Parker-Bowles, who usurped none other than the glamorous Diana, Princess of Wales.

The successful royal mistress made herself irreplaceable. She was ready to converse gaily with him when she was tired, make love until all hours when she was ill, and cater to his every whim. Wearing a mask of beaming delight over any and all discomforts, she was never to be exhausted, complaining, or grief-stricken.

True, financial rewards for services rendered were of royal proportions -- some royal mistresses earned up to $200 million in titles, pensions, jewels, and palaces. Some kings allowed their mistresses to exercise unlimited political power. But for all its grandeur, a royal court was a scorpion's nest of insatiable greed, unquenchable lust, and vicious ambition. Hundreds of beautiful women vied to unseat the royal mistress. Many would suffer the slings and arrows of negative public opinion, some met with tragic ends and were pensioned off to make room for younger women. But the royal mistress often had the last laugh, as she lived well and richly off the fruits of her "sins."

From the dawn of time, power has been a mighty aphrodisiac. With diaries, personal letters, and diplomatic dispatches, Eleanor Herman's trailblazing research reveals the dynamics of sex and power, rivalry and revenge, at the most brilliant courts of Europe. Wickedly witty and endlessly entertaining, Sex with Kings is a chapter of women's history that has remained unwritten -- until now.

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The royal European courts were unsurpassed for their glamour, wealth, fame, danger, treachery, and politics The royal mistress was at the center of that world -- admired for her beauty and sensuality; feared for the power she wielded; even vilified, envied, and resented In times when women had very little power, the royal mistress had enormous influence, and yet she is seldom mentioned in official histories.

In Cupid and the King, Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent recounts the stories of five very different women, each of whom became a celebrated -- or notorious -- courtesan:

Nell Gwyn, the bawdy, vivacious orange seller turned actress who endeared herself to Charles II -- and the country -- with her wit and down-to-earth manner

Madame de Pompadour, the extravagant, elegant maitresse-en-titre of Louis XV who became one of the great patrons of her time while enraging the people of France

Marie Walewska, who became Napoleon's mistress to save her country

Lola Montez, the flamboyant, scandalous Irish beauty who reinvented herself as a Spanish aristocrat to win the heart of Ludwig I of Bavaria

Lillie Langtry, the legendary beauty immortalized by the most famous artists of her day and the only woman to completely monopolize Edward, Prince of Wales, later Edward VII

Written with an insider's keen understanding of court life and filled with delicious details born of impeccable research, Cupid and the King explores a little-known chapter of the history of women's roles in the royal bedrooms of Europe.

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Written by a direct descendant of the union between Nell Gwyn and King Charles II, Nell Gwyn tells the story of one of England's great folk heroines Born during a tumultuous period in England's past, Nell Gwyn was spotted selling oranges in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Nell's wit and charm brought her to the attention of numerous suitors, including one of the theater's leading actors, Charles Hart. Under his patronage Nell took to the stage where she became one of London's first professional female actresses, and the finest comedienne in London. She then caught the eye of the pleasure-seeking "merry monarch" King Charles II, and their seventeen-year love affair played out against the backdrop of the Great Fire of London, the Great Plague, court scandals, and the constant threat of political revolution. Magnificently re-creating the heady, licentious, yet politically charged atmosphere of Restoration England, Nell Gwyn tells the true-life Cinderella story of a common orange girl who became England's first "people's princess.".
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Four bestselling authors in erotic romance in one volume! Lara Santiago's futuristic THE PROSECUTOR'S PARAMOUR, a prequel to The Wives Tales: In the year 2075, undercover enforcer Evie Marsh is dispatched to spy on the ambitious prosecutor, Zachary Valetta, only to fall in love and is betrayed by him as the radical Tiberius Group takes control of the U.S. and turns women into virtual properties in marriage auctions. ***** Gracie C. McKeever's urban fantasy SENTINEL'S HUNGER, a Sisters of Emsharra novella: Falling to a rare sentinel illness, Xevera Nanay encounters the biggest threat to her survival when paramedic Michael Constantine recognizes and imprisons her to exact revenge for what was done to his mother by her kind. ***** Morgan Ashbury's contemporary THE ENCHANTRESS, a Song of the Sirens novella: Twyla Harper is very good at "recovering" valuables for a living. Then she meets Nicholas Coultrain who gets under her skin and into her heart. There's only one problem: Nick is determined to bring down the Enchantress whose heist has destroyed his company. ***** Siren's #1 all-time bestselling author Emma Wildes's historical A DEVIL'S BARGAIN: Lady Isabelle is stolen by pirates and auctioned to the devil himself on a lawless tropical island. Condemned and banished, Devon Austin has a debt to settle, and when the daughter of his worst enemy falls into his lap, he takes advantage of the situation and will settle for nothing less than her very soul..
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The superb historian and biographer Antonia Fraser, author of Marie Antoinette, casts new light on the splendor and the scandals of the reign of Louis XIV in this dramatic, illuminating look at the women in his life.

The self-proclaimed Sun King, Louis XIV ruled over the most glorious and extravagant court in seventeenth-century Europe. Now, Antonia Fraser goes behind the well-known tales of Louis’s accomplishments and follies, exploring in riveting detail his intimate relationships with women.

The king’s mother, Anne of Austria, had been in a childless marriage for twenty-two years before she gave birth to Louis XIV. A devout Catholic, she instilled in her son a strong sense of piety and fought successfully for his right to absolute power. In 1660, Louis married his first cousin, Marie-Thérèse, in a political arrangement. While unfailingly kind to the official Queen of Versailles, Louis sought others to satisfy his romantic and sexual desires. After a flirtation with his sister-in-law, his first important mistress was Louise de La Vallière, who bore him several children before being replaced by the tempestuous and brilliant Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan. Later, when Athénaïs’s reputation was tarnished, the King continued to support her publicly as Athénaïs left court for a life of repentance. Meanwhile her children’s governess, the intelligent and seemingly puritanical Françoise de Maintenon, had already won the King’s affections; in a relationship in complete contrast to his physical obsession with Athénaïs, Louis XIV lived happily with Madame de Maintenon for the rest of his life, very probably marrying her in secret. When his grandson’s child bride, the enchanting Adelaide of Savoy, came to Versaille she lightened the King’s last years – until tragedy struck.

With consummate skill, Antonia Fraser weaves insights into the nature of women’s religious lives – as well as such practical matters as contraception – into her magnificent, sweeping portrait of the king, his court, and his ladies.


From the Hardcover edition..
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Catches the Fathers of our country with their pant down! The most notoriously philandering of all was John F. Kennedy-whose dangerous escapades are chronicled in a special four-chapter expose. Also featured is extensive coverage of Presidents throughout history, such as Washington, Lincoln, Lyndon B. Johnson etc. Sullivan explores the activities of our five living Presidents: Nixon (whose love for wife, Pat, seemed to dry up after they entered politics), Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush. Presidential Passions is a highly entertaining, in-depth exploration of the amorous exploits of America's insatiable Chief Executives. These keyhole glimpses into the private lives of our presidents will surprise and shock you but they are all verifiably true: How was the insatiable JFK s bed hopping a threat to national secrurity? Which First Lady had a lesbian affair? What foreign woman took Ike away from Mamie and nearly took Eisenhower out of military service? Which president kept a slave mistress? The answer s to these and other titillating questions about the sexuality of our Presidents will keep you entranced and entertained as history takes a detour at the Oval Office and peeks into the bedroom..
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