This was really, really hard. In fact, I almost considered not ranking the series because each of them were so well-written that the minor flaws made it impossible to rank one above the other because they were insurmountable compared to what Peckham did right in subverting tropes and creating three-dimensional characters of complexities and layers. So take these rankings with a grain of salt knowing that each are so good in their own way. Just read the whole series.

1. The Lord I Left: Henry Evesham is a Methodist minster on the Lord’s Committee tasked with studying dens of sin and prostitution in order to come up with meaningful reforms or better legal crackdowns. Alice Hull is training to become another mistress on Charlotte Street’s infamous whipping house. When Alice is sent a letter to aid her dying mother, Henry feels it’s his Christian duty to help her get home in time. So what happens when two ideological different people end up in a road trip filled with obstacles and a potentially doomed romance. . . well you have to read it to find out. This one gets top rank because the premise was so unique and the execution fantastic. Most times in romance those in sex work are portrayed as victims or minor characters that add interesting flavor to the (usually male) protagonist’s background. Ministers are either saviors or hypocrites.

Here, Peckham treats Henry’s crisis of faith as a true crisis because Henry faithfully believes in his religion, he finds peace and comfort in how it guides his life. Although he initially used it to condemn, it is through this unorthodox journey that he begins to reconcile his desire and his judgements to self-acceptance and compassion towards others. He is able to keep his faith while finding love with Alice, not having to give up either.

Alice is also given a great show in standing by her beliefs as a sex worker, never feeling shame from her work and standing by her values. Yet she also has her own religious awakening as Henry reminds her the grace and comfort that religion provides. In the end, they are both more similar than they realized and it makes their coupling even better.

Honestly, I enjoyed the other two a bit more as they have a little more fun in their couplings (having a minister as a protagonist does make the mood more somber one must admit even though Peckham keeps some levity). Plus I felt Alice’s realization was a bit rushed/contrived, but again I have to put this first for Peckham’s imagination, ambition and skill in pursuing a plot and characters other romance novelists would never venture to.

2. The Earl I Ruined: Lady Constance is a bit like Emma Woodhouse as she’s a delightful meddler with good heart but bad judgement of other’s characters. Like the character of one Lord Bore aka Lord Julian Apthorp or Lord Assthorpe as he’s become known when one of her scandelous limericks land on society pages.

Woof, it would be hard for anyone to forgive such a horrible exposure of private matters like that. Especially as the fate of Julian’s bills going through Commons is put in jeporady. But I said, Lady Constance is like Emma and so she seeks to put things to right in the most dramatic fashion possible. She fakes an engagement with Lord Apthorp to quell the rumors and restore his reputuation. It helps that it is clear there had been a history of (thought to be) unrequited longing between them and their horrible communication styles prevents them from realizing the truth. I love how flips the genders in the common marriage of convenience to restore reputation trope but I love the characters more.

Lady Constance’s actions were horrible but I understood where she was coming from as she sought to prevent a friend from landing with the wrong man because she knows how lack of information always affects women in the end when it comes to the marriage market. She is so full of joie du vivre but it hides a lonely insecurity that is so profound that I was happy when she finally found acceptance in Julian. Just as much as I adore Julian with his steadfast nature, open-mind towads others, his dignity and sense of duty towards his friends and family. Plus man on the streets and beast in the sheets, hello!

The fights and lack of communication between them was never too aggravating as they felt so real and their contrasting love languages and tangled history felt organic rather than a contrivance to break them apart. They needed to work things through to be together and it made the ending that much more deserved. I just wished that Constance understood more how much damage she did to Julian because it felt like she never quite understood the gravity of what she had done.

3. The Duke I Tempted: Archer, Duke of Westmead has been a mainstay at the whipping house on Charlotte Street. The temptation soothing the desire and demons within him, keeping him from breaking apart. But those nights bump against passion he thought he was dead to when he meets Poppy Cavendish.

Poppy has days to pack up everything and regroup her life after her uncle’s death. So it seems heaven-sent when she’s hired to be a florist/botanist for the Duke’s ball but the attraction between them is undeniable and soon the Duke comes away with her as his wife. She needs money to start her tree nursery, he needs an heir, it’s ideal but love is off the table.

Obviously, they cannot happen here and the tension between them is unbearable. It’s the 1700s so you can understand why Archer would be so reluctant to reveal the most private part of himself especially as it relates closely to his private tragedy. It’s not so much the desire that is the sin but the fear of vulnerability when it comes to how men are supposed to act. Poppy’s part is also understandable as she’s aware of the precarious position she has in the law and in society and when she falls in love with Archer but is unable to gain his trust, she almost loses herself which is given equal importance as the coupling finding each other again.

Also big props to how unlike Fifty Shades of Grey, Archer’s desires don’t disappear with marriage nor is he seen less manly or broken because he craves being whipped once in awhile.

But I must mention that there is rarely a glimpse into the activity within Charlotte Street so if you want more spice, try Peckham’s free erotic novellas, The Erotics of Charlotte Street feature new characters and lots of heat. Despite it’s shortness, they are as well-written as usual that you understand the character’s desires and make it appealling even if one never thought they’d be interesting in an abduction fantasy scenario. There’s only two but I hope someday Peckham will return for more.