Unclaimed is the second novel in the Turner series by Courtney Milan.
Finished on: 1.8.2025
[Here are my reviews of the other books in the series.]

Plot:
Sir Mark Turner has caused quite a ruckus when he published the Gentleman’s Practical Guide to Chastity, kicking off a trend and drawing the attention from many admirers, male and female alike. He is ready to escape and withdraws to his old family home in the country. What he doesn’t know is that courtesan Jessica Farleigh has followed him there, hired to seduce him and ruin his reputation – a payment she can’t afford to say no to. Jessica believes Mark to be an easy target, either a hypocrite or an easily overwhelmed innocent virgin. But she will quickly learn that Mark’s vow of chastity is born out of neither hypocrisy nor innocence, but a strong passion that threatens to derail all of her plans.

With the lead of the first novel in the series, Milan hit so many of my buttons, I thought it would be hard for her to top it. With this second book, she maybe didn’t quite top it, but she at least hit the same amount of buttons (albeit different ones) yet again. I was completely absorbed.

Unclaimed nicely plays with quite a few tropes, most of all with the idea that virgins are virgins because they are shy or sheltered or repressed – just like Jessica expects Mark to be. But Mark is extremely sensual and passionate. He just has a strong sense of the politics in sex in his society and is not interested in participating in a system that punished women and lauds men for the same thing. Plus, there is also a fear there, a fear of spiraling out of control – and not without reason.

It was also interesting to see how his work gets twisted, especially within an organization of men who manage to make their chastity practice one of misogyny. I liked that he finally had to take responsibility for the way his work is twisted by them. Not because it is his fault, but because it his work and he has to make sure that he isn’t belived to sanction what they are doing with it.

Jessica was an intriguing character. The way she became a sex worker speaks to exactly the issues Mark tried to address in his book and in his life. (So, it is also not surprising that he isn’t taken aback by her own lack of virginity.) The issues that stem from her „fall“ are deep-seated and the book takes its time to acknowledge them and doesn’t pretend that it’s all over with a bit of love. That being said, the book’s biggest weakness for me was the final drama where everything seems to bubble up just one more time than necessary.

But that is my only quibble with an otherwise sensual, engaging book that had me hooked. We will see if the third novel can keep up the high standards of the first two. Given that Smyte – the third brother – seems to be all brooding, I am afraid that it might be not so much up my own alley, but with Milan and her writing, I am almost certain she will make more of it than it seems at first.

Summarizing: a fantastic read.