Asia
Thank you, NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for providing the ARC for my honest opinion.
3.75/5
Oliver and Priscilla used to be friendly before he embarrassed her in front of everyone. Now, a year later, they need to join forces to make sure that their best friends' proposal extravaganza is perfect in every way. Which is difficult when they can't stop bickering...
This was a fun book. It wasn't perfect, but it was still a lot of fun.
Tina's idea for a proposal was so over the top it was funny to me. I'm more like Priscilla - instead of a flash mob and fireworks, I'd rather have only my partner there. But it was perfect for Tina, who wanted to recreate her mother's proposal and add her own spin on it.
Priscilla was an interesting character and I enjoyed her. She was standing her ground when her parents disapproved of her starting her own business (I hoped we would have something more about them later on, but still), and she started to work hard on it almost immediately.
Oliver was fun, cocky, a generic MMC, but I enjoyed him a lot. He was so down for Priscilla from the start, and poor girl never noticed, even though it was so obvious. I enjoyed that he tried tot ell her how he felt and she was so oblivious, she thought he was only pretending.
Same. I would have done the exact same thing as Priscilla and be obtuse about what's in front of me. That spoke to me on a spiritual level.
She was also "obsessive" about something for short amounts of time, and I can relate to that too. Honestly, Priscilla is me and I am Priscilla.
I loved the relationship between Oliver and Priscilla and how they started to trust each other again. The spice was great and the bond between them was so good.
I also loved their friendship with Ryan and Tina.
This is a great book for everyone who loves enemies to lovers who have to be partners in crime.
Thank you, NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for providing the ARC for my honest opinion.
3.75/5
Oliver and Priscilla used to be friendly before he embarrassed her in front of everyone. Now, a year later, they need to join forces to make sure that their best friends' proposal extravaganza is perfect in every way. Which is difficult when they can't stop bickering...
This was a fun book. It wasn't perfect, but it was still a lot of fun.
Tina's idea for a proposal was so over the top it was funny to me. I'm more like Priscilla - instead of a flash mob and fireworks, I'd rather have only my partner there. But it was perfect for Tina, who wanted to recreate her mother's proposal and add her own spin on it.
Priscilla was an interesting character and I enjoyed her. She was standing her ground when her parents disapproved of her starting her own business (I hoped we would have something more about them later on, but still), and she started to work hard on it almost immediately.
Oliver was fun, cocky, a generic MMC, but I enjoyed him a lot. He was so down for Priscilla from the start, and poor girl never noticed, even though it was so obvious. I enjoyed that he tried tot ell her how he felt and she was so oblivious, she thought he was only pretending.
Same. I would have done the exact same thing as Priscilla and be obtuse about what's in front of me. That spoke to me on a spiritual level.
She was also "obsessive" about something for short amounts of time, and I can relate to that too. Honestly, Priscilla is me and I am Priscilla.
I loved the relationship between Oliver and Priscilla and how they started to trust each other again. The spice was great and the bond between them was so good.
I also loved their friendship with Ryan and Tina.
This is a great book for everyone who loves enemies to lovers who have to be partners in crime.
Thank you, NetGalley and Avon, for providing the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Gabe and Emmy work for the same baseball team in the same data analyst department. They hate each other with passion and always compete. When a chance of promotion appears, they both try to one-up one another.
At the same time, Emmy receives a text from an unknown number, and she and the stranger start texting every day. And when she realizes she needs a date for her sister's wedding, Emmy leaps at the chance.
But things grow complicated when the stranger she falls for turns out to be Gabe.
I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it was well-written, emotional, with mostly well-rounded characters and a compelling story; on the other, Emmy irritated me in the first half, and I almost didn't finish the book. And the grand gesture at the end had me cringe.
Her "woe is me, it's so hard being a woman" complains and constant use of the phrase "Boys Town" was really irritating, the fact that she hides her femininity by choice and she constantly whines about how she can't werar hills or dresses to work - even though her female boss proves to ehr every day that she does and she can, had been irritating and annoying. Emmy sounded more like a whiny child most of the time, as if her "I work in the men's field" was her entire personality.
She got better, thankfully. We got to see her being an amazing sister and friend, and someone with ambitions and drive to make her reality come true. She finally believed in herself, and guess what? Turns out she was always part of the team. She just had to open her eyes.
Gabe has been a fantastic character since the beginning. Infuriating and handsome, I loved how much he loved Emmy from the beginning. I also loved how accepting and open he was to their connection. And I loved how they kept meeting each other.
I enjoyed the book for the most part, and I cried at a few scenes as well. But the ending wasn't for me - the grand gesture felt really out of character, and the third act breakup seemed to be there only for drama's sake, while it didn't really bring anything to the story.
Thank you, NetGalley and Avon, for providing the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Gabe and Emmy work for the same baseball team in the same data analyst department. They hate each other with passion and always compete. When a chance of promotion appears, they both try to one-up one another.
At the same time, Emmy receives a text from an unknown number, and she and the stranger start texting every day. And when she realizes she needs a date for her sister's wedding, Emmy leaps at the chance.
But things grow complicated when the stranger she falls for turns out to be Gabe.
I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it was well-written, emotional, with mostly well-rounded characters and a compelling story; on the other, Emmy irritated me in the first half, and I almost didn't finish the book. And the grand gesture at the end had me cringe.
Her "woe is me, it's so hard being a woman" complains and constant use of the phrase "Boys Town" was really irritating, the fact that she hides her femininity by choice and she constantly whines about how she can't werar hills or dresses to work - even though her female boss proves to ehr every day that she does and she can, had been irritating and annoying. Emmy sounded more like a whiny child most of the time, as if her "I work in the men's field" was her entire personality.
She got better, thankfully. We got to see her being an amazing sister and friend, and someone with ambitions and drive to make her reality come true. She finally believed in herself, and guess what? Turns out she was always part of the team. She just had to open her eyes.
Gabe has been a fantastic character since the beginning. Infuriating and handsome, I loved how much he loved Emmy from the beginning. I also loved how accepting and open he was to their connection. And I loved how they kept meeting each other.
I enjoyed the book for the most part, and I cried at a few scenes as well. But the ending wasn't for me - the grand gesture felt really out of character, and the third act breakup seemed to be there only for drama's sake, while it didn't really bring anything to the story.
DNF at 25 percent.
I disliked everything about the book. The main female character acts like a naive child who has to be told what to do every second of every day, despite being 34 years old and somehow the CEO of her own PR company. She's scared of her own shadow, and yet she's in charge? Please.
Her backstory is murky and I don't understand any of it. So she got placed with her foster family at age 10, but somehow her bio dad is married to her foster mother? Where was he when she was placed with her? Does she even share blood with any of her siblings? They have another bio dad, but FMC's bio dad and the foster mother are married.... And her foster mother had a child a year after FMC was placed there. Who's the father? What is her father doing there in this foster/adoptive home? Where was he when she placed him there? She has a bio-grandfather who was mentioned once. But why did she have to be placed in a foster family in the first place? No idea. If this is explained later, great, but I'm not sticking around to find out.
The writing is dense, it slows down the plot, and I can barely get through it. We're in the middle of the scene, and someone asks her a question, and instead of answering or moving the scene along, she starts to describe the room they're in with every little detail. Or there's a surprise flashback that has nothing to do with the scene, and when we get back to the present, I already forget what was happening in the present. It's frustrating, and I can't get through it.
Thank you, NetGalley, and the publisher, for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at 25 percent.
I disliked everything about the book. The main female character acts like a naive child who has to be told what to do every second of every day, despite being 34 years old and somehow the CEO of her own PR company. She's scared of her own shadow, and yet she's in charge? Please.
Her backstory is murky and I don't understand any of it. So she got placed with her foster family at age 10, but somehow her bio dad is married to her foster mother? Where was he when she was placed with her? Does she even share blood with any of her siblings? They have another bio dad, but FMC's bio dad and the foster mother are married.... And her foster mother had a child a year after FMC was placed there. Who's the father? What is her father doing there in this foster/adoptive home? Where was he when she placed him there? She has a bio-grandfather who was mentioned once. But why did she have to be placed in a foster family in the first place? No idea. If this is explained later, great, but I'm not sticking around to find out.
The writing is dense, it slows down the plot, and I can barely get through it. We're in the middle of the scene, and someone asks her a question, and instead of answering or moving the scene along, she starts to describe the room they're in with every little detail. Or there's a surprise flashback that has nothing to do with the scene, and when we get back to the present, I already forget what was happening in the present. It's frustrating, and I can't get through it.
Thank you, NetGalley, and the publisher, for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at 25 percent.
I disliked everything about the book. The main female character acts like a naive child who has to be told what to do every second of every day, despite being 34 years old and somehow the CEO of her own PR company. She's scared of her own shadow, and yet she's in charge? Please.
Her backstory is murky and I don't understand any of it. So she got placed with her foster family at age 10, but somehow her bio dad is married to her foster mother? Where was he when she was placed with her? Does she even share blood with any of her siblings? They have another bio dad, but FMC's bio dad and the foster mother are married.... And her foster mother had a child a year after FMC was placed there. Who's the father? What is her father doing there in this foster/adoptive home? Where was he when she placed him there? She has a bio-grandfather who was mentioned once. But why did she have to be placed in a foster family in the first place? No idea. If this is explained later, great, but I'm not sticking around to find out.
The writing is dense, it slows down the plot, and I can barely get through it. We're in the middle of the scene, and someone asks her a question, and instead of answering or moving the scene along, she starts to describe the room they're in with every little detail. Or there's a surprise flashback that has nothing to do with the scene, and when we get back to the present, I already forget what was happening in the present. It's frustrating, and I can't get through it.
Thank you, NetGalley, and the publisher, for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at 25 percent.
I disliked everything about the book. The main female character acts like a naive child who has to be told what to do every second of every day, despite being 34 years old and somehow the CEO of her own PR company. She's scared of her own shadow, and yet she's in charge? Please.
Her backstory is murky and I don't understand any of it. So she got placed with her foster family at age 10, but somehow her bio dad is married to her foster mother? Where was he when she was placed with her? Does she even share blood with any of her siblings? They have another bio dad, but FMC's bio dad and the foster mother are married.... And her foster mother had a child a year after FMC was placed there. Who's the father? What is her father doing there in this foster/adoptive home? Where was he when she placed him there? She has a bio-grandfather who was mentioned once. But why did she have to be placed in a foster family in the first place? No idea. If this is explained later, great, but I'm not sticking around to find out.
The writing is dense, it slows down the plot, and I can barely get through it. We're in the middle of the scene, and someone asks her a question, and instead of answering or moving the scene along, she starts to describe the room they're in with every little detail. Or there's a surprise flashback that has nothing to do with the scene, and when we get back to the present, I already forget what was happening in the present. It's frustrating, and I can't get through it.
Thank you, NetGalley, and the publisher, for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you, Stephanie and her team, for providing this ARC.
5/5
Enemies to lovers? Check. Contemporary marriage of convenience? Check. Yearning in hostility? Check. The hottest, smuttiest interaction that will leave you breathless? Check and check.
Alexei and Georgia were intriguing to me since they appeared together for the first time in the previous book. (Actually they first appear in that little bonus scene from Hazel and ROry's wedding scene but it just said Alexei and his wife so I'm glad we know it's Georgia now) Their chemistry just jumped off the page and it was even better in their story.
I love them. They know how to push each other's buttons, how to taunt the other person, and also, how to work together.
I loved the chaarcter growth they both went through, how Georgia learned to be open to love and companionship, and how Alexei realized that the image he had of Georgia was completely wrong and how he learned the real her and even when he fucked up, he owned up to it and fixed him mistakes.
I also love how they learned from and about each other, started trusting each other, and became a team. Even if it wasn't real for them at first, they accepted it. And I'm so thankful that Stephanie didn't force them to have a third-act breakup! I think this is what I love the most about her books, you just know that the characters will work through the issues without the unnecessary drama for drama's sake.
Alexei knowing the langauge of the flowers was so unexpected, but I loved it. And I loved how he teased her through the flowers, but she still found out what they meant and was in on the joke almost from the beginning. And I loved that little game they played to get the other mad with desire and anger, it started out so mean, but they turned it playful and respectful.
The smut was smutting, and I love that. Props to Stephanie for always writing her men desperate for the taste of the women they're in love with, it's so valid. literally my favourite trait of a man lmao. And while Alexei was an asshole at first for not making Georgia come, he made it up to her the next time over and over again. I love how he understood her and what she needed even before she did, and how respectful he was throughout. Even when he was mean, he knew she was in on the joke, and he knew she liked it. He wasn't mean because he was an asshole, he was mean because he cared and he knew she wanted that.
I also love that basically every man Stephanie writes about buys their woman sexy lingerie. Hell yes, they deserve it! And Alexei, having a high heel kink, was so good and so in character. And shout out for Georgia for knowing about since and using to torture him with her shoes. Queen behavior.
The gift-giving was so incredible (THE SHOES??????? THE TATTOO?? THE DESIGNER DRESS?? I want a rich husband now and I'm not ashamed lol) and I'm glad that for once a female character wasn't like "I can't take it, it cost too much, blah blah blah", no, she was like "thanks I love them" and I'm glad she accepted them with no issues.
I loved the writing, the banter, the characters, and their relationship, and I loved Rory and Hazel's wedding! I love them so much, so shout out for the timeline to finally catch up to their wedding!
This book also finally answer the question I was waiting to be answered with a baited breath: how many fucking teeth does Volkov actually have? Thanks, Stephanie, I can sleep peacefully now.
I loved this book so much, it was incredible, so well written, and I devoured it in 7 hours. I loved this book. Absolutely incredible.
Thank you, Stephanie and her team, for providing this ARC.
5/5
Enemies to lovers? Check. Contemporary marriage of convenience? Check. Yearning in hostility? Check. The hottest, smuttiest interaction that will leave you breathless? Check and check.
Alexei and Georgia were intriguing to me since they appeared together for the first time in the previous book. (Actually they first appear in that little bonus scene from Hazel and ROry's wedding scene but it just said Alexei and his wife so I'm glad we know it's Georgia now) Their chemistry just jumped off the page and it was even better in their story.
I love them. They know how to push each other's buttons, how to taunt the other person, and also, how to work together.
I loved the chaarcter growth they both went through, how Georgia learned to be open to love and companionship, and how Alexei realized that the image he had of Georgia was completely wrong and how he learned the real her and even when he fucked up, he owned up to it and fixed him mistakes.
I also love how they learned from and about each other, started trusting each other, and became a team. Even if it wasn't real for them at first, they accepted it. And I'm so thankful that Stephanie didn't force them to have a third-act breakup! I think this is what I love the most about her books, you just know that the characters will work through the issues without the unnecessary drama for drama's sake.
Alexei knowing the langauge of the flowers was so unexpected, but I loved it. And I loved how he teased her through the flowers, but she still found out what they meant and was in on the joke almost from the beginning. And I loved that little game they played to get the other mad with desire and anger, it started out so mean, but they turned it playful and respectful.
The smut was smutting, and I love that. Props to Stephanie for always writing her men desperate for the taste of the women they're in love with, it's so valid. literally my favourite trait of a man lmao. And while Alexei was an asshole at first for not making Georgia come, he made it up to her the next time over and over again. I love how he understood her and what she needed even before she did, and how respectful he was throughout. Even when he was mean, he knew she was in on the joke, and he knew she liked it. He wasn't mean because he was an asshole, he was mean because he cared and he knew she wanted that.
I also love that basically every man Stephanie writes about buys their woman sexy lingerie. Hell yes, they deserve it! And Alexei, having a high heel kink, was so good and so in character. And shout out for Georgia for knowing about since and using to torture him with her shoes. Queen behavior.
The gift-giving was so incredible (THE SHOES??????? THE TATTOO?? THE DESIGNER DRESS?? I want a rich husband now and I'm not ashamed lol) and I'm glad that for once a female character wasn't like "I can't take it, it cost too much, blah blah blah", no, she was like "thanks I love them" and I'm glad she accepted them with no issues.
I loved the writing, the banter, the characters, and their relationship, and I loved Rory and Hazel's wedding! I love them so much, so shout out for the timeline to finally catch up to their wedding!
This book also finally answer the question I was waiting to be answered with a baited breath: how many fucking teeth does Volkov actually have? Thanks, Stephanie, I can sleep peacefully now.
I loved this book so much, it was incredible, so well written, and I devoured it in 7 hours. I loved this book. Absolutely incredible.
Added to listOwnedwith 67 books.
CW/TW: SURPRISE PREGNANCY (ON PAGE), GROOMING AND A SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A STEP-BROTHER (OFF-PAGE)
1.5/5
First of all, the cover is misleading. The main male character has a light BROWN skin and has dark, curly hair as we see in the second chapter. He's was born in the West Indies (Saint Kitts) and his mother was from Gambia. It's all revealed in chapter 8. And who does the cover present? A BLOND, WHITE guy. Blonde. White. All the things that Finn is not. It's explicitly said in the text that his half-brother, WHO DIED 10 MONTHS EARLIER, was a "blue-eyed golden-cherub, the counter to Finn.". Did the artist somehow confuse A DEAD MAN WITH A MAIN MALE CHARACTER?
The female character is from India, and somehow, whoever created the cover included that. But they completely ignored MC's race and looks and made him to look like a generic white guy. Are you serious? How come nobody caught that?
I was wondering why the author didn't catch it or demand the cover to be changed, but tbh I gave up on the idea. The way she wrote the books and characters was just strange, and she clearly didn't care enough.
Anyway, onto the plot. t's giving soap opera, not of a good kind. The sex scene was completely out of nowhere at 22% of the book, it was way too early with no build up whatsoever - which is basically a theme throughout the book. I get it, you almost died together, but you barely had a conversation TWICE, and MMC doesn't know that FMC is the reason everyone thinks he's the murderer! Come on, this is historical romance, I needed more buildup than that which was absolutely nothing.
FMC bemoaning that MMC hates her circular was so over the top and I didn't like that whining. 1) he didn't know you were behind it, and 2), YOU MADE PEOPLE THINK HE MURDERED HIS OWN BROTHER, what is wrong with you! FMC really annoyed me. She was constantly whining about Finn not having the freedom to love anyone (her) while SHE WAS THE REASON. If she hadn't published that article, nobody would think he was guilty!
And then she had a few opportunities to tell hi the truth, and all she said was that she only worked for Aurelius and that he's there and her friend. You are Aurelius you idiot! Just tell MMC that! But noooooo, why would she.
The accidental pregnancy happens at 60% of the book. There was nothing in the book desription, nothing at the beginning of the book, no warning whatsoever.
At 65% FMC is talking about pregnancy and her condition and her nausea and how her body will change constantly every 2-3 sentences and I am hating every single second of it. Nowhere in the description was there even a hint of a surprise pregnancy and I avoid those books. I hate being tricked like that by the author.
It got worse. Apparently, FMC had been groomed by and had a sexual relationship with her step-brother (half-brother?) when she was still living in her stepmother's house. Was this even hinted at before? No, we find out at 89%! 89! The book's almost done when the author decides to hit us in a head with trauma again! And then, because of course, FMC and MMC are almost killed! Again!
If I had known this would turn into a traumatic soap opera, I wouldn't have request it. Which is a shame because I enjoyed some parts of the book. But the author just dumps trauma for trauma's sake with no hints in the book description or at the beginning of the book at all and it's annoying. I hate it.
The female character was like a more miserable and unlikable version of Penelope Featherington, always bemoaming about her misfotune - which she brought onto herself. She whines about not having any relationship with her sisters, and she pushed them away and went no-contact for absolutely no reason. She complains about MMC not being able to be with her - but she was the reason he was a wanted man. And so on and so on.
And MMC? Well, he's either arrogantly cheeky or a coward. Axts like a rake and at the very sound of trouble abandons FMC. Ugh.
The other characters were all so over the top and were walking stereotypes. Most of them was suddenly gay for representation sake but they weren't even well-written, it was just bunch of stereotypes and tropes.
The male gay friend was just that: a male gay friend. A "dandy" as called in Regency: only caring about his looks and how fashionable he was, overly feminine for some reason, you know, the every gay best friend from a sitcom you can imagine.
The best friend was a bluestocking who only cared about the plants who suddenly realized she's gay and decided to move in with her new girlfriend after a month of meeting her. Aka every bookish lesbian from sitcoms.
The very feminine and badass lesbian who took no shit and always said what she wanted, aka every girlboss ever in existence.
The widow who was silly, liked parties and wanted a rich husband and a bunch of lovers. That was her whole personality.
I hated how they were written, it seemed like the author only included them for points, not because it made sense. They were all badly written with no personality.
The writing was horrible too. I'm not sure if the author ever learned about pronunciations or synonyms or SUBTLETY because there were none. The author doesn't use the words like "him/her/his etc, she mostly uses full names every single time. She is constantly repetitive, using the same phrases or descriptiosn every time. She lacks subtlety - when FMC started duspecting she might be pregnant, she brought it up in every other sentence. About the fact that she was pregnant. About "growing a new life". About changes in her body. About being pregnant. About the baby in her making her tired all the time. About being nauseous. Did I mention she was pregnant yet?
And the ending was so abrupt I wondered if I got the whole book - but yeah, the acknowledgments were on the next page. It felt like it was not just an open ending, but a sudden one too. She was almost killed again, reunited with him and they both almost died again, were saved by one of their captors and confessed their love - all in last chapter. And that's it.
What about all the things that were supposed to happen in this book, like, you know, the main point of the book which was proving MMC's innocence? Was the circular published? What was the reaction? Did the Bow Runner drop the case? What about the Antigua case? Or the triplets? WE GOT NO RESOLUTION WHATSOEVER.
I was surprised that FMC told MMC about her pregnancy tbh.
This was the first and last book I have and will ever read from this author. It was so convoluted and badly written with a trauma dump after trauma dump for just trauma's and drama's sake. Nothing was resolved, nothing was fixed, everything was just there, mostly hanging there by a thread and nothing was really resolved.
Thank you, NetGalley and Boldwood Books for sending me this ARC.
CW/TW: SURPRISE PREGNANCY (ON PAGE), GROOMING AND A SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A STEP-BROTHER (OFF-PAGE)
1.5/5
First of all, the cover is misleading. The main male character has a light BROWN skin and has dark, curly hair as we see in the second chapter. He's was born in the West Indies (Saint Kitts) and his mother was from Gambia. It's all revealed in chapter 8. And who does the cover present? A BLOND, WHITE guy. Blonde. White. All the things that Finn is not. It's explicitly said in the text that his half-brother, WHO DIED 10 MONTHS EARLIER, was a "blue-eyed golden-cherub, the counter to Finn.". Did the artist somehow confuse A DEAD MAN WITH A MAIN MALE CHARACTER?
The female character is from India, and somehow, whoever created the cover included that. But they completely ignored MC's race and looks and made him to look like a generic white guy. Are you serious? How come nobody caught that?
I was wondering why the author didn't catch it or demand the cover to be changed, but tbh I gave up on the idea. The way she wrote the books and characters was just strange, and she clearly didn't care enough.
Anyway, onto the plot. t's giving soap opera, not of a good kind. The sex scene was completely out of nowhere at 22% of the book, it was way too early with no build up whatsoever - which is basically a theme throughout the book. I get it, you almost died together, but you barely had a conversation TWICE, and MMC doesn't know that FMC is the reason everyone thinks he's the murderer! Come on, this is historical romance, I needed more buildup than that which was absolutely nothing.
FMC bemoaning that MMC hates her circular was so over the top and I didn't like that whining. 1) he didn't know you were behind it, and 2), YOU MADE PEOPLE THINK HE MURDERED HIS OWN BROTHER, what is wrong with you! FMC really annoyed me. She was constantly whining about Finn not having the freedom to love anyone (her) while SHE WAS THE REASON. If she hadn't published that article, nobody would think he was guilty!
And then she had a few opportunities to tell hi the truth, and all she said was that she only worked for Aurelius and that he's there and her friend. You are Aurelius you idiot! Just tell MMC that! But noooooo, why would she.
The accidental pregnancy happens at 60% of the book. There was nothing in the book desription, nothing at the beginning of the book, no warning whatsoever.
At 65% FMC is talking about pregnancy and her condition and her nausea and how her body will change constantly every 2-3 sentences and I am hating every single second of it. Nowhere in the description was there even a hint of a surprise pregnancy and I avoid those books. I hate being tricked like that by the author.
It got worse. Apparently, FMC had been groomed by and had a sexual relationship with her step-brother (half-brother?) when she was still living in her stepmother's house. Was this even hinted at before? No, we find out at 89%! 89! The book's almost done when the author decides to hit us in a head with trauma again! And then, because of course, FMC and MMC are almost killed! Again!
If I had known this would turn into a traumatic soap opera, I wouldn't have request it. Which is a shame because I enjoyed some parts of the book. But the author just dumps trauma for trauma's sake with no hints in the book description or at the beginning of the book at all and it's annoying. I hate it.
The female character was like a more miserable and unlikable version of Penelope Featherington, always bemoaming about her misfotune - which she brought onto herself. She whines about not having any relationship with her sisters, and she pushed them away and went no-contact for absolutely no reason. She complains about MMC not being able to be with her - but she was the reason he was a wanted man. And so on and so on.
And MMC? Well, he's either arrogantly cheeky or a coward. Axts like a rake and at the very sound of trouble abandons FMC. Ugh.
The other characters were all so over the top and were walking stereotypes. Most of them was suddenly gay for representation sake but they weren't even well-written, it was just bunch of stereotypes and tropes.
The male gay friend was just that: a male gay friend. A "dandy" as called in Regency: only caring about his looks and how fashionable he was, overly feminine for some reason, you know, the every gay best friend from a sitcom you can imagine.
The best friend was a bluestocking who only cared about the plants who suddenly realized she's gay and decided to move in with her new girlfriend after a month of meeting her. Aka every bookish lesbian from sitcoms.
The very feminine and badass lesbian who took no shit and always said what she wanted, aka every girlboss ever in existence.
The widow who was silly, liked parties and wanted a rich husband and a bunch of lovers. That was her whole personality.
I hated how they were written, it seemed like the author only included them for points, not because it made sense. They were all badly written with no personality.
The writing was horrible too. I'm not sure if the author ever learned about pronunciations or synonyms or SUBTLETY because there were none. The author doesn't use the words like "him/her/his etc, she mostly uses full names every single time. She is constantly repetitive, using the same phrases or descriptiosn every time. She lacks subtlety - when FMC started duspecting she might be pregnant, she brought it up in every other sentence. About the fact that she was pregnant. About "growing a new life". About changes in her body. About being pregnant. About the baby in her making her tired all the time. About being nauseous. Did I mention she was pregnant yet?
And the ending was so abrupt I wondered if I got the whole book - but yeah, the acknowledgments were on the next page. It felt like it was not just an open ending, but a sudden one too. She was almost killed again, reunited with him and they both almost died again, were saved by one of their captors and confessed their love - all in last chapter. And that's it.
What about all the things that were supposed to happen in this book, like, you know, the main point of the book which was proving MMC's innocence? Was the circular published? What was the reaction? Did the Bow Runner drop the case? What about the Antigua case? Or the triplets? WE GOT NO RESOLUTION WHATSOEVER.
I was surprised that FMC told MMC about her pregnancy tbh.
This was the first and last book I have and will ever read from this author. It was so convoluted and badly written with a trauma dump after trauma dump for just trauma's and drama's sake. Nothing was resolved, nothing was fixed, everything was just there, mostly hanging there by a thread and nothing was really resolved.
Thank you, NetGalley and Boldwood Books for sending me this ARC.
