I was so excited to get my hands on this book, as I read the rest of the series earlier this year. I had NO idea Daniel was getting his own story, so I was so excited to get my hands on this book, as I read the rest of the series earlier this year. I had NO idea Daniel was getting his own story, so it was a very cool surprise. Daniel was a staple secondary character all throughout the first four books, but not the sort that jumps out at you as “sequel bait.” He was a gruff and grumpy jack-of-all-trades working for Lady Clifford at the Clifford Charity School for Wayward Girls and would very clearly do ANYTHING for any of the heroines in the previous books, but in that older-brother-slash-protector sort of way. (To be honest, I sort of head-cannoned him and Lady Clifford having a secret May-December thing. Sue me.) Anyway. I am going to go right ahead and address the Elephant in the Room: What the HECK is with this book’s title? Like, Daniel is clearly not a viscount in the previous four books. He is not a viscount at the beginning of this one. It was hard to read “The Virgin who Captured a Viscount” without the title floating around in my head the whole time. Either Daniel is a viscount somehow, becomes a viscount somehow, or the title is about some random viscount who isn’t the hero but gets captured by Mairi (or some other random possibly-a-virgin-character, because not all the heroines in the previous books were even virgins anyway, and the previous titles were all a reference to their book reading club which Mairi was definitely not a part of), OR. Maybe! The virgin in question is *gasp* Daniel and he has to capture some blackguard viscount because reasons?! It reminded me of This Earl of Mine by Kate Bateman, where the hero is the second son of an earl and not actually an earl himself, so you’ve got that in the back of your head the whole time you’re reading it. Bah.
But yeah, moving on.
The book starts out with a great prologue that would have drawn me in if I wasn’t already super excited to read it. The first several chapters were fast-paced and exciting, which reminded me why I liked the first book in the series so much.
In the end though, it was a bit of a disappointment for me because it felt disengaged with the rest of the series. On one hand, Daniel from books 1-4 getting his own story was obviously super cool. On the other hand, apart from the obligatory cameos at the beginning, it was so stand-alone that it could have been about a different person. By the end of the book, I wasn’t even convinced that Daniel would even ever see Lady Clifford, the Clifford School, or any of his “girls” again which made me sad. ...more
I really wanted to love this book! I was excited for a blue-collar heroine working in a male-dominated industry. I love when tropes with associated geI really wanted to love this book! I was excited for a blue-collar heroine working in a male-dominated industry. I love when tropes with associated gender norms get subverted (in this book, the heroine was supposed to be the “grump” and the hero the “sunshine”). I also love love love the idea of a budding romance during a hellish-sounding mandatory company retreat complete with (ugh) ice-breakers and team-building exercises.
Unfortunately, I found Tully, the hero, problematic. He falls into that 80s/90s romance hero trap of “Hey reader! You’re supposed to think my behaviour is ok because the heroine wants to climb me like a tree and lick my tattoos off, but even though the reader knows that because they have access to her POV, I can’t possibly know that because I’m not a mind-reader therefore I’m in reality no different than any other creep who tries to ‘wear down’ women who have repeatedly shown/told me they are not interested in me.”
It doesn’t matter that the heroine is secretly into him. He. Doesn’t. Know. That.
All he has to go on is her body language (she’s cold/bitchy towards him) and what she tells him. With her words.
A few snippets of things our heroine tells Nice Guy Tully in the first few chapters, in no particular order: “Let me go.” “I did not, ever ask you in here, much less want you touching my hair.” “Get out.” “Leave me alone.” “Remove your hand.” “Not interested at all.” “Keep dreaming.” “…fucking let go of my hand.”
And he had the unmitigated gall to offer to have a “talk” with another co-worker he thought was bothering Dawson. She correctly calls him out as a hypocrite to which he replies that he’s “not that kind of guy” and of course he’d back off if he made her “truly” uncomfortable. (I’m sorry but if you don’t back off after being told to back off in several different ways simply because you didn’t think she was serious, you ARE “that kind of guy.”)
Anyhoo.
Other bothersome bits: quality of writing not what I am used to, a lot of "telling not showing" when it came to MCs personalities (I'm supposed to believe Tully is a nice guy because everyone tells me Tully is a nice guy?), heroine who I thought was going to be a curvy badass ended up being insecure about her size (sigh), main characters were immature and didn’t communicate ever (except when Dawson was telling Tully repeatedly to leave her alone… she did communicate that quite well)… and also a unicorn “Very Good at Sportsing” athlete hero who randomly could have had his pick of the NHL or the NFL despite that not really being a thing that could happen based on how those two sports work on a professional level (hello new oddly specific pet peeve I didn’t know I had.)
I would have DNFed this book but it was given to me as an ARC to read so I would have felt bad leaving a review after not having read the whole thing....more
Minerva Spencer is a wonderful author, but her books are a bit hit-or-miss with me. After reading this book, I’ve realized that it comes down to how lMinerva Spencer is a wonderful author, but her books are a bit hit-or-miss with me. After reading this book, I’ve realized that it comes down to how likeable the characters are because her writing is always on point. Fortunately, both MCs in this book (as well as the secondary characters introduced) were all endearing and easy to cheer for. I’m looking forward to book two, but especially eager for book three (assuming the MCs are who I think they will be)!
St John Powell (Sin to his close friends, “Lord Flawless” to the gossip-loving ton) is a typical adorably uptight hero who falls hard for the not-at-all-appropriate-duchess-material heroine. He wants to do the right thing no matter the situation, which gets tricky when he’s not able to control everything around him in the way he’s used to. Oh, and he blushes. A LOT.
The heroine, Marianne is… awesome. She’s basically my unicorn historical heroine: experienced and sex-positive in a believable way for the time period. Also, she’s badass. Did I mention she has abs?
The story takes place during the small Regency window where Napoleon has been exiled to Elba and everyone thinks the fighting is over. Unfortunately, us readers know that is not true! At the start of the book, the fair/circus that Marianne boxes in is preparing to tour the continent now that travel is possible again… Eep. Luckily, St John and two of his sequel-bait friends are along for the ride disguised as scruffy circus employees (...and Sin has ginger-scruff. Oh my.)
The Boxing Baroness is quite a romp with a bit of everything including-but-not-limited-to danger, intrigue, amazing chemistry, sexy sexy-times, feminism, road trips, fish-out-of-water heroes, mysterious letters, dastardly bad guy plots, and talking ravens.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. ...more
He reached out and touched her cheek. “I love laughing with you.” Such simple words, yet they slammed into her heart with the force of a hammer, for itHe reached out and touched her cheek. “I love laughing with you.” Such simple words, yet they slammed into her heart with the force of a hammer, for it sounded like he’d never had reason to laugh before.
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I’ve seen a few people describe this as an Enemies-to-Lovers story, but I didn’t see it that way myself. The story begins with Mina finding out that her brother Anthony has challenged Simon, the Earl of Creswick, to a duel over a game of cards. Mina is angry that the Earl agreed to the duel instead of trying to defuse the situation but being more level-headed (and better with a rapier!!!) than Anthony, she decides to take his place in an effort to get him out of the mess he’s made. Simon had his own reasons for accepting the duel and, once he discovers Mina’s ruse, he surprises her by offering her a position as his secretary which (after some adorable haggling) she accepts.
What follows is a very emotional and character-driven story about two people slowly falling in love despite knowing they can’t/shouldn’t be together. I am an absolute sucker for this type of Catch-22 situation, where characters realize their feelings relatively early on, but the very things they love in one another are the reasons they feel they must let the other go. A real angsty conundrum!
The best part of this book, hands down, was the hero, Simon. He has a world to change, and doesn’t have time for petty distractions like emotions, fun, or women. My favourite scene was early on when Serious, Stuffy Simon actually (view spoiler)[yeets himself into an icy lake (hide spoiler)] to avoid feeling feelings. That all changes when he meets Mina and discovers parts of himself that he hadn’t known existed. It was a joy to watch him realize he can also be Sweet, Spontaneous, Sexy, Slightly-Morally-Ambiguous Simon.
As much as I enjoyed the emotional roller-coaster of this book, I wish there was more detail given to what was going on outside of their relationship. For example, a few things I wish were addressed: (view spoiler)[ -the fact that there was an attempt on Simon’s life is never ever mentioned again -Mina wins ten thousand (!) pounds gambling, which solves nearly all the problems she faced at the beginning of the book, and then it is also never mentioned again -I would really loved to have known how near-virginal Simon ended up friends with the sort of men who literally show up to his house uninvited with prostitutes and then proceed to have almost-sex on his stairs and threesomes in his guest rooms. I'm sure there's a valid explanation. (hide spoiler)]...more
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