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
This is the first fictional audiobook I've ever listened to, which was a great introduction but I think maybe will set the bar a little too high for tThis is the first fictional audiobook I've ever listened to, which was a great introduction but I think maybe will set the bar a little too high for the rest of my life. ...more
**spoiler alert** I'm sad I didn't like this book more because I was excited for it. I LOVE a pining hero and I loved their interactions in the first **spoiler alert** I'm sad I didn't like this book more because I was excited for it. I LOVE a pining hero and I loved their interactions in the first book.
But.
What I expected: Merripen has been pining away forever and Win thinks of him as a brother and then eventually falls in love with him like I did in the first book.
What I got: Merripen and Win are in love with each other, are both aware of the other's feelings, and Merripen alternates between jumping her bones and then rejecting her over and over until I fall out of love with him.
I understand Kev didn't feel good enough for Win, but he also kept repeatedly hurting the woman he supposedly loved and made her absolutely miserable and then essentially forced her into almost marrying someone who wasn't going to make her happy. Not cool.
At this point I figure he's going to do some soul searching, realize he's been a jerk and also maybe (with or without Win's help) realize he DID deserve Win/was good enough for her/could make her happier than anyone else etc etc and then get after it. Buuuut instead he's pulls an "I still don't think I'm good enough for you but neither is he, and I want you and I don't want him to have you so FINE I'll give in" sort of possessive BS and then realizes all those things AFTER, I guess, because all's well that ends well?
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