This was such a delight. A charming, funny, angsty, endearing, adorable delight. I adored th
The bane of his life and the balm to his soul.
This was such a delight. A charming, funny, angsty, endearing, adorable delight. I adored this so much and adored the leads Max and Effie even more. Two incredibly lonely souls finding acceptance and happiness in each other. For fans of Amanda Quick's Ravished I think you'll love this one. This had a very similar set up with a scarred "beast" recluse hero and a sweet eccentric bluestocking heroine who loves her archeology. Although I found this one much stronger with more depth and emotion on top of the humor. I loved Effie's combination of confidence in her intelligence yet vulnerability and insecurity of wanting a family and to be loved just as she is. Max was the perfect gruff, brooding, grouchy "beast" to her smiling personality and open heart. Max just dissolves into a big teddy bear around her and it was so great to see. Their meet cute happens when he finds her on his land digging up holes trying to extract an old ancient pot. He first mistakes her for a boy since she's covered in mud and wearing breeches and weird goggles. The hilarity and fun ensues from there. What I loved most about this was that while we got to see this couple slowly fall for each other we also got to see them become friends first. I found that very significant and so dear considering Effie never had a real friend before this. Her "big brain" and tendency to ramble out whatever comes to her mind and debate topics always scared people off and society labels her as odd. Her scholarly father died so that left her completely alone in the world with nothing but her and her passion for antiquity to distract her. I just found her so endearing and sweet. Both hero and heroine are recluses for different reasons but need distractions from the whirling questions and thoughts plaguing them in their loneliness. They both needed unconditional love and that's exactly what they found in each other.
"Can I ask you a question, Max?" "You can always ask me anything, Effie. In fact, I insist upon it. I find your honesty and your undisguised curiosity refreshing." "Then that is a first. Most people loathe it." "Then most people are daft. What’s the question?" "Are we friends now? I feel as though we are, but I am never entirely sure. And experience has taught me that if I assume, then I am doomed to be disappointed when my perceived friend starts to avoid me." She said it so matter of factly, but his heart wept for her. It was so ill deserved. Effie was a breath of fresh air, not an irritation. "I suppose we must be." Her delighted smile was like a balm to his soul. "That’s nice. And you don’t mind all the questions?" "I don’t want you to ever think you shouldn’t ask questions, Effie. You can always ask me anything..."
Ugh. Just so adorable. ❤️ This scene honestly made me want to cry I found it so touching and vulnerable. I loved how patient and kind Max was with Effie. Her intelligence and how quick her mind works fascinates him. And him going from grumbly put-out neighbor to intrigued assistant helping her dig up treasures and artifacts on his land was really cute and hilarious. Their banter is the greatest thing. I loved the endless nicknames he came up for her when he was angry or wanted to tease her. Miss Naive, Miss None-of-your-business, Miss Ninnyhammer, etc. ...more
“Is it really you?” I ask into his neck. “Yeah. It’s really me.”
How can something so simple be so perfect? To think I originally 4.5 stars
“Is it really you?” I ask into his neck. “Yeah. It’s really me.”
How can something so simple be so perfect? To think I originally DNF'd this. I'm so glad I went back. Majority of this novella is through email format. That's what initially threw me off. But my absolute weakness is epistolary romances so I had to see how it would play out till the end. I just love that trope so so much. This story covers 10 years of what starts off as an email being accidentally sent to the wrong email address which becomes a yearly tradition between 2 strangers checking in every Valentine's Day only to find each other in real life. So sweet, adorable and feel good. The execution is so straightforward and so simple but worked. I didn't want to say goodbye to these two when they finally just found each other. Their first face to face after she finally figures out it's him? *chef's kiss* I have never swooned harder over a hug. So much meaning punched into just one hug. I felt it....more
So so so much better than Hail Mary (Leo sweetie I'm so sorry you were done dirty). Clay and Giana were a treat. Very adorable. I just really4.5 stars
So so so much better than Hail Mary (Leo sweetie I'm so sorry you were done dirty). Clay and Giana were a treat. Very adorable. I just really wish this author would lay off the 3rd act drama in her books that takes up 100 pages. I'm fine with break ups and conflict but why is it always family drama and adults being so fucking awful and toxic to their kids in Steiner's books? Or whatever 3rd act drama there is, it's always dragged out for much too long IMO. And parents getting excused for abusive behavior to their kids cause they "mean well" and need help isn't it. Absolutely not. Don't care if it's his mom who raised him, that shit with Clay's bitchy conniving ex-girlfriend and her interfering father was ridiculous. But shout out to that breakup scene cause a hero crying because he can't stand hurting the heroine and leaving her? THE ANGST. ❤️ Emotional heroes are my kryptonite. Just hits different....more
Highly anticipated 2023 releases have been really disappointing for me overall and that makes me so sad. :(
This booNot really what I was hoping for.
Highly anticipated 2023 releases have been really disappointing for me overall and that makes me so sad. :(
This book frustrated me and underwhelmed me in so many regards.
-Breeding Kink. How are you gonna promote/market a book having breeding kink and not actually show it? I mean we got…some. Just barely. I didn't even realize until I read this book that breeding kink is the thought of impregnating that's the kink and turn on, not the actual act per say. But even so, that barely had much airtime in this either. I’m so confused by the choices Finelli made here. You have an arranged marriage between two people who are from rival mafia families who need to get pregnant in 3 months time or their loved ones will die. What’s more higher stakes and dramatic than that?! But nothing happens. Barely any sex (compared to the other books). No pregnancy in the end, nothing. So much page time was wasted instead on the hero and heroine delaying consummating their marriage, the heroine trying to get out of it and go back to Toronto or the hero pushing her away. The constant flip flopping also confused me and frustrated me.
-Emotional connection. I had the same problem in Mafia Madman and same problem persisted here. There was barely any time or effort shown in letting the characters actually connect and fall in love. It just seems to happen over night and come out of thin air after they have sex. The words are given and they are nice but I didn’t really believe it because of that. You literally have your heroine say at the 70% mark she doesn’t even know anything about her husband. So you just fall in love with someone you barely know? *crickets* How does that even make sense? :/ I mean we finally do get some of the sweet moments we are waiting for but it felt like a blip compared to everything else that happens there. It felt like these 2 barely spent any time together here, the pacing was very odd. I wanted much more than what was given.
-The sister. I’m gonna sound like an epic b*tch saying this but it’s fiction so who cares. But having your hero have a more visceral/urgent reaction and drop everything to run after his runaway 26 year old sister Vivian instead of fighting for his wife who he supposedly loves was a.....choice. It just left a bad aftertaste in my mouth and so underwhelming. Your wife is curled up in a ball sobbing and you just leave her there and tell her to go back home? Seriously?? THAT'S IT? Giacamo coddling his adult sister and his obsession of hiding her got tiring the more it went on. I wanted the heroine Emma to meet Vivian and become friends. Instead we got this nonsense. One conversation with Emma over the phone and that's it.
-Emma. I liked her...sometimes. She's exactly the type of heroine I usually love. Smart, quiet, sweet, selfless, minds her business. I liked her levelheadedness and good heart. That's very easy to like. But this girl really got on my nerves at times. One with the goody two shoes “the dangers of misogyny!” act. For someone so smart studying to become a doctor she would say stuff that would make my eyes roll so hard they almost fell out of their sockets.
Yes, I was a virgin. I knew it was silly. But it wasn’t like I was waiting for marriage. That perpetuated an arcane patriarchal view of a woman’s body and her rights.
“That was fast. Too bad for your wife, eh, Don Buscetta?” A stamina joke. Awesome. I guess we were checking all of the clichéd misogynist boxes today.
“You have no right to yell at me, because I did nothing wrong. I will not perpetuate a backwards society where I’m supposed to be lesser than you just because I’m a woman.”
She pushed a strand of long brown hair behind her ear. “Sex isn’t just vaginal penetration. That’s a very misogynistic way of looking at—”
It took me one whole month to finish this. If I wasn't so invested in this series and Knockemout characters I 100% would have DNF'd t2.75 stars
[image]
It took me one whole month to finish this. If I wasn't so invested in this series and Knockemout characters I 100% would have DNF'd this. It took the last 70 or so pages out of a 648 page book to finally see chemistry, sincerity and sweetness between the couple. Which is not a great ratio. Just want to preface this by saying I did not go into this one with eager anticipation like everyone else as I was not a big fan of either characters or their supposed "sizzling tension" in the previous books. *ducks for flying objects* I found Lucian "Suit Daddy" Rollins a walking stereotype and Sloane felt OTT with her sassy "spitfire" persona before even going into this. I just wasn't convinced or sold on their chemistry and here they didn't do a great job in convincing me otherwise for a good chunk of it. And I know I'm in the minority on that one. I have never seen so much work and set up put into selling a couple in the previous books where every character be it the bartender or nosy grandmas having to comment how "hot" these two were for each other underneath the hurling insults. You may as well fly a banner in the sky in case you missed it the first 100 times it was mentioned. It was giving performance for me. And here was pretty much more of the same unfortunately and I was really hoping they would prove me wrong. The bickering and antagonism carried on for much too long in this book and came off childish and petty instead of sexy and heated like the author tried so hard to pull off. They acted so juvenile around each other. I mean fighting over who can handle period cramps better? Really now? I'm sorry but that scene came off so stupid and embarrassing instead of funny. There are only so many times/ways two 40 year old adults can sling "asshole" "assface" "shut up" and try to convince me that's sizzling chemistry. ...more
Didn't like the heroine Eliza. She made no sense. Lord save me from characters with more pride than sense. RME. Pride and stubbornness made this heroiDidn't like the heroine Eliza. She made no sense. Lord save me from characters with more pride than sense. RME. Pride and stubbornness made this heroine TSTL and so selfish. You are living in squalor for 5 years, trying to get money to help your very sick sister. So much so you put yourself on an auctioning block to sell your virginity for 7 nights to the highest bidder but refuse to take the money when you find out the man who bought you is your childhood friend who refuses to sleep with you but wants to give you the money? The non-logic was not computing for me. For someone so supposedly smart and pragmatic she made a lot of dumb choices here. The hero Lucien, The Duke of Blackwood, is Eliza's childhood crush and her late brother's best friend. He happens to be at the auction and recognizes the heroine and buys her for fifty thousand pounds to save her from a disgusting Earl who is about to buy her. Lucien refuses to sleep with her but wants to give her the money to help her out even more so when he realizes her and her sister were thrown out of their home 5 years ago after the death of their brother, Robert. However, our heroine refuses to take the money because she loves living independently and doesn't want to be "beholden" to any man if he gets nothing out of the deal, so much so she's easily willing to put herself right back on the auction block just to get "rid" of her virginity and get the money from another man. ...more
Not Tessa Bailey's best. It had cute moments near the end that I ended up enjoying but overall wasn't the biggest fan of the setting or the silly convNot Tessa Bailey's best. It had cute moments near the end that I ended up enjoying but overall wasn't the biggest fan of the setting or the silly convoluted plot. The heroine Hallie has been carrying a torch for the hero Julian Vos since high school where she hero-worshiped him from afar and compared every man to him since then. That's right. She's a 29 year old virgin who has been pining for a man she doesn't know and who doesn't know her for fifteen years. [image] If that makes any sense, the secret admirer letters made even less sense. Hallie is upset that Julian doesn't remember her from their one time almost kiss during a party when she was a high school freshman (because of course how could he forget?!). Julian has been her dream man, her every fantasy and all things good and heroic based off 3rd party account stories, Facebook stalking and watching his class lectures on YouTube. So when he returns to their hometown of St. Helena in Napa Valley to finish writing a book she decides to pour out all her feelings for the starchy stoic Professor in an anonymous secret admirer letter. He gets the letter and has no idea who it's from. Our heroine however for some reason is butthurt and completely shocked that he didn't figure out the anonymous love letter was from her......... [image] Isn't that the whole point of a secret admirer? Now I know this whole stunt and how it snowballed was supposed to highlight how reactive and impulsive the heroine is and never thinks things through. That came through loud and clear. But all this did was make her look TSTL in the process as well. Like....you wrote an anonymous letter to a man who barely knows you with nothing specific to go off in a drunk letter and expect him to figure out it was from you?? O_o *crickets chirping* And then to make things even sillier instead of just telling him like an adult she has feelings for him or that she wrote it, more letters are written and she's hurt that he actually replies back to this anonymous person WHO IS HER. I mean I get it, he doesn't know the letters are from her while they connect in real time but still. First you are upset that he couldn't figure out it was you and why he took a while to respond and when he does reply back you are upset about that too? ...more
Really sexy, hot, and sweet. Easily my favorite of this trilogy so far and much better than Book 1. I would very much bend over for Professo4.75 stars
Really sexy, hot, and sweet. Easily my favorite of this trilogy so far and much better than Book 1. I would very much bend over for Professor Dawson while he whispers dirty things in my ear. Good gawd. ...more
Just didn’t love how things played out in this. I was on the fence on how to rate th2.75 stars
[image]
I must have gotten a different book than others.
Just didn’t love how things played out in this. I was on the fence on how to rate this but that ending cinched it for me. I'm clearly the odd duck out here since everyone and their mother loved this book. And that's fine. Different strokes for different folks but what really surprises me is how this book uses one of the most divisive tropes that most readers tend to hate/react to the most. And that's the "big misunderstanding" trope device. Which happens a lot here, like rapid cannon fire. It's one big misunderstanding after another after another till the very end because our heroine can't bring herself to communicate or be honest like an adult. But before I get into it, I thought the hero Adam Carlsen was adorable. Was he exciting and original as far as grumpy heroes go? Nope. But I thought he was sweet. He's a brooding grump who is a big patient softie with the heroine and has been secretly crushing on her from afar. I also liked the academia setting of this. I loved how both h and hr are sweet, socially awkward, cerebral people who find comfort in each other. I will say though I do wish Ali Hazelwood put more thought into explaining certain things in the Academia world for non-scientist readers like myself. I was at sea for a lot of the lab scenes and academia lingo. Like I still don't know what the fuck an abstract lecture vs poster lecture is or what the hell a regeant or pippets are or what the hell Olive was trying to do with that mouse. Just saying. A lot of it sounded very abstract for me given the lack of explanations and scientific vernacular used so I had a hard time understanding or picturing what was going on in certain scenes involving her work. And it happens a lot. I needed Hazelwood to be more generous there. Moving on...
My problem was how the heroine Olive was written. All she did was lie. Lie after lie after lie through the whole book. The whole freaking book. [image] And I just could not get on board with it because it played heavily on her own insecurities and fears. I can deal with secrecy but the lies hinged entirely on the heroine's incredibly low self esteem and self worth. And that was a big issue for me because it was constant. Olive's self esteem is so low it's arctic. It just coated the whole story and every moment in between the hero and heroine. The author wastes no time in reminding us on every page how little Olive thinks of herself. How she's an "idiot" "stupid" "nothing special", always and I mean always apologizing, who the hero could never ever, ever, ever, neverrrrrrrrr like back because she's a "nobody". Even their cute moments of flirting is overshadowed with the heroine's internal gloomy monologues of beating herself up over everything and reminding herself she can't catch feelings for the hero. I just found it really sad and depressing to be honest. And it kept taking me out of scenes. I needed her to pull up her big girl panties and just deal with shit instead of melting down every five minutes. She can't tell her best friend the truth cause she will hate her, she can't tell Adam the truth cause he could never love her, she can't give a lecture cause everyone will see how awful she is and she just wants to die! etc. etc. On and on it went. There's nothing cute about this "the sky is falling!" personality. She constantly expects the worst and always scared to talk that it got tiring and very frustrating the longer it went on. Her anxiety gave me anxiety.
[image]
The story starts off with the heroine lying to her best friend Anh about dating the hero Dr. Adam Carlsen simply to get Anh to go out with Olive's ex-boyfriend who really likes Anh. It's so convoluted and silly but I let it go because I was here for some fun cute fake dating shenanigans. But it doesn't end there. Olive is the definition of being your own worst enemy. She can't tell her best friend she lied about dating Adam, she can't tell Adam that she has feelings for him when he overhears her confession and lies to him instead that she's in love with someone else, and then she lies to Adam again about (view spoiler)[his best friend Tom who sexually harasses her and manipulated her into accepting a position at Harvard to continue her research. A friend he's known for years and he's doing a project collaboration with. She lies to Adam because she's afraid he won't believe her and to also protect him. But given how Tom openly confessed to her his awful intentions it wasn't strong enough reasoning to me to keep quiet. (hide spoiler)] How is letting the man you love go on thinking his friend isn't an awful human being who lies and cheats "protecting" him? The logic wasn't there for me considering Adam was willing to leave Stanford and move to work side by side with this guy for the foreseeable future. :/
...it took Olive several moments to recall her lie, and his assumption that she was in love with Jeremy. Only a few weeks earlier, but it already seemed so long ago, when she hadn't been able to imagine anything worse than Adam discovering her feelings for him. It sounded so foolish after everything that had happened in the past few days. She should really come clean, but what was the point now? Let Adam think what he liked. It would serve him better than the truth, after all.
Serve him better? Yes because letting him continue working with a sleazy asshole who takes credit for work is better for him and let him just think what he wants is totally fine, no biggie, whatever. Seriously? I just....could not understand this girl and how she would process things. For someone so smart, this girl was incredibly dense and obtuse about everything. It wasn't cute.
Which comes to my other issue: lack of payoff and poor momentum. I was expecting cute moments during the fake dating ploy, yet all we kept getting is Olive constantly panicking, freaking out, clamming up and reacting instead of taking action. Where her friends kept having to strong arm her into kissing the hero, sitting on his lap, putting sunscreen on him, etc. Which I felt defeated the whole purpose of fake dating when your heroine has to be literally pushed into doing things with the hero. Do authors realize that's not how fake dating tropes work?? Drives me absolutely insane. There is no follow through because so much time is spent in the heroine's head melting down instead of just enjoying moments. If the heroine is not enjoying moments cause she's filled with so much anxiety then how can the reader enjoy it? It was too much cause it happened so frequently. This wasn't even 1st person POV but it may as well have been since the entire book is given from the heroine's perspective, which I think is another factor that hurt the romance for me.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” She was so curious about what had been going on in Adam’s head in the past few days, weeks, years. She was starting to imagine quite a bit, but some things . . . some things he’d have to clear up for her.
I wanted to get Adam's perspective, what was going on inside his head and get his reactions and how he processed things internally considering how oblivious Olive is to his feelings and how he sees her. Ali Hazelwood is not good with keeping momentum going. That picnic scene with the g-d awful sunscreen situation for example. The hero is walking up to the heroine shirtless and sweaty yet the focus just randomly swerves to Olive just standing there freaking out about her hands being full of sunscreen and whining about not knowing what to do. She needs people to literally tell her what to do? I had visions of a toddler having a meltdown over dropping their ice cream cone. Why was this made into such a big deal?! Seriously fling the fucking lotion in the trash! And her best friends are just standing there reading scientific studies to her about skin cancer for 4 FUCKING PAGES. Meanwhile Adam is just.....there. In the background. Shirtless. And sweaty. *crickets* ...more
Started off pretty strong but lost me midway through. This had a lot going for it that I don't usually get to see in my HR reads. A 50 year o3.5 stars
Started off pretty strong but lost me midway through. This had a lot going for it that I don't usually get to see in my HR reads. A 50 year old hero for starters. Who wears reading glasses, loves to collect rare books and has an adorable dog named Fergus. Be still my heart. ...more
Wavering on the rating. I have such mixed feelings. Some things I really enjoyed and others...I didn't.
What I liked: -The heroine Autumn3.75 stars
Wavering on the rating. I have such mixed feelings. Some things I really enjoyed and others...I didn't.
What I liked: -The heroine Autumn is a transplanted Australian vet who is living in New York and hates it. I thought this was a refreshing honest take and realistic POV. I loved that she was a vet. Her rescuing wounded pigeons she finds on NY streets in her bathtub was hilarious. I had visions of Gisele from Enchanted. I don't know why but the visual was hilarious. [image] -The hero Blake. The towering, butch, quiet, anti-social, mysterious Landlord who is a hermit was a nice contrast to the heroine's sunny sweet disposition. It's a Bailey couple staple and I don't mind it one bit. And him restoring first edition books for his clients? Ugh yes. -The couple had great chemistry with such complicated contrasting backgrounds. -The Aussie slang felt authentic. -Restoring a first edition of her favorite childhood book The Little Princess to tell her he loves her? Swoon. Major hard swoon. ❤️ This man is a cinnamon-roll sweetie pie.
What I didn't love: -The sex kink used here. This has rape kink. Honestly that blindsided me. The font treatment on the cover and play on words with the title should have been my first clue ("Captive" is highlighted in the title. Clever design choice by the why). It's a microscopic clue but it's a clue nevertheless. There's no mention of it in the blurb and I'm honestly not sure if I would have read this had I known about this kink beforehand. I had this book on my wishlist for so long and the minute I saw it was available on KU I snapped it up eagerly. So my expectations and anticipation was already up there. The heroine Autumn has had fantasies of being tied up since she was 15 (Tessa Bailey I sometimes worry about you), she likes the thrill of giving up control during sex. Let me be clear it's very much consensual. There's nothing violent or gruesome here. There's even a safe word. The heroine makes a point of even saying how she feels guilty having these fantasies when rape is an awful real thing women face which felt like a PSA by both authors.
It's a specific kink the heroine likes and asks the hero to fake stalk her and set up scenarios where he “catches” her and ties her up and has sex. It’s not gruesome or anything like that and not even elaborate. And all that didn't bother me as much. The part I personally didn't love or find sexy is the role playing script and that it happens every time they have sex. I honestly was hoping it would be just one of those have sex in random public places or the hero literally chasing her around the building and catching her and they drop the act and go from there. But nope. They literally act it out and play parts every time with her acting terrified even though she’s excited and enjoys it. It was weird. And I tried I really did but it kept taking me out of the sex scenes whenever she would start with the "oh n-no, please. Please let me go home" act. My brain would shut down whenever she would start the fake pleading and acting scared. That's the part I couldn't get passed. It just came off so ridiculous and icky. I was annoyed because I wanted one intimate moment where the act was dropped, no games, no script, just them. We almost have that when they are going at it in a park but then she freaks out cause omg feelings! so she fantasizes in her head that he's her stalker who caught her in order to reach her orgasm. ...more
His gaze returned to Cassandra’s face, which would haunt him to the last minute of life. He had collected every smile of hers, every
3.75 stars
His gaze returned to Cassandra’s face, which would haunt him to the last minute of life. He had collected every smile of hers, every kiss, to hoard like a treasure chest of jewels. These few seconds with her were all he had, or would ever have.
This was cute. A sweet easy read. I really liked it but I wanted to love it. I wanted more. This is completely my fault because I had went into this one with high expectations (even though I tried very hard not to). In my head I was convinced I would love this before even reading it and that's usually a death kiss. I was looking forward to this couple's story for so long ever since the author hinted at this pairing. I kept putting off reading this because I didn't want to run out of Kleypas books and also I was saving it for a rainy day when I'm in a book slump. There was absolutely nothing wrong with this and I would still recommend this to readers especially to LK enthusiasts but compared to her other more memorable books, this wasn't a standout unfortunately. Especially coming off the high which was West's book which blew this one out of the water in comparison for me. There were still some signature Kleypas toe curling sweet moments but there weren't enough memorable moments overall if that makes sense. Like this isn't one of her books I would go back to and re-read parts. I think had I went into this with lower expectations I probably would have enjoyed this more for what it was maybe?
He gripped her hard against him for a few searing seconds. "This is why we can't be friends," came his rough whisper. "I want this every time I see you. The taste of you...the feel of you in my arms. I can't look at you without thinking of you as mine. The first time I saw you-" He broke off, his jaw hardening. "My God, I don't want this. If I could, I'd crush it like a cinder beneath my boot."
The potential of sweet natured, sunny, beautiful Cassandra Ravenel being paired with mercurial, anti-hero, emotionally stunted hyper-intelligent railway magnate Tom Severin gave me hardcore Poppy and Harry vibes from Tempt Me at Twilight so clearly my expectations at the yummy angsty potential was through the roof already. Like omg give it to me good! However, this was much softer and lighter in story and delivery. Which is totally fine. But I wanted and expected more, especially from the hero Tom who I felt Kleypas treated with kiddy gloves. He wasn't as intense or complex as I was hoping and expecting he would be. And I don't want to compare but he fell a little short next to Harry Rutledge for me as far as intensity and depth. For a high functioning sociopath (as Kleypas herself described him), I found Tom pretty humorous and quick to show his feelings which surprised me the most and felt a little inconsistent in how he carries himself and how he labels himself. The scene where he's begging Devon to let him marry Cassandra was hilarious in how relentless and literal he was but also an example of what I mean. He supposedly only lets himself feel 3 emotions and yet he's very quick to feeling all the emotions when it comes to Cassandra and quite fast which kind of cut the tension off rather quickly. This was literally love-at-first sight with the opening scene being when Tom sees Cassandra for the first time. And it fell a little short for me if I'm being honest. I guess my biggest problem was this book very much read like a novella, with the lower page count of not even 300 pages and a plot that is quick and easy and skips over months here and there with the couple having quick brief moments together then being apart for reasons I didn't really love. I was expecting the marriage of convenience to happen much sooner in this for one thing. I felt too much time was spent and wasted on our leads courting others and pining over each other from a distance until a scandal forces their hand at the 80% mark. I thought that happened too late considering how little time we got to see Cassandra and Tom spend time together. But I thought their marriage "negotiation" scenes were adorable and hilarious. Lisa Kleypas really knows how to charm you with her pen.
"We'd better start negotiating," he said raggedly. "The first issue is how much time you'll want to spend with me." "All of it," Cassandra said, and sought his lips again. Tom chuckled. "I would. I...oh, you're so sweet...no, I'm...God. It's time to stop. Really." He crushed his mouth against her hair to avoid her kisses. "You're about to be deflowered in the library." "Didn't that already happen?" she asked, and felt the shape of his smile.
And I have to say as much as I enjoyed little Basil I thought his role in this book and the ready-made family near the end was unnecessary and forced. I don't know why Lisa seems so hung up on Orphan tropes suddenly but I really need her to let that angle go. This is the second book in this series that she pulled this and I just find it really annoying. Unlike in Helen's book, this didn't detract from my enjoyment here, namely because he's not foisted on you like an unpleasant surprise but it's still a personal pet peeve of mine. I actually enjoyed Basil but the ending felt very contrived because we didn't get to see the relationship fully develop on page between Tom and Basil for this kid to be calling him Papa (and Cassandra Mama -_-) in the end with Cassandra strong arming Tom into making him part of the family. He's a child, not a puppy. Yes orphaned children deserve a loving home and parents but it's not as easy and quick as Kleypas made out to be here. It felt very rushed and not needed. It almost felt like it was thrown in to get an emotional response from readers. Why the instant family? Couldn't Tom just be Basil's guardian for now and the child decides when he grows up what he wants? That to me would have felt more realistic and believable than this. Cassandra forcing the issue just felt very gimmicky for me. I understood the ties this had to Tom's own tragic childhood but again, Kleypas barely touched the surface on that beat till the very end. Just everything in this oddly felt and read like a novella rather than a full length novel and I just wanted and was expecting more. I felt there were a lot of emotional beats that were breezed over or not even touched on. There was a lot of untapped potential with this couple.
“There are no limits to what I would do for you”
That all I being said, this still was a easy lovely read. This was by no means a bad book. This just suffered from extremely high expectations on my part. I still zoomed through this one quickly and not being able to put it down which is high compliment to Kleypas's skill. Lisa’s witty humor doesn't miss a step here and there were a few moments that made me giggle out loud. Her hand at humor is so natural and never feels labored.
"My wife expects me to join her upstairs for a nap." "How could a grown man sleep in the middle of the day? Why would you even want to?" "I wasn't planning to sleep," Devon said curtly. "Oh. Well, I would like to have my own wife to nap with. In fact, I'd like some good, hard napping on a regular basis."
"I arrive at the office no later than half past eight. Working London keeps different hours than aristocratic London." "I'll awaken as early as necessary," Cassandra said. "You may not find it worth the effort." "Why? Are you grumpy in the morning?" "No, but I wake up on the go. I don't like to linger over breakfast." "You must not be doing it right. Lingering is lovely. I do it all the time." She stretched her arms and shoulder, and arched her sore upper back, her breasts lifting with the motion. Tom stared at her, mesmerized. "I might stay just to watch you linger."
Also love that the cover model is barefoot, I thought that was a very cute nod to that scene with her missing shoe. Cute story with an adorable couple and low angst....more
My first try with Joanna Shupe and I enjoyed it overall. The characters were fully developed with personal battles and a sweet endearing rom3.75 stars
My first try with Joanna Shupe and I enjoyed it overall. The characters were fully developed with personal battles and a sweet endearing romance that even with it's flaws is too pure and charming to resist.
My biggest complaint/holdup about this would have to be the heroine's insecurity and anxiety issues. It's not that I didn't like it per say. In fact I appreciated how accurately the author portrayed it. The heroine Christina suffers from extreme low self-esteem and crippling social anxiety to the point she has panic attacks in public and needs to be alone in her room for a day to calm down. As someone who deals with social anxiety myself I found this very realistic and accurately portrayed. I don't think I've read a HR that tackles this subject (to this extent) so deftly like Shupe does here. So it started out fine. My hang up was over the fact that I felt the author didn't let Christina actually *grow* to her full potential and conquer her fears and anxiety. At least the big ones. She kept doing the same things with the same results and having meltdowns and beating herself up over it.
For the most part it's understandable given how she was raised but after awhile it started to wear. Especially when her husband's fate relies in her hands near the very end and she's trying to get out of doing it and begging someone else do it because she can't speak in front of an audience. I found this a little too childish and juvenile, anxiety issues or not. She kept telling herself she was going to fight for Oliver and work on her fears but I didn't really see her fighting any of them to be quite honest. Everything had to be easy for her or "she'd rather not do it" and get out of it. The horse incident is another example of that. It bugged me because it was something very baseless and she wasn't willing to do anything about it and was just completely relieved that Oliver was dropping the issue and not pushing her to conquer her (irrational) fear. I mean...really? There's respecting your wishes and then there's plain old coddling. And the fact that she never actually stood up to her manipulative grasping parents didn't sit well with me either. I was waiting for her to have her Hallelujuah! heroic moment and it never came. I usually don't mind passive/meek heroines but Christina toed that line of aggravating a few times with how easily she kept giving up and quick to thinking the absolute worst. You definitely need patience for a heroine like this, she's not for everyone.
What I liked about this was this touched on a lot of real social issues that at the time were much more difficult to tackle in society. The hero (view spoiler)[actually being admitted to an insane asylum in the second act and having to prove he's not crazy just because he's deaf, I was seriously not expecting that. Seeing Oliver bare the poor conditions and try to cope and survive in there....wow. Too real. My heart broke for him. (hide spoiler)]. The heroine's despicable awful abusive mother who uses her as a pawn to get money and continuously belittling her is another difficult hurdle to bear through. This usually tends to get annoying because it's a trope used and reused much too often in HR and romance books but I found Christina's toxic mother realistically portrayed. Her being vile to her daughter in private but in public putting on a kind doting face was quite cunning and realistic IMO. Also the fact that the hero actually uses sign language and a notebook to communicate I found really refreshing and brilliant. He lost his hearing at 13 so he does know how to talk but very rarely uses his voice and prefers to use ASL and the fact that his close friends, the staff at his home and even his doctor use sign language was great to see. Very true to life.
So yeah, overall there was quite a few things I ended up enjoying. I just wish the evolution of the heroine and her struggles was handled better. She definitely found her happiness and comfort with Oliver, who is a complete lovable sweetheart Beta hero by the way. Such a doll. ❤️ I'm just not really convinced Christina grew all that much. I mean the hero (view spoiler)[is praising her for how brave she was in rescuing him from the loony bin (hide spoiler)]--which is exactly what she did-- and she's all "uh I don't believe you but if you say so". Oy. [image]...more
Only reason I caved and read this was so I could find out more about Liam's situation and Kieran getting to know hi1.5 stars
Same shit, different POV.
Only reason I caved and read this was so I could find out more about Liam's situation and Kieran getting to know his HEA, which covered only a whopping 4 pages, give or take. ...more
Loading...
