Overall: 4.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A touch
Perspective: third person from both hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: pretty soon in, 5% (chapter 2 of 39)
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after for the mains
Epilogue: Yes, about a year later
Format: voluntarily read an advanced reader copy in e-book form from the author
Why I chose this book: I’m on Glen’s ARC team and like to try her books
Mains: This is a M/F relationship between a cishet hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
I wouldn’t say it’s totally necessary, but the prior heroines do make appearances and have page time – they befriend this heroine. And some of their plot points are touched on so to get fully immersed the whole series would be great!

Basic plot:
Josephine needs the help of a man from her past that hates her.

Give this a try if you want:
- Victorian romance - 1866
- forbidden love – heroine is engaged to hero’s brother
- hero has a love for inventions and engineering
- heroine loves to make perfumes
- former soldier hero
- second chance
- fake(ish) engagement
- mid to higher steam - 4 full scenes

Ages:
- heroine is 21, hero is 23 for the first quarter of the book, then a jump 12 years ahead (so about 33/35)

First line:
Her parents had betrayed her.

My thoughts:
I went into this one without reading the synopsis and I’m glad I did because I tend to be really judgmental about second chance romance! But I liked that in this one we get the whole beginning story and set up of their relationship. This helped me actually care about them getting back together and working it out haha.

I felt the heartbreak in this one and adored how the hero fell so hard for the heroine, and his utter anguish when he realized he had judged her wrong. And how protective and gentle he was with her was so, so sweet.

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: 7
Average rating from me: 4.71 stars
Favorite book: mmm I think The Marquess and His Muse

Endearments

The hero calls the heroine ‘little fairy’. 

Quotes any typos are my own! I am bad with typos, I apologize

“Don’t kiss my brother.” He drew her close to her and his lips brushed against her cheek, her ear. A butterfly caress. “You are mine, and mine alone. Even if you don’t know it yet.”

 

Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.

- toxic parents including domestic violence (heroine’s mother hits her)
- parental death, mention of unknown side characters death in childbirth
- human trafficking – heroine is sold into a harem to pay for her brother’s gambling debts
- sibling death from disease (possible purposeful opium overdose)
- fire of the manor house – no injuries
- infertility
- kidnapping, threats of child endangerment, rape, abuse, gun violence

Author content warnings? None listed

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex aspects, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:

Safe sex: 

  hero pulls out first time, not in later scenes (he asks, she agrees) 

How’s the consent? 

  It’s good 

Pregnancy/children in story? 

  The heroine is barren, but they have her nephew – he has page time throughout the book as a small child 

8% (chapter 3) – kiss
11% (chapter 5) – brief kiss
14% (chapter 7) – kiss
15% (chapter 7) – 🔥kisses, oral for her, handy for him, her on top (v loss for her)
”Like this,” he croaked. “Stroke it faster. Yes, like that...Oh fuck.”
44% (chapter 20) – brief kiss
61% (chapter 25) – kiss
70% (chapter 29) – 🔥he self pleasures in the bath while the heroine watches that leads to oral for her, missionary but she gets distressed and tries to fake an orgasm but he knows
There, in the enormous tub inset within an intricately carved walnut cabinet, illuminated by the multicolored light that passed through the stained glass skylight, was Michael.
Naked.
In the bath.
And he was...touching himself.
78% (chapter 31) –  🔥 she ties him to the bed, edges him, some fear play with a knife, then she self pleasures for him, her on top
She sank all the way down, taking all of him inside her. Testing the feeling, she rocked her hips. He groaned.
“Fuuuuck, Josephine, wait,” he said through gritted teeth.
95% (chapter 37) - 🔥 her on top
Total chapters: 38 and an epilogue