On one level, this book was solid. A starchy widower-ish hero engaged to our heroine’s sister—and all the mess that comes with that. Our heroine Lily was conniving and impulsive, which is always fun. She’d had a child out of wedlock, which was a compelling backstory. And these two had decent compatibility.

But there was also a bunch of stuff that was just meh, for me 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’ve figured out what I’m missing in these earlier Kleypas novels: the heartwarming family and friend dynamics of the Wallflowers, Hathaways, and Ravenels. There was one friendship in here, our heroine Lily and Derek Craven, but I don’t think it was the most well-written friendship? And they still had their guards up, which interfered with my favourite part of book friendships: scenes of the MCs being themselves with other characters in a way that lets their characterization shine. The result: more telling than showing and more character flatness than I expect from a Kleypas novel.

There were some minor consent issues (both him against her and her against him). But I’m mostly bugged at how they never got addressed? I wanted a grovel or some growth. I know it’s partly the age of the book but still, not my fav.

And there was some clumsiness to the storytelling. Like, why was there a bear? 😆 But mostly, so many random side characters were introduced who served no function beyond performing an info-dumpy monologue, and I couldn’t help but read said monologue with my *sceptical face* 🤨 

Plus it’s 2023, I’m getting tired of my ‘ruined’ heroines being this virginal, you know?