Trying to figure out why this worked for me when Mortal Follies lowkey didn’t and I think here’s why
1. Yes the romance is not at all central but it was nice to have it as either a constant the characters can rely on having OR a source of like…. frankly b-plot drama. The stakes are already life & death, I’m glad John & Orestes didnt also have to suffer for any part of their love for more than like one day of wallowing
1b. yes down to the lack of on-page sex both because i already know that this series doesn’t go there and because

if they already bang in chapter 4 and puck is just like yeah they banged good for them right that kind of signals to me what we’re not building up to anything and i like having that narrative expectation set

2. the caesars are easily the most interesting set of characters that we know intimately in this world so on top of me really liking john from the first book when i realized this was gonna be more of an ensemble moment i cheered
2b. bc of this im not really mad that john’s role as “main character”’ is less “guy whose love story this is” (though it is still that!) and more “narrative and emotional glue”
3. i love when a book is about siblings and how it’s so confusing sometimes to be a sibling ❤️ so i love how central john mary & anne’s relationships were to the plot
3b. mary caesar i love you
4. i continue to find puck as the narrator so entertaining in terms of sheer style while at the same time Kind Of wishing we the reader didn’t have this constant Wall in this romance novel… again didn’t bother me as much this time because the romance was ultimately subplot and it was mostly  “let’s do high stakes silly historical fantasy with a lot of heart”. but anyway puck narrating worked a lot better for me when the romance was a little less central
4b. i think confounding oaths also had the advantage of not being framed in my head as “my favorite historical romance author is writing his first sapphic romance”. still waiting on the sapphic alexis hall book with like very crazy lesbian sex (and if you’re gonna point me to something extraordinary

the fingering in that was very mild. good for them for having lovely fun if a little boring lesbian sex but that book also had highwayman roleplay and redemption-arc-via-spanking-and-humiliation-kink

5. probably listening to mortal follies with my ears and reading confounding oaths with my eyes had something to do with it…………… im placing the library hold. we’re going in for round 2.