Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑 (there’s a mix of length of scenes)
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A touch
Perspective: Third person from both hero and heroine and also from the heroine’s mother and another side character
Cliffhanger: No
Format: Checked out the audiobook version on hoopla

Should I read in order?
I think you are okay picking this one up alone if you want. The main focus is on the couple, and there is only some light mention of the prior characters.

Basic plot:
Gigi is ready for a divorce. She’s lived for ten years as the ghosted wife of Camden and she is wanting to have a life of her own. When she asks for a divorce, Camden shows up on the doorstep with a bargain to propose.

Give this a try if you want:
- Victorian time period (1893)
- heroine asks for divorce
- second chance
- you’re okay with mention of affairs/infidelity
- bargain – hero wants an heir then he’ll grant the divorce
- instalove
- lots of spunky banter and back/forth
- medium steam – 3 full scenes and some shorter ones

Ages:
- I think the heroine is around 28 but I’m not sure, not sure about hero but would guess early 30s?

First line:
Only one kind of marriage ever bore society’s stamp of approval.

My thoughts:
My expectations were pretty low for this one because I have heard a lot of people complain about the mean behavior and cheating. I don’t mind that stuff in romance. And I ended up liking some parts of this one, but overall it’s not one I would reread.

I do adore Sherry Thomas’ writing. I was pretty into this story and I was on the edge of my seat with how these two would work out their issues. I liked their banter back and forth, though banter might be the wrong word for some of it was downright cruel. There’s so much hurt for both of them, and it’s hard to forgive and come back from some grievous wrongs so many years prior.

One thing I’m not a big fan of in romance though is having sex with someone you hate. And they had quite a bit of sex here while there was still...a bit of longing, yes, but there was still such dislike. And it tampered the feels down for me. I also think the resolution was so, so late in the book that it felt like it wasn’t as solid as I wanted it to be.

I did end up liking both characters. I can’t say I had a huge amount of empathy for either of them because they were both doing unlikable things to each other. They both took it too far in some places. But I also didn’t hate them. I felt bad for both of them.

This one just didn’t have what really grabbed my heart in The Luckiest Lady in London and I am always chasing that!

I’m also grouchy about other POV in a story and we got a lot from Gigi’s mom in this one and I was just bored with those parts. I just want the main characters





Content warnings:

- some cruel/toxic behavior between the mains, hurtful comments, withholding truths, etc
- multiple mentions of affairs and infidelity
- remembered miscarriage

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex: 

No, but they are trying to procreate 

 
15% - heroine goes into his room at night and touches him, there’s some kisses but then he pretends to be asleep and when she leaves it leads to implied hero masturbation
29% - kiss
44% - 🔥 wedding night missionary (remembered from the past)
47% - sex (present day, that’s super short)
55% - 🔥 him behind her
72% - 🔥 fingering for her, sex
81% - kiss between heroine and Freddie
98% - short sex