Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔 (I wanted to know a bit more about the hero, but understand it’s hard to squeeze it all in in a novella)
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥
Humor: A touch
Perspective: third person from the 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:
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: The last chapter jumps ahead a bit in time
Format: read an e-book that was a newsletter freebie
Why I chose this book: I saw Bigelow’s books on instagram and was curious – signed up for her newsletter and figured the novella would be a good first story to try.
Mains: This is a M/F relationship between a cishet hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
This is the prequel novella to Bigelow’s Roman Heirs series.

Basic plot:
Gaia meets Herminius at a party she shouldn’t be at when desire strikes them both...

Give this a try if you want:
- Roman time period
- Rome setting
- single mother heroine
- hero wants to get married
- hero is a wealthy merchant
- pets – the hero has a parrot that belonged to wife
- class difference – hero is a wealthy merchant, which is above a freed slave (heroine’s background)
- instalove/lust is an element
- celibate hero
- well-endowed hero 👀
- just wanted to note slavery is a front and center theme in this book and the hero is a slave holder in ancient Rome
- mid steam – 2 full scenes within a shorter page count

Ages:
- heroine is 31, hero is 41

First line:
Gaia counted the pile of coins before her.

My thoughts:
I am SO excited to see some new Roman romance coming to histrom readers! Definitely going to read this whole series someday…

I liked this novella overall. The setting was different and it was fascinating reading about Roman culture – but themes of slavery are front and center in this book and that was harder to read. I liked their relationship, I liked how caring Herminius was to Gaia and how he proved he would provide for her.

I struggled a touch with Gaia’s lying – it’s something that always rubs me the wrong way – but I understand she was trying to protect her family. This is also kind of an ‘easy’ romance. There wasn’t a lot of angst for me, everything was resolved really easily. I know novellas are hard to build these deeper situations. But I found myself wanting a bit more tension and push and pull between the mains.

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: This is my first.
Average rating from me: 4 stars
Favorite book: This one by default

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

Then, he lifted her wrist to his lips and pressed a kiss to the marked flesh. “I told you, I don’t care.”
“But you could have any woman you wanted,” Gaia pressed. “Why would you want one like me?”
He chuckled. “You vastly overestimate the appeal of an aging, widowed grain merchant with the world’s most terrible parrot.”
 

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

- slavery – heroine was a former slave
- mention of childbirth death of hero’s wife
- mention of hero’s wife being 16 when they married
- gladiator battles
- heroine experiences rape by her master as a slave when she is a young teenager – he isn’t cruel or violent but his attentions aren’t wanted and there’s a power dynamic there that’s unfair to her – resulting in pregnancy

Author content warnings? Nothing listed

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

Safe sex: 

  No, but he asks beforehand 

How’s the consent? 

  It’s good! Lots of asking and confirming. 

Pregnancy/children in story? 

  Heroine has a 14 year old son, hero has lost a child in childbirth. Mention of the heroine wanting another child 

29% - kiss
54% - kiss
63% - 🔥 kisses, fingering for her, her on top

“What’s that?”
He tilted the jug and poured a few drops of something into his palm. “Oil.”
“For what purpose?”
“Something I’ve learned over the years. I’m told that it can be, er, uncomfortable for women. Especially when there is…” He cleared his throat, and a flush rose to his cheeks. “A certain size involved.”
92% - kiss
97% - 🔥 fingering for her, missionary
”Good?” he murmured.
“So good.” With her eyes closed, her entire world was just the feel of his body behind her, around her, inside her, the rising tide of pleasure kindled by his fingers.
He gave a gentle trust, drawing a breathy moan from her lips. “I can fuck you like this for as long as you please.”