Overall: 3.5 rounded (a bit reluctantly) to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑 
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥
Humor: Yes!
Perspective: Third person perspective from both hero and heroine’s point of view

Basic plot:
Disguised as a maid, Emma happens to save the Duke of Ashbourne’s nephew. And he knows she’d be entirely unsuitable for him, not that he wants to marry anyway...but when he comes across her again, this time as an American heiress, he’s intrigued.

Give this a try if you want:
- Lower to mid steam – 2 full scenes and plenty of kisses
- American heroine, English hero
- Duke hero, heiress heroine
- Regency (1816)
- Compromised (ruined) heroine
- Nice mix of humor, banter, and relationship development

Ages:
- Heroine is 20, hero is about 29

My thoughts:
I was a bit conflicted about this book! There were so many cute scenes, but the hero really came across as skeevy to me a number of times and was a bit of a jerk in certain instances.

I really loved the humor here. And I fell in love with the heroine fairly soon into the book. She was just fun, she had her own personality and didn’t have a problem holding her own. I will admit a lot of times I struggle with American characters in historical romance but I had no issues here. Emma was a complete delight!

Alex, well...he came off a woman hater to me. I never really felt his hurt or pain from the past that made him so determined never to trust a woman or marry. So while he struggles with falling in love with Emma, I did love some parts of it. But he kept just not giving me what I want as a romance hero in most of the scenes in the book and ultimately I was disappointed in him.

Still, I really loved a lot of the humor here. And it was wonderful watching Alex fall for Emma – he just couldn’t help it even though he didn’t want it to happen. And there were a lot of cute scenes with them together. I did love after she was ruined and was hesitant about marrying him (rightfully so after how he acted!), how he kept trying to get her to marry him. There was a lot of cuteness in this book and I can see why so many loved it.

I do think if consent is a deal breaker for you in romance, you will want to bypass this book. There’s a number of times Alex really pushes or even crosses this line and I don’t think you will love him/forgive his actions here.


A few other notes:

Some examples of how Alex kind of sucks

“Alex?” she asked breathily. “What-what? Are you sure? I don’t know.”
Alex silenced her with a soft kiss. “Shh, darling. I promise you that I will not” he smiled wryly at his melodramatic words-”ravish you right here on the blanket. When we make love, it will be perfect, with no hesitations or misunderstandings between us.” He continued to drop gentle kisses across her face to ease her fears as he slipped his hand beneath her undergarments and began to tease the soft thatch of hair that protected her womanhood.
Emma’s breath caught in her throat, and she tensed up against him, twenty years of proper upbringing flooding her mind and telling her that she ought not to be in such a situation. She pressed a hand against his chest, feebly trying to push him away. “Wait, Alex, I’m not sure…”
“Not sure of what, love?”
Her voice quavered with apprehension. “Of you, of this, of anything.”
“You’re not sure of me?” he asked, trying to tease her fears away. “Are you telling me you’d rather be here with someone else.


So I get it, he was teasing. But he knows she’s nervous and uncertain and this is the route he chooses? Not admirable.

And directly afterwards

Alex groaned as he watched doubt and self-recrimination pour over Emma’s face. His body throbbed painfully, and quite frankly he did not have the energy to deal with her sudden attack of feminine sensibilities.
“I don’t blame you,” Emma said quickly. “I blame myself. I lost control of myself.”
Nothing she said could have said would have made him feel worse. She was such a little innocent; she had no idea what kind of sensual pleasure he had used on her. How like his brave darling to try to assume the responsibility for their lovemaking. But despite the guilt that was beginning to invade his mind, Alex wasn’t feeling particularly charitable. His body was still begging for release, straining his nerves.
“Emma,” he said suddenly, his voice even and controlled. “I’m only going to say this once. Do not regret what happened this afternoon. It was beautiful and natural, and you were everything I ever dreamed you would be. If you continue to berate yourself you’re only going ot make yourself sick. And if you feel that we should never again share our souls as we did today, well, you’re just going to have to accept that I will probably put up quite a fight.”


Wow, okay, so you know how she’s feeling and you let her continue to feel this way and in fact put it back again on her to give in to your own feelings and needs….

And a bit later again basically thinking about how he went into the experience knowing he wouldn’t get any pleasure

-”he had felt that the thrill of pleasuring Emma would be enough. And it had been – until she had begun to doubt herself, cheapening the experience with her shame.


shame on YOU Alex! Your behavior cheapened this whole scene...I felt bad for Emma here...

Content Warnings:

- Death of mother to illness
- Dubious consent – hero kisses the heroine after a pretty serious head injury
- Initially when the hero kisses the heroine (he’s almost 30) he believes the heroine ‘is barely 16’
- Brief mention of ‘savages’ in the Americas

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

Pg 28 – kiss (dubious consent – heroine is injured)
Pg 71 – dubious consent kiss
Pg 176 – kisses, fingering orgasm for heroine
Pg 233 – kisses
Pg 304 – kiss
Pg 330 – kisses, missionary