Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension:⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥(there’s a few scenes but they are so short, not detailed and very vague)
Humor:
Perspective: third person from both hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? plot?
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: immediately
Cliffhanger: No this ends with a happily ever after for our mains
Epilogue: Yes, a few months later
Format: voluntarily read an advanced reader copy through NetGalley that I am very, very late on
Why I chose this book: I liked the cover and was curious when scrolling NetGalley
Mains: This is a M/F relationship between a cishet hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
This is the first book of Gillgannon’s Lord of the Borders series.

Basic plot:
Marared is angry about

Give this a try if you want:
- Medieval – 1204
- Wales setting
- English knight hero/Welsh heroine
- arranged marriage
- old school vibes
- enemies to lovers – she hates him
- lower steam – there’s a few open door scenes but they are short and vague

Ages:
- hero is around 30, didn’t catch heroine but I think she’s younger

First line:
Outside the hilltop fortress of Caradoc ap Mabon, the wind moaned and the rain swirled in furious gusts.

My thoughts:
This poor book probably didn’t stand a chance with me. Enemies to lovers isn’t a favorite for me unless it’s more playful – and I just finished another strong animosity book that didn’t do it for me.

This heroine just hates the hero for no reason other than he’s English. She’s Welsh and the Welsh are so much better in every way. So her arranged marriage leads her to be cruel, manipulate and scheme to try to get out of this marriage. The poor hero….she really does a number on him and it was just painful to read.

The steam is low and also includes a bit of body betrayed me trope which I despise. It takes any tension away for me. She hates him, but it just feels so good, even though she doesn’t want it, her mind is clouded by passion so her body gives in….then conveniently back to hating him and blaming him for everything.

This book wasn’t for me but I think it would be great for those that love enemies to lovers with an arranged marriage and those that like old school romance.

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: This is my first
Average rating from me: 3 stars
Favorite book: This by default

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

“Stupid Sais bastards! One of them stepped on my gown during the dancing! What clumsy oafs.”
“Aye,” Aoife answered. “Not only are they clumsy, but ugly. With that short hair they look like short sheep and their mustaches are puny things.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if other things about them were puny as well.” Marared spoke even louder. “In fact, I’ve heard it said that English knights are hung like field mice.”
Aoife made a spluttering noise. There was a sound from the garderobe. Marared and Aoife looked at each other in exhilarated dread.
“And I’ve heard their ballocks are solid wood,” Aoife added. “Just like their heads!”
Gerard of Malmsbury, who was finishing his business in the privy, clenched his jaw. He had a mind to thrust the curtain aside and show his tormentors exactly what sort of equipage this English knight possessed!
 

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

- hero thinks of the heroine as a ‘little bitch’
- some scenes of violence, manipulation, imprisonment

Author content warnings? Didn’t see any

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

 
Safe sex: 

  No 

 
How’s the consent? 

  It’s….okaaaaay. Like it’s rather dubious, very old school feeling – she hates him, he pushes a bit, when they get intimate she goes into that classic ‘mind fog’ body betrayed me writing but at its core it’s consensual. Then she hates him again after...so not the best for consent. 

 
Pregnancy/children in story? 

  Heroine gets pregnant at the end of the story 

 
Chapter 7 – kiss
Chapter 9 – kisses, oral for her (super brief), missionary (it’s all quite short and I’m not sure if she orgasms or not? Maybe?)
Chapter 12 – kiss, oral (very short) and implied sex

Total chapters: 21 plus an epilogue