As the description says, Asa Makepeace is "bawdy & bold" and Eve Dinwoody is prim, proper, and super uptight. Also she's suffering from a big trauma from her past, and cannot be touched by men and is terrified of dogs. But her brother, supposedly in hiding due to all his nefarious deeds and black mailings, but the same brother who rescued her from said trauma, has put her in charge of his estate. And now she must work with Asa Makepeace and help fund his pleasure garden dreams.

Tempestuous men building pleasure gardens as their ONE wish is my fav niche trope. I also love a big burly lothario who turns to absolute velvet for the one who finally challenges him and makes him tumble into love. This was great, and also the first book I've finished in two weeks.

ALSO there is a DOVE and a DOG and really really really great mutual masturbation scenes. WOW. And the consent is pretty fantastic, especially since Asa tries to make sure Eve is comfortable with his touch and absolutely wants it (there is a forced kiss scene I did not like and it felt out of place-their first kiss).

check out #bMLread2020 for my live tweet of this one!

CWs: violence, blood, a dog is hurt (but does not die), sexual assualt/attempted rape of a child, in the past, described, child rape discussed, blackmail.