Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Hero Jerk Scale: 😠 😠 😠 😠 😠
Humor: A touch
Perspective: Third person mostly from the heroine though there are a couple small sections from the hero
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: Yes, two years later
Format: bought 1985 paperback version

Should I read in order?
I believe this is a stand alone.

Basic plot:
A trail of circumstances lead Jewel to marrying the cousin of the cold Earl of Moorland – and when her husband passes, she goes for her inheritance...

Give this a try if you want:
- Victorian (1841)
- London and English countryside setting
- you’re okay with plenty of heavy content warnings/old school feels (see bottom of review)
- body betrayed me trope
- touch of bargain – the hero agrees to acknowledge the heroine’s marriage to his since passed cousin, clothe her and feed her and in return she becomes a lady and annoys his mother (whom he hates)
- age gap – hero is 14-15 years older than the heroine
- widower/Earl hero
- rags to riches – heroine was raised on the streets of London and is turned into a lady
- child in the story (not a HUGE part)
- class difference
- touch of 'ugly duckling' feel
- lower to medium steam – 3 full scenes – not the MOST descriptive but explicit enough

Ages:
- Hero is 31, heroine is 16/17 ( I had to pretend she was older 😬 )

First line:
“You, Jool, get yer arse movin’ and do as yer bid! Now! Or, by God, I’ll...”

My thoughts:
Oof this one ended up being a definite jerk hero! I actually really loved the first half of the book – I was flying through it and enjoying and liking both characters.

But the second half had a big turn around in the characters behavior. It was a bit too much for me – Sebastian was too much of a jerk and his redemption left more to be desired, in my opinion. Jewel too made me quite mad at the end of the story. I was a bit surprised with the ending of the story and I liked the first half so I give 3 stars. The cover is gorgeous! Thinking I wouldn’t reread this one though.

Going to get into specifics now about my thoughts so marking for spoilers!

So the first half of the book I got into – the hero was cruel, sure, but I can like that if he turns it around or it kicks my heart around a bit. I was starting to care for both of them when Sebastian takes Jewel’s virginity. The consent is definitely questionable, but she’s willing. The way he treats her afterwards was horrendous. He cruelly leaves her in the country and makes sure she knows she’s nothing to him. And you know, I could even get behind that – Sebastian is so emotionally constipated and he caught the feels from Jewel so he has to run…

But then he sends her for her and brings her to London. He’s decided to make her his mistress. And this leads to the second half the book where I got so annoyed. You go through all of this emotional turmoil where he just treats her like garbage and the heroine hates him but still can’t resist him. Definitely themes of my body betrayed me trope, which I know is a common old school tool, but it’s just so icky to me. I hate the ‘brain fog’ that they go through – it gives me zero feels especially when it’s hatred before and after the kisses/intimate act. So you get to deal with that the second half the book. He calls her a whore and treats her like a whore and even though he took her virginity – he makes sure she knows he believes she’s been a whore on the street for multiple men since she was a child (which….eww. She IS a child STILL!)

BUT! BUT! What REALLY pissed me off about this one is Sebastian – who doesn’t talk about any of his feelings basically the whole book – has this entire monologue at the end where he just magically explains everything. He apologizes for what he did – and you find out that HE KNEW Jewels was a virgin that night. This is a million times worse to me. The fact that he knew he took her virginity then purposefully did everything he did is beyond disgusting to me. And we get no emotional turmoil for the most part – it’s just a magical turn around of the hero’s behavior.

Also a note: The hero points out and is aware of the heroine’s age – at one point he stops a sexual encounter because he draws the line at making love to inebriated little girls

Jewels I liked for the most part, until the end of the book. She just can’t get Sebastian out of her head even though it’s the most toxic AF relationship I’ve seen and wants him so badly – so she starts to entertain marriage to another man. I thought this was fine in the plot – except when you find out she purposefully is leading this man on and has no intention of marrying him and just wants to make Sebastian jealous. Definitely lowered my opinion of her especially when she goes so far as to plan a gretna green getaway within 24 hours – the fact that she never plans on following through with it made her a jerk to me too.

Of course we find out the man she was considering marriage to is a dick as well and tries to rape her….sigh…..

The other thing that was kind of weird was Sebastian’s daughter! She’s in the story, then she’s basically neglected for a large portion of it which is horrendously sad and horrible. Then she’s back as a brief plot point and then again neglected and ignored….and then she’s back again….I feel like this book needed to be more solidly put together. It could have really used the relationship with the child more and made it all feel more complete. Instead it seemed to jump from drama to drama and the child was just some weird plot prop when needed.

The worst part too was at the end of the book – Jewel has been strong the whole book, fighting Sebastian, putting him in his place (for the most part) and then when Sebastian has his heart to heart with her, she changes her mind and says she’s okay with being his mistress. Ummmmm WHAT?? It’s like she’s a different person. We go through this entire story and then she just is okay with something she hasn’t been okay with EVER and has fought tooth and nail….where’d your backbone go??? I’m guessing it was used as more of a point to try to show how AMAZING the hero was – he not only apologized but now is going to marry her EVEN THOUGH HE HAS THE OPTION TO JUST FUCK HER. Wow. What a hero here!!

Though, he does cry in the book and that made me VERY HAPPY. More heroes need to cry over their heroines especially a guy like this. So I ate that up.

I know, all this complaining and still 3 stars? I guess I’m just a toxic asshole too 😂

Quotes/spoiler-y thoughts:

Oof.

“Good. I want to hurt you.” The gutteral mutter was not his voice. Julia writhed, trying to pull her arms free of his paralyzing grip. Suddently, this man was frightening her. The icy mask was gone, shattered into a thousand pieces. In its place was a tortured twisted mortal man in pain himself and capable of inflicting pain. “I’ll enjoy hurting you.”
 

Content warnings:

- physical violence and assault
- sexual harassment and attempted sexual assault multiple times of heroine
- ‘gypsy’ used
- scenes of smoking
- toxic AF family
- murder
- child trauma resulting in selective mutism
- scenes of alcoholism/alcohol abuse
- nonconsensual/dubious consent – lots of forced kisses, scenes of the heroine saying ‘don’t’ and he does any way – lots of play with the ‘BBM (body betrayed me) trope where the heroine says no but her body says yes)
- implied infidelity – the hero goes with his mistress and is seen kissing her after he is with the heroine
- hero calls the heroine a bitch multiple times and doesn’t believe her/let her talk – super abusive. Is physically cruel to he and hurts her – I believe there is a kiss where he makes her bleed because he’s so harsh
- domestic violence between both the mains – hitting, slapping, throwing things, spitting in his face, holding her down, etc
- hero is a child of rape and it’s remembered on page by his mother (not extreme details)

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex: 

No 

 
Pg 128 – kiss
Pg 157 - 🔥kisses, fingering for her, sex in front of the fire (virginity loss for her)
Pg 205 – 🔥kisses that lead to missionary
Pg 260 – kiss
Pg 291 – 🔥blow job in the carriage
Pg 300 – brief description of lovemaking