This series is so good! This one brings us back to the original plot thread, and I have THEORIES about where Hoyt will take us next, and I absolutely can’t wait. (Give me the Ran book, and give it to me now.)

Julian and Elspeth were an odd coupling from what we’ve seen in the previous stories, but they work better than I expected. The age gap isn’t my favorite, but I think it was needed for Elspeth to have missed the family drama and almost entirely grown up in Scotland with the Wise Women, the feminist secret society that was introduced in the first book. Together they are the grumpiest/sunshiniest of grumpy/sunshines and I was here for all of it. The BDSM subplot was a nice addition too, even if malesub isn’t my usual jam. Julian’s backstory and guilt was handled well that it contributed to him as a character, but wasn’t why he was in to that lifestyle, so I really appreciated that also.

These covers still, though. These are more gothic romances than they would lead you to believe. Plus the title for this one is completely off-base, or kind of a spoiler for the end? This one also suffered from having a totally wrong summary on Goodreads, so I actually spent most of the book thinking it was spoilers, but it was just wrong.