Safety warning attached at end.

Does anyone know if this is the last book in the series?? I was thinking it was but didn't know for sure. I think this book can be read as a standalone. But the characters do build over time, so you will know them better if you read from the beginning. I do feel like Tom and Cassandra weren't mentioned overmuch in the previous books though. There wasn't as much of a character build as say, West, who went through a total transformation and had a lot of page time in the prior books. Every character from the other books were mentioned though. Devin and Kathleen, Garret, Phoebe and West, Pandora all have page time. Ethan, Rhys, Helen, and Gabriel might have a bit too but they are at least mentioned in passing by the other characters.

Tom is involved in the railway world, and as a mechanical engineer he is full of ideas. He is a hero on the spectrum (my assumption) and has acknowledged 5 feelings he has experienced and ignores the rest. He had a hard life growing up and brought himself up from nothing, creating a fortune and empire for himself. He has a self diagnosed frozen heart and knows he can never love. I am starting to feel like the “I can never love” theme from the hero is getting a little tiring, but it wasn't overly done in this book so I guess it's okay.

Cassandra is ready to find her love match this season. But as the season progresses, she gets into some trouble. Cassandra is described as a curvy girl, gaining almost a stone recently (14 pounds). I WISH the cover models were more representative of the characters described. Though I can't say I loved any cover in this series, really.

This book has all the steam concentrated towards the end. There's a few kisses spread throughout the beginning. So a bit of a slow burn. Also plenty of time passes in this story. Their relationship forms over at least 3 months, I can't remember now exactly how much time passes between interactions.

This wasn't my least favorite book in the series, that goes to Hello Stranger for me. But it's right after that. I just didn't like Tom much. I didn't dislike him. But I definitely didn't love him. I felt like he flipped his emotions 180 a few times in the book, and I couldn't really understand what made that switch happen. I didn't feel like I really knew him that well by the end. And Cassandra, to me, had even less depth to her. She's a sweet heroine, she didn't annoy me, but she was just kind of there. I was left not caring much about either character. It also seemed to be instalove/instalust between then and I was left without that build up of tension that I adore.

I loved the humor in this book. I thought there were quite a few hilarious one-liners and situations. West usually brings joy to the pages with his dialogue in it.

As for this series, I think I rate them
1. Marrying Winterborne
2. Cold-Hearted Rake
3. Devil's Daughter
4. Devil in Spring
5. Chasing Cassandra
6. Hello Stranger

As for her recent series, I think I liked The Wallflowers best, followed by The Ravenels, then The Hathaways.

Safety warning:

Spoiler

sexual assault, on page, non-penetration