This review feels harsh. Because this histrom was so well written—especially all the historical literary details and niche old timey words.

But I *am* a crank. Because:
▪️ I almost never give full-length rom-coms five stars (😅 seriously, have I even given one five stars?)—though I do love a novella length rom-com (and I’ve given all of Vasti’s novellas five stars)
▪️ I am not a fan of kids in books

So, on some level, this book was doomed because I hate fun apparently.

I did enjoy the first half—
✨ loved the absolutely idiotic internal monologue of this hero
✨ loved the ‘she’s matchmaking him with other ladies but he’s falling for her instead’ trope, a favourite
✨ loved that our heroine was so smart but also such a dumb-dumb (when it came to her feelings)

But it lost me with the second half. The kids started playing more of a role in the story, for one 🙃

And mostly, what I enjoyed about the first half of the romance plot just felt kinda ‘settled’ by the second half? The plot shifted from internal (character arc / couple compatibility) motivations to external (what to do about her library / our hero might not get custody of his younger siblings) stuff. And the characters lost a bit of their dumb-dumb-ness, which had been my favourite part.

The writing was so good, though, that I want to keep going with the series. If anyone can make me give a full-length historical rom-com five stars it’s this author.