This hit me right in the feels. And it was kinda trope bending? 

On paper, it was a second chance romance. Lockwood and Anna fell for each other and got married the old fashioned way (you know, an impoverished peer and an heiress marriage of convenience where they secretly loved each other). The past parts of this dual timeline where they were falling for each other warmed my cold dead heart. Then just after the wedding, Lockwood was accidentally (or on purpose? 👀) sent to a penal colony in Australia for FOUR YEARS, without anyone knowing. Then he was back. Hence, the second chance. 

But, then it also felt like an actual marriage of convenience? Something about the way they were married but super di-duper awkward post-their four year estrangement was giving me angsty MoC vibes—particularly of the ‘I’m in love with my wife but we’re not supposed to like each other and seeing her every day is crushing me into dust’ variety. My favourite 😈

Loved how, when we boiled down to it, the conflict was simple yet impactful. Loved how grounded the plot felt—in the historical setting, in the personalities and backstories of these MCs, and in the crazy inciting incident. And I loved how they were both kinda baddies, but also kinda goodies.

It was angsty, there was some gaslighting that was hard to read, and the bedroom times were less sexy, more 😳 because they were happening mid-character-arc. But still, this story was too impactful to get anything less than five stars from me.