Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖 (While I didn’t love this story, it was still a very easy read)
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞 (The idea of love at first sight is romantic and some things the hero thought were romantic but the hero also ruined a lot of it for me and said a lot of really UNromantic things...)
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 (I definitely prefer more explicitness in my scenes and want them more developed)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥
Humor: Yes, a bit. Much of the book is an enemies to lovers animosity, so it will be funnier if you enjoy that type of interaction
Perspective: third person from both the hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? slow to medium
When mains are first on page together: immediately
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, a few months in the future
Format: read an e-book version through the library (Hoopla)
Why I chose this book: I eventually want to read all Quinn’s work. This was next on the chronological list of titles from Fantastic Fiction
Mains: This is a M/F relationship between a cishet hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
This is book 1 in Quinn’s Lyndon Sisters series.

Basic plot:
Robert falls in love with Victoria at first sight at the pond on his property.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency – 1816 for most of the story (1809 for first few chapters)
- Kent setting
- Earl and future Marquess hero
- heroine is the daughter of a vicar turned governess turned seamstress
- class difference
- second chance
- forbidden love – the hero’s father forbids the match
- love at first sight
- midnight window knocks
- enemies to lovers
- possessive/jealous hero – he’s a bit over the top with his obsession
- must cuddle to get warm
- he abducts her to the seaside
- lower steam – 2 full scenes towards the end but lots of kisses!

Ages:
- heroine is 17, hero 24 at the start of the story (only a few chapters). For the majority of the story, heroine is 24, hero is about 31

First line:
Robert Kremble, Earl of Macclesfield, had never been given to flights of fancy, but when he saw the girl by the lake, he feel in love instantly.

My thoughts:
This one was a bit of a flop for me, sadly.

It did have some things I liked – I like that Quinn’s books are just easy reads. They go fast, I like that she has a lot of dialogue between the mains and they spend a lot of time on page together. They are simpler books and those are my fave for romance! This one is second chance but I loved that we got the whole beginning and the first meeting so it didn’t have ‘lets walk into a dumpster fire’ vibe that a lot of second chance has for me. A few parts were funny.

But overall this book just gave me the icks. The hero was obnoxious and pushy and said things that I REALLY didn’t like. I can like pushy, aggressive, jerky heroes. But it needs to have...other things that really pull me in and this book didn’t. He said things like ‘shut up’ and was just rude and mean and cruel. And the way the heroine just seemed to despise him didn’t endear him to me. They didn’t seem to listen to or respect each other at all. Some couples just don’t leave me feeling like they will truly have a good life together and sadly that’s how I felt about these two...

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: 16
Average rating from me: 3.25 stars
Favorite book: Minx

Quotes any typos are my own! I am bad with typos, I apologize

The weight of his body pressed her into the mattress, and one of his hands wrapped around her calf, squeezing and caressing its way up past her knee.
“I’m going to love you, Torie,” Robert said fiercely. “I’m going to love you until you can’t move. I’m going to love you until you can’t think.” His hand traveled ever higher, reaching the hot skin of her upper thigh where her stockings ended. “I’m going to love you the way I should have before.”
 

Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.

- parental and sibling death (childbirth death and cancer)
- domestic abuse – the heroine’s father slaps her
- possible fatfobic language - “Although I cannot imagine that Lady H. is unaware that you are far more beautiful than she is, and I would not put it past her to purposefully try to make you fat.”
- definitely some elements of dubious consent – examples include But he was learning that this need was something he just couldn’t control. And hell, why should he have to? She wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her. It was right there in her eyes every time she looked at him. // “I’m going to kiss you now,” he said slowly, his words punctuated by ragged breathing. “I’m going to kiss you, and I’m not going to stop. Do you understand?”
She didn’t move.
“Once my lips touch yours…”

And he also kidnaps her
- attempted rape of heroine by a side character
Author content warnings? Nothing listed
 

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex aspects, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:

 
Safe sex: 

  No 

 
How’s the consent? 

  Consent is not the best in this one – definitely elements of dubious consent – there is a scene where the heroine is clear she wants him out and he doesn’t listen and it leads to kisses and another when he asks for a kiss and she says no and he does it anyway. He also abducts her to his cottage and just doesn’t listen to or respect her with much of what she says. But the sex acts are consensual. 

 
Pregnancy/children in story? 

  The heroine is a governess, so her charge is a 5 year old boy that has quite a bit of page time, the heroine is pregnant in the epilogue 

 
Chapter 1 – multiple kisses throughout the chapter (3 or so)
Chapter 2 – kisses and breast play
Chapter 5 – kisses
Chapter 11 – kiss
Chapter 12 – kiss
Chapter 18 – kisses
Chapter 19 – 🔥missionary at the beach house
Chapter 21 – 🔥fingering for her in the carriage, sex

Total chapters 22 and an epilogue