The twist at the end!! I saw it coming, but I loved it anyways. I wish it had played out more - everything was a whirlwind. The initial start was about a 3 star read, but the ending had me hooked.

I'm not a huge historical romance reader, but I absolutely adored how put together this book was - the characters, the story, and the writing had me absolutely hooked! This takes place in 1875 London, with August and her family visiting from New York. Already, there's a huge difference in how the Crenshaw family conducts themselves versus those of London society. For one - August works for her family business. As a result, rumours state that she's "mannish," thus making her ineligible for a proper match (which August thinks is trash, I agree obviously).

That being said, I loved how little drama there was through this book (for the most part, but we'll get into that later). I loved that despite August fulfulling the I'm-not-like-other-girls trope, she never shames the women around her for how they conduct their lives - she shows pity for those forced into marriage, and respects those who are able to make the system work for them without bringing shame. It was refreshing that there wasn't any shame thrown around - it's just August didn't want that for herself and I loved how willing she was to fight for the freedom of her sister and herself to marry who they loved.

Can I also note that Evan is the KING of consent and it wasn't obvious or overstated. His character growth through the book was fantastic - he always tried not to stomp on August's ideals and characters, despite needing to marry her to save his estates and support his family and staff. I appreciated how much he cared about what she wanted, even if it was something as simple as a kiss.

Tension. There was so much delicious tension between August and Evan from the very beginning and their verbal sparring made me smile often through the book, and showed how very equal they were in wit and humour. There's so much detail and depth in all characters, not just the MCs. Everyone had a chance to show off their personality which added to the whole story and world immensely.

My one gripe with the book is the end. As noted, this book has little drama, but the end has two fairly big misunderstandings/complications that cause a rift between the MCs that was resolved all too quickly. A whole book developing and growing these characters and the end reward was so rushed that it took away from the overall story as a result. It left the book feeling a little unresolved and didn't leave me fully satisfied, even though it was the end I wanted, which is a real shame and took a star off from my overall rating.

As a whole, this book surprised me in its depth and in its characters. I'm extremely excited to read Violet's companion novel in July when it releases!

Plot: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
World Building: 4.5/5
Writing: 4.5/5
Pacing: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
GoodReads Rating: 3.99/5

eARC obtained via Berkley via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Jaron is the middle-grade version of Darrow from Red Rising and I'm very entertained. Action-packed and riveting!