Ugh. The first half of this book was fine, and I fully expected to give it 4 stars, despite the fact that Keir’s primary personality trait is SCOTTISH, and Merritt is just a mix of previous Ravenel heroines (she’s got a dude name like Garrett, she’s a widow like Phoebe, she’s a business owner like Pandora, she inexplicably wants to save children like Cassandra). But the second half of the book is a whole damn mess— it’s weirdly both 50 pages too long and then suddenly ends when you weren’t looking. The other Wallflower/Ravenel books managed to keep the Previous Main Characters nicely in check for the story, but they completely take over here as well. Keir is exactly who you think he is, zero surprises there, the attempted murder plot amounts to actually NOTHING, and

whoops, Merritt’s magically not infertile after all!

🙄 

I flipped between the audio and physical books for this one, Mary Jane Wells pulls it OUT with Keir’s Scottish accent, but alternately reading the written out accent in the dialogue was rough.

I enjoyed this one a lot, but I fully went into it expecting straight erotica (based on the title and cover), and it isn’t that at all. This was much more of a typical romance novel structure including a fun espionage plot, with just a side serving of BDSM.

So I WAS looking forward to this one, and I’m disappointed and insensibly angry about it. Why take Dr Garrett Gibson— previously established as a worldly badass who knows how to fight and takes care of herself— and put her in the a relationship where he’s now showing her how to throw a punch and she’s grossed out by SPAGHETTI of all things? Things did not get any better from there. She belittles a patient for her lack of BC and listening to her priest (what time does Garrett think she lives in? Also her BC was tracking her cycle, MUCH better than pulling out!), then flips a shit that she has to go to a social event where another doctor who is steering national medical policies wants to meet her, and she’s mad about that? (BITCH, WHEN do you think you live??) And there is very little I hate more than when the serious career woman takes her professional integrity and throws it straight out the window. Ethan on the other hand was great, but ACAB and the spy plot was straight up boooring.

Okay, so I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this entry in the Ravenels series, and I was so pleasantly surprised. Pandora has always seemed young throughout the series, and clearly neurodivergent, but in her own books she seems much more relatable in a “never felt like a grownup even when you are” way. And aside from being seriously AuDHD-coded, she suffers from deafness/tinnitus in one ear and vertigo. Gabriel is a little too good to be true, but I loved him, and their relationship was just delightful.

My one complaint would be a slight lack of plot… until the absolute insanity of the third act drama. It’s tonally a strange swerve for the story, and is very clearly just there to set up the story for the next book, focusing on kickass lady-doctor Garrett and previously barely introduced Inspector Ransom (totally his real name). I love her already, so I’m excited for their book, but I didn’t need it to encroach on this one quite so much.