Woof, this one was Dark with a capital D (which rhymes with P which stands for P*dophilia!) This was definitely more of what I was thinking of in terms of the Lords of Chaos and their role as villains, but Raphael’s trauma— and it ABOUNDED— really ate the whole story. I loved Iris and how justifiably annoyed she was in the beginning at his avoidance and indecisiveness, but then it just felt like he was running and she was hounding. She felt like both a victim in her glutton for punishment role and the attacker in her insistence on seducing him. And it was hard to feel like the sex scenes were sexy when they kept happening after revelations about his traumatic past and the Lords of Chaos. I’m glad there is at least one more novella to read, cause yeah, I’d hate to leave Maiden Lane here, and also only Hugh shows from any of the previous books, we don’t even get to see Alf, so that was a shame.

I have been WAITING for Alf’s story and I loved it. I was worried Hugh was going to be a bit of a stick in the mud but he turned it out as the hero, oh and also tormented single dad.  Alf’s story was a little wild, but I liked that it was established pretty early on that despite this consistent lie of pretending to be a boy, she does see herself as a woman. There was a line about Alf the boy not aging for the last 12 years or something, so I was disappointed at the unnecessary age gap when she said she was 21. I liked that it didn’t turn into a whole My Fair Lady bit though— all her “instruction” was done by Iris, and mostly off-screen. The Lords of Chaos turned out to be less villainous here than their previous appearances would lead us to expect, and I’m wondering how they’ll play into the next book and Dyemore’s story. Hoyt does love a bath scene and an emotional BJ though, and I am always here for both!! Loved the Godric & Megs contributions to the story, and I’m happy for Iris to get her own book. I did think there was going to be more with the backstory of Alf’s friend Ned, and we never did learn what Alf is short for… or what they’ll make long of it. Unless they don’t? Anyway, though, I love a book that makes me worry for the HEA before pulling it out, and this one did it wonderfully.

I found this novella to be a huge improvement over the last, even if it felt a little more rushed. D’Arque turned it out as a romantic lead, and we already knew we loved Sarah St John. I felt like thematically this was similar to Asa & Eve’s story in the rake/virgin scope with a dose of previous SA, but it didn’t feel like a retread. It did feel like Christmas really had nothing to do with anything (like Die Hard is more Christmassy than this), and the plot with d’Arque’s sick grandmother just… disappeared? But the fairytale of Prince Brad and the frog boosted this an extra half-star.

Straight out of the middle of the previous book comes the story of Hippolyta Royle, mysterious blackmailed heiress. Novellas are always tough for me because they couple in question has to fall in love so fast, but this one didn’t feel so rushed, which was nice. Matthew was not my favorite hero— he was a little ridiculous for not believing Hippolyta for as long as he did, and then seemed to jump into marriage with her awfully quickly for someone who literally JUST thought she was a whore. The sex scenes weren’t up to Hoyt’s usual standard for me however.

WELL. I really truly wondered how Hoyt was going to reform Montgomery into a romance hero, and the answer is that she didn’t, and I respect it so much. He’s a terrible blackmailer with no moral compass who occasionally dabbles in murder and kidnapping, and while we learn WHY he is this way, there’s never any sense of trying to excuse his behavior. And Bridget just… loves him. She’s great overall, but absolutely insane for it, what are you gonna do? The Lords of Chaos are bringing a new level of batshit to Maiden Lane, and I’m so interested to read the next full book, but I have to hit some novellas first.

At long last we are back with the Makepeaces, and black sheep middle child Asa does not disappoint. Eve was a surprise after her introduction last book (many MANY CWs for her backstory), and I love that Hoyt played with some of the traditional rake/virgin elements here, but spun them in a different way. And there’s a black guy! (But seriously, Jean-Marie/Tess prequel when?) Also that bath scene was next level.
I want to write more BUT I HAVE TO GO READ THE NEXT ONE NOW. Right now.

Ladies and gents, we are back in it! And in TROPE CITY in all the best ways. I loved Phoebe & James’ slowburn, forced proximity, he falls first, age gap, bodyguard story, and that doesn’t even scratch the surface of all the Just One Bed AND Just One Horse scenes. Plus can we have more everybody is disabled stories? I loved how they both had to learn how to navigate each other’s  disabilities respectfully. And even though Phoebe gets kidnapped seriously more than once and he does have to save her, she never felt like a damsel to me.

Well, I came for the smut and stayed for the… smut. Unfortunately the back half of this got kinda dull, and I felt like I was skimming through it to finish. Also it felt like a lot of significantly horrifying things happened and were just brushed aside. Fun, but based on Jessy’s character and her complete disrespect for people’s names, I don’t think I’m sticking with this series.

Oh man, I should have DNFed this and given it 2 stars like I had planned, because finishing it made me actively hate it. Did I get the wrong draft when I bought it from Amazon? Cause I cannot reconcile how much I hated this book with the rave reviews I’ve read. First of all, it needed an actual editor so badly. There are a lot of misspellings (“pinning” instead of pining, “ruff”) and misuse of words (overlooked, slurry, slug, sedan), and a basic proofread could have easily fixed those. But the story and their relationship just didn’t work either, and when I thought it was getting better, it somehow got suddenly irreversibly worse.

 I was a little disappointed with this one, tbh, although I still enjoyed it. The pacing just seemed off, they kissed once and then are basically professing their affections for one another. And the premise of them living in this burnt out pleasure garden is weird to begin with. The mystery of Apollo’s incarceration doesn’t have an especially satisfying resolution, and I was a little disappointed to learn

that Indio was adopted. I love stories where people love children as their own, but at least once Lily had made comments (such as regarding her first time having sex since “before Indio was born) that led me to believe she’s physically gone through childbirth, and that it was an experience I related with, so I was sorry to learn that wasn’t the case.

Montgomery is an interesting addition to Maiden Lane, and I’ll be interested to see how he evolves enough to become MMC material.