Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: Yes
Perspective: Third person from both hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
This stands alone well, but book 1 is delicious and sets up what’s going on here – they take place concurrently for the most part.

Basic plot:
Christian de Bord has finally found who has been drawling salacious pictures of him for a society pamphlet and he is ready to make her pay.

Give this a try if you want:
- Late Regency time period (1821)
- widower Marquess hero
- artist heroine – who perhaps draws porn
- a small section of letters written to each other
- age gap/older hero – hero is 13 years older than the heroine
- vegetarian heroine and an animal lover (with some feline company on page!)
- bespectacled hero
- BEARDED HERO!! (Sorry I yelled. Its just been too long since I was able to say that)
- one bed at the inn
- Medium to high steam – 3 scenes within a shorter page count

Ages:
- Hero is 38, heroine is 25

My thoughts:
How can another book by Vasti be pure perfection???? I think I liked this one even MORE than the first book, and I didn’t think that was possible.

Vasti has quickly become one of my favorite authors. She has all my favorite things. There’s delicious angsty, emotional pull between the characters. There’s humor. There’s lovely character depth (and somehow she still does this in a novella! A novella!!). Steamy scenes that flare my insides on tug on my heart with their touching intimacy. Humor! It truly has been the absolute best of all the romance catnip for me. I am so in love!

Christian is one of my favorite types of heroes. He’s a bit dark. He has baggage from his past and is torn up inside with his wanting for Matilda, yet determined to stay away. The slow fall of the marquess was delicious.

Matilda was also a delight. I loved how she was trying to find herself and what she wanted in this life. I adored her strength and confidence and I LOVED that she’s a vegetarian (as a fellow vegetarian I never come across this in historical). I loved how sweet she was. I feel for Matilda just as Christian did.

Vasti’s novellas pack the most wonderful punch. I cannot wait for more from her. Can. Not. Wait!

Quotes/thoughts:

Dear Lady Matilda,
I beg your pardon. My note this morning was inappropriate. I cannot say what came over me. It would ease my mind if you would throw it in the fireplace.
Christian de Bord, Lord Ashford
----
And three, you are the most obstinate man I have ever encountered.
I have enclosed for you a picture of a man with the head of a pig. I leave you to wonder at its significance.
----
“You think you know what you like,” he hissed into her ear. “But you don’t really know, do you? You cannot imagine, little girl, what I want to do to you.”
---
“Do you enjoy this?” asked Ashford. His face was still forbidding.
“Enjoy what?”
“Doing just as you please. Tossing expectation to the ground and running over it in your phaeton.”
---
Conversation was likewise impossible. The problem, he had discovered, was that when he talked with her, he-he-
He liked her. He fancied her. He thought she was wonderful.
It was an absolute goddamned disaster.
----
“Matilda,” he said, and it was his dark voice again. Low and commanding. He had not heard himself use that voice in a very long time. “Are you naked underneath that dressing gown?”
---
He was a cad. A blackguard. He had taken advantage of her. He wanted to do it again. He could not sit across from her without wanting to get down on his knees in front of her, push up her skirts, and lick her cunny until she came.
---
“He started to track her voice, but then he paused.
He looked at the library door for a long moment.
And then he shut it. And before he could think too hard about what he was doing, he turned the key.


A few spoilers about the ending of the book I loved -
 

Content warnings:

- Mention of hero losing his wife
- There is a scene where the heroine’s twin is trying to get information and the hero starts kissing her, thinking her Matilda
- Hero lost his mother when he was an infant
- Mention of influenza taking his father and stepmother
- Hero had an unhappy marriage to his first wife
- Remembrance of attempted sexual assault of when Matilda was 16

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
52% - 🔥 touches, spanking for her, breast play, oral for her in the one bed at the inn
71% - 🔥 kiss, some light edging, fingering/oral for her, sex against the bookshelves in the library
82% - 🔥 kisses, light biting, heroine tied to the headboard, oral/fingering her her, her on top, light spanking
100% - kiss 

 

Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A bit
Perspective: Third person from both hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
Ideally yes – there’s some page time with prior characters in the series and the series really is fabulous! But overall it’s okay on its own. There’s not a lot of page time for these characters in the prior books.

Basic plot:
After meeting Ollie years earlier, sick and recovering, Necessity is stunned at the chance to redo his ailing gardens and getting her hands on the plans of Capability Brown.

Give this a try if you want:
- late Regency time period (1828)
- mostly country estate setting
- soldier hero
- light touch of second chance – these two meet and have a light connection 3 years earlier
- hero is described as a ‘proper, regal grump’
- scarred hero – he was attacked outside a club in a prior novel in the series with a knife and sustained injury to his face
- hero has gray in his hair and is described as a ‘proper, regal grump’
- lightly experienced heroine – she had a previous relationship but didn’t get to explore everything she wanted to
- hero calls the heroine “sprite”
- work place romance – hero is an earl and the heroine is his hired gardener
- lessons – heroine wants to experience things she didn’t get to in her prior relationship – positions, locations….
- higher steam (4 full scenes within a shorter page count)

My thoughts:
Tracy Sumner has a such a fun series going with this one. It really has so many fun stories and personalities tied together. In this one, MacCauley wants his brother to find love like him, and sets up the gardener in his country manor to tempt him.

I struggled with this one a bit because it felt a bit like instalust? We get a short scene of them meeting years before, but it was nothing intense or engaging to me for the most part. So when they feel like they jump into this relationship so fast, I felt like I was missing something a bit. I felt like they didn’t know each other as well as I wanted them to know each other. And because of those things the tension was lighter for me in this one.

They have...not really an enemies to lovers relationship but it’s a touch volatile. It’s a bit bantery with lots of push and pull. I thought they were both a bit too stubborn in this book was a bit frustrated with their ending behavior.

Overall though, it was a scorching read and the characters were enjoyable, if not my favorite. Hope everyone enjoys if they give it a try!

Quotes/thoughts:

I love when the hero orders the heroine to come to him.

“Miss Byrne, come here.” He beckoned with two fingers. Now.
---
“Here you are, in tight trousers and a wicked smile, looking like something out of a fantasy I’ve contacted. Revealing your, let’s be honest and call them what they are, your fantasies. To me. The melancholy Earl of Stanford. I know you’ll want to punch me for saying this, but I think I owe my brother a considerable gift for sending you to me.”
---
“This job is designed for me, Sprite. I will be so agreeable. I’m happy to put through any course you want me to run to prove myself. Happy to take orders or give them if that’s what you find you like. I have a month to show you everything you missed the first time around. Isn’t that what you said you needed to get my grounds in order? Daylight reserved for the gardens, and the nights reserved for us.”

---
This is so funny

Although the Leighton Cluster – so called because of their friendship with the Duke of Leighton and the fact that they traveled in a pack
----
Also, he couldn’t tell a servant why the bed was half collapsed, either. Unlike most of the ton, and he was thankful for it, he was handy with a hammer.
---
“Miss me?” she whispered, her lips going inside his open collar to press a moist kiss to his collarbone. “I love when you don’t shave. Umm…” She snuggled his jaw, his neck. Taking small, sharp nips that were undermining his vow to return her straightaway to the main house. “Your stubble against my thighs feels so good. Have I told you that? I think I have. You look like a pirate, all swarthy. Set to pillage,” she giggled. “Pillage me.”
 

Content warnings:

- Abusive home life and father
- Heroine has memories of her mother selling her body and also had to leave her home after her parents died so she wouldn’t be sexually assaulted by her landlord (who liked young girls)
- Heroine lost her family to cholera and was orphaned at a young age (12)
- Addiction – hero struggled with opium addiction and avoids alcohol because of this
- Mention of the heroine suffering from starvation and hunger when she was younger

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
28% - kiss against a wall
48% - 🔥 kisses, fingering for her, hero comes in his pants (she’s on a work bench)
54% - 🔥 kisses, fingering/oral for her, missionary (in bed)
59% - brief mention of her on top
65% - mention of when they did it in the stables with her hands pinned over her head but no details (boooo)
70% - 🔥 him lifting her against a door sex
87% - 🔥 blow job (incomplete), sex against the wall 

 

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A touch
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
It’s not totally necessary – most of the focus is on the main couple. BUT the hero has a decent amount of page time in the prior book (Scoundrel of My Heart) so I’d read that first, and that one is really a continuation of book Beauty Tempts the Beast, which is book 6 in the Sins for All Seasons series and they really flow together (and some couples are mentioned here) so you might as well go back 50 books and just start at the beginning of Heath’s chronological works lol. (I kid! But if you are a completionist, Beyond Scandal and Desire is the first book of the Sins for All Seasons series where I think all of this starts

Basic plot:
Penelope has been in love with the duke for a number of years. Handling his affairs as his secretary, her hardest task is to be helping him select a wife to be his duchess when it’s the one place she longs to be.

Give this a try if you want:
- Victorian time period (1874)
- London setting
- a touch of road trip – they travel for a small section of the story
- class difference – hero is a duke, heroine working class
- work place romance feel – the heroine is the hero’s secretary (and has worked for him for 8 years or so)
- unrequited love (from both!)
- Celibate hero (it’s been a year)
- hero nurses heroine back to health
- consent is established
- medium steam – there are 4 full scenes, one is a bit short. Some of Heath’s prose is on the poetic instead of the explicit
- heroine has a secret

Ages:
- Heroine is 28, hero is 34

My thoughts:
So, I think when I next try Heath, I will actually read her instead of listening to audio. I usually like Kate Reading for the most part, but I had a disconnect with this book and the prior in the series (both on audio) but when I skimmed through parts of the e-book to take quotes, I was more captivated than before. Perhaps it’s my mood – but I may have to reread this some day and see if my rating changes.

As it is, I wasn’t in love with this one. I generally thought most of it was okay – I liked Penelope and I liked King. But I think I struggled a bit with him looking for a different wife almost the whole book. Being romance I knew it would work out okay but it just left me with a bit of a grossed out feeling as their relationship moved forward. It just didn’t tug on my heart and I felt lukewarm about the whole thing. I knew I was reading (listening) emotional things...I know. My heart is dead and I’m awful. I also didn’t like some of his reactions and thoughts when we find out the heroine’s secret towards the end.

So yeah I think it was just me with this book – if you are a fan of unrequited love especially, I think you will adore this novel. There’s so much pining for each other and they spend a lot of time together and thinking about each other.

Quotes/thoughts:

This is so cute


King had the enviable skill of concentrating on more than one thing at a time, so as Lancaster waxed on about his inventioned – a clock that would emit an alarm at a particular time designated by its owner – he appeared to be giving his full attention to the inventor while out of the corner of his eye, he admired Pettypeace’s new frock.

---
I have heard this a time or two, but honestly I only fell for it hard with Adam in Karen Marie Moning’s The Immortal Highlander lol.

A hunger no woman had stirred within him in a good long while, if ever. The potency of it nearly dropped him to his knees, and he was a man who never went to his knees, not for anyone.

But he also makes it amazing at the end

He lowered himself to a knee.
Through the thundering in her ears, she barely heard the gasps and mumbles. “What are you doing?”
“For you, Penelope, I will go to a knee. I’ll go down on both if you prefer.”

Content warnings:

- Hero visits a mistress but nothing happens because he can’t get the heroine out of his mind
- Heroine’s past (view spoiler)

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes: (this is hoopla audio and might vary from other formats)

14% - mention of heroine masturbating in the carriage
54% - kisses
59% - 🔥 kisses, oral for her, missionary in the duke’s bedchamber
72% - 🔥 kisses, fingering for her in a carriage
81% - 🔥 outdoor sex against a tree
99% - 🔥 kisses, missionary (epilogue sex) 

 I am still love hating these books. I struggle with the writing style still. I get annoyed with the way some of the characters talk and think. But I am getting used to it. Some parts I get bored. Some parts I am captivated. Some I am angry I am not getting any answers after reading 2000 pages and at the next turn I'm just breathless with goosebumps because of the little crumbs that make me wonder.

I cannot help but compare these to her Highlander historical romance series and find it lacking. I prefer her writing in those, I prefer sexual tension in those.

I keep hearing the good stuff is coming and I am holding out for it. But sometimes I am worried the pay off won't be worth it.

Wanted to add a steam note: I had this at a 1 steam. There is a section that has a lot of sex for Mac but it's very light, it's not detailed or explicit. You get little snippets here and there but due to the lack of details and emotional pull I marked it as a 1 steam.

Why 5 stars? Because this one really did tug on my emotions and really engage me. I did not want to stop reading and stayed up way too late to finish it. 

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥 (2-3 – one scene was more unpleasant and I’m not sure everyone would count it)
Humor: Not much
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
This is the first book in Sookoo’s The Storme Brothers series.

Basic plot:
Andrew Storme, the Earl of Hadleigh, takes himself off to the countryside after fighting with his brothers in London. Here, he meets impoverished Miss Sarah Copeland and a marriage of convenience blossoms.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency time period (1817)
- countryside setting
- hero suffers from bouts of anxiety
- a bit of Cinderella vibes – heroine is a governess to her own family members
- bespectacled heroine that enjoys playing the flute
- celibate hero (hasn’t had a woman in his bed for a few years)
- emotionally strong hero (hero cries)
- medium steam – 2-3 full scenes (the first one, some might not count as it’s an unpleasant wedding night with some dubious consent)

Ages:
- Heroine is 34, hero is 40

My thoughts:
I struggled so hard with this book. Perhaps it was my mood, because honestly this whole week has been depressing for me and then everything in this book seemed depressing too.

I never grew to care about Andrew. I found him unpleasant. He seemed to be filled with self pity and self loathing and never became a strong enough person for me to care about. He has anxiety and anger issues, and seriously kudos to Sookoo for writing an anxiety ridden hero because I love seeing that represented especially in a man. But the bouts of anxiety weren’t developed enough for me – I wanted to understand his anxiety better. I just thought the fact that he blames himself for all the family’s problems because he didn’t deny war commissions a bit of a stretch for the attitude and problems the he had.

I liked Sarah all right, but I did think she was lacking a bit of depth. She’s a musician and her love is for the flute, but I wasn’t getting a musician’s heart from her. There was a lot of focus on the two of them, which I really appreciated, but it was more a lot of negativity, trying to get Andrew to deal with what has been dealt to him in life.

I would definitely try Sookoo again even though this one didn’t work the best for me.

Content warnings:

- scenes of anger, emotional anguish and anxiety
- a scene with some painful sex
- mention of brother struggling with suicidal thoughts and actions
- carriage accident on page (minor injuries and they land in water)

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

20% - kiss
33% - kiss
48% - kisses, hero turns the heroine away from him and takes her from behind over a bed. This scene – I’m not sure to count it as a flame because the heroine is in pain and not happy and the hero is filled with self loathing. So I added a range to the flame count
67% - kisses, missionary (bed)
92% - kisses, oral for her, blow job (incomplete), her on top (bed) 

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: Not much
Perspective: First person switching between chapters of hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
There is a novella, Her Alien Exchange, that is set in the same writing world as this one, but it’s not necessary to read prior to this. (Though I did enjoy it and recommend it!)

Basic plot:
Luan is trying to balance the politics of her world to prevent war when she is pushing to participating in the mating ceremony. Here, she meets a bounty hunter that has her wondering if it’s time to mate.

Give this a try if you want:
- BOTH alien mains
- science fiction romance
- tattooed hero
- bounty hunter hero
- fated mates
- hero nurses heroine back to health
- class difference – heroine is a princess and leader to her planet and hero is a bounty hunter/former slave
- medium steam – there are 3 scenes but 2 are close together at the end

My thoughts:
So I am sad I struggled with this one a bit. Maybe it’s because of reading the prequel novella first and I had a different direction going in my head?

This one is all in the same ‘book universe’ as the novella and connected in that way, but overall a very separate feel. In this one, we are taken to an alien world with two alien mains. The novella seemed a lot more character focused and higher steam and that was my romance jam :)

So, things I appreciated about this one -
- I liked the world building and character cultures that were introduced. It was definitely all new and unique feeling to me
- I liked that we got pretty equal time in both character’s heads
- I loved the fated mates feelings here and the bit of class difference angst
- I liked that it was very unpredictable to me

But I struggled with -
- There wasn’t as much character focus as I wanted. As in, romantically I guess? There is a lot of politics being introduced here and that is really just a personal preference for me that it’s not my thing.
- I felt a bit overwhelmed with the amount of new things I was trying to learn. Learn about them as different species and their cultures, and the planet, and the various other species and customs that were coming into play. I felt like we were well in the middle of some intergalactic policies and talk of being on the brink of war and I felt like I was scrambling to find footing most of the book for exactly what was going on.
- I did feel like I knew the characters a bit, but at the end I still felt like I didn’t know them very well. (This might come in later novels).
- The steam was there but didn’t work the best for me because for me (Again, this is all subjective to what I like/prefer) because of the bit of instalust in the beginning. We get a scene towards the beginning but they had just met so I was still trying to figure out who they were. The other scenes were towards the end and I felt like a lot of the focus had been on the politics of the planet’s uncertainty more than the characters.

Overall though I can feel the strong heart of the author within this novel. I think if you are searching for some unique alien world building and like political intrigue, this series will really captivate you.

Cock/Hero Stats:

Hero is from Sholonus, which was destroyed. (Not sure how many of his kind are left, if any) They mate for life and being separated from their mate could possibly kill them. His cock seems fairly normal? But has ridges. They have mating runes that look like tattoos and appear on their bodies when they are mated to another (and doesn’t involve penetration necessarily). He can mark his mate with his cock during orgasm by injecting the same cells into that make up his mating runes. His species, Shol, can only claim 1 mate and these cells help him find her and keep her protected. He also has pointed ears

Heroine Stats

Heroine is an estreld and the more jewels displayed on an estreld’s arms the more powerful they were. It is the way the land has blessed their species to absorb more of the moon’s rays. When a female is ready to mate they will feel the pull of their shoulder glands pulse, letting them know that they are likely to be ready to release their eggs. When they are fertile, their wings also sprout. She glows like the moon and has fangs.

Content warnings:

Brief mention of loss of the heroine’s siblings
Slavery

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

11% - hero must provide a ‘sample’, and after seeing a transmission of the heroine, he jerks off with her in mind (it’s short and not explicit)
28% - 🔥 kiss, fingering for her
75% - 🔥 touches, kisses, oral for her, cock touches, fingering for her, missionary
91% - 🔥 kisses, oral for her, missionary/doggy style (exhibitionism) 

 Overall: 4.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥
Humor: A bit
Perspective: Mostly first person from the heroine, though there are a few short chapters in third person from the hero

Should I read in order?
This is the first book in Banks’s Clan MacLaoch Curse series.

Basic plot:
After graduating college, Nicole decides to research her family’s history while waiting for a job offer. Her only possible lead is the Minory line from the Isle of Skye. Only when she arrives, she finds her family has been a part of a centuries long curse with the MacLaoch clan.

Give this a try if you want:
- contemporary romance with some very light paranormal elements
- fated mates
- American heroine/Scottish hero pairing
- hero is a clan chieftain/heroine is a biologist graduate
- lower steam – 1 full scene that was on the poetic/flowery side instead of explicit
- long standing family curse

Ages:
- Hero is close to 38, heroine is 28

My thoughts:
I think this book was exactly what I needed for my mood right now! I don’t usually read contemporary, but I thought if anything would get me to like it, it would be a Scottish male lead with some history of a family curse tied in. And I think it was perfection for me.

I enjoyed the slow burn tension building of Rowan and Nicole. I liked their banter together, their push and pull. And behind it all the driving force of a centuries long love story. The paranormal aspect was just enough to give you a bit of chills and wonderment, but not enough to make it overwhelming or take away from their story.

In an ideal world, I would have had a bit less villain activity (I just get annoyed with villains, mostly, but that’s just me!), more time from Rowan’s perspective, and a touch more steam or more explicitness/development for the intimate scenes, but overall these are minor complaints. I loved this story. I didn’t want to put it down. I couldn’t wait for them to come together and I was getting tingles from their wanting each other. I thought there was a lot of really sweet scenes between them, especially the hand fasting.

This book ends with a happy for now, but there is more to come in book 2 (not sure yet what direction it’s going in – how much is Rowan and Nicole, how much is the legend from the past)


Content warnings:

- Scenes of death and violence from war in the middle east including execution
- Attempted rape, kidnapping, physical violence, gunshot threat and shooting

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

Pg 151 kiss
Pg 190 kiss
Pg 198 kisses, oral for her, missionary 

Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥
Humor: Just a bit
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
This is the first book in Moore’s Flower Sisters series, but there is a prequel novella about the parents that is a freebie newsletter grab (And I really enjoyed it!)

Basic plot:
After a love at first meet encounter, Alex can’t get Rose out of his mind. But it’s Fern that he is spending all the time with when they come to a bargain agreement.

Give this a try if you want:
- Victorian time period (1899)
- Oxfordshire setting
- masquerade
- twins switching places
- secret identity
- hero is not a virgin, but not very experienced either
- bargain – heroine will help the hero secure an engagement to her sister if he helps with with mathematics
- lower steam – slow burn with 2 full scenes but they are very close together so I counted as 1 flame
- bluestocking heroine that loves mathematics
- neurodiverse rep
- working class hero and daughter of a viscount

Ages:
- Hero is 27, heroine is 20

My thoughts:
This is Moore’s full length debut and I am really happy to see a new voice in the historical romance world. I read the prequel novella of the parents first and really loved her writing style, humor, and how some of the plot devices didn’t go quite like I thought they would.

In this one, I did have a bit of a character disconnect though. It was purely personal – I just never came to love either the hero or the heroine so I struggled a bit. Secret keeping is always hard for me to love in romance and that is a decent part of the plot in this one. So if you don’t have those hang ups, I think this one will work a lot better for you!

I enjoyed how different this one felt from my recent HR reads. I haven’t read too many where the heroine is interested in studying a ‘forbidden’ subject and really appreciated the history and author notes and the time spent integrating those aspects into the novel. I liked how real the family felt. I appreciated Fern’s struggles and perspective with how she views the world. There were some really sweet scenes in this one I appreciated and I do think I will like some of the later books in the series with the sister’s stories and Alex’s friend, Henry.


Quotes/spoiler-y thoughts:

Something we can all relate to

Fern huffed out a breath, wishing for a third arm so she could cover her ears without putting down her book.

---

Risks were not a part of Alex’s vision and could only disrupt his plans. But what would happen if he did not take a risk now? He could miss out on love, or at least the opportunity to find it.
Alex stared out the window at the retreating Boar’s Hill. She is in there, he thought. My future is in that house. And tomorrow I will find her.


A few last thoughts about what didn’t work for me the best in this story – Rose and Fern seemed to have a fairly strong relationship in the beginning. It seemed like they would be able to share those things and uncertainties with each other. And I thought there would be more forgiveness. So the fact that Fern doesn’t believe she can be honest with, well, anyone, was really sad. And honestly Rose’s reaction was really distasteful to me. Not that it was unwarranted...but it was pretty aggressive and it leaves me dissatisfied that it wasn’t resolved by the end of the story. (Isn’t that what we get in romance? Everything wrapped up in a nice package with a bow by the end of the story??? lol) I was also disappointed that Alex goes and mopes for a month before anything progressed forward for them at the end of the story. Overall I wasn’t happy with anything at the end of the story. BUT I think it will come together well in later books and I am definitely eager to try those.

Oh, I also wasn’t happy with the sex scene in that we go into the scene thinking Alex will still go through with marrying Rose but wants them to have a night together for themselves first. It just felt pretty icky and I ended up being anxious about it the whole time.

Content warnings:

Brief mention of hero losing his father and the hero supporting his mother
Brief scene of terror for the heroine in an exuberant crowd where she begins to get overstimulated and panic
Some brief mentions of society’s antisemitism

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

21% - kiss shared when Alex thinks the heroine is Rose instead of Fern
49% - Rose presses a brief kiss to Alex’s mouth
54% - kiss between Alex and Fern
60% - breast touches, kisses (Alex and Fern)
62% - kisses
72% - 🔥 kisses, breast play, light/vague fingering/oral for her, missionary (in a rotunda on a blanket outside)
76% - her on top 

Overall: 3.5 stars rounded to a full ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for breaking my heart at the end
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Intimate Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: Yes! Plenty of humor, banter, and silliness
Perspective: Third person from both hero and heroine’s perspectives

Should I read in order?
Ideally you could because the heroes and heroines from books 1 and 2 are in this story, but overall I think it’s okay to pick up on it’s own. There isn’t strong character development in the prior books for this hero and heroine.

Basic plot:
Henrietta has been taking care of Stannage Park for years. Now that her guardian is dead, she’s worried her new guardian will come make changes or make her leave, marry her off...

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency time period (1816)
- Country and London setting – most of the book takes place at the country home/farming area the hero inherits but there is some time spent in the London social whirl
- Guardian/ward trope
- Oh no, one bed
- Touch of ugly ducking feel – heroine runs wild around the estate, wearing pants, going by the name “Henry” but she becomes society’s diamond after some London shopping
- Medium steam (3 full scenes and lots of kisses)
- A bit of enemies to lovers feel in the beginning though it’s more playful banter/pranks then they morph into a friends to lovers feel
- Hero loves first
- You’ll have to be okay with a hero that is possessive, jealous, and a bit controlling

Ages:
- Heroine is 20, hero is 29

My thoughts:
Gosh, this book really made me feel all the emotions! I laughed, I was bored, I fell in love, I was annoyed, I was irritated with the characters, my heart broke for the characters.

Before I got to the ending drama, I was setting around 3.5 stars, but the ending just wrecked me. It just wrecked me in the best way. Even though all of it is all rather hair pullingly frustrating I just ATE IT UP. The angst. The heartbreak. The pain. I was utterly gripped in their drama and emotions. And I just had to rate it 5 stars for that. I never feel that anymore and it’s what I adore in romance. Is it messed up? Probably. Hurt me. Make me cry. Abuse me and I’ll love you.

Henry is our heroine. And I did really like her. She was a bit irritating to me in the beginning, pushing her pranks a bit far. But my heart really broke for her. Orphaned at an early age, she has had the run of Stannage Park for a number of years. Everyone looks to her for advice and she keeps everything running smoothly. She runs around in pants and it’s repeatedly mentioned she “doesn’t know how to be a girl”. She has some thoughts of low self esteem surrounding this and this does come up repeatedly as an issue with the hero, so I think many will have a hard time with that. I think the resolution could have been a little more focused on her loving herself for herself and not feeling like she has to change at all. She’s very worried about displeasing him and it’s heartbreaking. She tends to curb her behavior to make sure it pleases him and I feel like she’s ready to lose herself, her individuality, to his whims, which he can be oblivious to how this could hurt her in the long term.

Dunford is...well I loved him and hated him. He’s not going to be a palatable hero to everyone. He’s possessive, he’s jealous, and he does come off as controlling. But he also said and did romantic things to me, his thoughts, his playfulness with her I loved. You get a decent amount of time in Dunfords head and I think that helps me forgive his actions more than I would otherwise.

The ending! I’ll admit I thought the ending drama was completely absurd. The fact that the heroine decided she loved him too much so she couldn’t tell him the truth, but she could do something that would drive him away from her, it was just absurd. Absurd! And I was really annoyed with the going ons and their reasoning but their FEELINGS. Their heartbreak just gutted me. I was wrecked in the best way and their make up is all the sweeter for what they’ve gone through.

I do think this book was a bit long and could have been cut a bit.

A few other random thoughts about this series – I love that the titles actually have something to do with the stories. The phrases are actually used in the stories and it makes the titles that much more special.

Minx was my favorite of the series and my favorite Julia Quinn book I’ve read so far. Also the first I’ve rated 5 stars. Even though I had some major issues with it, I would reread it.


Content Warnings:

There’s a bit of a rough scene where the hero is so stressed the heroine reaches into a bee hive to get a honeycomb because he’s seen men die from bee stings that he roughly shakes her and hurts her a bit, yells at her and forces her to promise to never do it again, even though she’s been doing it her whole life.
Some scenes of dubious consent
Focus on gender stereotypes – Henry is repeatedly told she doesn’t know how to be a girl and she is self conscious over that.
Worries over infidelity – heroine believes the hero has cheated on her, the reader knows he hasn’t.

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes (taken from audiobook may be off from other versions): 

30% - kiss
53% - kiss
65% - kiss
71% - kiss
72% - 🔥 kisses, light breast play, fingering for her, missionary
88% - cruel kiss
91% - 🔥 wedding night kisses that lead to oral for her (vague), sex
98% - 🔥 missionary sex

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖 

Feels: 🦋🦋🦋 

Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔 

Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡ 

Romance: 💞💞💞💞 

Sensuality: 💋💋💋 

Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑 

Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥 

Humor: Yes! It’s lovely, especially the second half. 

Perspective: Third person from both the heroine and hero’s perspective (more heavy in the heroine’s, I think) 

Should I read in order? 

It’s not truly necessary for this one – but the heroine from book 1 is the fiance of this book’s hero that left him at the alter. There’s some mentions of them, but I think if you wanted to read out of order, you would be okay knowing that small tidbit. 

Basic plot: 

Cassandra’s father decrees her sister a cannot marry until she does, hoping to tame her bluestocking tendencies. But soon after, Cassandra has an unfortunate encounter with the infamous Duke of Ashmont that compromises her. 

Give this a try if you want:

- Late Georgian time period (1833) 

- Childhood friends, though hero has been oblivious to heroine 

- Compromised (ruined) heroine 

- Slow burn with a bit of unrequited love feel (heroine has loved hero from afar until he repeatedly disappointed) 

- Lower steam – only 2 full scenes and they are on the lighter side 

- Lots of humor and wit, which really picks up in the second half 

- A unique hero – he comes off as a bit of a fool (the heroine is the one with the brains and he readily admits it) and he really had a strong character arc showing his growth to be worthy of the heroine. 

Ages: 

- Heroine is 26, hero 28 

My thoughts:

Soooo this book totally took me by surprise!!! I did listen to the audiobook and I think that helped a lot – Kate Reading did a fabulous job here and it helped my enjoyment (I can’t say I super loved her hero voice, but what can you do? Other than that it was amazing!) 

I’m not sure why I had such low expectations for this book. Maybe I peaked at the wrong reviews when it first came out and it stuck in my head. I was thinking I was going to get a book that was flat, boring, and basically a slog with zero character connection. But this book I found to be such a gem! 

I’ll admit the beginning was a bit of a struggle – to me there felt to be a lot of time in the heroine’s head and I was wanting the plot and characters to have more dialogue and move forward a bit faster than they were. And the hero, Ashmont, is made to be a totally unlikable idiot. But once they are established, I was just having so much fun with them! 

I found this book so funny, in just the best ways. Witty one liners, banter, family dynamics all came into play but the absolute best part was Ashmont. He was so unique! He has made major mistakes in his life. Too many to count and he doesn’t really seem to care – his former fiance would rather have escaped out the window and run away with his best friend than marry him (check out book 1 if you’re curious! I also enjoyed that one – review here: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2508106487">A Duke in Shining Armor</a> ) He is known as ‘his disgrace’ instead of his grace and it’s well earned. And his first encounter with Cassandra just reinforces that he is a hot mess. 

But, Cassandra makes him realize what a fool he is being. And makes him want to pull his life together for her. He has something to live for, something to care about. He is reformed, or trying at least, and it was just really wonderful seeing a hero put in the work, the hard work, REPEATEDLY to win her. And I found myself falling for him. I just couldn’t help it! 

I loved Cassandra too – she is quite independent, with strong beliefs and feelings, but I also adored how much she cared about her family and how all of their relationships worked together. A side note – I adored her parent’s relationship and how her mother came to her rescue towards the end of the book was really heart warming. I really loved her whole family. 

I am so glad to have read this book. My heart is still warm and happy days later after finishing Cassanda and Ashmont’s story. So I mark it as 4 stars because it was a bit low on the tension and I did struggle in the beginning a bit to get into it but overall it was extremely enjoyable. 

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes: 

43% - kiss 

56% - kisses 

69% - kisses 

76% - light groping, kisses, oral for heroine 

98% - kisses, missionary