Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A bit
Perspective: Third person perspective from both the hero and heroine
Percentage which mains are first on page together: 13%
Cliffhanger: No
Epilogue: Yes
Format: audiobook from library (hoopla)

Should I read in order?
Ideally, yes. This series flows together with plenty of character overlap and references. Though I think this one is one of the most readable alone that we’ve had in the series so far, if you wanted to be a rebel.

Basic plot:
Viola wants James Kilbrenner BADLY. And she’ll do whatever within her power to make him feel the same.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency (1818)
- London setting
- unrequited love (on heroine’s behalf)
- you’re okay with dubious consent from the heroine – she pushes repeatedly for most of the book even when he says no
- heroine pursues
- migraine rep (heroine)
- ruined heroine
- huge hero/tiny heroine
- well-endowed hero
- medium to higher steam – 4 full scenes

Ages:
- I want to say the hero is around 31/32 years old, I didn’t catch heroine, but I think early 20s

My thoughts:
I am really loving the level of angst Braden can put in these novels!

I ended up enjoying so much of this one. I wasn’t sure how much I’d love heroine pursues because I usually prefer the opposite in romance. But I really loved Viola. And yes, maybe she went a bit far with her chasing of James, but I enjoyed the way it all worked out. I think getting James’ perspective too is important to understanding where his thoughts (and consent) were at with Viola versus his fears.

I will say there was a scene about halfway through the novel, that takes place on a hill and brings Viola to her knees that utterly wrecked me. I was so broken for her in that moment and felt her hurt so keenly – and I just want to be beat up like this emotionally in every single book I read.

The latter half didn’t quite go exactly as I wanted it to – I felt like I wanted each to have to work a bit harder for each other. I didn’t want them to give in physically while holding out emotionally – because those types of scenes with sex without the emotional engagement give me nothing (personally). But overall I still really liked this one and loved so many aspects to this story.

Quotes/spoiler-y thoughts: Any mistakes are my own (especially since I listened to audio)

“I am sorry, James,” she slurred softly before sliding into slumber.
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, breathing in her peony scent. Then he breathed out words he should not feel, let alone say, but she she was asleep, so she would never know.
“I am not. In truth, I am not sorry at all.

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

- Loss of an infant, hero not told about a babe, abandonment by a lover in hero’s past
- Some scenes of pain/migraines
- Heroine schemes to trap hero in marriage

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

Safe sex:

I can’t recall specifics but I *think the hero uses condoms? He doesn’t want children at first so there’s some form of preventative used

36% - kiss
48% - kiss
58% - 🔥kisses, breast play, fingering for her, oral for her, missionary
77% - 🔥oral/fingering for her, missionary
87% - 🔥blow job (incomplete), doggy style
97% - 🔥kisses, missionary