Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖
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
Percentage which mains are first on page together: It’s a flashback 10-11 years ago in Chapter 1
Cliffhanger: No
HEA/HFN: Yes
Epilogue: Yes, not too far in the future
Format: bought audiobook

Should I read in order?
This is book 1 in Sookoo’s Singular Sensation series.

Basic plot:
Leah needs help recovering a stolen item and recruits her brother’s best friend, Carew Harcourt.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency (1816)
- London setting
- a bit of unrequited love
- soldier hero (Major in the service)
- disability rep (hero)
- Duke hero
- brother’s best friend
- light love triangle drama
- LGBT positive
- childhood friends to lovers
- bit of a mystery to solve
- working together on a goal
- low to medium steam – 3 full scenes (one is epilogue sex)

Ages:
- Hero is 37, heroine is around 28? She’s 9 years younger

My thoughts:
I ended up struggling with this one for a few personal reasons. First was a disconnect with the narrator. It was my first by this narrator, but I really couldn’t get behind her male voices. I know it’s difficult to voice another sex, but it was very ‘elderly female’ sounding and I didn’t like it.

But what really hindered me from enjoying this book, is the fact that the hero is engaged to another woman for almost the entire book. They didn’t love each other, but he refuses to break it off with her and does talk multiple times about setting up the heroine as his mistress.

What upset me the most about this novel though, was when he finally has a heart to heart with his fiance. They agree they aren’t meant for each other, but both need/want the protection of the marriage. He needs an heir and the heroine offer to support her as his mistress and then raise his children by her as their own. This was heartbreaking for me, especially because the hero wasn’t against it enough for me. He was more ‘oh I don’t think she would like that’ than that’s messed up I would never take my lovers children away from her...BUT! What really got me here was he then found an engagement announcement in the paper for the heroine (who he is proposing be his mistress so he doesn’t have to stop his marriage) and he is PISSED. I was so disgusted by his double standards here. He goes into a bunch of self doubt about her – was she just lying to him the whole time and using him for sex??? Well who cares if she was, you are offering her basically nothing. Not impressed with this hero at all. 

I think those that love a bit of a mystery and some intrigue will enjoy this novel. It has a lot of fun tropes and I love that they are working together on a goal for much of the story.

Content warnings:

- feelings of infidelity – the hero is engaged and has been for awhile (and it’s mentioned they have had bad sex with each other) for much of the story while kissing the heroine
- death of friends/family members
- physical violence and threats, harassment, marriage pressure from the villain

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex: 

No. The hero blows it in her knowing he's engaged to someone else and she's at risk - he believes he will set her up as his mistress if she becomes pregnant. 

 
Chapter 3 – kisses
(I missed taking notes but I think there’s another kiss or 2 and a partial scene with lots of kisses and touches/breast play)
Chapter 9 – 🔥 kisses, fingering for her
Apparently I stopped taking notes, but I think there were 2 scenes within the story and 1 put a baby in me epilogue sex