Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖 (I don’t know why I didn’t love this one. Maybe I wanted the characters alone more together. Maybe I was annoyed about the secret keeping. Maybe it was even the writing. It just really didn’t grab me.)
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 (There was something missing in these scenes for me. The steam was there (like 3 full scenes or whatever) but they didn’t feel steamy to me. They felt emotionless to me, sadly. Probably just a me thing!)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A touch
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: almost immediately
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, 2 days later
Format: voluntarily read an advanced reader copy through NetGalley that I am like 4 years late on (oopsie, sorry I suck)
Why I chose this book: I have wanted to try more Darcy Burke and saw this on NetGalley forever ago and grabbed it

Should I read in order?
This is the first of Burke’s Pretender series.

Basic plot:
Harry is determined to prove Madame Sybila is a fraud, and enlists Lady Gresham’s help in uncovering her mystery.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency – 1819
- London setting
- secret identity
- widow heroine
- hero is the son of an Earl and a Bow Street Constable (former barrister)
- lower to mid steam – there’s 3ish full scenes but I felt like they were concentrated in one area of the book

Ages:
- heroine is 29, hero is 31

First line:
Harry Sheffield, constable for Bow Street, opened the door of The Ardent Rose on The Strand near Drury Lane.

My thoughts:
Sadly this book didn’t work for me. And maybe it was because of the secret keeping (this IS the Pretenders series after all) but I just didn’t like any part of it. I didn’t like the heroine and I liked the hero even less. I didn’t like the sex. I didn’t like the plot. I guess I’m just a debbie downer with this one.

I think if you don’t mind secret keeping and you like kind of a dual enemies to lovers/working together trope this would work for you. This is my second Darcy Burke and I haven’t loved either. Hoping to find one I really like!

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: 2
Average rating: 3.5 stars
Favorite book: The Legend of a Rogue

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

- mention of gin and opium usage
- remembrance of being hungry and needing to steal/cheat for food
- mention of rape of heroine

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex aspects, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:

 
Safe sex: 

  Hero pulls out 

 
Hows the consent? 

  It’s good, other than the heroine not being honest about who she truly is 

 
Pregnancy/children in story? (Please note this is the best to my memory/note taking. If you see something I missed please feel free to message!) 

  Children are in the story as side characters, but no children of the mains or pregnancy on page 

 
46% - kiss
62% - kiss
64% - missionary
77% - bj (incomplete), her on top
80% - sex
95% - kiss