Sesily’s book was long awaited and sadly a bit of a disappointment. This is more of 3.5 and I could be swayed to a three star.
I read this very quickly. That was half being hooked and half being frustrated and wanting to get to better parts. I’m definitely interested in Sesily’s group of friends. I need an Imogen/Peck story and I’m not ok waiting for that. MacLean mentions a gang that inspired her, but this gave me A-Team vibes personally. Duchess is Hannibal. Sesily is Face. Imogen is Murdock. I guess Adelaide is BA-this is where my analogy falls apart.
Sesily is an older heroine and knows who she is. That’s a character a lot of people want in their romance. She’s also very sex positive. Caleb loves to fall on his sword and I could’ve done with a little less of that. He has a lot of hang ups because of his past. He’s also good friends with Sesily’s sister, Sera. God forbid you have a relationship with a friend’s sibling. That’s just one of my least favorite romance tropes/conflicts.
The plot was fairly standard, especially for a Sarah MacLean novel. That’s something that rarely bothers me, but got to me here. I called some revels, but she put a twist on them I wasn’t expecting.
My main frustration came from the romance. There’s definitely tension and chemistry between Caleb and Sesily. However they had the same argument so many times. It was annoying. And Sesily would “sand her ground” and immediately cave. Honestly, it happened the other way, too. I started to skin whenever they would have that conversation.
While I want Imogen’s story, I am intrigued by Adelaide. I’m not quite sure about who she really is, so I’m curious to see how she’s developed and her hero may be a grumpy one. That’s a character-type I've been liking lately.
While this wasn’t my favorite MacLean, I did like it. I just wouldn’t recommend starting here. There’s a lot of callbacks to previous books so you’ll miss out on those.
I did love the Nik and Nora references and I’m still holding out hope for a novella or something.
Thanks for reading!
Holly