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una_macchia's review against another edition
2.0
This was kind of all over the place. Lots of angsty pining from the hero, which I always appreciate, a surprisingly sweet May-December romance in the background, decent prose, hot sex.
But at times the sex felt like filler (not always, but by about halfway through I was like "please stop fucking so the plot can happen") and the characterization of the heroine in particular was thin. Like, I have no idea what she liked to do for fun except have sex with Fox (arguably she stopped doing whatever she likes when her husband died, but there's not much indication of what she was like before that either). I love enemies-to-lovers romance, but the enmity faded oddly quickly, considering that Eugenia has been hating Fox for years before the story starts and he was such an ass back then that his best friend never spoke to him again. I kept waiting for them to have an open and honest conversation about everything that happened since they met - why he tried to turn Robert against her, what Robert meant to them both and what Robert's last years were like...but that never happens. About 2/3-3/4 of the way through, It seems like this is going to force Eugenia to realize/admit to herself that she loves him, but she keeps insisting that she'll never love another man the way she loved Robert, over and over. From there to the end the pace really drags. They keep having sex and having the same conversation: he loves her, she just wants sex from him. When she finally tells him she loves him at the end I honestly didn't really buy it.
Also there's some weirdness with titles and some other things that don't make much sense, like Eugenia and Hester not having any horses to ride in London, even though they've been living in her duke brother's townhouse. Or Eugenia going out for a walk with just her maid late at night/early in the morning and not thinking anything of going near men's clubs in St James even though she's definitely mature and experienced enough to understand why that's a bad idea. Overall this just seems like a messy first draft that could have been polished into something good.
But at times the sex felt like filler (not always, but by about halfway through I was like "please stop fucking so the plot can happen") and the characterization of the heroine in particular was thin. Like, I have no idea what she liked to do for fun except have sex with Fox (arguably she stopped doing whatever she likes when her husband died, but there's not much indication of what she was like before that either). I love enemies-to-lovers romance, but the enmity faded oddly quickly, considering that Eugenia has been hating Fox for years before the story starts and he was such an ass back then that his best friend never spoke to him again. I kept waiting for them to have an open and honest conversation about everything that happened since they met - why he tried to turn Robert against her, what Robert meant to them both and what Robert's last years were like...but that never happens. About 2/3-3/4 of the way through,
Spoiler
Fox duels a man who insulted Eugenia.Spoiler
They marry quickly because she's almost definitely pregnant, and she's kind of panicking like "what have we just done," they go have sex, and she says it. It felt strange to me because we're in her head at this point and I didn't feel like anything leading up to that indicated that she loved him. I like it when the reader can tell a character is falling in love but they can't - but this didn't read that way. It just seemed like she was in love because the book was ending.Also there's some weirdness with titles and some other things that don't make much sense, like Eugenia and Hester not having any horses to ride in London, even though they've been living in her duke brother's townhouse. Or Eugenia going out for a walk with just her maid late at night/early in the morning and not thinking anything of going near men's clubs in St James even though she's definitely mature and experienced enough to understand why that's a bad idea. Overall this just seems like a messy first draft that could have been polished into something good.
nononanette's review against another edition
2.0
Intriguing initially but gets boring after awhile. She writes well but the plot was pretty narrow and seemed repetitive. It seemed very period how the author created seduction out of a bit of skin or ankle but After awhile it got old.
theblisstour's review against another edition
4.0
Twitter blurb: Marquess wants to win his former best friend's widow whom he spread rumors about before they married.
That's not very good, but accurate.
I enjoyed this for the same reasons I've enjoyed other Carolyn Jewel books: it's just about the relationship. There's no murder or kidnapping and it ends with both characters have come to the point of "I love you." I don't know if I'd call this an erotic romance, but it's definitely sex heavy, and there's a ton of sexual tension.
That's not very good, but accurate.
I enjoyed this for the same reasons I've enjoyed other Carolyn Jewel books: it's just about the relationship. There's no murder or kidnapping and it ends with both characters have come to the point of "I love you." I don't know if I'd call this an erotic romance, but it's definitely sex heavy, and there's a ton of sexual tension.
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