Honor first meets George Easton in a gambling hell and that's when all the trouble begins. After convincing George to seduce away her stepbrother's fiance, Honor decides she wants George to herself. He doesn't feel worthy but still sets out to prove his love.

I must admit I liked both the hero and heroine and Honor's sisters but the scenes I enjoyed most were not the excessive and in my opinion unrealistic love scenes between the main characters but the interactions between the Cabot sisters and between Monica and honor. Those seemed the most honest and heartfelt scenes to me whereas the scenes written for Honor and George were a little too superfluously accomplished.

Honor es un personaje entretenido. Una chica que tiene sus métodos discutibles, pero que no se queda de brazos cruzados. Va y busca lo que quiere.
George... bueno, sí, todo bien, bastardo y etc, pero a mi criterio un poco deslucido frente a ella. Honor es atrevida, valiente, desafiante; es mucha mina para un tipo al que la narración lo deja bastante despintado. Se supone que es muchas cosas, pero solo me surge ligeramente divertido.
Para mi, una historia medianamente pasable, pero a la relación amorosa le falta fuerza.

Spoiler

George no hace gran cosa y Honor se tira de cabeza y pierde todo por él. Y encima, el muy pelotudo la rechaza en público. O sea... whaaaattt?? Ya lo dije, mucha mina para él

Honor va al frente. Él, con todo lo que se supone que es

Spoiler

al final resulta no ser ni atrevido, ni nada, un pequeño burgués con una terrible facilidad para los vaivenes económicos y un amor desmedido por las apuestas que roza la ludopatía

se limita a estar de espectador de lo que Honor arma y desarma, sin aportar gran cosa.
En fin, si la leen, léanla por ella. Y por Mónica, que resulta ser una oponente formidable, jeje.

Yeah, they deserve each other. lol What a mess.

Featured Review on Nelle's Nightstand

The trouble began with a card game. Honor Cabot dared to beat George Easton at a game in which he excelled.
It’s fascinating to see the tables turned in this Regency era novel. Julia London has outdone herself yet again!
I first thought I wasn’t going to like either the Heroine or the Hero of this tale. They developed over time into people in which I was emotionally invested. Honor is stubborn, feisty and fiercely loyal to her family. She’s not afraid to fight for what she wants.
George, how to describe George! I fell in love with him! He starts of very much a rake but once he falls, he will do anything to protect and prevent Honor from making what he feels is a mistake. He’s very insecure at points in the story, very lonely, which makes him all the more appealing but he’s still a strong male character.
The chemistry between them jumps right of the page and leads to several steamy encounters. There is also such heartbreak, but to see the perseverance in Honor is so admirable. I love a Heroine with a spine of steel and she definitely needs it to fight for her stubborn male!

DNF.

I'm having a hard time describing this book. And honestly I think it comes down to preference. And while I have no qualms with London's writing, stylistically and grammatically speaking, I had a huge problem with her protagonists. I did not, could not like the heroine. I don't like the mean girl character, and though the heroine was doing it for a supposedly good cause, it was hard for me to like her, I did not find a single redeeming quality about her. And while the hero was a bit better, I was not convinced that he was intrigue by her, so there was no chemistry for me between these two. It felt forced and rushed.

And same goes for the plot. It felt unnecessary. And to repeat, forced and rushed. I just could not get into it. And I was already 47% along.

I am going to give her another shot, however.

Julia London is always a fun read, even if the plot devices are used and reused the unique characters shine through and Honor Cabott truly made this book pop. She was a ballsy, funny, and cunning debutante unlike any heroine in a regency romance. I wish her leading man had had just a bit more sense but at the end of the day it was a great ride 3.5⭐

I always love Julia London’s books and Wicked Angel is one of my all-time favourite books, so I was really looking forward to this.

For me, this was definitely worth the wait, a great funny story with two great characters who are obviously meant for each other :)

Honor I found quite funny at points in this, her scheme was childish but part of me thought that was the point. I was fully determined to not like Monica her brothers’ fiancé but ended up quite liking her in the end and I thought it was obvious who was pulling the strings with her.

George, well he wasn’t quite as good as some of the other heroes but there was something about him. To be honest I am not a fan of “gamblers” and I did think his ship was going to come in, in the end, but I loved the dialogue between the two of them. The chemistry between them was written very well too, as I read this there were no doubts in my mind that these characters should end up together. Although I am not sure I could have forgotten that last rejection he did in the end make good.

This ended up as very good story and obviously I love Julia’s Londons’ style of writing. A really good start to a new series and I will definitely be looking out for the others. Although I can’t help but hope Monica gets her own story which in turn meaning she doesn’t marry the boring Augustine.

Read and reviewed courtesy of Netgalley

I picked this up as a quick break from all the serious books I've been reading lately, and, while reading the excerpt, I was amused that London tried to write this as a tarted-up Jane Austen, with a deep nod to Sense and Sensibility. But it just didn't work.

The main character, true to romance heroine form, reminded me of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. No one gambles like Honor. No one schemes like Honor. No one dresses like Honor. No one rides like Honor. She even has her group of fawning dandies like Gaston. Heck, she might even look like Gaston. She loves all things superficial and is desperately clawing to hold the wealth to which she is accustomed, but, in the end, after about 2 weeks of George in her life, she discovers that what she really needs in her life is TRUE LOVE. [cue Juliette's skeptical face]

The hero, George, also true to romance hero form, is perfect-but-flawed. Oh, he has his gaggle of women. He's wonderful and desirable, and, honestly, more fun to read about than Honor. (He's the reason for the 2-star rating.) But he's a bastard, the son of some earl and a chambermaid. He's had to fight to make his way in the world; he knows what it's like to be poor. Honor hires him to seduce her evil sister-in-law (who is actually a better human being than Honor: kind, caring, and devoted to her family) and break the engagement. But, oh no, George wants Honor. Because she's Gaston Honor. (See the paragraph above.)

Now I'm no relationship expert, and I know one does not read romance novels for relationship advice, but, yo, these two people never spoke to one another. It seems to me (the non-expert) that two people need to have an actual conversation in order to foster love and whatnot.
The conversation between them went along these lines, "Honor, you're bodacious. Let's have sex." Honor gives silent assent.
Every major relationship building block is implicit.

Spoiler

Case in point: George and Honor were getting hot and heavy on the couch, and her mom walked in, and, because she has dementia, the mom doesn't act like anything is out of the norm. George figured out that Honor hired him because no one would marry her after seeing her mother, and she's trying to protect her mother. George asks her why she didn't tell him about her mother, and Honor replied, "How could I?" After some inner recollections about his mother that he does not share with Honor, George decides that Honor is, in fact, honorable, and he'll help her.

Oy vey.

My bar is set pretty low for romance novels because I haven't read many that transcended the saccharine and purple prose styles. ([b:The Opportunist|13312527|The Opportunist (Love Me with Lies, #1)|Tarryn Fisher|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1374526831s/13312527.jpg|18518411] was good.) But even with my already low standards for romance novels, this one was a fail.

Mi è piaciuto molto e l'ho letto tutto in un pomeriggio. L'eorina è come piace a me, forte e spiritosa. Lui è il classico bad boy che va convinto e straconvinto perchè ha le paure esistenziali, vabbè, si poteva fare di meglio. Forse un po' troppo lungo...
Si ringrazia NetGalley per la gentile preview.
Voto: 4 stelle

This book was provided by NetGalley for an honest review.
I liked it very much, I read it in an afternoon. The heroine is how I like it: strong and sassy. The hero is a classic bad boy, who is in need of a lot of convincing due to his fears. Maybe a little too long... Mrs London, you can do better.
Vote: 4 stars