Great insomnia read

These two stars are for Rebecca and Rebecca only. None for Rupert. Rupert? More like RUDEpert!! I was enjoying this up until I realized Rudepart was going to be the biggest jerk on the planet and not change his ways. Seriously, he acts like he hates Rebecca. She deserved better!! I felt so bad for her. The plot outside of Rudepert, I liked, but he ruined it. :( Talk about toxic!!!

I’ve never read a historical romance that takes place royal adjacent. Our protagonist was a maid of honor at the palace. It wasn’t anything I particularly liked, but it was an intriguing change in setting. This also actually had some good tropes that I didn’t know going in: enemies to lovers, faking dating/marriage. It also had some bad tropes as well: miscommunication,

Spoiler

surprise baby

. I felt our main character was kind of a blank slate I could project myself onto. She doesn’t really move a lot of the plot forward by her own actions; the other characters do. That’s maybe not ideal for a lead, but it surprisingly didn’t bother me. There is a bunch of spy stuff here as well, and I found it pretty eh.

This was basically alright. It’s not as good as some other historical romances I’ve read, but I did like that it changed some things up from my normal.

It was ok, parts were believable, others, not so much. I doubt I would ever recommend this book to anyone.

He could say one thing about Rebecca: she was consistent in sounding plausible. If he didn't know better, it would be so damned easy to believe her, that's how good she was at deception. Dealing with her had been a challenge he'd actually enjoyed--until she'd won. Which was why he was also furious with himself. She'd exploited the one thing he couldn't control--his desire for her.

4.5 stars!

This was my very first HR read EVER before I even knew what the HR genre was. It has been forever since I've read this, and I FINALLY saved up enough to buy it on Kindle. I am glad to announce that it has stood the test of time, and I found myself enjoying this read years later! Because this was a comparative reread for me, I'm going to arrange my review a little differently than I normally would. Be forewarned it will be spoilery, so read on at your own risk!

The beginning of this novel was a bit slow for me and filled with 'tell' more than 'show'. However, I think it was partly due to the author trying to catch readers up from previous books, so I actually appreciated it after I got through the wordiness of it.

Another quirk of the writing that bugged me was the author's use of exclamation points! I'm not a fan of exclamation points in writing, unless a character is shouting something important like "Fire!" or "The British are coming!", so Lindsey's constant use of exclamations in thoughts and external dialogue annoyed me, but I admit I eventually got used to it.

Some tropes that were a part of this story: virginal heroine/rake hero, secret baby (which I don't normally enjoy but didn't last long here), forced marriage of convenience, enemies-to-lovers, along with a very pronounced hate-to-love-you theme. Each one owned a good portion of the novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed every single trope as I came across it.

Now on to my favorite part: Rupert and Rebecca. As with many historical romances, the characters were the main driving force of this novel, and what great characters they were--both main and secondary. Rupert played the perfect part of a renowned rake--gorgeous, playful, but weary of marriage traps--while also leading a double life as a spy for the Crown. Rebecca was a great leading heroine--beautiful, innocent, smart, at times naive, but headstrong and fearless. They were a great pairing, and although they spent the majority of the novel trying to outsmart and constantly second-guessing each other, the passion and heat between them was palpable and infectious and made for some great chemistry. The secondary characters were also unique and engaging, making for some humorous moments and helping to move the story along.

Overall, this novel did NOT disappoint me in the slightest. Even though it was not a perfect read for me, it had many of the elements I love in the HR genre now--great characters, a smattering of danger, hate-to-love-you theme, a moving plot and great character chemistry and interactions. The steam level was pretty mild although there was some explicit sex scenes so hopefully my mind wasn't too corrupted at a young age haha. I do wish that Rupert had showed more remorse for his actions and had been forced to grovel more towards the end, but overall I loved this one! I can definitely see myself rereading this again at some point, and I am glad to say this was my first venture into the HR world that I have come to love so much so many years later ♡

#12 - 2023
Genre: Historical Romance

The real problem with this book are the main characters—they are both annoying especially the male lead.

We supposedly have this male lead with a double life as a skirt-chasing marquis AND a royal agent but his actions are too dumb. His actions toward the female lead are too absurd—he was mean, he was a jerk and he was extremely unlikeable.

The female lead, bless her, if she was a real person I'd feel so bad for her and might end up befriending her just so I could pul her away from the male lead. She is smart, and quite endearing. Her only flaw was her unexplainable weakness toward the male lead.

If this was another book with the same set of male and female leads, it would be more enjoyable to see the female lead getting revenge on this stupid male lead. She deserved better.

Was only able to finished this book because I skipped a few chapters and the writing is at least bearable.