Alice and Blackwood are both excellent characters and their banter and chemistry is evident from the start. What is missing for me in this book is why their relationship/marriage wasn't working (as we see in the previous two books in this series)--it felt like Loretta couldn't quite bring herself to let these two be miserable, however the end result was a book that felt disjointed and like it stopped and started over and over again. Loretta has a gift for writing witty, compelling characters, and that felt like the true saving grace of this novel. I'll obviously read Loretta forever and Kate Reading absolutely nailed the narration, but despite the fact that the first two books of this series will remain my favorites, this was a bit of a disappointment for me.