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hptriviachamp's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Lorraine Heath has done it again! This book is swoony, sexy, complete a hero who is fiercely in awe of the heroine and is completely and utterly obsessed with her right from the get-go.
Rook is a pretty uptight, repressed guy, and and that's on purpose to distinguish himself from his absolute whore of a father (how repressed, believe me, I was surprised but deeply excited to find out), to the point where his horse is named a "Well-mannered", and he has regularly-scheduled freak-out sessions about how Leonora brings the *animal* out in him. He's adorable. Meanwhile, Leonora is vibing around (mostly) unaware of this because she's on a mission to save her family business, now headed by her useless brother, by getting investors for the typewriter she's invented all while getting zero credit for neither the invention nor her attempts to raise capital.
A super repressed hero does have his benefits, namely, Lorraine went all in on that repression and made some relatively innocuous moments WILDLY sexy. For example, Rook loves to kiss and has multiple rendezvous with Leonora where they just kiss, and I really appreciated that after reading a string of HR heroes who bend the heroine over within a couple chapters (no judgement, obviously). But the greatest moment that will forever live rent-free in my head is when Leonora lies about having a pebble in her foot, and Rook knows it's just an excuse to escape her mother AND YET he makes her sit, takes off her shoe and hands it to her so she can "check for pebbles" all while he is CARESSING her foot and quite frankly, that was the HOTTEST thing I've read in a long time.
I loved reading about Leonora's passion for machines and her really impressive engineering skills. She's not just a businesswoman, but also an inventor. And on a romance level, it was lovely to read Rook understanding what makes Leonora tick so early on and embrace it. He invites her to disassemble a roulette wheel at his club so she can understand its inner workings. He arranges for a private tour of Big Ben (and not just so he can make out with her on the clock tower).
There is a third-act breakup in this book; it's nothing super dramatic but it's a case of two people who are amazing together, but one of them feels that their goals are fundamentally incompatible with the other's lifestyle and that, for me, really hit on an emotional level.
One last note: for those of you who complain about rakes in historical romances never facing the consequences of their actions... well, the rake in question didn't in this book either, but his son sure as hell did and handled it with great dignity.
The sex:
Okay first, the line "a couple can fuck without actually fucking" was uttered and I literally started applauding there. Bravo. Well done. Obviously, Lord Repression knows how to bring it, though not in a freaky way, but definitely in a thorough way.
And the sex itself is SO well-written— erotic, worshipful... it's a way for Leonora and Rook to escape the real world and lose themselves in one another (the word "feral" is employed a few times :D ).
Overall:
I adored this book; the romance between Rook and Leonora and their gorgeous chemistry was a joy to read, and the investor subplot as well as Rook's family situation kept me engaged throughout the book. I'd recommend this to literally any historical romance reader looking for a relatively simple, but well-executed love story.
Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my review.
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