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galleytrot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
READ: Sep 2023
FORMAT: Digital
BRIEF SUMMARY:
In book two of this historical romance set in England around the turn of the seventeenth century, Sebastian and Anthony have successfully carried on their ruse of a marriage for a little over a year when the Earl is called to carry out Her Majesty’s wishes, which are certain to challenge the love and trust between the couple. Anthony has been asked to seduce politically-advantageous information out of a young French maiden, and he is in no position to decline, especially since his loyalty to the crown has been questioned in the past. Things don’t go entirely as planned, since it’s Sebastian who catches Marie’s eye – to say nothing of how Marie’s brash and self-assured brother has set his sights on Sebastian's disguise as Bronwyn.
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 3.5 / 5⭐
Right off the bat, this book is a dozen times better than its predecessor, though even with that being the case it’s still a pretty weak story. It suffers from similar problems as the last one did, the most significant of which being Anthony’s complete lack of personality beyond being full of himself and prone to tantrums (but in this book, we can add so completely head-over-heels in love with Sebastian to his personality traits, too!). Where in the last book, Anthony constantly flip-flopped between being a flirt and a petulant child, this time around he gets to be either a flirt or a painfully jealous brat.
What this book has going for it that the last one did not is: Things Actually Happening. That’s it, plain and simple. It’s a story that’s playing at a game of court intrigue and subterfuge, although the stakes never really felt all that high. There wasn’t really any risk for Anthony failing at getting the information; the bare minimum requirement was for him to put in an effort at all. It all just felt weak and toothless, is what I mean to say. On the other hand, the dynamic that the Valois siblings add to the story is what saves this one from being another wash; it brings Sebastian, whose entire character thus far can largely be described as constantly jealous, the opportunity to actually accomplish something.
TECHNICAL / PRODUCTION: 3 / 5⭐
So the last book’s biggest failing was its wasted potential; I kept seeing threads of an interesting story, little setups that could lead to something bigger, but each one would be forgotten or never mentioned again. These threads were mostly character-based, offering the chance at development or world-building that simply never came. This time, I lost count of how many times I found setup for the plot to take an interesting turn that would never be addressed again. So many wasted opportunities where things could have gone awry, and just... Nothing.
As an innocuous example, there’s a point in this book where Sebastian has to write an important and sensitive letter. In the middle of writing it, he is called away from the room to take care of something, and I thought: yes, okay, somebody’s going to snoop around and see the partially-written letter and it’s going to change the game. In most intrigue/espionage books, this is exactly the sort of setup that would do the heavy lifting. But, no; in this book, Sebastian returns to the untouched letter, finishes writing it, and the book carries on without anything going amiss. I mean it, there are dozens of setups just like this in this book that go completely unused. I honestly couldn’t tell if the author was playing a trick on the readers and knew exactly what they were doing, or if they genuinely didn’t think to try and raise the stakes at any point.
Speaking of stakes, there are none, because Anthony’s whole mission is just dependent on him doing his best to try, and any time Sebastian finds himself in trouble he is rescued by Anthony magically showing up every single time. Anything starts to get mildly uncomfortable, Anthony’s magical radar pings and there he is to puff out his chest and save the day, problem solved. I was honestly surprised the book’s big climax was allowed to go on for as long as it did. It wrapped up exactly in the way I expected it would, just took a bit longer than the author would typically allow for. I kept hoping Sebastian might find his confidence and come into his own, solve his own problems for once, but I hoped for too much.
FINAL THOUGHTS - OVERALL: 3.25 / 5⭐
We’re closer to a good story in this book than we were in the last, but my hopes for the next one don’t exactly follow that upward trajectory. Maybe I’ll be surprised. I plan on taking a short break before continuing on, but I don’t see myself pursuing other books or series by this author; not even the ones that follow the Crofton family line.
This book has representation for gays and bisexuals. There is otherwise little in the way of diversity.
The following elaborates on my content warnings. These may be interpreted as spoilers, but I do not go into deep detail.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Rape, and Pregnancy