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whatcha_listening_to's review against another edition
5.0
This book continues where Snapdragon left off and is in the POV of Michael.
I don’t know which book I liked more seriously being in Darby’s head or Michaels it is an epic love story. I liked that we see how hard they both fall even knowing they both went in with expectations.
Guidelines that well didn’t take into account hearts. I really enjoyed the low drama they were adults and worked things out like adults do. The fact that we get this well rounded relationship that does have its ups and downs. No one blamed the other one, no pointed fingers. And when the other one needed someone they were there for them. No questions.
The sided stories fueled the rest of the book made me need more find out more want more.
I was left with just happy feelings; I want more romance like this!
The narration for this book was perfection, Sebastian is the right choice for Michael hands down.
I don’t know which book I liked more seriously being in Darby’s head or Michaels it is an epic love story. I liked that we see how hard they both fall even knowing they both went in with expectations.
Guidelines that well didn’t take into account hearts. I really enjoyed the low drama they were adults and worked things out like adults do. The fact that we get this well rounded relationship that does have its ups and downs. No one blamed the other one, no pointed fingers. And when the other one needed someone they were there for them. No questions.
The sided stories fueled the rest of the book made me need more find out more want more.
I was left with just happy feelings; I want more romance like this!
The narration for this book was perfection, Sebastian is the right choice for Michael hands down.
chelseathebookaddict's review against another edition
5.0
What an amazing book 2!!!! The scene that describes Chrysalis made this book deserve 5 stars for me! It was outstanding. I was not sure how I felt about book 1 and ultimately rated it 4 stars, but this conclusion and overall feel deserves 5 stars, no doubt. This book has THE BEST male lead character. He is so thoughtful, romantic, troubled, possessive, etc. He just is everything.
tita_noir's review
4.0
This is the second and final book in the Snapdragon-Chrysalis duology. This did not give me the same sense of immediate high that I got from the first books, but it is still excellently written and the couple chemistry is very much still there.
As the first one was told through Darby's POV, this one is all Michael. From Darby's POV we saw a very sexy, charismatic, urbane man who is at the height of his career and has the world at his feet. But as we learned in the last couple of chapters as Michael opened up a bit, that was not all who he was. He was so successful because he was a bit of a workaholic because he'd come from humble beginnings, has some abandonment issues, felt he had something to prove and also had a bit of imposter syndrome.
This book begins right where the prior book ended. Michael has Snapdragon'd Darby because he was transferred to Australia to head up his company's offices down under. And of course Darby's life is still in Chicago.
But we know from him that that is not the end. He wants more from Darby, not just the no-strings but he wants the messy and complex. He is a long term planner and thinker and strategist so he plans a campaign to get Darby on board with changing the shape of their relationship even as they are thousands of miles away from each other and he's not sure that is what she wants.
Because they are distant and cant go on impromptu dates, the first part of this book is much more about Michael than it is about Michael and Darby. We delve into the stuff we only tangentially learned about him. His family, his background, his causes and his work. This initial part is why I take a star off of my rating, the relationship between these two is the absolute star of these books so to have it in the background (even if it is in the forefront of his mind) serves to give the book a little bit of lag.
But events happen and it brings the relationship roaring back to the front. Michael has to go back to Chicago for a bit and starts his campaign in earnest to woo Darby but also he uses his formidable contacts to also help her when she needs him again.
At about the 50% mark these two kids are all in and madly in love and the writing is just lovely. I really just felt their connection so deeply. Now all they have to do is iron out the pesky details. Which they do with the flair and panache these two have demonstrated throughout the series.
Honestly, I enjoyed this couple so much. They are young, beautiful and smoking hot sexy. They are rich but have real jobs they work hard at (and the author demonstrates that in detail, not just via lip service). They travel to cool places, they eat well, and they appreciate art, books and music. They are ambitious, have cool and dedicated friends and they know how to communicate like grown ass people. Also, Michael is an absolute genius at the romantic gesture.
Lovely story!
As the first one was told through Darby's POV, this one is all Michael. From Darby's POV we saw a very sexy, charismatic, urbane man who is at the height of his career and has the world at his feet. But as we learned in the last couple of chapters as Michael opened up a bit, that was not all who he was. He was so successful because he was a bit of a workaholic because he'd come from humble beginnings, has some abandonment issues, felt he had something to prove and also had a bit of imposter syndrome.
This book begins right where the prior book ended. Michael has Snapdragon'd Darby because he was transferred to Australia to head up his company's offices down under. And of course Darby's life is still in Chicago.
But we know from him that that is not the end. He wants more from Darby, not just the no-strings but he wants the messy and complex. He is a long term planner and thinker and strategist so he plans a campaign to get Darby on board with changing the shape of their relationship even as they are thousands of miles away from each other and he's not sure that is what she wants.
Because they are distant and cant go on impromptu dates, the first part of this book is much more about Michael than it is about Michael and Darby. We delve into the stuff we only tangentially learned about him. His family, his background, his causes and his work. This initial part is why I take a star off of my rating, the relationship between these two is the absolute star of these books so to have it in the background (even if it is in the forefront of his mind) serves to give the book a little bit of lag.
But events happen and it brings the relationship roaring back to the front. Michael has to go back to Chicago for a bit and starts his campaign in earnest to woo Darby but also he uses his formidable contacts to also help her when she needs him again.
At about the 50% mark these two kids are all in and madly in love and the writing is just lovely. I really just felt their connection so deeply. Now all they have to do is iron out the pesky details. Which they do with the flair and panache these two have demonstrated throughout the series.
Honestly, I enjoyed this couple so much. They are young, beautiful and smoking hot sexy. They are rich but have real jobs they work hard at (and the author demonstrates that in detail, not just via lip service). They travel to cool places, they eat well, and they appreciate art, books and music. They are ambitious, have cool and dedicated friends and they know how to communicate like grown ass people. Also, Michael is an absolute genius at the romantic gesture.
Lovely story!
synnepe's review
4.0
Holy shit, this book was so good. The angst and tension was amazing and I fell even more in love with the characters. I loved Darbys character. The suspense plot was unbelievable and had me shocked several times.
2kidsandagoodbook's review against another edition
4.0
I loved getting Michael’s point of view for this book. After only hearing Darby’s point of view I felt like I saw everything more clearly. I loved the devotion between Darby and Michael and how they were both their for each other. Nothing happened as I expected it to and I enjoyed not seeing things coming no matter how small or big they were. This was another low angst installment of the Gilded Love series that was such an easy listen and I couldn’t get enough of.
bexdane's review against another edition
5.0
Loved it! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07226M5SW/?tag=bexdane-20
kasfire's review against another edition
5.0
5/5 Stars
That was one of the best romances I've ever read. Even with a different POV for this one, it still kept up the same energy.
Though there was less explosive sex scenes, Kilby still delivers an intense relationship. Darby and Michael are now dealing with the consequences of their relationship in the previous novel, along with dealing with outside forces. Michael reveals more about himself and my heart breaks all over for them both.
Drama is an integral part of this book, but then again, drama is a part of life. Kilby wrote it so realistically that I could actually imagine it was really happening.
I loved the ending. And even though it can technically be a stand alone, I recommend reading Snapdragon first. You won't regret it!
That was one of the best romances I've ever read. Even with a different POV for this one, it still kept up the same energy.
Though there was less explosive sex scenes, Kilby still delivers an intense relationship. Darby and Michael are now dealing with the consequences of their relationship in the previous novel, along with dealing with outside forces. Michael reveals more about himself and my heart breaks all over for them both.
Drama is an integral part of this book, but then again, drama is a part of life. Kilby wrote it so realistically that I could actually imagine it was really happening.
I loved the ending. And even though it can technically be a stand alone, I recommend reading Snapdragon first. You won't regret it!
kasfire's review
5.0
5/5 Stars
That was one of the best romances I've ever read. Even with a different POV for this one, it still kept up the same energy.
Though there was less explosive sex scenes, Kilby still delivers an intense relationship. Darby and Michael are now dealing with the consequences of their relationship in the previous novel, along with dealing with outside forces. Michael reveals more about himself and my heart breaks all over for them both.
Drama is an integral part of this book, but then again, drama is a part of life. Kilby wrote it so realistically that I could actually imagine it was really happening.
I loved the ending. And even though it can technically be a stand alone, I recommend reading Snapdragon first. You won't regret it!
That was one of the best romances I've ever read. Even with a different POV for this one, it still kept up the same energy.
Though there was less explosive sex scenes, Kilby still delivers an intense relationship. Darby and Michael are now dealing with the consequences of their relationship in the previous novel, along with dealing with outside forces. Michael reveals more about himself and my heart breaks all over for them both.
Drama is an integral part of this book, but then again, drama is a part of life. Kilby wrote it so realistically that I could actually imagine it was really happening.
I loved the ending. And even though it can technically be a stand alone, I recommend reading Snapdragon first. You won't regret it!
ranaelizabeth's review
2.0
This was so close to being good but ultimately, I was just left wanting more. The sex wasn't quite dirty enough, the main character's anxiety wasn't explored enough. Fell prey to the typical romance erotica genre that seems to pride itself on how many books can be written/read rather than the depth and quality.
kjcharles's review
I adored #1 in this series so snapped this concluding half of the story up immediately after. It wasn't quite as much to my taste as the first half purely because I'm not much for ultra rich people in romance (because it always feels like they're playing on easy to me) and somehow the wealth of the characters, without having changed from book 1, felt more obvious in how it eased their path here. That said, if you like mill/billionaires you'll love this, and in any case the writing is skilled, fluent, witty and engaging and very sexy. Duo highly recommended for contemp-lovers, with bonus for inclusion of multiple kinds including a completely chill bi hero.
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