Reviews tagging 'Violence'

When a Rogue Meets His Match by Elizabeth Hoyt

5 reviews

allingoodtime's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Oh, the butterflies I got while reading this story! Gideon’s upbringing was drastically different from Messalina’s and, at first glance, it shows. Yet these two have a lot more in common than they could imagine. For them to fully realize this fact, they both need to learn to trust one another. Gideon isn’t as dastardly as he makes himself out to be, although he’s done plenty of bad things. The things he has done have been for his survival and, eventually, for the well-being of others who have the same type of life he led as a child. In other words, Gideon Hawthorne is fantastically morally grey!

It’s not a secret I’m not a fan of a big secret in my romance books, but since Messalina already despises and doesn’t trust Gideon I didn’t look at this story the same way. Plus, Messalina had some secrets of her own. In many ways, these two already knew each other’s secrets…or at least anticipated them.

Back to that chemistry. This story is a roller coaster ride. As a couple, Messalina and Gideon take two steps forward and one step back. Even when they are moving backward, their chemistry is palpable. Everyone around them, even those who strongly disagree with the marriage, can see their connection like it’s a tangible thing when they are together.

I hate the way these two hurt each other, but I love the way they learn and grow from each misstep. I’d almost say Messalina learns even more than Gideon does regarding the ways of the world. She was forced to look at the world outside of her usual bubble while Gideon was already aware of the highs and lows of society. Yes, he had more trust issues, but she had more growing up to do than she realized.

This story pulled me in and didn’t let go until the very end. 
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jess_justmaybeperfect's review against another edition

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dark emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This 1760 set HistRom starts with a forced marriage between a young woman and her evil uncle’s henchman. As they start to fall in lust and than love, truths and  betrayals are revealed and hearts are broken and mended. 

The class differences and opposites attract is exquisite in this book. As is the found family and henchman-has-good-heart-actually of it all. The good heart springs from an incredibly tragic back story. 

This book is a reminder of just how tragic 1700s Britain was for those without the protection of money and power. Hoyt does a great job of examining privilege through the FMC who spends a lot of the book reconciling with that tragedy. 

Plus it’s pretty hot, there’s an excellent sick bed scene, and I love the Bet and the Fox tie in at the beginning of each chapter. 

I think I’m going to really enjoy this series. 
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trashbinfluencer's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Book was promising, but ultimately felt extremely rushed. Actual book ends at 70%.
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kyriannaj's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I loved everything about this book. The characters and their relationships. Between siblings. Between lovers. Between employees. The characters learned about each other and their perspectives, changing their behavior. Gideon and Messalina learning to trust each other, be vulnerable, and rely on each other was so well done. The conflicts throughout and the inner turmoil was so well done and intertwined. And then I realized I had 35 pages left and there was still so much left to wrap up. Those last 35 pages felt like a sprint to the finish with just enough shown to wrap up each plot line but not enough to feel satisfied with the conclusions of each. If the ending had been given the same time, attention, and pages as the rest of this book, it would've been without fault in my eyes.
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littlewishling's review

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dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Another pretty dark romance but Hoyts writing kept me engaged throughout.
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