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zerp's review against another edition
4.0
Theo wants to be an actress. She and her siblings were raised by their uncle, who owned a theater. When their uncle died, he gave Theo and her siblings each partial ownership of the theater, but since Theo is an unmarried woman, her brother controls all of it. Now her brother wants her to give up acting to work as an unpaid housekeeper in their family home.
Clem is a former prize fighter who now runs a music hall. He wants to expand his business and he has his eye on Theo's family theater.
Theo propositions Clem with a convenient marriage so they can both get what they want. He will have partial ownership of the theater, and she can work as an actress at the music hall.
I really like Theo and I love that she figured out a way to follow her dreams. She's a unique character and has many qualities that seem almost contradictory, but somehow it works and makes sense. She's confident and perceptive, but insecure and naive.
Clem has always thought of himself as ruthless. He was alone from a young age, became a prizefighter, then, when his fighting career slowed, he opened a music hall. He is enamored with Theo pretty much from the get-go, but tries to keep her at arm's length. It takes a while for him to figure out his feelings.
This book has some cameos from the first two Victorian prizefighter books.
Clem is a former prize fighter who now runs a music hall. He wants to expand his business and he has his eye on Theo's family theater.
Theo propositions Clem with a convenient marriage so they can both get what they want. He will have partial ownership of the theater, and she can work as an actress at the music hall.
I really like Theo and I love that she figured out a way to follow her dreams. She's a unique character and has many qualities that seem almost contradictory, but somehow it works and makes sense. She's confident and perceptive, but insecure and naive.
Clem has always thought of himself as ruthless. He was alone from a young age, became a prizefighter, then, when his fighting career slowed, he opened a music hall. He is enamored with Theo pretty much from the get-go, but tries to keep her at arm's length. It takes a while for him to figure out his feelings.
This book has some cameos from the first two Victorian prizefighter books.
duanur's review
5.0
*4.5*
I usually don't understand why any book (other than fantasy books) should be more than 350 pages. Especially when it comes to romances. (I guess this is because I hate the third act conflicts in romance books) But when it comes to Alice Coldbreath, the longer her books the more I love them. Her story telling and how she masterfully craft her romances amaze me. Her unconventional way of writing historical romances is a breath of fresh air for me. Not only her heroines are sensible and independent in their own ways but I also love her secondary characters and how they play into the story.
Most of the time her main characters start off by hating each other and I truly don't see how she can manage to make me believe they will fall in love. Even her characters don't believe how they can feel anything towards each other. Seeing them slowly but surely begin to respect and care for each other is so satisfying.
There are a few of her books that I didn't enjoy just because they were too short to truly redeem the heroes in my eyes or they ended just when the couple started to really care for one another. After reading her longer books, I feel like her books were edited too much.
In this book, I loved Clem and Dora together. I didn't particularly care about them individually but they complemented each other so well. Their interactions were so fun to read especially whenever Clem took care of Dora in small ways (all the while telling himself he didn't like her. sure Clem.) I also enjoyed the theater setting even though I normally don't care for books about any type of entertainment business. But there were some interesting stuff that I didn't even hear about before. Dora's sister's story was a bit lackluster but it was still interesting to read about. (I guess I am still into drama afterall.) The appearance of the prizefighters was so fun and I loved seeing all of them again.
I love this series and I hope she'll write more. In the meantime, I'll continue to read anything else she comes up with.
I usually don't understand why any book (other than fantasy books) should be more than 350 pages. Especially when it comes to romances. (I guess this is because I hate the third act conflicts in romance books) But when it comes to Alice Coldbreath, the longer her books the more I love them. Her story telling and how she masterfully craft her romances amaze me. Her unconventional way of writing historical romances is a breath of fresh air for me. Not only her heroines are sensible and independent in their own ways but I also love her secondary characters and how they play into the story.
Most of the time her main characters start off by hating each other and I truly don't see how she can manage to make me believe they will fall in love. Even her characters don't believe how they can feel anything towards each other. Seeing them slowly but surely begin to respect and care for each other is so satisfying.
There are a few of her books that I didn't enjoy just because they were too short to truly redeem the heroes in my eyes or they ended just when the couple started to really care for one another. After reading her longer books, I feel like her books were edited too much.
In this book, I loved Clem and Dora together. I didn't particularly care about them individually but they complemented each other so well. Their interactions were so fun to read especially whenever Clem took care of Dora in small ways (all the while telling himself he didn't like her. sure Clem.) I also enjoyed the theater setting even though I normally don't care for books about any type of entertainment business. But there were some interesting stuff that I didn't even hear about before. Dora's sister's story was a bit lackluster but it was still interesting to read about. (I guess I am still into drama afterall.) The appearance of the prizefighters was so fun and I loved seeing all of them again.
I love this series and I hope she'll write more. In the meantime, I'll continue to read anything else she comes up with.
bibliofrenzy's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
I normally shy away from historical romance (hate closed door and this did have closed door but didn’t take too much from the story) since I’m in my dark romance era but alas! The reading challenge required this genre and here I was not too happy about it… I was really hoping to use book one of these series on this but I thought eeh I’ll just grin and bear on this one… and boy am I glad I did!!!
The gist, Dora (Theodora), a stage actress who’s a plain Jane (loooooooooved this fact, tired of the “drop dead gorgeous in almost every book 🙄) now has to work as a maid in her own house because of her failing family theatre company. Her brother doesn’t think she’s good enough to be a stage actress and also really, not pretty enough.
Dora goes to see Clem Dabney, a former prizefighter and current musical theatre owner and not raised “gentleman” with a marriage proposal that will give Clem shares in her family business…
I love how Clem wasn’t jealous of her success and how supportive he was… loved how Dora was a good person with examples! We weren’t told she was good but no actions following that, it’s usually selfish and self serving… not this character… she actually cared for others…
Both of these characters weren’t the burns for the times and I think that’s what made them so enjoyable… almost everyone in this book was lovely 😃
Makes me want to look into other books by this author but I’m definitely going to look for a physical book for this one. I enjoyed it too much!
tentenlibrarian's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
lemon_'s review
2.0
I never thought I'd dislike an Alice Coldbreath book, but here it is... Given how much I loved the previous book in this series, I am surprised by how frustrated I was with this one. The entire conflict of this book could have been resolved with a single conversation. The fact that neither of the main characters, but especially Clem, could not communicate honestly just made me dislike both characters.
I almost DNF'd this book when
Literally, this entire conflict could have been resolved in a few sentences:
Dora: "oh. Well thanks for telling me, but I'm happy where I am and would much rather act at our theaters and stay with you"
and then they would be able to laugh at their comedy of errors years down the line, like "remember when you doubted my acting skills? silly man".
Instead, this entire conflict that didn't need to exist made the last 25% of this book absolutely agonizing to get through.
I'm bummed because the last Coldbreath book I read (The Favourite) has probably my favorite couple out of all the Coldbreath books, so I was on a high coming into this one. The disappointment is real.
Spoiler
Clem is the worst MMC I've read from Coldbreath's catalogue. I have no issue with the fact that he married Dora for her ownership of the theater. I have no issue with the fact that he doubted her acting skills. I do have an issue with the fact that he kept lying about all of that, multiple times, through the entire book. The lies only started to come out around the 75% mark, and from there the lack of communication dragged through the rest of the book. Considering how long this book was, it was agonizing to slog through.I almost DNF'd this book when
Spoiler
Clem told Dora he never loved her, when he tried to push her away to go act at another theater. It's just drama for the sake of drama. And the fact that Dora's response to this rejection was to basically beg Clem to stay with her and love her made me lose so much respect for her as a character.Literally, this entire conflict could have been resolved in a few sentences:
Spoiler
Clem: "Dora, you already know that I married you for your stake in the theater. I also doubted your acting ability before I saw you on stage in your element. You proved my doubts wrong, and you have an offer to play in another company for a role in a shakespearean play. Do you want to do that?"Dora: "oh. Well thanks for telling me, but I'm happy where I am and would much rather act at our theaters and stay with you"
and then they would be able to laugh at their comedy of errors years down the line, like "remember when you doubted my acting skills? silly man".
Instead, this entire conflict that didn't need to exist made the last 25% of this book absolutely agonizing to get through.
I'm bummed because the last Coldbreath book I read (The Favourite) has probably my favorite couple out of all the Coldbreath books, so I was on a high coming into this one. The disappointment is real.
katelynne's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
girlwithhearteyes's review against another edition
4.5
4.5 stars
I was absolutely *giddy* while listening to this audiobook.
Theo(dora) was the star of the show — sweet, enthusiastic, and incredibly driven. She wants to be a stage actor, and her response to being told to get in the kitchen is to proposition marriage to Clem Dabney, the showy, new money type who clearly wants a piece of her theatre, in return for a place on the stage. Possibly one of my favourite FMCs ever!
Meanwhile Clem keeps telling himself “I’m just being a considerate husband as a pretense” while doing the whole “why do keep thinking of Dora and how to make her happy…?” thing. He basically spent the whole time figuratively rubbing his chest in confusion, and breathing all heavy whenever he thought another man was sniffing around. 😂
The wedding night explorations managed to kind of awkward, hilarious, but also 🥵🥵🥵.
I do think the story could have been a bit shorter (the last 20% or so could have been tighter), but I was also kind of happy to just stay in the universe.
I was absolutely *giddy* while listening to this audiobook.
Theo(dora) was the star of the show — sweet, enthusiastic, and incredibly driven. She wants to be a stage actor, and her response to being told to get in the kitchen is to proposition marriage to Clem Dabney, the showy, new money type who clearly wants a piece of her theatre, in return for a place on the stage. Possibly one of my favourite FMCs ever!
Meanwhile Clem keeps telling himself “I’m just being a considerate husband as a pretense” while doing the whole “why do keep thinking of Dora and how to make her happy…?” thing. He basically spent the whole time figuratively rubbing his chest in confusion, and breathing all heavy whenever he thought another man was sniffing around. 😂
The wedding night explorations managed to kind of awkward, hilarious, but also 🥵🥵🥵.
I do think the story could have been a bit shorter (the last 20% or so could have been tighter), but I was also kind of happy to just stay in the universe.
littlebooklover's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kiriamarin's review
3.0
Um livro com plot e também no mundo do teatro vitoriano, uma leitura rápida e boa.
Merged review:
Um livro com plot e também no mundo do teatro vitoriano, uma leitura rápida e boa.
Merged review:
Um livro com plot e também no mundo do teatro vitoriano, uma leitura rápida e boa.