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kb33's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Miscarriage, Violence, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
the_rabble's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
2 POVs, spicy historical romance/home reno/proto nerd culture story. 3rd person, past tense. I think both protagonists are late 20s.
This one has a bunch of unexpected turns and fun payoffs. Dare pulls from a lot of places and topics she clearly loves. It'd be very easy to be spoiled and- as someone who loves a spoiler- it actually is more fun to just ride the ride. The stakes are stable/not outsized so the urge isn't there. Dare does a good job foreshadowing and building surprise without dread.
Ransom and Izzy are excellent. Really loved both of these characters. Both POV voices are distinct and choices are character driven and relatable. We get some late reveals, but they're fun to watch bump against each other.
Sex scenes are great.
First book of three book series. You can read them in any order. Promise of the series' premise is "woman owns castle" and the stories are independent from book to book.
This one may be my favorite of the three.
Graphic: Ableism and Sexism
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Ableism and sexism are largely in the story as relevant institutional elements of 1800s England. Child abuse, bullying, and emotional abuse (of a child/young person) are all off-page background and not something done by anyone we meet in the story. [Ableism]Ransom ismaeverose's review
I liked parts of this, disliked other parts. It was the constant back and forth of them clearly liking each other but then stupid things getting in the way of their feelings that ultimately made me dnf. I don’t like angst in my romance unless it’s actually understandable and done well, and imo this was overdone to the point of being annoying. To me, at least.
It’s not mentioned in the synopsis though it’s not a spoiler, the duke is scarred and blind. I can’t fully speak on the disability rep as I’m not blind, but I am disfigured and disabled in different ways. Overall I don’t think it was done badly, some of the descriptions about how he can see vague shapes and colors in the light tracks with what a blind relative of mine has described, and I like that they showed how he has headaches from the injury and it’s not something that he has zero struggles with. But some of the general language could’ve been better, such as:
“Yesterday, she’d made a journey to Northumberland by herself, taken possession of a medieval fortress, and held her ground against a scarred, angry duke. She ought to feel like a strong woman, by any measure.” Mentioning the scars when trying to make him seem more scary is body shaming. The author could’ve just left it at ‘angry duke’.
Also:
I can’t quite tell if we’re supposed to interpret this as him not wanting his disability to make his life more difficult, as he mentioned that he doesn’t like having to rely on others to help him read, for example. Or if it’s supposed to be interpreted as ‘god forbid I become one of them’. To me, it reads as the latter. Either way the use of the word ‘invalid’ bothers me. It’s used multiple times, and I get that it’s period-accurate but I don’t think it would’ve been difficult to not use the word given that it’s considered pretty ableist by today’s standards.
It also annoys me a bit that the cover on the edition I have makes the duke look like Darcy, which is not at all how he’s described. And he has no scar 🙃 and on the other edition I’ve seen he’s not even on the cover. Obviously that has nothing to do with the actual book though, I believe the publisher is in charge of finding someone to design the cover.
I didn’t like Ransom as a love interest very much. He’s physically aggressive and has anger issues, which I understand is probably to add to the whole rugged bad boy thing, but the way he was written wasn’t sexy to me. It’s borderline abusive. He always asks for consent, but gets grabby with her before establishing that consent. The author also tries to show that he’s caring at the same time, even though his words and actions didn’t fully reflect that, which left me confused. In the first half of the book (before he had any idea Izzy liked him) he repeatedly warns her that he’s a starved man who may not be able to control himself around a woman like her. It almost felt like rape threats, even though from her pov she saw it as thrilling and enticing, if she wasn’t into him that would 100% be interpreted as a rape threat, no? She’s broke, has no where else to go, legally owns the castle, is now employed to him so he’s her only source of income, and yet he’s threatening her that if she stays he might have his way with her… I get this is a fictional romance, and I get why people would be into that kind of story but it wasn’t marketed as that kind of story, so it made me uncomfortable.
This book has the trope of ‘pretty main character thinks she’s just so plain and unlovable and was bullied for her very
Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, and Death
Minor: Misogyny
Minor misunderstanding trope surrounding how Izzy feels about Ransom’s appearance. He thinks she finds him repulsive when she doesn’t. This lasts probably half the book but isn’t brought up too many times.cardaisy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Ableism and Death of parent
Minor: Forced institutionalization
hallaxx's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Ableism
thaliareads's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Moderate: Ableism
Minor: Death and Death of parent
Izzy's family has all died prior to the events of the book. There are some ableist assumptions about the Duke who has been left blind after an injury.lotte5322's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
chaptersofamylea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
"Of course not. I kissed you like it would be my last."
3 ⭐️
Its been a hot minute since I had read a historical romance and I fancied a change of pace but this didn’t live up to what I wanted it to be. Tessa Dare is usually my go to as her books are the ✨perfect✨ blend of laugh out loud and swoon. While this book was enjoyable and sweet in places, I felt the usual humour and angst was missing for me like there has been in the other books I’ve read by her.
If someone wants to gift me a castle tho I ain’t gonna say no ✌🏻
TWs: death of a parent, ableism, life altering injury
Moderate: Ableism and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
hrtlss_grl's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
earlgreyandhoney's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Ableism, Mental illness, Sexual content, Grief, and Medical trauma