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samchase112's review
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-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? Yes
3.5
Tessa Dare romances are simply fun, silly, romantic times! I adored both main characters here, and their romance was just lovely. The crumbling gothic castle swept me into the story, and Ransom's character and struggles kept me in. I will say, the bookish fandom stuff was a bit too crazy and silly for me, and I ultimately think this will be forgettable. But I enjoyed myself nonetheless! And Tessa Dare is proving herself as a go-to for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Rape, Grief, and Pregnancy
kb33's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Ransom spent 90% of the book being a jerk to everyone. In the very end he said some nice words that didn’t include an apology and was very easily forgiven. And it was entirely unrealistic that Ransom wanted everyone to know that he and Izzy were sleeping together without being married.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Miscarriage, Violence, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
yourbookishbff's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
The concept for this story-within-a-story honestly feels brilliant to me - a woman who has inspired countless tales of fictional medieval adventures has inherited her very own castle, complete with recalcitrant and reclusive Duke. Izzy Goodnight is all grown up, even if she is eternally a child to the legions of zealous readers who first met her as the charming young protagonist of her father's fairytale-esque adventures, and she's penniless and homeless when she lands on the doorstep of her mysterious inheritance. The Duke, recently blinded by a severe injury to his eyes in a duel, refuses to leave the crumbling property that's become his sole refuge. This is absolutely over-the-top all the way through, with forced proximity, scarred hero, rake x wallflower, and a handful of other beloved tropes all battling for the reader's attention, but it's the narrative structure, and our underlying fairy tale adventures, that make this feel so unique and whimsical and ultimately, deeply moving. I just loved this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent
dovahkiin_shea's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Cute but kind of predictable
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming and Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing and Death
Ransom x Evie: she gets notified that she's the owner of a castle and moves in (she's starving and homeless) and she realizes that the man that lives in the castle is hot, blind, and a Duke. She helps him with his correspondence until they realizemaeverose's review
DNFed @ 75%
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 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:
“First, he’d walked to rebuild the strength sapped from his limbs. Then he’d walked to master the lay of this castle without his sight. He might be a wreck, he told himself, but he’d be damned if he’d be an invalid.”
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 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
Content Warnings
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.kyeruhh's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- 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
3.5
I thought this was fun! It wasn’t too deep, but the MCs were good and Tessa Dare continues to be the queen of HR banter. At times it did feel a bit OTT ridiculous, but who doesn’t love LARPing??
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Injury/Injury detail
kiala's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
rafacolog's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, and Death of parent
mollyjeannette's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
indieandajean's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- 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
3.75
Here we are folks, another great bodice ripper (literally in this one, in case you need that for some sort of reading challenge bingo board). I love Tessa Dare's ability to add just enough of an interesting plot to keep my attention and this book certainly has very similar vibes to much of her other work. It reminded me very much of The Duchess deal, but I found the characters here more likeable. The plot was fun, the spice level was more than adequate, and overall I found it to be a fun light read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing and Sexual content
Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism