Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, and HarperCollins for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.
I think this is my first historical romance book I have ever read, and boy was it a story to cut my teeth on. From my understanding this is the first in a series, but I believe that these characters also appear in previous books written by Sarah MacLean. While I didn’t know the history of anyone in the books, this didn’t distract from enjoying this story – which is not always the case, even with separate stories!
Pros: STRONG WOMEN CHARACTERS! I cannot praise the strength of the female characters enough in this book. Just the utter wealth of characters and the diversity of them is a huge plus in this book when many of the characters are only there for plot movement. Sesily and Caleb also have a fun relationship, and I enjoyed watching scenes change between their POVs.
Cons: This is probably something that you get the hang of from reading more historical books, but I had a hard time with some of the language. It also felt like it dragged at parts, and that it took a really long time for some of the main plot points to be revealed – one of which didn’t seem to be revealed until about 65% of the way through the book. Many aspects of the books just felt like they weren’t connecting with me but I am going to chalk it up to it being outside of my realm of literature competency.
Overall this was an enjoyable book, with a HEA/HFN ending, and will probably appeal to a wide swath of people. I would definitely be interested in reading the next book in this series. 3.5/5