The resolution was rushed. ( )

Jeremy is a hunky small-town vicar chafing under society's rules. Sarah is a mild-mannered noblewoman who secretly writes erotic fiction under a pen name. What follows is some very engaging slow burn romance.

Leigh knows her genre. This book EXUDES chemistry and has all the contrived meetings, tense will-they-won't-theys, and steamy interludes you could ask for from a Regency romance. I also really liked Sarah, an isolated young woman who throws herself into escapist fiction in order to carve out an identity for herself.

I wasn't as compelled by the plot, which involves Jeremy attempting to unmask the mysterious author of Sarah's novels on the orders of his clergyman father. Jeremy's father is bananapants, but the book doesn't really lean into how ridiculous the situation is. As a result, Jeremy doesn't come off well and there's some inconsistency in tone.

Just as Jeremy's motivations are fuzzy, I wasn't sold on Sarah as a loner. She's not shy and seems at ease in social situations. Her lack of social success is pinned on the fact that she doesn't fit in with other young women, but at times this becomes a "Sarah's not like the other girls" vibe that I didn't care for.

That said, I am a choosy connoisseur of romance fiction, and I read this one to the end. Also, Leigh's most recent book is a friends-to-lovers Regency romance with a lady scientist and an anthropologist, which sounds entirely like my thing.

This was the best book in the series in my opinion. I loved the chemistry but I thought the ending was a let down. It didn’t live up to the rest of the book. ( )

Maybe even 3.5 stars, but I can't quite round up. The dialogue and descriptions are pretty good, and the premise of the book is good, but the part in-between the macro and micro, the individual plot points and how they're strung together, were kinda weak in my opinion. Many felt like they were shoe-horned in not because they made sense for the characters and scenario, but purely because the author already knew where she wanted things to end up and then was trying to twist events toward that direction but didn't entirely succeed. How he concluded with complete certainty that the 'woman in gold' was the writer... What?? His reasoning was a preposterously ridiculous leap! And he's supposed to be a scholar too. I'm sure Leigh wanted him to have another lead to follow so she tried to contrive circumstances that would provide it. But honestly, it would have been preferable to say he just felt a hunch in his bones or something rather than use that faulty logic! It's not the end of the world or anything, but it made it so that frequently I was pulled out of the story to focus on its construction rather than the story itself. Additionally, I had been enjoying the hero, but was quite disappointed in his reaction when 'the secret was revealed'. I wasn't particularly surprised, events almost always play out with great drama in these stories, but this seemed particularly wrong for him. Again, like it was done not because it was organically how his character would respond, but because a predetermined formula necessitated a poor reaction so they could overcome and have makeup sex later. =P =D ( )

dnf @ 47%

i was thinking about it earlier, and it always seems like i have more to say when i don't like a book than when i do. i think it all goes back to that fact that i know better what i don't like vs what i do. or, at the very least i know how to phrase my dislikes better.

this book was recommended by a dear friend who also happens to write romance novels. she said look, yknow, chelsea it's got everything: priests, romance, the hero is that guy who you're also using as a face character for a priest... you should read it. i, never one to pass up a book recommendation, ran off to kindle and was delighted to find that it was only $2.99 (which appealed to my parsimonious scottish/french canadian soul) and i snapped it up.

i'm gunna say that the first 20% or so of this book was pretty decent buildup. they set up lady sarah and jeremy pretty well and i was digging their romance and not much else. the premise? some crusty old man (jeremy's father) finds out that someone is writing steamy romance novels under the somewhat shitty pen name "the lady of dubious quality" and wants his youngest son (jeremy, also a vicar but like COE because we can't have someone breaking their vows of celibacy no matter how horny the author is for priests) to go and track this horrible woman down for writing something that will corrupt the public.

honestly? what the fuck? i think that's where i first went "huh?" honestly? and "the lady of dubious quality?" just pick a name. any name. make something up. don't use something that makes you sound like a third rate porn star with an aristocracy fetish. anyways, this is where it started to derail for me. there was lots of delicate flirting, which is super nice, but not enough to keep me engaged.

and then some tittering fops invite sarah and jeremy to an exhibition of erotic far eastern art and sarah is all like "oh if we don't stay they'll win!!one1!" ma'am, please. there are other ways to prove your point than dragging that anglican priest you have a lady boner for through a naughty picture gallery in hopes that your fake friends will somehow respect you for it. that scene was, uh, ill-conceived.

AND THEN we get to the masked club thing. i am perfectly willing to accept the existence of club where you put on a mask and sleep with strangers for fun. what i'm not willing to accept is an author building up this event to an almost mythical degree and getting both hero and heroine there and then having...... fuck all happen. i didn't expect them to participate in a mad orgy, but i was still disappointed.

after that i just kinda... lost interest. i stopped reading when sarah found out something was looking for her and thought to herself that a married woman could get away with more so she ran off, presumably to propose to a certain poor beleaguered priest who doesn't know what's going on but gets a boner every time he thinks about her.

i know a little about how this book ends and, honestly, nah fam. i wasn't going to slog through the last half of the book for a poor emotional payoff. so, onto the next. ( )