The Scotch King
4 stars
The premise of this story started out really well. I appreciated the hints of darkness and looked forward to diving into the minds of the characters. It was suspenseful and intriguing. There were a few times with London that I wanted to shake her because of how she acted which didn't seem appropriate after she saw the seriousness of the situation and, especially, after she met Bones.

I read this as part of the boxset.

The Scotch Queen
3.75 stars
I struggled a bit more with this installment of the trilogy. I found myself wanting more story than sex for once but sadly, it was mainly sex. I wanted to dive deeper into how this all fit into the plan that Crewe had intended. London still drove me nuts with her behavior. I had hoped there would be more character development by this point but there wasn't. The darkness factor had also disappeared.

I read this as part of the boxset.

2.5 stars
If I hadn't wanted to see where this book ended after reading this far into the story, I am not sure I would have continued on. I struggled with the plausibility of the story, which is a shame because the premise was really there. This could have been something so much more than it was. For a character, such as Crewe, and this supposedly dark world where laws don't pertain to him and he has done criminal activities, it seemed ludicrous that he would make friends with someone who had tried to kill him or who had wronged him in any way. There was a ton of manipulation by the characters which again didn't sit well with me because this is a world where loyalty is rewarded but that didn't seem to matter. Transitions were off, one moment London is struggling to help Crewe, and a month later with no explanation for her absence she is back at the hospital and dating but then she has a change of heart? Say WHAT?

I am just disappointed, because like I mentioned, this had the potential to be a mindblowing trilogy but instead just focused on sex and lost the story or the elements that had started me reading this story. If this had been the first book, I can guarantee I would not have finished it which is something I rarely, if ever, do.

I read this as part of the boxset.

Buttons and Lace
3.5 stars

I have had this book on my TBR for a while but finally, read it in The Scotch King Boxset where it was a bonus at the end. The blurb of this drew me in and it had the potential to be so much more than it was. There were so rough scenes but more showing the violence of how far Pearl was going to go in order to not be a victim. I admired that. However, there were many similarities that I found to Crewe and London in this book. I had a hard time finding it plausible that Pearl would act this way if her life and literal bones were on the line.

I did enjoy meeting Crow and liked the idea of the buttons premise. However, I started to see the trajectory of how this was going to go even this early in the book and am not sure I want to invest my time into another series that will likely frustrate me the same way that the Scottish King trilogy did. I am glad I read this as part of this book before I made a huge commitment financially to buy the series because these books are on the spendier side compared to the typical 3-4 dollars an ebook. ( )