Racy book, where socially shy wife marries her overbearing hubby. Until she decides that she's not going to wait around for his 2x annual visits, so she heads to London intent on seducing him so she has a child.

I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an advance reader copy of this story.

Sabrina and Constantine had an arranged marriage that might have started off ok if their parents had stayed out of it. There was attraction that could have turned to something more, he thinks she's the most beautiful woman in the world. Lies and hurtful statements made them as good as strangers. They're living separate lives until Sabrina breezes into town wanting to have a child. Being in the same house and trying to become their better selves sets things in motion. All that said, it then turns into a circus. I tried to like the story but it became to far fetched and I lost interest. By the end I felt nothing for the characters main and secondary. I don't like giving bad reviews but in this case I had to speak my mind. I like Ms Burkes work but this one was just too out there for me.

#DarcyBurke #Impassioned #ThePhoenixClub #ZealousQuillPress #historicalromance ( )

I received an ARC of this book to read through a review crew. All opinions are my own.
Impassioned by Darcy Burke is the second book in her captivating new series, The Phoenix Club. It can be read as a stand-alone. This story has one of my favourite themes in which a shy wallflower comes into her own, dazzles the hero and creates her own HEA. Sabrina Westbrook has been married to Constantine Westbrook Earl of Aldington for two years. Their parents arranged their marriage, and due to some misunderstandings and Sabrina’s crippling social anxiety, it’s not been a happy one. They spend little time together with Sabrina, living at their estate in the country and Constantine in London. Her unannounced visit to London and request that he provide her with a child have Constantine surprised and not a little shocked, as he wonders what happened to the shy retiring beauty he married, because this woman is not afraid to ask for what she wants and is taking the ton by storm. I loved this second chance at love story and do recommend reading it. Steam Level: Medium Publishing Date: August 24, 2021. #Impassioned #DarcyBurke #ThePhoenixClubSeries #HistoricalRomance #HistoricalRomanceReader #SecondChanceAtLove #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #RomanceReader ( )

Impassioned by Darcy Burke
The Phoenix Club #2

An arranged marriage of convenience for the parents of the bride and groom becomes a whole lot more when Sabrina challenges herself to become the person she would like to be and faces Constantine demanding he fulfill his husbandly duty and get her with child. Big smiles as I think back over the story.

What I liked:
* Sabrina: young, shy, anxious, retiring, fearful, forced to marry, wants more than she has after two years of marriage, miserable, more to her than she or others realize
* Constantine: eldest son, groomed to be a duke, busy at Westminster, political, brother, uptight, upright, tries to live up to expectation, miserable, more to him than he realizes.
* The way the two slowly grew throughout the story. They grew as people and as a couple.
* Lucien: Constantine’s half-brother, Phoenix Club owner, likes to help others, giving, kind, good with the ladies, charming, charismatic, loves his brother and sister.
* Evie/Mrs. Renshaw: kind, knowledgeable, once a courtesan, part of the Phoenix Club hierarchy, likes to help others, can’t wait for her story
* Cassandra: sister to Constantine and Lucien, debutante, father pushing a marriage, lively, bright, eager to read her story next and finding out how she and Wexford will find their HEA
* Miss Prudence Lancaster: companion to Cassandra – she has been in both books of the story and I wonder if she will have a book, too.
* Though a bit unbelievable it was a great part of the story – the scheme involving role playing by Sabrina that Lucien and Evie dreamed up to help Constantine and Sabrina find a better union.
* Grayson: cunning cat, troublemaker, “son” to Constantine’s butler and housekeeper
* The disastrous banquet that wasn’t quite so disastrous
* All of it really except…

What I didn’t like:
* The heartless rather abusive parents of Sabrina
* Constantine’s manipulative father

Did I like this book? Yes
Would I read more in the series? Definitely

Thank you to the author for the ARC – this is my honest review.

5 Stars ( )

Barbara’s Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Series: The Phoenix Club #2
Publication Date: 8/24/21
Period: Regency London - 1815

Goodness Gracious Me! We met Constantine Westbrook, heir to the Duke of Evesham, in the prequel (Invitation), and the first book of the series (Improper). I don’t know about you, but I sure didn’t like him very well. He was cold, unyielding, passionless, uptight, and, as his brother Lucien says, has a ‘stick up his xxx’. How could a curmudgeon like that become the male romantic lead in a romance novel? I knew this author would turn things around and make us love him – and she surely did. You won’t be far into the book before you realize people aren’t always the face they present to the world – and – you’ll quickly come to love Con.

Sabrina Westbrook has been married to the cold and aloof Constantine Westbrook for almost two years now – and she’s had enough. He is cold and passionless, but part of the fault for their distant civility is her own. They were definitely NOT a love match and Sabrina wanted to call it off, but her parents wouldn’t allow her to do so and the duke wouldn’t hear of it either. It wasn’t that she had anything against Con, she just didn’t want to marry anyone. Sabrina has a debilitating anxiety disorder and couldn’t function in crowds or with strangers. How in the world was she going to manage a wedding night and marriage with a perfect stranger? Well, the bottom line is that she didn’t – things went downhill fast. Her anxiety caused Con to have anxiety and well … things just didn’t go well. So now, he visits twice a year and their joining is perfunctory and hurried.

Having had enough of the state of their marriage, Sabrina fights down her anxieties and makes the trip to London to demand her marital rights. She’ll demand he come to her bed every night until she is with child. She doesn’t care how horrid the act is, she’ll endure because she very much wants a child. She has no idea a woman can also enjoy ‘the act’ until a friend shares that information and gives her a book with instructions on how to enjoy it on her own. WOW! What a revelation. She has to wonder if maybe Con hasn’t shared the pleasure with her because he doesn’t really want her and is strictly performing a duty.

Con very much wants to improve the state of his marriage. He desires his wife and thinks she is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, but he has no idea how to cope with her fears. When she cringes away from him, it wounds him. Since he has no idea how to make things better, he just tends to avoid her.

Con and Sabrina start, very tentatively, to see if they cannot heal their marriage. Neither understands the issues for the other – and they never talk about it. Well – they manage – in spite of the meddling of friends and family – and the end result is a delightful romance with a truly remarkable couple. It was a wonderful experience to see both of them grow, learn to trust, and learn to love.

I loved Con and Sabrina’s story and I cannot wait for the next book because it features Cassandra (Con and Lucien’s sister) and Lucien’s best friend, Ruark. I just know it is going to be a wonderful read because while Ruark is Lucien’s best friend, Lucien doesn’t think he is husband material for his sister. Uh Oh! The events in this book overlapped events in the first book – and events in the next book – Intolerable – will overlap with events in this book.

As always, the book is well-written, well-plotted, and excellently delivered. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. BTW – the prequel I mentioned above – is FREE on Amazon – so why not read it to see how the Phoenix Club came to be formed, the reasons behind it, and the group of friends who are involved.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )