Well, it had a odd, chubby heroine, and some very good angst towards the end, but not quite enough to suit me. Two complaints: the hero's business took up too much time in the book, and I didn't like him being on his fourth wife and being old enough to be her father. His daughter being one of her best friends just added this creepy dude element to it. Just my personal opinion, the author handled the situation fine. I suspect that, like cheating spouses and courtesans, this theme is just not my cup of tea. And I do wish there had been more angst, there were enough elements to generate it. Points for having a lesbian character though. (3.5 stars) ( )

Well, it had a odd, chubby heroine, and some very good angst towards the end, but not quite enough to suit me. Two complaints: the hero's business took up too much time in the book, and I didn't like him being on his fourth wife and being old enough to be her father. His daughter being one of her best friends just added this creepy dude element to it. Just my personal opinion, the author handled the situation fine. I suspect that, like cheating spouses and courtesans, this theme is just not my cup of tea. And I do wish there had been more angst, there were enough elements to generate it. Points for having a lesbian character though. (3.5 stars) ( )

This was such a great series... I need to read again some day. 4 stars. ( )

This was such a great series... I need to read again some day. 4 stars. ( )

Hahahahahaha, oh Goddddd. OH God.

Okay. Let me start this off by saying: I have some very specific and odd kinks. (I also have odd and specific squicks, but this doesn’t go there.) This book hit so, so, so many of them.

This is the second in Jane Feather’s Bride trilogy and focuses on The Clumsy, Chubby One, Phoebe. Oh, dear God, did it hit so many spots for me. First of all, Phoebe is Olivia’s best friend and Diana’s younger sister. Olivia’s father, Cato, Marquis of Granville, marries Diana in the prologue of the trilogy. Diana dies and Diana’s father, in order to keep the alliance strong, decides with Cato that Cato will just marry Phoebe!

To say that I was sold before I even began the book is to just greatly undersell how excited I was about this. I like age differences, I like twisted up family relationships, I love stodgy older asshole with propriety syndrome marrying messes of girls. So.

But oh, Phoebe is so much more than just a mess. She’s passionate and smart and so loving and intense and I love her so much. She pretty quickly dispenses with the Ugly Duckling part of her appearance as soon as she realizes her clothing is working against her and That Boobs Are Awesome. I love, love, love, love love beyond words how the book shows the strength of Phoebe’s character. People dismiss her as a clumsy, dowdy younger sister without much to sell her.

But throughout the course of the book she becomes bold and challenging and adventurous. She sticks by the people she loves with a ferociousness that just destroyed me so much. Like the previous novel in this trilogy, this novel is full of plot and b-plot and c-plot, but none of it seems like spaghetti thrown at the wall to see what sticks.

Cato is, to be short about it, pretty much an ass. But he’s an ass in a way where he’s just pretty accustomed to his life going in a certain way and women acting in a certain manner and he had a very Decided Idea of the person Phoebe was and she does more than turn that upside down. She honestly just bowls him over and he never does quite find his footing with her. It’s amazing. I don’t even know why it’s amazing. It just is.

She doesn’t for a second put up with him when he becomes authoritarian. She is never cowed by him for more than the blink of an eye. She approaches his dictating nature by throwing it back at him and telling him where he can shove it, but it’s in a way with such conviction that it’s just. FEELINGS. Y’ALL. I GOT THE FEELINGS.

AND AS IF MY LOVE FOR PHOEBE WERE NOT ENOUGH.

The book is filthy for a historical romance novel. There’s this one oral scene that is just. Dear God. When Phoebe finally gets up the courage to show Cato that she wants more than his previous wives wanted, that she wants passion and sex and everything he can give her. It’s just. It’s such a touching scene. SHE BLINDFOLDS HIM. I mean, I’M SORRY. AM I A MONSTER? NO. IF YOU PRICK ME, DO I NOT BLEED? I DO. The sex in it is awesome and dirty and wonderful and just.

This boooooook.

The only reason that it doesn’t get 5 stars is there was one huuuuge plot point that was never resolved that just bothered me so badly. Phoebe takes 17th century contraceptive measures to make sure she doesn’t conceive before Cato accepts her for who she is. Having an heir is a huge thing for Cato. He assumes through the novel, and for a couple of major scenes, that she is barren. Not that I think any modern man gets to have a say in it, nor any man of that era, but there was something about never getting a resolution to that that just bothered me. Not that Phoebe should’ve felt guilty or that he would have any right to be angry at her. It just felt like a huge deception that was never dealt with at all! They just lived happily ever after in the epilogue.

So, for that, I can’t give it five stars. I’m not even positive that this 4.5 is reflective of the quality of this book. BUT HOW MANY OF MY BUTTONS CAN YOU PUSH ALL AT ONCE WITHOUT ME GIVING IT THAT MANY? ( )