Not the kind of thing to read for escapism.

But this is a sweeping romance, the kind publishers don’t have the patience for (or maybe it’s readers?) anymore. There's almost too much of a story underneath. Yet there was time to build the foundation for an actual enemies-to lovers, but still very much reconciling two sides of the same war.

For some reason, Elizabeth Stuart is not released in e-book form. Still, if you can find this used for a reasonable price, I’d grab it. I love reading these to see how far we’ve come in romance and how different the modern sensibilities are reflected even 30 years ago, but also, they don’t make ‘em like this anymore. A slow build of trust, a sudden crack in it and back again. But lovely overall. Cruel, cruel hardships by both men and time.

3.5 / rounded up.

I would, however, skip the first 2 novels by Stuart.

tw/cw: lots of discussions of violence, torture, rape of a secondary character, wedding night is dubcon. ( )