Ick. Finished w HEAVY skimming. Just awful. Afraid to start #3. ( )

*2.5 stars*

This is the second book in a series and one I didn’t enjoy as much as the first.

The ML was very different from the first book and there was not a lot of justification why. I had to reread some aspects in Notorious (the first book) just to be sure I wasn’t misremembering things but indeed his actions here were almost completely different from the first. I still enjoyed Eva from the first book.

One main thing that took me out of the story and actually dimmed my enjoyment of the book was the references that kept being made about the age gap in the strangest circumstances. I read a lot of books that I enjoy with huge age gaps, but they kept being referred to in a strange way here and that interfered with my ability to stay and be immersed in the world built.

Overall, this was an okay read but I will admit to preferring the first book in the series over it.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for the ARC.
( )

Eva, Drusilla's friend from Notorious, is the daughter of a woman who went mad, so despite her enormous dowry and aristocratic heritage she is resigned to never marrying. Her behaviour doesn't help - she throws tantrums and acts on impulse. As the book starts, she's in a carriage with Godric Fleming, Earl of Visel. He's the mad earl from the previous book, and Eva has abducted him to keep him away from Gabriel and Drusilla. But Godric has already snapped out of his mad obsession with Gabriel and is behaving like a normal person. He realises, before Eva does, that the pair of them will have to marry, so he is determined to continue their journey to Scotland and turn Eva's fake elopement into a real one. Godric's tragic past has left him empty and, he believes, unable to love, so even though he lusts after the annoying Eva, he thinks she deserves better than him.

I enjoyed the book, despite a few problems: Godrick's background is ludicrously tragic; Eva is extremely tiresome; the pair of them are kept apart by misunderstandings and noble sacrifices, which are always tedious. ( )

I liked each book in Spencer's Outcasts series better than average, but I am just not taking to the first two in this one. The hero of this book was the villain in the last, which is perfectly fine with me.
Except, he went from very solidly being the villain to immediately changing entirely in like the first page of his POV chapter. Suddenly. Entirely on his own. As if waking from a dream, lol. I didn't buy it. It could have worked if it had been part of his character arc of redemption throughout the story, or maybe if his actions in the last book were somehow misunderstood or something, but this was quite a stretch. And then the heroine's whole kidnapping scheme was also a major stretch, so it just quickly went into preposterous territory. The hero is 36 and the heroine is 19, but she really she acted about 12, so it just added to this slightly unsettled feeling about their relationship. They're both a little bit daft, and it never did feel like they were really in love. It wasn't horrible, but I looked forward to it being over. It has a road trip, which I typically enjoy, and some steam. ( )

Fun Regency Romance with its fair share of misadventure!

What a delightful termagant Eva de Courtneyis! Well meaning, courageous and most often misguided.
But if you’re known as the disastrous daughter of the de Courtney’s then you surely live up to that reputation!
When Eva decides to kidnap Goodrich Fleming, Earl of Visel to prevent him from harming her sister-in-law Drusilla, well it made perfect sense in Eva’s (aka Evil to her siblings) way of thinking. 🤷‍♀️
So talking her long suffering friend and stable hand James into helping her was just the beginning.
Kidnapping the dreaded Lord Visel was next. What was not so simple were the storms, the out of the way inns, the highwaymen, and Eva’s father—the Marquess of Exley.
A rollicking tale with adventure, romance (well a bit more than that, given the inns and Eva’s inclination to experimentation, and Godric’s inclination to ruthlessly ignore any better judgement that might have lurked in his damaged psyche.)
Another brilliant addition to the Rebels series—witty and engaging. This one had me feeling a series reread coming on, including The Outcasts.

A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley ( )