winner from Evie Dunmore!
I adored the first book in this series and I'm thrilled to say that this love to hate romance was just as addictive.
Perfect pacing with a historical setting and steamy romance with bubbly chemistry between the two characters, Tristan and Lucie, Hot, hot, hot,
Lucie is involved in the women's suffragist movement and is sassy, independent and constantly trying to stay one step ahead of Lord Ballentine who has been propositioning her with an invite to his bedroom.
How dare he!, but wait, . she has her own plan and so the scheming begins,
Witty banter, characters full of heart and soul, a romance that will have you fanning yourself and hoping this rogue comes to his senses! All is fair in love in war, wouldn't you agree
Beautiful and immersive writing that reads like a big screen movie!! Loved, loved, it and I'm already anticipating book three!
Highly Recommend!!
Thanks so much to Berkley for my review copy.
OUT TODAY SEPT,On Kindle Sale Marchfor USD,
Tropes: Unstarched her, Enemies to Lovers, Forbidden Love, Opposites Attract, Spinster, Work Relationship
So heres the deal.
The romance Check.
Sizzles, electric, tender, charming, riveting, emotional, at times uncomfortable, every scene they have together is FANTASTIC,
The other parts
Well, its so busy, So many characters, so many plot lines it gets a bit exhausting, and takes too much away from the romance,
Such a shame, or I would have given it full score,
stars.
She wanted to smack the smirk off his soft mouth, She wanted to do all sorts of things to his mouth, How feebleminded, to want a man she disliked,
Perhaps I am trying to get into your good graces, so you will give in to your attraction at last and come to me.
”
She could not trust him worse, she could not trust herself around him, Tristan would never reliably act the gentleman and save her from her own audacity, He would go along as far as her curiosity, no, her weakness, would take them, and provoke her to go further still,
He caught her descending the last few steps of the main stairs, And the Great Hall fell away, For a beat, there was only the dainty woman in red, Not red crimson. Like his favorite coat. Like the ruby on his ring, Like the color of blood on its way to the heart, His mouth went dry despite the brandy,
She tossed her head, “Well. They say all is fair in love and war, ”
Right. “Then war it is,” he murmured,
From a distance came the clatter of his cane hitting the floor, His coat, his hat, his jacket thudded behind him as he stalked toward her by the time he towered over her, she looked alarmed and he was on the last button on his waistcoat.
He was careful with her, she felt it in the slowness of his advance, as though they were moving through honey.
It was in the tenderness of his lips against her cheeks, her nose, her brow, as he sought to soothe the pressure of his possession.
He was careful as though she were breakable in his hands,
He was holding her face, and she felt his thumbs, very gently, touch her cheekbones,
“Perhaps I have always liked and admired you, Lucie, ”
Her mind blanked.
She burrowed into him when he tried to deposit her under the coverlet, “I told you not to come,” she murmured, drunk with sleep,
He kneeled down next to the bed and leaned his forehead against hers, “I know. I did not listen. I shall leave. ”
Her hand searched and slipped beneath his coat, and he stilled, “Stay,” she said.
She paused, half distracted by his fingers caressing the small of her back through the fine cotton of her morning dress, She had gone from a lifetime of never being touched by another to being kissed or petted in abundance when he was near, and the wondrousness of it was not wearing off.
What puzzled
her most was that nothing had been missing from her life before himhow could he feel essential now Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo: Suffragette
Content Notes:
It pains me to rate this so low because I enjoyed most of this book.
I love prickly Lucie and rakish Tristan together I love Dunmores writing I love the core female friendship that grounds the series usual caveat: likeof traditionallypublished historical romance, the book centers white characters.
Specifically white women involved in the suffrage movement, even though women of color also lived in England and participated in radical activities during this time.
I do not love that the hero has a tattoo of a fourarmed, blueskinned, and naked South Asian dancer on his chest,
In the light, the inking covering his right pectoral stood out in vivid detail, An intricately patterned circle the size of a saucer in different shades of blue, and at its center, a longhaired female dancer, waving , . . multiple arms Studying it gave her some time to think, what to say, what to feel, as they sat closely together, smelling warmly of sleep and debauchery.
The tattoo was remarkable: the dancers expression was serene, her body caught midmotion in a graceful turn, She was naked, but to her surprise, strands of her hair fully covered her modesty,
“Its charming, I suppose,” she said,
“Charming Its Pierre Charmaines finest handiwork, ”
She raised her eyes to his, “Who is he”
“Monsieur Pierre was a former officer of the French Foreign Legion, For reasons he never disclosed, he found himself in London a few years ago and now charges outrageous prices in a secret tattoo parlor in Mulberry Walk.
I suspect a woman was behind his fall from grace, ”
“Arent we always,” she said dryly, “Why does the woman have four arms”
“Because she is inspired by Lord Shiva, ”
“Right. And who would he be”
The arms quivered when Tristan chuckled, “Shiva is one of the three principle deities of Hinduism, also called Mahadeva, He is the Lord of Divine Energy, creator of the universe, the God of transformation and destruction, He holds more roles and names, depending on which sect of Hinduism you study, It is complex. He is often depicted with blue skin, four arms, and a snake around his neck, ”
“A god of destruction, ” She was bewildered. “But naturally, you then go and ink a woman onto your skin, ”
He gave her a grave look, “I have you know that when I stayed in General Fosters house, I had conversations with the Pujari, the temple priest, after which I considered it wise not to tattoo all powerful deities onto my throughly debauched English body.
”
Yeah. So no. I hate this and I hate that it becomes a crucial plot point later on, I have little desire to rant and explain all the ways this pissed me off, Obviously Im very sensitive when it comes to reminders of colonialism in historical romance and yet I love the subgenre, Trust me, I am aware of my contradictions and hypocrisy, but this was a step too far for me,
I am never going to love a story in which a white viscount has a fourarmed, blueskinned, and naked South Asian dancer inspired by Shiva, no less.
Shiva is my familys main deity of worship tattooed on his chest, It's later said that the blue tinge is actually scar tissue and not ink he got the tattoo over scarred tissue, but I'm a bit confused by the description.
Maybe some of it is ink Not sure, but regardless it gives the overall image of a blue deity, I was tempted to downgrade my rating further but felt it unfair considering I was enjoying the book up to this point,
To be honest, there are a couple other things that make me cringe in retrospect I have questions over the villainous gay character and how the one nonwhite character is Tristans South Asian valet, but itsAM and I dont really have the energy to type it out.
Sorry. This is definitely the worst aspect though,
I have to ask how this and the crucial plot point that I have not spoiled in this review! The mind boggles, I cannot believe what happened at the end of this book went unnoticed by the author, agent, editor, beta readers, and other early reviewers, I scoured Goodreads and I am the first person to mention this, In my opinion, this is as offensive/racist/careless/clueless a million other adjectives as Lisa Kleypas's Kama Sutra nonsense in Hello, Stranger.
That backlash led to Kleypas apologizing and the publisher changing the content of the book, It'sand I am exhausted,
Edited to add on August,two days after my initial review:
Well, the comment section is delightful, But since I've been asked for clarity and I'm a glutton for punishment, let me break down why I'm upset into a stepbystep explanation,
Some background context and useful articles:
Elizabeth Kingston's article "Reclaiming Historical Romance: how historicals have romanticized white supremacy and what we can do to reclaim the subgenre" for Romance Writers Report December: sitelink com/b/bFg
Relevant passage: "How do Regency and Victorianset Romances promote white nationalist ideology Most obviously, this fictional world is overwhelmingly white and Christian.
But perhaps less obvious is how it presents a very incomplete version of history, resulting in a failure of worldbuilding that nearly always leaves out significant events.
India is only glancingly referenced in most Romances except as a place where the hero will sometimes go to gain emotional scars and learn erotic arts from fetishized Asian women.
"
for Lisa Kleypas's Hello, Stranger March: sitelink com/r
for Seduction on a Snowy Night Anthology, specifically One Wicked Winter Night by Mary Jo Putney September: sitelink com/
I wrote the last review, When I say "It'sand I am exhausted," it's not an invitation for people to ask my labor in breaking down historical romance's long and storied history in the exoticization/fetishization of colonized cultures.
Because I've already done it, Because it takes up space in my brain when I would rather not expend grief over it, I've been reading romance for over a decade, I've tried to think critically about the genre for the past couple years, I'm not some selfloathing reader of historical romance it is possible to deeply love a thing and acknowledge systemic problems, Critiquing something you love even when that thing is fun, fictional escapism is necessary, It is also possible to have hard, hard limits on when those problems stop you from loving that thing,
I made a vague reference to a spoilery end scene earlier, It is impossible to have this discussion without spoiling the story, so you have been warned, The spoilers start here.
Brief spoilery, oversimplified recap:
Tristan's Evil Dad wants Tristan to stop his scandalous ways and marry a respectable girl now that he's the heir to the earldom.
Evil Dad keeps threatening to send Tristan's sick/grieving mom to an asylum, so Tristan reluctantly agrees, The respectable girl is Lucie's younger cousin, Cecily, Over the course of the novel, Cecily becomes jealous of Lucie because it's clear Tristan loves her, Concerned that Tristan might break off his promise to marry her, Cecily takes matters into her own hands, She disappears one night and emerges in the morning, claiming that Tristan has compromised her and they have to marry now,
Tristan doesn't have an alibi he was with Lucie at the "compromising" time and doesn't want to expose her as his lover there are Reasons: doesn't want to ruin her reputation, would damage her suffragette political ambition, etc.
Tristan, resigned to his fate, agrees to marry Cecily and is in a room with Evil Dad and Lucie's parents Lucie's parents are Cecily's guardians.
At the nth hour, Lucie comes bursting in and reveals that she is his alibi: how could he have possibly compromised Cecily when he was compromising her So now there's a contradiction in the story, and Lucie threatens to make the story public if they force Tristan to go through with this farce of a marriage.
Finally Cecily says that she has proof: she's seen Tristan naked because she knows that he has a tattooed dancer on his body.
The backstory here is that the aforementioned Evil Gay Villain told Cecily this fact earlier in the book, Evil Gay Villain was present during an orgy and watched Tristan fuck another woman in an exhibitionist act Evil Gay Villain is also extremely resentful because he propositioned Tristan in lust and was rejected.
So he told Cecily about the tattoo,
Well, everyone is shocked by Cecily's revelation he must have compromised her! How else could she have known but Tristan knows how to catch her in the lie.
He questions Cecily and tricks her into admitting that the dancer has two arms, He laughingly says that the dancer has four arms and Cecily rebukes him, saying that's ridiculous and that the dancer must have two arms how could she have possibly guessed the existence of a fourarmed dancer.
So now the conflict ends and Tristan has his proof that Cecily is a liar, The day is saved, the villian is put in her place, the end, This is the climax of the novel, Literally the most important/tense aspect of the story hinges on the clever "gotcha" of Hindu deities being depicted with multiple arms,
I've written all this out and I'm so tired, I don't want to explain any more, Please refer back to my Putney review where I ask the following questions:
"You might be wondering, “Why is Aarya so offended and angry The dancing seems positive.
Everyone is appreciative of the Indian culture and theyre not making derogatory remarks, Whats the big deal” The big deal is the otherization of Indian culture, Go back and reread the scene, What is the purpose of the dancing Who does it center Who does it serve"
"So we know who the scene centers, What is the point of the centering Why even include the scene"
"Perhaps this is understood unsaid, but Im going to say it anyway: its freaking unacceptable that this scene exists when the English colonized India for centuries.
I really dont care about “historical accuracy” or if this might have happened in Regency England, I dont need to read about Regency England fetishizing and otherizing a culture that they colonized, Historical romance isnt written in a vacuum, and I expectst century authors to have some selfawareness when describing colonial cultures, I dont expect a thorough accounting of all the misdeeds committed by the British Empire, but not fetishizing a culture is the bare minimum, Thats all I ask for, "
I don't care that Tristan once lived in India or has a South Asian valet/manservant, I question why this tattoo/conflict resolution exists, Does it need to be there Couldn't Tristan have had literally any other tattoo that was misinterpreted by Cecily silly example: he has a wolf tattoo but it's pink.
Cecily says it's ridiculous the wolf tattoo is pink and gotcha!
So what purpose is the tattoo serving It's the clever "trick" of the climax.
Look how strange, look how exotic this culture is that they have dancers with multiple arms, It's so wild that we can hinge the novel's climax on it Cecily is a liar and would never guess something so impossible in a million years.
The aesthetic of Tristan having an image of the Hindu divine on his body makes me sick, No, it's not literally Lord Shiva but my goodness, the inspiration does not make it any better! The multiple arms, the blue imagery those are marks of the divine.
Sacred. The woman is naked even if her hair gives an appearance of modesty again, fetishizing the form of a South Asian woman, Tristan is a scandalous, debauched rake, Naturally he would have an image of a naked South Asian woman on his body, Gross. Go back to Elizabeth Kingston's article about glancing references to India and fetishizing Asian women,
This theme happens over and over again in historical romance the references to South Asian culture are almost always about divine sensuality whether it be dancing or the Kama Sutra.
Tristan's country is out here colonizing an entire continent, and British historical romance can only appreciate sensual dancing and spices, I haven't even spoken about Tristan's valet who, yes, expresses ambition to attend university, But he's also extremely deferential/subservient to the white characters, The combination of factors is Not Great, There are certainly respectful references as well see Rabindranath Tagore, but this tattoo crap overwhelms the rest of it,
I wouldn't blink an eye if a South Asian person chose to tattoo this dancer on their body, A white viscount in, a time when England colonized the South Asian subcontinent Fuck yes, I question it, It's appropriative in half a million ways, It's not necessary to the story, Tristan's backstory in India is, quite frankly, mostly irrelevant to the book and could've been removed without significantly changing the plot, The most important souvenir from his Indian journey is his stupid tattoo and the relevance it plays to the conflict resolution,
I haven't talked about authorial intent yet because it is irrelevant, Do I think the author intended to fetishize anything No, I think this plot decision is clueless, careless, and stupid, Intent is also meaningless a book doesn't exist in an vacuum, How I feel about this book, how I feel about this tattoo my historical knowledge of colonization and my decade of reading sometimes very racist! historical romance novels impact the way I view this tattoo.
It isand we are way past this nonsense, Get multiple sensitivity readers if you're going to include cultural aspects/characters from marginalized cultures that you're unfamiliar with,
I'm really angry now, and mostly because of the comment section, Congrats, Aarya, you played yourself, Never again am I writing anything that affects my mental equilibrium like this, I shouldn't have to explain anything to bad faith actors,
Disclaimer: I received a free eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, .
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