Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥 (there’s a scene or two but they aren’t overly long or detailed)
Humor: Yes, a bit
Perspective: Third person with both heroines (split by chapter)
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? slow to medium
When mains are first on page together: It takes a bit of time setting up each heroine first, pg 39 of 237 (about 16%)
Cliffhanger: no, this ends with a happily ever after for the couple
Epilogue: not really, but the last chapter is a bit of a wrap up about a week later
Format: I read an ARC in e-book format through NetGalley


“Emily,” she said, just before either of them could catch the eye of those waiting on them in the parlor. “Write to me in the meantime.”
“Write to you?” Emily repeated. “About what?”
About anything, Jo wanted to say.


Should I read in order?
I picked this one up alone and thought it was fine out of order – but the characters are overlapping so you might get more depth if you read the whole series. (I think the first two books are M/M and book 2 features this heroine’s brother.

Basic plot:
Jo is working to find a doctor that will help her husbands paramour and is recommended the starchy Emily...

Give this a try if you want:
- Victorian (1885)
- mix between London and country settings (more London?)
- sapphic romance
- Emily whittles chess pieces in her free time
- Doctor heroine / Bookseller heroine
- animosity to lovers
- opposites attract
- epistolary
- lower steam – there is open door action but it’s very light, vague, and short

Ages:
- Emily is 30, I didn’t catch Jo

First line:
That there was a village hospital at all in such a funny little corner of Surrey was lucky enough; that it boasted eight beds, two nurses, a skilled surgeon within calling distance, and two-and-a-half physicians was a luxury.

My thoughts:
This novel was really sweet! I really enjoyed Everlee’s writing style and want to try more from her.

I did find this one a bit of a slow start. I was intrigued by Jo’s lavender marriage and was into how different Jo and Emily’s personalities were – Jo is the one to bring Emily out of her shell a bit and Emily calms Jo – they are both really lovely characters that I appreciated. The latter half picked up a bit more for me.

I did find myself wanting them together more than they were, especially in the first half. This had a lot of great banter I appreciated and some really sweet scenes as they start to melt for each other.

The steam is a bit lower, with a few open door scenes but nothing too explicit.

Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.

- parental death (childbirth)
Note that author does offer content warnings on her website!

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex: 

  It’s not an issue 

 
Hows the consent? 

  It’s good 

 
25% short implied self pleasure (Emily)
60% kiss, oral for Emily
83% vague sex