Overall: 4.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖 (I really loved James’ writing style)
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡ (There is a lot of focus on the mains and plenty of kisses and I loved that!)
Romance: 💞💞💞💞 (I loved the push and pull of their relationship! I felt like they truly cared about each other)
Sensuality: 💋💋 (It’s very sweet but very vague and short and I prefer my scenes longer and with more details and explicit language)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥 (one open door but very short/vague scene and 1-2 brief mentions of implied sex)
Humor: A bit
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: It took awhile! I think they are first on page at about 14%, or chapter 4
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever for the mains
Epilogue: Yes, a bit less than a year later
Format: read through kindle unlimited subscription in e-book form

Should I read in order?
This is the first book in James’ The Beaumont’s series, but I believe you get to know Priscilla in her first series, The Reluctant Lords. I found myself wishing I had started there.

Basic plot:
Priscilla and West are perfect for each other according to their parents – so of course they must not give in. They do strike a bargain of a fake relationship though to keep family off their backs...

Give this a try if you want:
- late Regency - 1821
- Northamptonshire and London settings
- bespectacled hero
- widow heroine
- fake relationship
- heroine wants an affair
- refreshing communication between the mains – including hero apologies!!!
- hero wants to marry for love
- lower steam (1 short open door scene that’s a few sentences without details) but plenty of kisses, tension and longing sprinkled throughout the book

Ages:
- Hero is 32, heroine is 23

First line:
Out of the corner of his eye, West could see his brother’s shoulders visibly relax, moving an inch further away from his ears as the first mount of dirt hit the coffin with a resounding thud, piercing the crisp air around them.

My thoughts:
I am so glad I tried this book! So I actually started this book quite awhile ago. I was absolutely in love with James’ writing immediately. But it was in the middle of a really chaotic time in my life – we were moving and my reading time was really chaotic and inconsistent and I was super grumpy and stressed. (and of course reading like 10 books). I knew I wanted to be able to savor these words and I set it aside for when things calmed down and that was this week! I read this one quickly and added all her others to my TBR.

I found these characters and some things in the plot really refreshing here. This whole story I thought was so sweet, with so many nuances I appreciated. Some writers have a prose that just grabs you, and I am finding that in James.

This one is a lower steam read, which I will admit I love more steam in my books. But – I knew that going in which helped me, but also – this book still had great tension! There is longing between them, and build up and kisses and sweetness and I still felt their love.

I really loved so many things about this book. Romance can get a bit...repetitive in some ways, which I don’t really mind necessarily but it’s wonderful to be surprised. To have things said allowed that you have wished characters would say. To have some tried and true tropes executed just a bit differently than you have read 50 times prior and it makes you smile in the best way. These relationships and side characters were so bright and engaging….I plan on going back and reading her debut series as well!

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: This is my first!
Average rating: 5 stars
Favorite book: This one

Endearments

Hero calls the heroine ‘Cilla’ 

Quotes/spoiler-y thoughts:Any mistakes/typos are my own

I rather loved the realism of travel here! So many books present Scotland as an afternoon visit haha

“It is being applied to a new kind of transport called the railway. The steam engine will power a locomotive that moves across tracks, pulling compartments behind it. Materials, as well as people, will be able to move across the country much fast. If the early estimates are to be believed, and I find them reliable, one could move from the southern end of the country to Scotland in just over a day.”
West’s eyes bugged at John’s statement. Drastically cutting down travel times across the country could have limitless implications.

And I also appreciated the acknowledgment of how hard carriages actually are to get intimate in!

She strained forward in an attempt to be closer but stumbled and had to catch herself as her backside slid off the edge of the bench. Pushing herself back up, she sent her forehead straight into West’s chin, and he burst into laughter.
“I suppose a carriage isn’t the most convenient of places for sharing intimacies, though I’m sure many have tried,” he said through gasps of laughter. Priscilla was mortified but soon found his mirth at the situation contagious and joined him, laughing at herself.
 

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

- parental death with some remembrance of an abusive father
- slavery is discussed (as an abomination) and expressions of racism on page (not by the mains, by dis-likable side characters)
- light moment of body shaming – heroine’s mother tries to snatch a pastry while saying she won’t fit in her wedding dress.
- mention of heroine’s husband becoming ill soon into their marriage and she became a type of caretaker for him before he passed

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex: 

  hero pulls out 

 
Hows the consent? 

  It’s good! 

 
Pregnancy/children in story? (Please note this is the best to my memory/note taking. If you see something I missed please feel free to message!) 

  A side character (from Saving the Viscount) falls pregnant in this story. There’s also mention of this heroine trying for an heir with her now deceased husband. I don’t think children were really a talking point for this couple – It’s implied it might happen as West presented a marriage contract that would let the fortune go to future children they had, but no pregnancy on page or mention of wanting children. 

 
23% - kiss
37% - kiss
39% - kiss
65% - kiss
73% - kiss
75% - sex but it’s too vague to know any positions, but it is mentioned the hero pulls out