Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥
Humor: Yes – Waters has some delightful humor and dialogue!
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: They are together in the prologue, and then once the current story begins, at the end of chapter 1
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, one year later
Format: voluntarily read an advanced reader copy from NetGalley in e-book form

Should I read in order?
I don’t think it’s 100% necessary for rebel readers – I’ve only read one other in the series – but the family is close knit the characters do overlap in the stories. I think it will up the enjoyment to read the series in order :)

Basic plot:
Sophie realizes her sister won’t move on in love until she stops worrying about her, so she stages a fake engagement with West.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency (1818)
- London setting
- second chance – with a 7 year separation
- disability rep (hero has a leg injury)
- fake relationship
- widow heroine
- child free HEA
- you like the slow progression of a past relationship over flashbacks
- celibate hero
- lower to mid steam – 2 full scenes

Ages:
- I believe the hero is 31 and the heroine is 26

First line:
Sophie Wexham was quite convinced that a future duke was the worst possible man to fall in love with.

My thoughts:
I really enjoy Waters writing. I love her character focus and witty, funny dialogue. I love how she brings her characters to life so well. Her relationships feel so real and have such depth.

I struggled a bit with this one purely because it’s a trope I struggle with. Second chance is one of my least favorite tropes. I find it just misses a lot of what I really love in romance. I did like that this one gave us the beginning of their story. That is something I’m a bit sad if we don’t get when watching a second chance reconnection. Buuuuuut I also tend to dislike flashbacks. And their story is given throughout flashbacks throughout almost the whole story. Also, mini complaint, maybe it’s repetitive but I really like when we’re jumping time if the chapters are all labeled. For these, the past events were but then we would start the next chapter and I’d wonder for a minute if we were still in the past or present day – so I like when those are all labeled.

I loved both of these characters but did start to get a bit irritated with Sophie towards ¾ ish mark. I thought she just refusing to budge when it came to West and it was really heartbreaking to see. West was such a wonderful hero and the way he was just hurt by her over and over was frustrating – until he realizes what Sophie’s fear is. And I ended up being really placated and in love with the end of their story. Sophie’s fears made sense and made me understand why she was acting the way she was.

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

“You really think,” West said, his voice still low and even, “that we could go to bed together, and walk away again?”
“I’ve confidence in my own ability to resist temptation,” Sophie said lightly.
“Then I don’t have much confidence in your memory,” he said. “Because I have relived that night – afternoon – we spent together hundreds of times in the past four years, and I don’t think either of us could walk away again. I think we’d ruin each other.”
“I’m a widow. You can’t ruin me.”
His gaze on her was steady. “I didn’t mean your reputation.” A brief, heavy pause. “I meant that I’d ruin you for anyone else.”

 

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

- mention of carriage accident resulting in the death of a friend and a physical disability (leg damage) for the hero
- toxic family – hero’s father manipulates and coerces heroine to give up marriage to the hero and there’s scenes of him bullying and manipulating the hero as well

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

Safe sex: 

Hero pulls out 

Hows the consent? 

It’s good – they are both consenting and it’s discussed/implied for the scenes 

There is an off page, alluded to scene around 50% or so
62% - kiss
69% - 🔥kisses, start of a blow job, oral for her, cuddled in bed together sex
”Then come here,” he said, pushing himself back a bit on the bed as she approached. When she was standing directly before him, he reached out and seized her by the waist; it took a bit of awkward maneuvering, but a few moments later she was on the bed, straddling him.
He leaned back and, with a firm grip on her thighs, urged her forward, until she was straddling his face.
“You might want to hold on to the bedpost,” he said.

82% - 🔥her on top on the settee

“Unbutton your breeches,” she said, barely recognizing the commanding note in her voice, and his hands immediately went to the placket on his breeches. “Now touch yourself,” she added, and he obeyed, stroking with a sure hand.