Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥 (This might feel hotter than this to some because there’s quite a few partials, and kisses, and focus on the steam even if the actual flames aren’t there)
Humor: Not really
Perspective: Third person from both 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: not too long, about 5% (chapter 2, I think)
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, 6 months later
Format: read e-book version through Kindle Unlimited subscription

“Shy all of a sudden, sweeting?” he whispered.
She bit her lower lip. “It is wrong.”
He nuzzled at her neck. “Why?”
“Because...good ladies do not go about doing naughty things with men who aren’t their husbands.”
“Good ladies are vastly overrated,” he said, sucking on the shell of her ear.


Should I read in order?
This is the first book in Caldwell’s Seven Deadly Sins series.

Basic plot:
Edith requires the assistance of someone unafraid of doing dark deeds to help avenge her sister’s death and she contacts Malden, who has built his life around sin and ruthlessness.

Give this a try if you want:
- late Georgian - 1831
- dirty talking hero (lots of good girls, but not much else for praise)
- future Duke hero / miss heroine
- possessive/jealous hero
- gaming hell owning heroine
- size difference (taller hero)
- bit of a bargain vibe – the heroine asks the hero for help in punishing her sister’s murderer
- medium steam – this is a 3 steam with some strong partials and kiss scenes, some elements of edging and voyeurism

Ages:
- I believe heroine is 24, hero I’d guess is around 30

First line:
Nothing made Edward de Vesy, Lord Malden, the future Duke of Craven, harder or got him off faster than savage, merciless revenge against the foolish ones who dared wrong him.

My thoughts:
This is the kind of hero I can really love. Definitely toxic AF, growly, aggressive...he’s all rasping whispers and grabbing hands, punishing…..threatening. And so angry at the world. Gives me alllll the nostalgic feels of those old school reads I snuck in at the age of 12 😂 Maybe even a bit too much of a jerk to me? I can’t say I was sold on him by the end of the book. And the fact that he was still yelling in the heroine's face at 70% that he has multiple women that will spread their legs for him...became a bit of a turn off. I love those jerky heroes but I need to them be losing their minds for the heroine at that point in the book…

And compromised heroine is one of my favorite plot points! So I really did enjoy parts of this book. And the way Caldwell upped the steam?? Very impressive. I had given up on her books because I was usually sooo disappointed in the lack of steam (the ones I tried were usually like a 1 steam with the scene at the very end). So I love that she was experimenting with that and think I might really like some of her newer releases if she keeps this up.

So, the sex was a big improvement (to me) but there was something about it that just felt a bit, I don’t know, clinical to me? Like there were ‘good girls’ sprinkled in without giving me that real praise feel. There were hints at control from the hero, but nothing concrete. There was just something missing for me here.

I can’t say I ended up loving either character, which lessened my enjoyment. I’m curious about the bad men side characters that will be future heroes….

Endearments

Hero uses quite a few….sweeting, sweet, love

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

- scenes of poisoning and opium usage (kind of forced on the heroine – she wasn’t aware)
- death of sister is a plot point with grief from the heroine
- hero threatens the heroine with a knife
- there’s elements of dubious consent/nonconsent – the hero is very pushy
- remembrance of thoughts of self harm/suicidal thoughts
- there were a few scenes that bothered me of...like a slut shaming attitude? Women that basically worked for him, entertaining men, play acting in virgin auctions, the hero judges them harshly and kind of has a virgin on a pedestal mentality (purity culture vibes)
- there is a scene of the heroine kissing another man other than the hero about halfway through the book (possible feelings of infidelity for some that prefer the hero/heroine are ONLY involved with each other
- scenes of jealousy/anger – when the heroine is with another man in his house the hero punches the carriage multiple times in rage

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
Safe sex:

  No, but they are married 

 
Hows the consent? 

  I’d say there’s questionable consent through this entire novel. If explicit consent is a must for you, I would personally bypass this novel. There are plenty of scenes of the hero pushing the heroine, creating debts the heroine owes him, a scene of another man drugging her with opium and kissing her, forced married…..etc 

 
3% - mention/implication of hero with someone else (not heroine)
8% - kiss
13% - kiss
29% - 🔥kisses, fingering for her
36% - kisses, breast play
51% - kisses between the heroine and another man
64% - kiss
70% - kisses
75% - fingering for her, oral for her that leaves with everyone unsatisfied as a partial
91% - 🔥kisses, missionary
99% - mention of sex
99% - 🔥fingering for her (epilogue sex) (it’s pretty short compared to some prior scenes)