Overall: 4.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: Yes, 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: Takes a bit – about 12% or chapter 4
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes
Format: was given an e-book copy through NetGalley but didn’t get to it in time, so I grabbed on Kindle Unlimited
Why I chose this book: I have loved Maggie Sims books and want to read them all!
Mains: This is a M/F relationship between a cishet hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
It’s not totally necessary here – this book is happening at similar time to Charlotte’s Control. This is in the same world as Sim’s Control series and School of Enlightenment (start with her newsletter freebie, Roslynn’s Rebellion, to start at the very beginning. (It is also a part of the loosely connected Lyon’s Den series, which can be read in any order)

Basic plot:
The Black Widow engages Belle in restoring Luke to his full potential while promising her matchmaking services...

Give this a try if you want:
- If I had to guess, I’d say late Regency/Georgian (this is after the events of The School of Enlightenment series, which was about 1817/1818)
- age gap – but she’s older
- hero is taller than her by several inches
- class difference – hero is an earl’s son and heroine is a retired courtesan
- lots of focus on recovery – this hero starts the story as an alcoholic and with the heroine’s help attempts to overcome
- close proximity – these two stay together at the heroine’s house for much of the book
- furry chested hero
- mid to higher steam – full scenes

Ages:
- heroine is 32, hero is 22

First line:
Isabella Rossi, Belle to her closest friends, was a master at controlling her expressions.

My thoughts:
Ok, first I have to say how much I love this cover! I mean, I am always a fool for Floyd but with the chest hair tease...mmmmmm.

Anyway, this is my first book of the Lyon’s Den world and I am loving the idea of a loosely connected plot that authors can play around with. I am really curious to see what other authors have done with this! (If you have a fave of the series so far, let me know so I can give it a try sometime!)

I have really liked Sims books in the past, especially Charlotte’s Control (which Charlotte and William are side characters in this one). And this one I also found fun – we have an older heroine that knows what she wants in some ways, but also is struggling with truly appreciating her own worth due to her past. And Luke has plenty of his own demons to overcome. These two together are really delightful – they balance each other out. I loved how Luke really took the time to let Belle figure out who she was and what she wants – she didn’t need to perform for him.

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: 9
Average rating: 7 are 5 stars, 1 4 star plus this book
Favorite book: Maybe Charlotte’s Control???

Endearments

  Wellll maybe not an endearment but the heroine calls the hero ‘clodpage’ and the hero calls the heroine ‘wench’. 

Quotes

Look at it this way, Clodpate, you’ll get lots of practice begging for the next few weeks.”
---
Reaching for his fork, he broke off a piece of cake and brought it to his mouth. His stomach did not protest. Ginger and flour and sugar and...cinnamon? So many flavors burst on his tongue, but all somehow still soothed. He moaned.
She closed her eyes on a long blink at his overt enjoyment.
---
He placed her foot in his lap.
When he poured more oil and paused to admire her other foot, she chewed on the inside of her cheek to avoid lifting her skirts and telling him exactly where and how to rub her to better effect.
---
Every time she closed her eyes, she heard the slick of his oil-covered hands, saw the club outlined by his trousers, recalled the line of fur down his stomach.
---
He wanted to celebrate. He’d conquered the pull of the bottles of liquid gold behind the bar, and was more than ready to return to her preoccupation with his chest hair.
As he rounded the house to the kitchen door, he grew excited about the potential of her following that T.
---
“No, thank you. I know what I want. I want to touch you.” Since before he held her feet in his hands, he’d wanted to see all of her, touch all of her. He stalked toward her. For every one of his steps, she retreated a step. The back of her knees hit her bed, and she lost her balance, sitting hard. Dropping to his knees before her, he put his hands on her ankles.
She looked nervous, but played it off with a blasé tone. “Another foot rub? ‘Tis rather unimaginative of you, Clodpate. But I suppose I can live with it.”
“Hmm. Unimaginative? I dare say, I can do better, my Belle.”
She glared at his use of that name.
Undoing his cravat, he began unfastening his shirt.
“What are you doing, Clodpate?”
“Given your interest last night, I thought to offer you visual stimulation whilst I take my pleasure.”
---
“Clod – Luke, yes, there.” She corrected herself. It did not seem fair to call him by a derogatory nickname when he was doing such a good job at pleasuring her.
 

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

- parental death
- alcoholism and addition and recovery on page
- brief mention of a side character having a laudanum dependency
- mention of domestic abuse of a side character resulting in death
Author content warnings? 

  This work contains depictions of addition and recovery. 

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex aspects, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:

 
Safe sex: 

  Condoms used 

 
How’s 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!) 

  Both want children – the heroine is interested in having a baby because her biological clock is ticking – so there’s talk of future babies but con 

 
33% - 🔥 hero self pleasure but she interrupts him, tells him to stop and then self pleasures herself
36% - hero self pleasure (it’s a bit short)’
55% - 🔥 oral for her
63% - 🔥 oral for her, missionary