Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A touch
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? a mix of both, but maybe more plot leaning
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: Very soon in, first chapter
Cliffhanger: No this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, a few years later
Format: voluntarily read an e-book copy through NetGalley

Should I read in order?
You could – book 1’s characters are heavy side characters in this one – I’m not sure how much depth you get for these characters in the prior book. I did find myself wishing I had dove into that one first.

Basic plot:
Sol finds himself saved by a mysterious Hannah and can’t stay away even though she is everything he needs to avoid...

Give this a try if you want:
- England 1832 (What do I call this period? I usually did Victorian at 1837, but it’s not really late Regency at the point of William’s reign….let me know what you call this!)
- London setting
- she rescues him
- Snow White retelling (twist – the hero is Snow White)
- age gap with older heroine (heroine is 32/hero is 26)
- pawnshop owning heroine
- Jewish mains
- bit of grumpy heroine/sunshine hero vibes
- class difference
- the sweetest hero
- medium steam – 3 full scenes

Ages:
- Heroine is 32, hero is 26

First line:
Night was the best time to hunt – especially if you relied on stealth, not strength, to snare your prey.

My thoughts:
There is so much to love about this novel! But overall, I ended up wanting them together more, and the romance got a bit lost for me in all the plot antics.

I love the older heroine pairing, and Sol is so, so sweet. Oh he’s so caring and gentle and loving and I just adored him. I love his optimism. Hannah has been through hell and is a survivor. She tries to protect her heart as well as keep her family safe. So this leads to a lot of push and pull between them that I enjoyed.

Outside forces started taking over this book for me though. We have multiple side characters, and I found Sol spending a lot of time alone or with his brother, and Hannah alone, on the streets, with nefarious side characters or her sister. I wanted them together more. I also wanted more tension between them – I feel like when they were together it was a bit of instalust and then they’d separate and come together again and be glued to each other (but only for a short time because forces)

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

- being immersed in a life of struggle – heroine’s parents were in a scandal and heroine runs the pawnshop and takes care of her sister. She faces people trying to take advantage of her, dealing with illegal activities, doing side jobs for a man that threatens her
- scenes of threatened sexual assault
- physical abuse/assault on page resulting in bruising and swelling
- antisemitism
- poisoning of hero (allergy related)
Author given content guidance: attempted (nongraphic) sexual assault, nonconsensual sexual contact, depictions of emotional abuse, and discussion and depiction of antisemitic language and behavior.

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

Safe sex: 

  Hero pulls out 

Hows the consent? 

  It’s good 

19% - kiss
28% - kisses
35% - kisses
42% - 🔥kisses, oral/fingering for her, missionary
51% - kiss
67% - 🔥oral for her (sit on my face and hold the head board), missionary

He crooked a finger at her. “Now, come here and let me make you feel very good.” He grinned. “Provided you do as I say.”

74% - 🔥 kisses, fingering for her, her on top