This just wasn't really for me, which is a shame, because there are so few books with good polyam rep!

What I liked: 
Okay, so, the polyamory in this book did feel fairly realistically depicted as a polyam person myself. The more people you add to a dynamic, the more complicated the emotions and situations get, and these characters start out super bad at communicating and as such things feel very realistically messy. This has it's pros and cons! If you are into a complex relationship dynamic between three people in a historical setting where it's okay to be gay, this may be for you. I also really liked that one of the love interests is a painter and I did enjoy the portryal of that within the historical setting.

What I didn't like:
This book feels very contemporary even though it was technically historically set. Unfortunately, if I am going to read something that is historically set and has queer characters, I want the worldbuild to feel consistent. I am totally down for either choosing to make being gay okay, or dealing with period typical homophobia and the ways gay people have always still found ways to be together and thrive. The thing I struggled the most with is the mix of societal expectations depicted here that didn't feel consistent. These rich people are out here arranging marriages between gay people (with no real insight into WHY, which is disappointing when I 've seen some good worldbuilding in this area in other novels), but everyone is still going to be REALLY shitty and hate on and ostracize this one guy for *checks notes* hanging out at a gentleman's club (something presumably a lot of high society men do?) and also (spoiler warning)

for running off before his arranged marriage the night before the wedding (and then getting married to his original betrothed later)

Like, don't get me wrong, rich people are shitty! But they moved AWAY to escape him being mistreated but for some reason didn't move far enough away? And why does the rest of this whole new town care 5 years into the marriage between these two? Why is this man still so isolated and ostracized? And why does he insist on putting himself and his husband through miserable socialization when not doing that seemingly would have no actual consequences? I just really couldn't move past some of the inconsistency in the worldbuilding and characterization, especially because it felt like the historical setting and the characters ability to communicate would change based on the needs of the plot/relationship direction rather than feeling consisten or growing in a way that felt earned. They were all really bad at communicating, but then it was like a switch flipped and one of them just got good at it overnight. At the end of the day a lot of the book's character dynamics and plot hinged on stuff that happened years before off screen and you don't find out Why Their Marriage Is Like That until a significant way through the book.

Okay, I talked a lot about what I didn't like, but if that isn't a stumbling block for your enjoyment you might like this if you want some poly rep! They do have a very sweet ending and the triad has a very interesting dynamics. It's unfortunately just one of those books I felt perfectly fine about when I was reading it, but the second I put it down I was plagued with questions the second I gave it deeper thought and since it's been a minute since I finished it I've had a LOT more time to think.