You know, my experience so far with this series tells me that Courtney Milan writes novellas particularly well. The two novellas I've read from her both had a tighter narrative than the novels did I think, so for that reason, I wish Emily and Anjan's story had been saved for something like that instead. Because while I thought this book was almost as good as the Duchess War, it dragged just a tiny bit at the end, because it felt like Milan had to rush to wrap up their secondary arc after the main romance had already concluded.

Maybe the author could have figured out some way to insert Genevieve and Geraldine into the story, who felt underutilised, by giving them some of Emily's page time, while letting Emily's importance for now be mainly as the sister of the heroine and Jane's primary motivation? I don't know how that would work, but the twins would have blended into the plot better in my opinion and their insertion perhaps would have felt less awkward than Emily's did sometimes.

That said, I'm still impressed by this author's ability to come up with multidimensional heroines such as Minnie, Lydia and Jane whose personalities and backstories all stand in contrast to each other, but who still feel like a breath of fresh air. I love the social commentary Milan weaves into her historical romance novels and how well-researched it all seems. Jane had a delightfully comical introduction that instantly drew me in and I am glad to see Oliver find happiness at last. I thought Oliver's character flaw as someone afraid to make bolder choices wasn't perfectly done, though I can't put my finger on why. However, I love how in both this novel and the previous one Milan makes the couples "click" by having the heroes' singularly good nature be the thing that puts a dent in the heroines' plans to evade notice. As much as I occasionally enjoy heroes with rough edges, I will never not root for male characters who are kind and altruistic as well.