I'd like to thank Allison & Busby, the author & NetGalley for the copy of this eARC I received in exchange for a review.

I'll be honest: despite of the events being very accelerated - a sudden marriage, secrets revealed, etc- some parts of this book had me skimming through pages (full erotica chapters, long winded inner dialogue, among others) to get to the plot. I'd say the book is half story and half smut, and actual conflict happens around 70% in. Character growth is scarce (except for Sir Benedict Silverwood, to be fair) & we don't learn tons about them - Kate is smart, beautiful and in love. Benedict is brave, kind and handsome. Lucy is like an overexcited terrier. Some characters, like the Dowager, did have an interesting story to tell but had no place to do so. The antagonist and the threat were fine but it did feel like like the conflict arose and was solved a bit too quickly.

Overall I got the feeling that I'm not the target audience for this book, so maybe it's a me problem. I did like the writing and I think it's a great debut - it has a beautiful prose, a good enough pace and the characters are believable.

I don't think I'll be reading any other books by this author but I'll definitely keep this one in mind to recommend to readers who like this genre.