allthatnas's reviews
345 reviews

I live for rakes in romance novels so I was most looking forward to Sebastian's book, especially since it came with a best friends to lovers trope. The idea of a male character who makes sure the situation is as comfortable and risk-free as possible (of both social and sexual consequences) for his partners was kind, but I thought it was dealt with in a more matter of fact tone in a Kiss for Midwinter, whereas here it felt just a tad saccharine. I was also somewhat disappointed that Sebastian wasn't more rakish.

I expected this book to be lighter than it turned out to be. It was surprisingly melancholic at times and I'm not sure if I would have liked it less had it been the first story I'd read from this series. You see these characters at a low point in this instalment which made me wonder if perhaps you needed to enter the story with some attachment to them already, because if not, I don't think you'd able to have a fair assessment of who they are from just reading this. At their best, Violet and Sebastian are like partners in crime, but deep down they turn out to be a lonely pair that only feels understood by one another. I think you most prominently see the latter dynamic in this novel. I don't think this book is meant to act as a standalone, which is fine, but they felt unevenly spread out over three novels instead of being chiefly contained to this one, which felt a bit messy.

All 3 books so far have followed a similar story structure where a scandal involving the heroine is in danger of being exposed while the romance brews in secret, but I thought the author juggled the plot and the romance with relative ease in previous novels, but was slightly off balance in this one. That said, these two incite my sympathy with barely any effort and Courtney Milan has no qualms about exploiting my weakness for sad hot messes.

A comic relief character being revealed to be dealing with or hiding serious issues is not a new idea, but what I liked here was that it's Sebastian himself who demands to be seen as more than that. This book also has some top tier tropes you'd want from a best friends to lovers romance, because yeah, of course they have a secret greenhouse no one else knows about. 

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. 

 I feel like if I had started this book in a sourer mood, it very well could have been a 2 star read, but even so, I feel somewhat disenchanted with this series. I know the title of this novel is tongue-in-cheek but I still found myself wanting to side-eye the story at times. Maybe I've just turned into a bigger spoilsport than I was before but reading this post after the first movie came out certainly altered how I viewed this series as well.

Anyway, eat the rich etc etc