5⭐️ 3🌶️
I just finished reading this for the second time in preparation for Alcott Hall and I loved it even more the second time.
I’m no stranger to regency romance and this was incredibly well written. Add to it that it is a why choose and it was perfection.
I loved all of these characters so much. I often find I love the male main characters and at best like the FMC. This was not the case with Rosalie. I loved her just as much as the guys.
She was such an amazingly strong but kind woman who knew exactly what she wanted and she wasn’t willing to compromise or be made to feel shame for it.
I love all of the guys but Burke has such a special place on my heart. Against societies expectations he has found a family who loves him and supports him and in return he is incredibly loyal. But he is always cognizant of his birth and it holds him back from achieving his full potential. However he holds nothing back when it comes to his feeling for Rosalie and I love him so much for it.
I love the friendship the guys have and how glad they are to have Tom home with them. Watching him relearn to flirt with Rosalie was so much fun. But watching him struggle with his insecurities and pining for his first love made me want to strangle him.
James was the most relatable to me. Rosalie was right when she called him Atlas. He is shouldering the weight of his family’s responsibilities while trying to corral his wastrel of a brother and it shows in how much he tried to control everything including denying his attraction to Rosalie.
The banter, tension, and spice was everything I could have hoped for. This book was a bit of a slow burn while the foundation for all of the relationships is being built but it quickly takes off in the next book.
Unfortunately I was not a fan of either narrator. Rosalie sounded much older than I anticipated and I think three male leads may have been too much for Dan to take on it is quite a challenge so I completely understand the struggle. I also got the impression that both narrators were not British since there were a few times I heard them use American pronunciations just with a British accent.