Reviews

So - a bi (or pan?) sexual woman (Amelia) with social anxiety and a bisexual Quaker civil engineer (Sydney) meet randomly while out walking in Derbyshire; complications ensue when each finds out the other has been unreasonably vague about who they are. Also here are his ex-lover/best friend Lex (a duke, who is gay and blind and gets all the best lines) and her friend/ex-governess Georgiana (who might be asexual? maybe aromantic?). Keating, from Unmasked by the Marquess, is here as Amelia’s groom/handyman and apparently making the rounds of the local gay men. AND ROBIN POPS UP RIGHT AT THE VERY END. This has to be the queerest historical I’ve ever read - all the straight people are either deceased (Syd’s brother/SIL), in America (his parents), or very minor characters (the vicar and his wife, Lady Stafford, etc). Sebastian seeds in bits from beloved English canon novels (you’ll know them when you read them) and also gives Amelia some really lovely things to say about how we view virginity and the position of children born to unmarried parents. Although I would have loved a few more scenes between Amelia and Syd “falling in love” - I didn’t quite feel them connect like Robin/Alistair and Verity/Ash did.

But PLEASE can we have the Perkin Warbeck slash-fic novel? Will read, I promise

readingwithstardust's review

Go to review page

4.0

Started off strong, kinda limped to the finish.

aranzazugarcia's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

More...