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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
lighthearted
i should never write a book review before i've slept on it,,,
was it a 'good' book? yes, i think,,, was it anything special or incredible for me? no.
this was very much my type of historical romance tho, so success?
was it a 'good' book? yes, i think,,, was it anything special or incredible for me? no.
this was very much my type of historical romance tho, so success?
This is my first Stacy Reid book! I think I will read more of her books, and to be honest, this was a really engrossing and fun read for me. I'm a huge fan of Beauty and the Beast, and I really appreciated that the story featured a disabled character (and disabled sex!).
Both of the protagonists were, to me, extremely likable. Kitty was courageous and her motivations were very clear and consistent. And Alexander's "beastliness" was really understandable and appropriate in context, and his confusion around his shifting desires and dreams for himself was really excellent.
The set-up itself was very fun and executed pretty well!
My biggest complaint about the book, to the point where it knocked it down two stars for me, was that I think this could have used better copy-editing. I hate saying that because I know how hard copy-editors work and how important it is for them to have good relationships with their authors. But so much of the language was repetitive. How many times can you fit the word "hunger" into a historical romance? Or "wicked" or "impudence?" There was a sentence that I had to read twice to make sure I hadn't misunderstood it because it used both the words "reassuring" and "assured."
It doesn't make it impossible to enjoy or finish the book, but it made it much harder for me to read.
There was also a deliberate Beauty and the Beast reference that reeeeeeaaaally took me out of the story so hard that I had to stop reading for the night, because it was a reference specifically to the Disney movie. Eep. Well, like I said, still gonna try some of Reid's other books, but that's what I mean when I say that I'm not sure how well the books have been edited.
Both of the protagonists were, to me, extremely likable. Kitty was courageous and her motivations were very clear and consistent. And Alexander's "beastliness" was really understandable and appropriate in context, and his confusion around his shifting desires and dreams for himself was really excellent.
The set-up itself was very fun and executed pretty well!
My biggest complaint about the book, to the point where it knocked it down two stars for me, was that I think this could have used better copy-editing. I hate saying that because I know how hard copy-editors work and how important it is for them to have good relationships with their authors. But so much of the language was repetitive. How many times can you fit the word "hunger" into a historical romance? Or "wicked" or "impudence?" There was a sentence that I had to read twice to make sure I hadn't misunderstood it because it used both the words "reassuring" and "assured."
It doesn't make it impossible to enjoy or finish the book, but it made it much harder for me to read.
There was also a deliberate Beauty and the Beast reference that reeeeeeaaaally took me out of the story so hard that I had to stop reading for the night, because it was a reference specifically to the Disney movie. Eep. Well, like I said, still gonna try some of Reid's other books, but that's what I mean when I say that I'm not sure how well the books have been edited.
medium-paced
slow-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
🕰 historical romance
😉 fake engagement
🦽 disabled hero rep
I listened to this on audio and enjoyed it a bunch! Took me a while to finish but it sure was worth it.
Kitty Danvers' family is kinda out of money but she really needs her younger sisters to find good matches so she takes it upon herself to boost their rep in the ton by lying that she's engaged to the reclusive Duke of Thornton, Alexander. It's going well for her until Alexander appears at a ball one day 😱
It was certainly full of fun and *debauchery* 😜 the slow burn between Kitty and Alexander was palpitating. The angst with Alexander working through his issues internally with his fairly recent disability to feeling "worthy" enough for Kitty had me screaming at him like "YOU'RE MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR HER."
I loved Kitty's character. She was bold and caring. She did a risky move for her rep to take care of her family. And then when she met the rogish intimidating Alexander, she wasn't a doormat at all with him. When he retreated, she chased him. 🥹
😉 fake engagement
🦽 disabled hero rep
I listened to this on audio and enjoyed it a bunch! Took me a while to finish but it sure was worth it.
Kitty Danvers' family is kinda out of money but she really needs her younger sisters to find good matches so she takes it upon herself to boost their rep in the ton by lying that she's engaged to the reclusive Duke of Thornton, Alexander. It's going well for her until Alexander appears at a ball one day 😱
It was certainly full of fun and *debauchery* 😜 the slow burn between Kitty and Alexander was palpitating. The angst with Alexander working through his issues internally with his fairly recent disability to feeling "worthy" enough for Kitty had me screaming at him like "YOU'RE MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR HER."
I loved Kitty's character. She was bold and caring. She did a risky move for her rep to take care of her family. And then when she met the rogish intimidating Alexander, she wasn't a doormat at all with him. When he retreated, she chased him. 🥹
A 3.5 I think. A really unique Beauty and the Beast retelling with an interesting focus on disability. Alex, our "beast", was caught in a fire and had to jump from the building. He intermittently uses a wheelchair, and deals with chronic pain in addition to having a scarred appearance. I thought Reid did a great job with all of that. I liked Kitty and Alex a lot, and also my two favorite stuffed animals as a child were named Kitty and Alex (a pink cat and a Bassett hound of typical basset colors if you are wondering) so I had to root for them. The set up was absurd, even by romance standards, but more problematic, there were some dangling storylines that annoyed me (like the relationships with the wallflowers and with Alex's sister, who just sort of disappears after being quite central.) A lot of silly stuff just happened as well, like a friend's convenient friendship with a courtesan wise in the ways of working around erection issues and different positions for people with limited mobility (which, just... no, these gently bred 18th century women were not paling around with courtesans, even secretly.) Still fun though, and thoughtful and sexy in surprising ways.
the writing style just isn’t my cup of tea maybe I’ll come back to this at another time!
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's hard to put my thoughts about this book in order. I think it tried to do a bit too much, in some ways, to varying degrees of success. So much so that dissecting out which things it tried to do worked for me and which didn't is more effort than I feel like going to, because there were just too many things. It was a solid book, and while it stumbled in some of the things it tried to do, none of the stumbles led to a fall, if that makes sense. I did overall enjoy it, though. I do have some considerable skepticism with regards to how disability was portrayed, but I'm not an expert on the subject. Even with my concerns, I do think it was a good faith attempt with genuine thought and care put into it, I just think that it could have perhaps used a bit more of that thought and care.
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
My only complaint is that this wasn’t longer. I wanted it to keep going! Stacy Reid took a lot of tropes in the historical romance genre, but made it feel unique and fresh. Really enjoyed this one!