Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - It's in His Kiss

Not my favorite. There were some aspects that I enjoyed- the jewel hunt and translating the diary- but the romance aspects felt like recycling previous books and Frankensteining them together. Most of the MMCs are reformed rakes and Gareth is no exception, his father isn’t really his father, he feels the need to trap Hyacinth into a marriage so his cruel father will be proven wrong, etc. I did like Hyacinth though. She has admirable tenacity and doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind. And getting more of Lady Danbury is fantastic. I genuinely think she’s my favorite character from the whole series.

On the other hand, I could have done without the other “engagement”. It’s heavily implied that Mary has some kind of mental disability so Gareth’s evil father trying to trap him into marriage with her to get his hands on her dowry is downright despicable. And just plain stupid. Even if he’s your second son, even if he’s technically an illegitimate child you’ve legitimized, something can always happen to your heir. For someone so obsessed with appearances, it would never make sense to put your family lineage in jeopardy. It feels like a cheap plot point made to show that underneath his exterior, Gareth has a kind heart. There were other ways that could’ve been done.

Unfortunately, the book’s biggest sin is that it feels incomplete without the second epilogue.

The jewel search/heist was the most interesting part of the book so to leave it fruitless was deeply unsatisfying. It feels even weirder that in the original epilogue, their daughter finds the jewels almost by accident and doesn’t tell anyone.

All I can say to sum it up is that it’s probably good that this is the second to last book in the series.

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abby_can_read's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

October 2023-⭐️⭐️⭐️
🎧
This was a light and cute book. It was an enjoyable read, like most of the series. My favorite character was probably Lady Danbury. To be honestly, she's my favorite from the entire series.

March 2022-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📱
This was an adorable book. I enjoyed it. Hyacinth and Gareth were a cute match, though it didn't seem like love love to me. I like the subplot with Garett's father.

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siankrb's review against another edition

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funny mysterious relaxing medium-paced

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

3.5

This wasn’t my favourite in the Bridgerton series but it was a nice book to chill out to. I found Hyacinths character fun and likeable and the side plot about the diamonds was different to the other books in the series. I think my main issue was that I was less interested in Hyacinth and Gareth as a couple than others in the series, although Lady Danbury being a large character in this book was fun.

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allison87's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

The mystery aspects of this one were fun. The characters' personalities are still mostly copy paste from all her other main characters, but this story was at least a bit more intriguing.

The fact that Hyacinth enjoys reading entertaining but poorly written books (with Lady Danbury) was extremely ironic, as that's exactly what I'm doing. Quinn's writing is not as bad as the author within her own book, but I still see so much more potential for her novels to be so much better. All the framework is there, it's just never explored fully.

I do think, also, that Hyacinth might be on the spectrum. She is a perfectionist with a strong sense of justice, social bluntness and more. If we ever get her season on the Bridgerton series, I hope they explore that rather than take her character in a different direction.

Julia seems to make all her heroes state somewhere along the way that the heroine is "Not like the other girls". I don't think I noticed until this one that she does this every time without fail. I do think Hyacinth was at least more unique than usual (but still mostly copy paste personality wise save a few threads that weren't pulled on hardly enough). But it's an annoying trope to compare women like that.

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