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lapon's review
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is a reread and I'm still not sold on this one. To be fair I feel I have missed a lot of set-up for this couple in the previous books.
I feel this book is interesting in its premise but I felt the mood of the book was overwhelmingly sad/anxious, between the harrassment the heroin faces, the hero who has given up on love, the anguish about her friend's pregnancy, her father who keeps disappointing her... it's a lot !
I feel this book is interesting in its premise but I felt the mood of the book was overwhelmingly sad/anxious, between the harrassment the heroin faces, the hero who has given up on love, the anguish about her friend's pregnancy, her father who keeps disappointing her... it's a lot !
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Child death
bookish_princess's review against another edition
5.0
This was a fabulous friends to lovers historical romance!
The stalker that pushes them together was interesting but my favorite was the witty banter between the two
The stalker that pushes them together was interesting but my favorite was the witty banter between the two
relliem08's review against another edition
5.0
I've been enamored of Jasper and Frederica since the first book of the series and their story was everything I wanted it to be.
Frederica, bold and sassy, with her kind heart and vulnerability was a great heroine. And Jasper, ohhh, what a hero. Widower with 3 impish daughters that need his love and attention; he's not sure that he can give any woman in his life what they need or deserve after the loss of his wife. Thrown together as Frederica's life is threatened, Jasper vows to protect her.
Their flirty friendship turned slow-burn romance was perfect. Vanessa Riley makes her characters come to life (one of the reasons I was so annoyed with Ester in the last book), and these two were an absolute joy.
Frederica, bold and sassy, with her kind heart and vulnerability was a great heroine. And Jasper, ohhh, what a hero. Widower with 3 impish daughters that need his love and attention; he's not sure that he can give any woman in his life what they need or deserve after the loss of his wife. Thrown together as Frederica's life is threatened, Jasper vows to protect her.
Their flirty friendship turned slow-burn romance was perfect. Vanessa Riley makes her characters come to life (one of the reasons I was so annoyed with Ester in the last book), and these two were an absolute joy.
tonishiloh's review
4.0
Review to comeSo I’ve been curious of Fredercia’s story ever since I read book 1 in the series. There was something about her that I found interesting. And in The Butterfly Bride we see the many faces Fredercia must wear because of her parentage and the prejudice against women of color and her background.
Now Lord Hartwell made an interesting hero. He’s a widower with three kids and has seen a lot of heartache. I found his background endeared him to me and I wanted to know if he could overcome his fears and take a risk at love.
There’s also a suspense thread in this book that I found very interesting. I put on my thinking cap trying to figure out who did it. I was happy I was correct and enjoyed following along as all the little pieces lined up.
And another note, as we stated in previous posts, we would introduce clean reads. In my personal opinion, The Butterfly Bride would classify as a clean read and not a CF one. There is mentioning of God but I didn’t see a spiritual arc throughout the read. Also, there are some intimate moments that were a little much for my preference but nothing I feel crosses the line for a clean read. Hope that helps!
*I received a complimentary copy via NetGalley. My review was not influenced nor required.
Now Lord Hartwell made an interesting hero. He’s a widower with three kids and has seen a lot of heartache. I found his background endeared him to me and I wanted to know if he could overcome his fears and take a risk at love.
There’s also a suspense thread in this book that I found very interesting. I put on my thinking cap trying to figure out who did it. I was happy I was correct and enjoyed following along as all the little pieces lined up.
And another note, as we stated in previous posts, we would introduce clean reads. In my personal opinion, The Butterfly Bride would classify as a clean read and not a CF one. There is mentioning of God but I didn’t see a spiritual arc throughout the read. Also, there are some intimate moments that were a little much for my preference but nothing I feel crosses the line for a clean read. Hope that helps!
*I received a complimentary copy via NetGalley. My review was not influenced nor required.
melissadeemcdaniel's review
4.0
“Butterfly” charmed me, despite a strong thread of the “communication failure” trope that runs through it. Tempering that failure were the reasons for it, Frederica’s strong desire to protect the people she loved, and Jasper’s still overwhelming mourning for his dead wife. Frederica is determined on a marriage of convenience to take her out of the home of her distant father and his new wife. Jasper wants Frederica, his best friend, to have the love match that she deserves.
Toss in a number of evil doers, a cast of supportive friends, and some pretty dang cute children, and you get this pleasing historical romance!
Toss in a number of evil doers, a cast of supportive friends, and some pretty dang cute children, and you get this pleasing historical romance!
llamareads's review
4.0
The third installment of the Advertisements for Love series finally brings us Frederica and Jasper’s story (and another beautiful cover!). They’ve been popping up in the other books since a particular incident with a maypole, and I was so looking forward to figuring out how they would end up together! While I think this could be read as a standalone, I think it works much better if you’ve read the other books, especially Theodosia’s (an older Philip makes several appearances, and once of the subplots deals with her pregnancy and labor).
Ever since placing advertisements for marriage in the papers, Frederica’s been receiving threatening notes. It all comes to a head on the night of her father’s marriage to his new duchess, when someone breaks into her bedroom and she only narrowly escapes – ending up in Jasper’s room. While they’d had a flirtatious friendship since they met nearly a year ago, Frederica cut off contact with him when her anonymous writer threatened his daughters. Faced with the villain getting more bold and her father’s marriage, Frederica decides the obvious solution is to get married by Christmas, and enlists Jasper’s help in evaluating her newspaper suitors. Jasper, a widower with three daughters, has another solution – they should get married. Frederica refuses – Jasper’s heart still belongs to his dead wife, nor does she want to endanger them – and so begins an attempt to find a suitable match while hunting down whoever’s trying to harm her.
Frederica believes herself to be blessed beyond measure – after all, her father took her in when her mother, his mistress, died and has showered her with things, if not his love. So what if he refers to her almost the same way he does his dogs or any of his other prized possessions? She knows her worth, though, and refuses to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a courtesan. Instead Frederica desires to be a loving wife in a home full of music, along with continuing her charity work with girls from the street (the reason, we find out, behind this is particularly heart-wrenching). Jasper is… well, he’s a bit of a mess. He’s still grieving for his wife who died two years ago (point in fact, he sends his girls away for the entire month of November so he can basically grovel in grief), but his feelings for Frederica are impossible for him to ignore. Though Frederica feels the same, she doesn’t want to play second fiddle to a ghost, and so most of the book is watching them overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to first admit their feelings for each other and then overcome them. They are such a sweet couple together, though, and it was lovely watching things finally come together for them.
I was ambivalent about the last book, and on reflection I think it was because I didn’t like how incredibly naive Ester was. For whatever reason, while I like flawed heroines, I prefer for them to get their act together quickly! In this book, however, the naive one is Jasper. Time after time, he hurts Frederica’s feelings with thoughtless words and actions. He’s not purposefully hurting her, but it’s just that he’s come from such a privileged upbringing – from his race, gender, and class – that he can’t fathom the small aggressions that Frederica experiences daily. He also takes FOR-EV-ER to make up his mind and realize what he needs to do to persuade Frederica to marry him. This drove me a bit crazy, but I think it’s understandable, given his background. His life has been wrecked by loss and grief, and opening himself up – to Frederica, to his girls – to love again means also opening himself up to the possibility of further loss. So while I normally dislike drama caused by communication problems, the rest of the story was enough to sway me.
The book was well-paced, and I enjoyed the suspense subplot of them trying to discover who’s been sending Frederica threatening letters. There was one portion of it that I felt took too long for them to puzzle out(no, Frederica, for goodness’ sake, you weren’t drunk, someone spiked your drink!) , but otherwise I thought it was well done, though I strongly disliked the resolution of it. Ms. Riley manages to navigate smoothly between witty dialogue, sweet romantic scenes, and cutting commentary – she doesn’t shy away from the prejudices Frederica faces because of her race and illegitimacy, nor from the fate of girls and young women turned out on the street.
Overall, this is a charming historical with a holiday twist, with wonderful characters and a satisfyingly sweet romance. I am beyond excited that, thankfully, there will be a fourth book in the series coming out next summer!
I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
“He stared at this woman he thought he knew, but this was a stranger, an intriguing one. “What is it that you want?”
She blew a fallen tendril from her eyes, and he saw a horrid bruise. “Other than an honorable marriage?”
“Yes, Miss Burghley, other than that.”
“A woman’s dreams are special. If I say them without preparing for them, doing all the things I have to make them come true, they are empty words. I’d rather not say.”
Ever since placing advertisements for marriage in the papers, Frederica’s been receiving threatening notes. It all comes to a head on the night of her father’s marriage to his new duchess, when someone breaks into her bedroom and she only narrowly escapes – ending up in Jasper’s room. While they’d had a flirtatious friendship since they met nearly a year ago, Frederica cut off contact with him when her anonymous writer threatened his daughters. Faced with the villain getting more bold and her father’s marriage, Frederica decides the obvious solution is to get married by Christmas, and enlists Jasper’s help in evaluating her newspaper suitors. Jasper, a widower with three daughters, has another solution – they should get married. Frederica refuses – Jasper’s heart still belongs to his dead wife, nor does she want to endanger them – and so begins an attempt to find a suitable match while hunting down whoever’s trying to harm her.
“This is such a lovely room, but it needs a little dusting. And these treats look nice. But this biscuit has been cooked a little too—”
“Miss Burghley,” he said, “you don’t seem to be a runner.”
“And you’ve never chased, not really.”
“Maybe I have, but I’m slow and subtle. How better to draw you in?”
Frederica believes herself to be blessed beyond measure – after all, her father took her in when her mother, his mistress, died and has showered her with things, if not his love. So what if he refers to her almost the same way he does his dogs or any of his other prized possessions? She knows her worth, though, and refuses to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a courtesan. Instead Frederica desires to be a loving wife in a home full of music, along with continuing her charity work with girls from the street (the reason, we find out, behind this is particularly heart-wrenching). Jasper is… well, he’s a bit of a mess. He’s still grieving for his wife who died two years ago (point in fact, he sends his girls away for the entire month of November so he can basically grovel in grief), but his feelings for Frederica are impossible for him to ignore. Though Frederica feels the same, she doesn’t want to play second fiddle to a ghost, and so most of the book is watching them overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles to first admit their feelings for each other and then overcome them. They are such a sweet couple together, though, and it was lovely watching things finally come together for them.
“Yes, I love the Yuletide, for love seems to hold everything together, tighter. And everyone’s a little kinder, kind for no reason at all.”
“Kindness means a lot to you.”
“Lord Hartwell, shouldn’t it mean a lot to everyone?”
“You say this as if you don’t get kindness often.”
She looked at him with that patient smile of hers that let him know he’d said something foolish. “Some mean well. Others run errands. Come along, Lord Hartwell.”
I was ambivalent about the last book, and on reflection I think it was because I didn’t like how incredibly naive Ester was. For whatever reason, while I like flawed heroines, I prefer for them to get their act together quickly! In this book, however, the naive one is Jasper. Time after time, he hurts Frederica’s feelings with thoughtless words and actions. He’s not purposefully hurting her, but it’s just that he’s come from such a privileged upbringing – from his race, gender, and class – that he can’t fathom the small aggressions that Frederica experiences daily. He also takes FOR-EV-ER to make up his mind and realize what he needs to do to persuade Frederica to marry him. This drove me a bit crazy, but I think it’s understandable, given his background. His life has been wrecked by loss and grief, and opening himself up – to Frederica, to his girls – to love again means also opening himself up to the possibility of further loss. So while I normally dislike drama caused by communication problems, the rest of the story was enough to sway me.
The book was well-paced, and I enjoyed the suspense subplot of them trying to discover who’s been sending Frederica threatening letters. There was one portion of it that I felt took too long for them to puzzle out
Overall, this is a charming historical with a holiday twist, with wonderful characters and a satisfyingly sweet romance. I am beyond excited that, thankfully, there will be a fourth book in the series coming out next summer!
I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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