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awishman's review against another edition
emotional
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? It's complicated
3.75
lilopalu's review
The meetcute was fun, but afterwards there was a lot going on and for my taste not enough interactions between the MCs. Combined with a lot of (unnecesarry) secrets and a love triangle I lost the motivation to continue.
lianareadsblog's review
5.0
4.5 stars
Well , to my shame, it’s the first book that I’ve read by the author although I’ve heard great things about her stories before from my book friends.
Even if it’s the second book in the series, it can easily be read as a stand-alone.There are some secrets and questions that I had and apparently I will get the answer in the first book but that didn’t deter me from enjoying this book .
It’s a book filled with so many emotions and feelings, I enjoyed everything about it, the writing, the characters, the twists and turns, all the topics that maybe even in our times our society is still struggling with it.
I loved everything and looking forward to the next books in the series.
Well , to my shame, it’s the first book that I’ve read by the author although I’ve heard great things about her stories before from my book friends.
Even if it’s the second book in the series, it can easily be read as a stand-alone.There are some secrets and questions that I had and apparently I will get the answer in the first book but that didn’t deter me from enjoying this book .
It’s a book filled with so many emotions and feelings, I enjoyed everything about it, the writing, the characters, the twists and turns, all the topics that maybe even in our times our society is still struggling with it.
I loved everything and looking forward to the next books in the series.
storieswithsoul's review
5.0
I really enjoyed reading this historical fiction. When two people from opposite sides of the society meet and sparks fly. They will face many hurdles before they can even imagine to be together. But the hearts want what the hearts want and they don't much care for society's rules. It's a very well-written book and I think that all the characters are great. Oddly, I liked Lady Flora more than two main characters. I wonder if we will get to read her story or not. In any case, I loved this book and I think it's a must read for historical fiction fans.
rjordan19's review
4.0
You meet Finlay, our hero, in the first book of the series (To Love a Scandalous Rogue). This book can be read as a stand alone but I recommend the first because it gives you a better background of the family scandal, as well as just being really good so I’m going to recommend it anyway 🤣 Finlay is the twin brother of the heroine in book 1.
Finlay and Charlotte have a chance meeting at a house party. Finlay is feeling rather exasperated with the ton life, the parties, and doesn’t realize what is missing until he meets Charlotte.
Charlotte has just lost her husband while living in India. Abandoned and abused by his family, with no money, she is offered a job back in England that she finds she must refuse. They spend the night with each other, sharing their struggles and wants for life. Before Finlay can find who she is and form a lasting relationship she disappears.
The story picks up a year later. Finlay is in the middle of establishing his seat for parliament and trying to make a name for himself despite his father’s reputation. Charlotte has found work teaching at the foundling home.
I loved Finlay as a hero. He is so real and genuine. I really felt his struggle with wanting his career and wanting to love. They do not both come easy, and trying to tip the scale and balance it is a struggle. Charlotte was such a strong heroine as well. Being of Jewish faith, there were laws in place that restricted their rights and marriages during this time. The challenges she goes though with her husbands family are enough to break your heart.
I would have liked the main characters to spend more time together. This book felt a tad divided between Finlay working on the politics aspect of his life and Charlotte working through her past demons and trying to live a peaceful life. I also would have loved to have seen more details of Charlottes Jewish faith. I adored the epilogue so much, because it gave a clearer picture of her religion and how they overcame the struggles.
Flora was a hoot in this book and I’m very very excited to read her story in the next release!
Finlay and Charlotte have a chance meeting at a house party. Finlay is feeling rather exasperated with the ton life, the parties, and doesn’t realize what is missing until he meets Charlotte.
Charlotte has just lost her husband while living in India. Abandoned and abused by his family, with no money, she is offered a job back in England that she finds she must refuse. They spend the night with each other, sharing their struggles and wants for life. Before Finlay can find who she is and form a lasting relationship she disappears.
The story picks up a year later. Finlay is in the middle of establishing his seat for parliament and trying to make a name for himself despite his father’s reputation. Charlotte has found work teaching at the foundling home.
I loved Finlay as a hero. He is so real and genuine. I really felt his struggle with wanting his career and wanting to love. They do not both come easy, and trying to tip the scale and balance it is a struggle. Charlotte was such a strong heroine as well. Being of Jewish faith, there were laws in place that restricted their rights and marriages during this time. The challenges she goes though with her husbands family are enough to break your heart.
I would have liked the main characters to spend more time together. This book felt a tad divided between Finlay working on the politics aspect of his life and Charlotte working through her past demons and trying to live a peaceful life. I also would have loved to have seen more details of Charlottes Jewish faith. I adored the epilogue so much, because it gave a clearer picture of her religion and how they overcame the struggles.
Flora was a hoot in this book and I’m very very excited to read her story in the next release!
morrib's review
4.0
This book was great. For me one of the most exciting parts of it was that there was a Jewish character who didn't have to turn away from their faith and found someone who was willing to be with them for who they were. I feel like a lot of times books portray an extremely homogeneous view of the past and this was one showcased a different segment of the population.
vee79's review
5.0
This is my first time reading this author and while this is book two in a series I didn’t know it until I sat down to write this review. To me that speaks volumes about both the superior writing ability of the author as much as my enjoyment of the book, and please know I REALLY enjoyed this book. I love this book for its historical accuracy even as it shines a light on prejudices of the era. It is so refreshing to me when an author isn’t afraid to show the darker side or history. I love how the leading characters overcome their societal differences and find passion in one another.
Finlay Swinton, Viscount Firthwell is in line to inherit a prominent Earldom as long as his family’s darkest secret stays a secret. After a renewed acquaintance with a woman he shared a single unforgettable night of passion turns sour will his entire future be lost?
Charlotte Taylor has found a perfect job, and with her fond memories of a night of unbridled passion and freedom, she is ready to start her new life. All until that perfect new job causes her become reacquainted with the man she shared that night with. When her past catches up to her will she betray the man she loves to protect herself or will she sacrifice her life to protect his future?
This was a book I couldn’t put down and I can’t wait to get my hands on its predecessor.
Finlay Swinton, Viscount Firthwell is in line to inherit a prominent Earldom as long as his family’s darkest secret stays a secret. After a renewed acquaintance with a woman he shared a single unforgettable night of passion turns sour will his entire future be lost?
Charlotte Taylor has found a perfect job, and with her fond memories of a night of unbridled passion and freedom, she is ready to start her new life. All until that perfect new job causes her become reacquainted with the man she shared that night with. When her past catches up to her will she betray the man she loves to protect herself or will she sacrifice her life to protect his future?
This was a book I couldn’t put down and I can’t wait to get my hands on its predecessor.
militantlyromantic's review
emotional
medium-paced
2.5
Fast forward some time, turns out she's managed to find a teaching position at a home for orphans run by a family who's helping Finlay with his political career. I will state, there's a fair amount of this book that felt confusing because I had not read the first in the series. I'm used to romance series being disconnected enough that not having read the first won't matter, I don't feel that's the case here. There's a WHOLE bunch of info that you sort of slowly figure out was learned in the first book, not the least of which is that Finlay is actually illegitimate, something not known to anyone but him and his sister--who is married to a Duke and was clearly the female lead of the first book--and that his dad cheated a whole bunch of people out of money and is Not A Good Dude.
The rest of the plot runs on essentially two lines: Finlay needing a high class marriage for his political career because of Daddy's rep, and Charlotte's ex-in-laws being fraudulent anti-Semitic douchecanoes who are trying to ruin her life.
Charlotte and Finlay are both reasonably engaging characters, they have chemistry, the romance works. All of the things that in a romance novel I would normally base my enjoyment or lackthereof on, are perfectly solid. I wouldn't call them standout, but both characters have their own stories, their own needs, motives, etc., there's not an undue amount of drama for drama's sake, overall, as a romance, this should rate somewhere as "interesting, looking forward to seeing growth from this author."
Why does it not, you ask?
For a few reasons. 1. As I said above, one of the first things we learn about Charlotte is that she was over in India, actively and happily engaging in colonization, which makes her a hard character for me to like. And sure, yup, it's historically accurate that people were colonizing asshats right then, but it wasn't historically accurate that they had good teeth and good body odor and married for love, so I REALLY give absolutely no craps. It's 2021. I don't want to read about people actively colonizing others without a thought in their mind to it and getting happy endings. 2. To add to this, it's made clear, several times over, that Finlay is making his money in sugar. That is, Finlay is making his money in slave labor. And I think we're supposed to find it attractive that he's actually in business and not caring that he has a title and all, which, okay. But also, no, because his business is owning slaves. So, automatically, both of these people are people who are committing significantly racist acts. 3. Remember when I said Charlotte was Jewish? Yeah, um. That seems to more of a "this makes Charlotte MORE undesirable" than any real attempt to have a Jewish character. I'm NOT suggesting the author is anti-Semitic, I'm legit not. But Charlotte only seems to be Jewish in ways that are useful for the plot.
Examples:
a. Charlotte was orphaned at a young age. She's from an area that had a pretty significant Jewish community (she's from the country, but contrary to popular belief, Jews existed in both rural and urban areas). If you look at the historical records, the specific area she mentions being from had a major synagogue. And yet, for reasons that are unclear, she's barely taken in by family, and nobody in the community seems to care about her/help her. That's...odd.
b. At a certain point in the book, she mentions going to shul regularly, but it's clear she has no community. Not a single Jewish friend. Again, super odd. Like, INCREDIBLY. It's hard to explain to non-Jews how odd that would be even today, but particularly in that day and age.
c. Her religion never seems to threaten her job or other things that, yeah, it would have. Jewish emancipation (e.g., making Jews citizens in the eyes of the law, etc.,) doesn't really happen in most of Western Europe until the mid-1800s and it's not SUPER popular at the time it does.
d. BUT her religion is used as a sort of bludgeon by her nasty ex-in-laws, who, quite frankly, could have been just as nasty to her on the basis of class. The British are pretty into class, as a general rule. They didn't really need the extra thing to be crappy about when it didn't add anything.
I have this whole thing about how because most of Western society basically sees and has seen for much of this era two types of Jews, those who are secular, and those who are haredi, and therefore completely cut off from everyone else, that there's this concept that being Jewish and living in society is really just the absence of being Christian/the lack of apparent religion. This is a completely incorrect way of understanding modern Judaism, let alone Judaism in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. But other than an epilogue that pays some VERY weird lip service to Charlotte's Judaism given that she has technically converted at that point to further her husband's political career and be legally allowed to marry him, Charlotte's Judaism is more of a prop in this book, than a legitimate element of her identity, culture, and personhood, and as a Jewish histrom reader, with VERY few choices in terms of Jewish main characters, that was deeply disappointing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
Minor: Racism