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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
Bombshell is the very first book in the brand new Hell’s Belles series by Sarah Maclean, and it’s also my very first ever read by her as well! I have quite a few of Sarah’s books on my TBR, so I’m thrilled to have finally read something by her!
Historical romance is a genre that I used to read ALL the time, but haven’t read much in the past few years. I was really excited to start reading it again, especially after starting the Bridgerton series and all the success with the tv adaptation. I definitely wanted to read more, but was honestly a little overwhelmed by ALL of the historical romance series that are available to read. When I found out Bombshell was the first book in the series, I jumped to request it, and I am so glad I did.
This book was so much fun … and not really at all what I was expecting from a historical romance. First, I love Lady Sesily and Caleb together SO much! (Even though I never though Caleb was going to get his head out of his ass and see what an awesome heroine Sesily was.) They were super cute together, and I am definitely going to have to find out which other books these two were in previously so I can see how they got started!
(If you’re wondering about that, Sesily’s sisters have been in some previous series… I’m pretty sure it’s the Scandal and Scoundrels series, but The Bareknuckle Bastards series was mentioned as well, and of course I will be checking out both series asap!)
Moving on … I also want to add that I love this awesome group of women! Known as The Hell’s Belles, each one was special in their own way. Of course Sesily kicked us off with her awesome story, but I am so excited to get to know the rest of them more as well! (Especially the Duchess!) Imogen’s story is coming next, and I absolutely can’t wait to see what next for this gang of wonderful women.
I also really loved the storyline for this book. I don’t want to go into it much and give anything away, but I promise you, you’re in for a treat! It was absolutely fascinating and a whole lot of fun! Especially if you’re a fan of kick ass women who love taking down the bad guys. *wink*
Overall; Bombshell is my first ever read by Sarah MacLean, but it definitely will not be my last! I will be over here pining away for the second book in the series, which at this time is currently untitled and set to release sometime in 2022. While I wait I plan to devour the rest of Sarah’s books as quickly as I can! Fans of historical romance, or those that are new-ish to the genre like myself, do check out Bombshell! It’s a fantastic read.
Happy Reading!
Historical romance is a genre that I used to read ALL the time, but haven’t read much in the past few years. I was really excited to start reading it again, especially after starting the Bridgerton series and all the success with the tv adaptation. I definitely wanted to read more, but was honestly a little overwhelmed by ALL of the historical romance series that are available to read. When I found out Bombshell was the first book in the series, I jumped to request it, and I am so glad I did.
This book was so much fun … and not really at all what I was expecting from a historical romance. First, I love Lady Sesily and Caleb together SO much! (Even though I never though Caleb was going to get his head out of his ass and see what an awesome heroine Sesily was.) They were super cute together, and I am definitely going to have to find out which other books these two were in previously so I can see how they got started!
(If you’re wondering about that, Sesily’s sisters have been in some previous series… I’m pretty sure it’s the Scandal and Scoundrels series, but The Bareknuckle Bastards series was mentioned as well, and of course I will be checking out both series asap!)
Moving on … I also want to add that I love this awesome group of women! Known as The Hell’s Belles, each one was special in their own way. Of course Sesily kicked us off with her awesome story, but I am so excited to get to know the rest of them more as well! (Especially the Duchess!) Imogen’s story is coming next, and I absolutely can’t wait to see what next for this gang of wonderful women.
I also really loved the storyline for this book. I don’t want to go into it much and give anything away, but I promise you, you’re in for a treat! It was absolutely fascinating and a whole lot of fun! Especially if you’re a fan of kick ass women who love taking down the bad guys. *wink*
Overall; Bombshell is my first ever read by Sarah MacLean, but it definitely will not be my last! I will be over here pining away for the second book in the series, which at this time is currently untitled and set to release sometime in 2022. While I wait I plan to devour the rest of Sarah’s books as quickly as I can! Fans of historical romance, or those that are new-ish to the genre like myself, do check out Bombshell! It’s a fantastic read.
Happy Reading!
This was fine. I loved the beginning and the end but the middle was kind of boring. I think this was super easy to read so i would definitely recommend this to anyone just starting to reading historical romance.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
not my favorite sarah maclean but still a lot of fun! i think i didn’t love sesily as a character, and the conflict with caleb could’ve been integrated better. but im definitely interested in the other books and characters in this world and excited to read more!
2 1/2 ⭐️ I wanted to like this book so much. I really did. I had high hopes because I loved the Bareknuckle Bastards series (for the most part), but I struggled with Bombshell. It was almost a DNF. The only thing that kept me going was that I did actually want to know how it would end.
I didn’t really feel the connection between Sesily and Caleb at all, which may be because I haven’t read the series from which these characters originated. Whatever the reason, that in itself makes it difficult to feel invested in a romance. There was also some repetitiveness to the writing that really pulled me out of the story (the word ‘lush’ appears 27 times, and if it’s enough for me to check that number, it’s enough to be super distracting). It was almost like the writing was too historical romancey, but then other times the characters would use language that sounded too contemporary.
I hate that I didn’t love it. And maybe this first book just isn’t for me, because seeing the interaction between Imogen and Detective Peck towards the end had me pretty excited at the prospect of them having their own book down the track.
I didn’t really feel the connection between Sesily and Caleb at all, which may be because I haven’t read the series from which these characters originated. Whatever the reason, that in itself makes it difficult to feel invested in a romance. There was also some repetitiveness to the writing that really pulled me out of the story (the word ‘lush’ appears 27 times, and if it’s enough for me to check that number, it’s enough to be super distracting). It was almost like the writing was too historical romancey, but then other times the characters would use language that sounded too contemporary.
I hate that I didn’t love it. And maybe this first book just isn’t for me, because seeing the interaction between Imogen and Detective Peck towards the end had me pretty excited at the prospect of them having their own book down the track.
Four stars for the book itself, five for Mary Jane Wells’s phenomenal rendition! Her voices made me fall for all the characters. This book is highly anachronistic, a fantastical kind of historical fiction, but the telling of a badass feminist version of this era is so satisfying. I could've done with less steamy scenes and more focus on the heists and female friendships. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series to get to know the other women better.
I didn’t hate it. I’m giving this three stars, mostly for the Ocean’s 11 style premise and the strong feminist themes. The story is fun and could (likely will) be a pretty cool film, but it’s not a literary masterpiece and was quite frustrating at times. Caleb’s constant tangents into lustful thoughts while Sesily was handling business had my eyes rolling out of my head (in a bad way) and had me audibly encouraging him to shut up so I could find out what genius subterfuge she’d devised, because that’s the part I liked best. The spicy scenes were appropriately spicy and marginally believable. I don’t think Romance is my genre, but I’m not mad that I tried with this.
It kind of amazes me that I've only just read my first Sarah MacLean novel. I mean, I listen to her amazing "Fated Mates" podcast with Jen and I'm fairly obsessed with it. I've seen countless readers hype up her books and what they have to say always piques my interest. So I'm not sure why it took me this long to finally read one... But regardless, I'm so glad that I have read one of her books because damn, this was just a really good time and I get the hype. 4.5 stars rounded up!
TL;DR: Bombshell was such a fun, empowering, sexy, and totally swoony historical romance! MacLean's writing is so entertaining and made it incredibly easy to devour this in one sitting. I loved this group of powerful society ladies working to smash the patriarchy, one power-hungry, corrupt and deplorable man of the ton at a time. Sesily and Caleb were a fantastic couple who had incendiary chemistry and a deliciously angsty romance full of pining, and that had me feeling giddy with delight. I can't wait to continue this series and see what else these Hell's Belles get up to!
Even though this was my first book by MacLean, I think it's safe to say that I really enjoy her writing. It's funny how distinctly I can hear the author's voice in her writing and thankfully, I loved it! It's witty and sassy and all of that really comes through in the telling of the story. I appreciated that there's some diversity to the characters, which I think you (do but) rarely see in historical romances and maybe some people might gripe about the 'inaccuracy' of such a thing but I feel like with historical romances there's already a need to slightly suspend your disbelief due to improbable or unlikely events but hey, I read it for pleasure and not to critique its accuracy. I will say that I do wish the down-with-the-patriarchy plot played a more constant role in the story because I think it would've upped the stakes a bit more, but I'm not at all mad about the romance!
Sesily has a rather scandalous reputation in society but I loved how, despite how negatively society viewed her, she was so unapologetically herself. She's witty and bold AF, and she was such a fun FMC to read about. Despite that though, she did have her vulnerabilities and I loved her honesty. Her sassiness also resulted in some amazing banter with Caleb and I often found myself laughing out loud. Caleb has a strong sense of duty and a need to protect those he loves. He's been hiding a secret all his life but the persona of gruff indifference that he has created to shield himself from feelings and attachment starts to crumble thanks to Sesily. He's skittish and is terrified to commit but every moment he spends around her, the more he wants what he's convinced himself he cannot have. Sesily is convinced he doesn't want anything to do with her when in reality he can't stop thinking about her and can't seem to stay away from her and it's just... Angsty perfection! This man was a simp and we stan.
Oh, the romance was absolutely swoontastic and had me feeling all the butterflies! I loved Caleb's gradual giving into his feelings for Sesily. Their chemistry was explosive and the build-up to their coming together was so intense and deliciously angsty, and I'm saying this as someone who doesn't necessarily love angsty romance. I loved the banter between them and the when-will-they vibe because it created such amazing tension that kept me gleefully dancing on my toes and giggling with delight! Aside from these two, there are also some great side characters including the Duchess, Adelaide, and Imogen, and we're given an idea of who will be the next two couples in this series. I squealed in delight with the set-up because I know there are gonna be some amazing opposites-attract, hate-to-love, and kiss-or-throttle-them moments to come!
TL;DR: Bombshell was such a fun, empowering, sexy, and totally swoony historical romance! MacLean's writing is so entertaining and made it incredibly easy to devour this in one sitting. I loved this group of powerful society ladies working to smash the patriarchy, one power-hungry, corrupt and deplorable man of the ton at a time. Sesily and Caleb were a fantastic couple who had incendiary chemistry and a deliciously angsty romance full of pining, and that had me feeling giddy with delight. I can't wait to continue this series and see what else these Hell's Belles get up to!
Even though this was my first book by MacLean, I think it's safe to say that I really enjoy her writing. It's funny how distinctly I can hear the author's voice in her writing and thankfully, I loved it! It's witty and sassy and all of that really comes through in the telling of the story. I appreciated that there's some diversity to the characters, which I think you (do but) rarely see in historical romances and maybe some people might gripe about the 'inaccuracy' of such a thing but I feel like with historical romances there's already a need to slightly suspend your disbelief due to improbable or unlikely events but hey, I read it for pleasure and not to critique its accuracy. I will say that I do wish the down-with-the-patriarchy plot played a more constant role in the story because I think it would've upped the stakes a bit more, but I'm not at all mad about the romance!
Sesily has a rather scandalous reputation in society but I loved how, despite how negatively society viewed her, she was so unapologetically herself. She's witty and bold AF, and she was such a fun FMC to read about. Despite that though, she did have her vulnerabilities and I loved her honesty. Her sassiness also resulted in some amazing banter with Caleb and I often found myself laughing out loud. Caleb has a strong sense of duty and a need to protect those he loves. He's been hiding a secret all his life but the persona of gruff indifference that he has created to shield himself from feelings and attachment starts to crumble thanks to Sesily. He's skittish and is terrified to commit but every moment he spends around her, the more he wants what he's convinced himself he cannot have. Sesily is convinced he doesn't want anything to do with her when in reality he can't stop thinking about her and can't seem to stay away from her and it's just... Angsty perfection! This man was a simp and we stan.
Oh, the romance was absolutely swoontastic and had me feeling all the butterflies! I loved Caleb's gradual giving into his feelings for Sesily. Their chemistry was explosive and the build-up to their coming together was so intense and deliciously angsty, and I'm saying this as someone who doesn't necessarily love angsty romance. I loved the banter between them and the when-will-they vibe because it created such amazing tension that kept me gleefully dancing on my toes and giggling with delight! Aside from these two, there are also some great side characters including the Duchess, Adelaide, and Imogen, and we're given an idea of who will be the next two couples in this series. I squealed in delight with the set-up because I know there are gonna be some amazing opposites-attract, hate-to-love, and kiss-or-throttle-them moments to come!
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
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:
Complicated