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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
My first Stacy Reid and I liked it. I could not stop reading this book; I was hooked from page one. Even though the hero pissed me off at times, I was really involved in Adel and Edmond's romance and I could not put the book down until they got their HEA. I read it in one day! However, I still had some problems mostly with the supporting characters and prioritization of Edmond as a character over Adel. I will expand more on this below.
Writing:
The writing was fine, but the editor did not do a good job. There were several typos, misconjugation of verbs, mistakes in titles (Lady Adel vs. Miss Adel) and some repetition.
Characters:
Let's start with Adel's so-called friend, Evie, who literally threw her friend to a man who is rumoured to be "a mad duke that killed his wife". Really? I could have forgiven her if she hadn't known about Edmond's reputation. ON TOP OF THAT, she made sure that the ENTIRE FUCKING HOUSE PARTY was there to witness the scene. In the words of Mr. Knightley, "Badly done."
Now let's move on to Adel's shitty parents, especially her "father", who refused to protect his daughter from a lecherous predator.
And finally, the hero's fucking friend, Westfall, AKA, dickface.
All of the characters mentioned above treated Adel like shit. Adel felt rightfully betrayed by her friend, but Adel so easily forgave Evie simply because things worked out between herself and Edmond. It does not matter that she and Edmond ended up being right for each other. What matters is that her "friend" was so selfish that she was okay with throwing Adel to the wolves. Evie should have grovelled at Adel's feet, but the latter was too kind and quick to forgive.
Her parents who verbally abuse her and who failed to support her when she was sexually assaulted - who needs enemies with family like this? Adel stood up for herself in the beginning and Edmond did speak up for her a little too, but I don't understand how Adel is still able to think of inviting her family to Rosette Park. I know she loves her step sisters, but her father and stepmother are terrible human beings.
Now...time for analyzing dickface. How is Edmond friends with this class A asshole? And why did douchebag make such a hateful comment about Adel? And how come Adel never brought that up with Edmond? Westfall is randomly included in family gatherings in the epilogue, yet it is never explained if he apologized to Adel for his shitty comments. Or did Adel merely just forgive the asshole like she forgave everyone else?
Hero vs. Heroine:
I was not particularly fond of either the hero or heroine. I found that Adel was too kind for her own good and that Edmond should have grovelled some more. My other problem was that Edmond's trauma was the centrepiece of this novel, despite the fact that Adel was sexually assaulted. Moreover, Adel had to spend a good portion of her pregnancy alone. I feel like her trauma and difficulties were trivialized and brushed under the carpet to make space for the exploration and development of Edmond. In other words, I feel like Edmond's character development was done at the expense of Adel's.
How come the rating is higher than average despite all of these complaints? I actually surprised myself with the rating, given the fact that I did not love the main or supporting characters at all. But I was swept up by the romance. I really was. Even though Adel did not undergo any sort of character development. I just loved reading about Edmond and Adel's developing romance. That was the core of the book and it was well-written, with great chemistry.
I look forward to reading the rest of the series. I am unsure if I will read about Evie, the backstabber, and the love of her life, dickface.
Writing:
The writing was fine, but the editor did not do a good job. There were several typos, misconjugation of verbs, mistakes in titles (Lady Adel vs. Miss Adel) and some repetition.
Characters:
Let's start with Adel's so-called friend, Evie, who literally threw her friend to a man who is rumoured to be "a mad duke that killed his wife". Really? I could have forgiven her if she hadn't known about Edmond's reputation. ON TOP OF THAT, she made sure that the ENTIRE FUCKING HOUSE PARTY was there to witness the scene. In the words of Mr. Knightley, "Badly done."
Now let's move on to Adel's shitty parents, especially her "father", who refused to protect his daughter from a lecherous predator.
And finally, the hero's fucking friend, Westfall, AKA, dickface.
All of the characters mentioned above treated Adel like shit. Adel felt rightfully betrayed by her friend, but Adel so easily forgave Evie simply because things worked out between herself and Edmond. It does not matter that she and Edmond ended up being right for each other. What matters is that her "friend" was so selfish that she was okay with throwing Adel to the wolves. Evie should have grovelled at Adel's feet, but the latter was too kind and quick to forgive.
Her parents who verbally abuse her and who failed to support her when she was sexually assaulted - who needs enemies with family like this? Adel stood up for herself in the beginning and Edmond did speak up for her a little too, but I don't understand how Adel is still able to think of inviting her family to Rosette Park. I know she loves her step sisters, but her father and stepmother are terrible human beings.
Now...time for analyzing dickface. How is Edmond friends with this class A asshole? And why did douchebag make such a hateful comment about Adel? And how come Adel never brought that up with Edmond? Westfall is randomly included in family gatherings in the epilogue, yet it is never explained if he apologized to Adel for his shitty comments. Or did Adel merely just forgive the asshole like she forgave everyone else?
Hero vs. Heroine:
I was not particularly fond of either the hero or heroine. I found that Adel was too kind for her own good and that Edmond should have grovelled some more. My other problem was that Edmond's trauma was the centrepiece of this novel, despite the fact that Adel was sexually assaulted. Moreover, Adel had to spend a good portion of her pregnancy alone. I feel like her trauma and difficulties were trivialized and brushed under the carpet to make space for the exploration and development of Edmond. In other words, I feel like Edmond's character development was done at the expense of Adel's.
How come the rating is higher than average despite all of these complaints? I actually surprised myself with the rating, given the fact that I did not love the main or supporting characters at all. But I was swept up by the romance. I really was. Even though Adel did not undergo any sort of character development. I just loved reading about Edmond and Adel's developing romance. That was the core of the book and it was well-written, with great chemistry.
I look forward to reading the rest of the series. I am unsure if I will read about Evie, the backstabber, and the love of her life, dickface.
I just really loved this! Maybe I've just been in the mood for something sweet, but this really hit the spot
medium-paced
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I liked both Adeline and Edmond!
Adeline was decent and even if her compromising plan wasn't exactly the smartest thing in the world, it was a decent way to get around the fact that her father was kind of obtuse. I liked that while Adeline knew what was coming, she didn't immediately jump at Edmond's offer, because she still thought Mr. Atwood was an option (although he turned at to be a bit of a spineless twit; would have liked to see something from that actually. The grovel being Edmond showing up and telling him to get away from his duchess or something). Her trying to bring Edmond's walls down was interesting and I liked that she didn't back down too often. She didn't throw it in his face but she tried to use logic to get him to see things, even if he wasn't willing to see beyond his own grief and pain. I also liked that at the end, when Edmond was making his grand gesture, she knew she couldn't just immediately run into his arms.
Edmond was pretty decent. He was kind of a bonehead and while I understand his fear and anger and grief, he needed to pull his head out a little sooner. Granted, if he had, we probably wouldn't have gotten the amazing grand gesture that we did. And his grovel speech was pretty amazing. I did wish we'd seen him actually calling out people because that would have also been glorious.
While I could understand why Evie did what she did, I can't quite let it go the way Adeline did (even if she got Edmond out of it) because it was such an ambush and Evie didn't even try to defend her to her mother. If Evie had tried even a token protest instead of a voiceless "I'm sorry", I might have been able to get behind it a bit better. Or if she'd shown up when Edmond was being an idiot in London.
Adeline was decent and even if her compromising plan wasn't exactly the smartest thing in the world, it was a decent way to get around the fact that her father was kind of obtuse. I liked that while Adeline knew what was coming, she didn't immediately jump at Edmond's offer, because she still thought Mr. Atwood was an option (although he turned at to be a bit of a spineless twit; would have liked to see something from that actually. The grovel being Edmond showing up and telling him to get away from his duchess or something). Her trying to bring Edmond's walls down was interesting and I liked that she didn't back down too often. She didn't throw it in his face but she tried to use logic to get him to see things, even if he wasn't willing to see beyond his own grief and pain. I also liked that at the end, when Edmond was making his grand gesture, she knew she couldn't just immediately run into his arms.
Edmond was pretty decent. He was kind of a bonehead and while I understand his fear and anger and grief, he needed to pull his head out a little sooner. Granted, if he had, we probably wouldn't have gotten the amazing grand gesture that we did. And his grovel speech was pretty amazing. I did wish we'd seen him actually calling out people because that would have also been glorious.
While I could understand why Evie did what she did, I can't quite let it go the way Adeline did (even if she got Edmond out of it) because it was such an ambush and Evie didn't even try to defend her to her mother. If Evie had tried even a token protest instead of a voiceless "I'm sorry", I might have been able to get behind it a bit better. Or if she'd shown up when Edmond was being an idiot in London.
Good book and great escape from an awful travel day. Characters were interesting and the conflict was reasonable wth a good balance of "can't talk must protect" vs actual talking and development. Sex scenes were well done and fit nicely in the story and the relationship that developed. Writing was solid and enjoyable. I'll likely pick up others in the series.
emotional
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
2.5 i just don’t know if i could forgive the duke for what he did at the end…..
fast-paced